AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER TWELVE
April took Georgia on a thirty minute drive through the winding streets of Sandcrest. The beaches were busy, the sun shining down on various locals as they enjoyed their time on a practically tourist-free beach. “You see, tourist season is almost over,” she explained to her daughter as they looked out for which ones they’d want to visit. “So most of the beaches are practically empty.”
Then she took her around downtown to show her all the shops, including the most important, the general store. They decided to stop by later to pick up anything Georgia would need for the time at the house. Her daughter was more than discouraged at the fact that they would definitely be staying at the ‘old, rickety house’ as she called it.
And the last stop on the sightseeing tour around Sandcrest was the field just beyond the bridge where April had seen the wild horses on her first day.
They drove up slowly, making sure they wouldn’t scare them away and turned off the car. April got out, her daughter soon followed, and they sat in the middle of the field. “It’s nice because there are tons of these around,” April whispered. “This is just where I saw them the other day. But I also saw one in our yard, so just about anywhere you go you might find wildlife.”
Georgia listened intently, just like April. The only sounds they heard was the rustling of the leaves in the wind and the birds cawing overhead. “Do you think the birds are scaring them away?”
April shook her head. “No, they’re used to those things. We just have to be patient.”
The silence was thick. It didn’t bother April, but Georgia couldn’t sit still for longer than a few seconds. She twisted and turned, fiddled with her thumbs, and even began pulling at the grass beneath them.
“If you keep fidgeting, you might scare them off,” she offered, instead of nagging.
Georgia rolled her eyes and continued to pick at the clumps of grass around her. “Maybe they’re not coming because you hallucinated them yesterday.”
April wanted to scold her child for saying something so rude, but she couldn’t speak as she looked up and saw two majestic horses galloping through the field. Georgia didn’t notice at first, so April nudged her and pointed towards the bucking horses in the distance.
“Wow,” her daughter said. “They really are beautiful.”
“Worth the wait?”
She shrugged. “Eh, I don’t know about that. Maybe if they were closer. I think they can smell the house on us, that’s why they’re so far away.”
There were two ways April could have gone about this. She could have laughed with her daughter, feeling impressed with her joke. Or she could have scolded her for saying such a thing about the house she loved.
After mulling it over for a few seconds, April decided to take the route that meant she didn’t care what other people thought. She loved the house and that’s all that mattered. So what was so wrong about laughing at herself, at a joke her daughter made?
The two laughed together, harder than they had in a long time. “I guess we’ll have to come back tomorrow with some body spray and candles?”
Georgia nodded her head. “Now that sounds like a good idea.”
They laughed until the horses no longer ran through the field and it was time to get back into the car and continue their day. Satisfied with the tour, April took Georgia to the general store to pick up the things they needed for the night as well as some candles.
“What do you think of this?” April held an open candle to her daughter’s face.
She sniffed it and immediately turned her face away. “God, that’s somehow worse than the house.” She couldn’t hold in her laughter.
“I liked it!” April said, mouth wide, offended.
“There has to be something wrong with you. First you couldn’t smell how bad the house was and now you thinkthatsmells good?”
April scoffed and put the candle back on the shelf. “Oh, come on. There’s no way it’s that bad. The house, yes. This candle, no. You just don’t like the smell of…” She squinted to read the name of the label. “Freshly Washed Cotton?”
Georgia blinked at her mother. “No, I don’t really like the smell of detergent for a candle.”
“Your loss, I guess. Which one do you like best then?”
As Georgia looked through the shelves for her favorite one out of the hundred they’d smelled so far, April saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Someone she’d seen before was watching them. “Can I help you?” April said with a smile, hoping they were simply looking for something in the aisle.
Barry stepped into the aisle and smiled at them. “I didn’t realize you were bringing more Faiths down to help. Might have a chance of fixing up the old place now. I’m Barry, pleasure to meet ya.”
April simply stared back at him with raised brows. What was he trying to say? Was he just here to make more jokes about the house?
Barry shrugged his shoulders. “I came over to say I’m sorry for laughin’ so much the other day. We just aren’t sure you’ll be able to make that place into something pretty. It’s too far gone.”
