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“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.” Cash sighs.
“Of course. We’ll get there somehow. Don’t worry.”
Right before we hang up, he calls my name. “Davis?”
“Yeah?”
“Think about what I said. About Alana. Maybe some universal force is offering you a once in a lifetime opportunity to reevaluate. I’d take it, if I were you.”
I roll my eyes. “You sound like Ziggy. She’s rubbing off on you.”
Cash hawks into the phone. “I’m starting to realize that people underestimate Ziggy. That woman is a freaking guru. She held some kind of mystical rain purification ceremony last night. And I…I saw something, bro.” He lowers his volume and his voice sounds spooked out. “I saw something with my third eye. Swear to god.”
I chuckle. “Save that fascinating story for when Forbes comes to interview you about your billion-dollar business secrets again next year.” I laugh.
He growls. “Fuck off, butthole.”
“Um, maybe that’s a conversation you should have with your fiancée, bro.” He walked right into that one. Not my fault.
“You’re a dick. You know that?”
“Geez, so sensitive.” I chuckle.
“And to think, I was gonna say ‘Love you’. Just in case you die or some shit.”
“Love you, too. And I’m not gonna fucking die.”
“I’m guessing that depends on how much longer you and your explosive boner are trapped in that cabin with your ex-wife.”
I flinch. “Point taken.”
He laughs heartily like the wicked little shit that he is. “Hurry up and get here. Drive safe.”
When we hang up, I resume my trek through the woods, following the sound of Jimmy’s ax. I get slapped in the face by hanging branches and wet leaves as I go.
Cash’s words resonate inside my head. I hate considering the possibility that he might be right about everything. Maybe thisisan opportunity to reevaluate things with Alana. Maybe we can have a second chance. Maybe we can salvage everything that we lost. Maybe getting her back is the only way for me to feel whole again.
I mean, I slept so good last night. Even with having to curl my body up like a caterpillar just to fit on that tiny bed. With my ex-wife curled up next to me, I slept better than I have in four years.
But no. That can’t be it. Things can’t really be that simple. Can they?
“Morning,” Jimmy grunts, barely lifting his chin in greeting when he sees me coming through the brush.
“Morning,” I respond. “You happen to have an extra ax?”
The man looks surprised for a moment. Then he tugs a spare ax out of the trunk of a nearby tree. “Always.” He flashes me a genuine grin for the first time.
“Good.” Because I want a distraction. I don’t want to think. Thinking sucks. I accept the heavy primitive tool from Jimmy’s hand. “Now, let’s chop some shit up.”
13
ALANA
Ishiver at the cool bite in the morning air. I pull my sweater tighter around me as I sneak a peek through the curtains. I watch Davis outside, chopping wood with Jimmy behind the cabin.
I am the dictionary definition of a ‘creeper’ right now.
It’s not a secret—Davis Westbrook looks darn good in any light, butwhoa. Right now, he looks like a sculpted G.I. Joe out there swinging that ax around. It is certainly the manliest, hottest sight for sore eyes.
