AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Are you carrying a gun right now?’ I ask.
‘Tranq darts,’ he replies. ‘Just in case. You can never be too careful. Not now it’s black bear mating season.’
‘I’d forgotten about the bears. Black bears aren’t that dangerous to humans, though, are they?’ My voice sounds Little and worried.
‘Not normally. As I’m sure you know, we don’t get grizzlies out here. But wild animals can be unpredictable. Even if they’re normally no threat.’
He moves a thorny branch out of the way for me, and helps me up a steep, rocky step. That’s when I see the watchtower: a wooden structure, kinda like a railroad water tank tower, with wooden steps going up to the room at the top. Must be at least fifteen yards high.
‘You built this?’ I ask.
‘Needed a little help putting the windows in, but, yup, essentially: all me.’
I can see why he needed help with the windows. They go around the room on the viewing platform in a complete three-sixty, so Finn can keep watch in every direction.
‘So, you coming up?’ Finn asks, when we get to the bottom of the steps. He’s still holding onto my arm, keeping me steady, and he looks down at me with such an intense gaze that I almost become so unsteady he has to sweep me off the floor.
Luckily, I manage to hold it together enough to shake my head. ‘I think I’ll rest my foot a while. Stay out here in the sunshine. Eric seems to enjoy running around, and I wouldn’t want to cramp your style, anyway.’
Finn laughs. ‘I’ll be up there a good few hours, so if you need anything, or want to come up and join me, just holler, okay?’
I nod.
‘And the slightest problem, Dee, you let me know and I’ll come running.’
He just called me Dee. Nobody’s ever called me that. I’ve always been Addison, or Addy, all my life. I like being called Dee. It sounds cute, sweet. Like a brand new me.
Finn turns and walk up the wooden steps to his watchtower, and I sit down on the grass, enjoying the incredible view. I'm blown away by the beauty up here. There’s a creek running down the mountainside over to my right. The air is full of birdsong. The grass rustles with furry creatures.
It’s a warm day. Really warm for May, in fact. There are a few gray clouds out west, which have been growing taller as the day’s gone on. Finn says he needs to keep an eye on them. It’s lightning season in Colorado, and I know that out here the weather can turn on you in an instant.
Still, it’s sunny now. Eric is panting happily, chasing his tail beside me, and every now and then, stopping to do what Eric does best — lick his nose.
Now that I’ve finally got a moment to myself, I begin to reflect on everything that’s been going on. I feel sad for Chris, sad that he spent all that time in jail, and sad that he’s still not over me. But I feel angry at him too. Furious, in fact, that he did what he did to Tanya. I still can’t get over that story about the acid. And thank goodness he missed.
It would be such a shame if I let a crazy guy like Chris ruin my ambitions to become an ABDL fashion designer.
This morning, when I went to get dressed, I discovered that Finn had taken my sewing machine out of the car as well as my clothes. I knew what that meant. It was a gentle nudge. If you want to get back into sewing, Addison, you’d better fire up the old machine. I asked Finn to help me when he came back from his shower, and he cleared a space on his workbench for me, and helped me set up the machine.
That’s as far as I’ve got just now. Who knows if I’ll be able to actually make anything over the next few days?
Iamstarting to feel inspired again, though. And that’s a huge step. I feel more determined than ever to really go for it with the eco-clothing. Recycled, environmentally friendly. Being here, surrounded by nature, it’s becoming crystal clear. I’m even starting to plan outfits based on things I’m seeing in the forest: pine trees, moon phases, elk antlers. There’s a lot of stuff I could make pretty neat screen prints of, and so many beautiful colors and textures to inspire the materials I source.
Currently, I have no fabric, although I have noticed a box of old dust sheets in the workshop, which I could maybe practice on. Sounds like fun, almost like an art class at school. They are some of my happiest memories, playing with paints with no cares in the world.
Shielding my eyes from the sun, I look up at the tower, wondering if I can spot Finn. There’s no sign. It sounds silly to admit this, but I almostmiss himwhen he’s not by my side. Thatisridiculous, isn’t it?
It’s so funny, though. Ineverfelt like that with Chris. He was always calling me, asking to hang out, and trying to drag out our dates for as long as possible, not wanting me to leave him. When I was hanging around with him, I wasdesperatefor my own space. Now… I feel like a part ofmeis missing when I’m not near my pretend husband. Perhaps it’s because he’s bringing parts out of me that have never been brought out before. And I’m scared of losing them.
I feel like I can really be myself around him. Little Dee. Maybe that’s who I’ve always been, and I’ve just been waiting to meet Finn to bring it out of me.
Even the early days with Chris were nothing like this. And they never did start to feel quite right. I was innocent back then, and felt like if I just kepttryingwith him, trying tofixhim, to make him into the man I wanted him to be, then maybe I could learn to love him… but I must have known something was wrong, even at the start. That’s maybe why, in spite of all his begging, I never agreed to sleep with him.
Finn was completely wrong when he assumed I’d lost my virginity to Chris. I’m still a virgin. I guess I just don’t feel quite so innocent these days.
It's getting humid down here, and the sky is suddenly the color of coal. The wind is blowing my hair in long streamers around me.
Eric climbs onto my lap, as if he’s afraid. I’m no fool. When the weather changes like this in the Rockies, you don’t want to stay out for long.
