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And that’s when it hits me. She did this.
Indiana Jones also hated snakes! She never would have played that song had she not been involved.
That witch.
A chuckle leaves me, and Cole’s confused gaze jumps from looking at the fake snake behind the grill to me.
At this, I openly laugh, and his gaze switches to looking at me like I’ve lost my damn mind.
That mischievous gleam she had in her eye as she stormed off last week? Well, now I know what she was thinking. She declared war, and shots were fired, literally. Only now it’s my turn, and she had better watch her back because two can play this game.
6
CORA
It’s the second week of August, and I am officially over the heat. I don’t know why I thought it would be cooler living in the mountains versus the city, and I know the weather will begin to change next month, but these past couple of weeks have been miserable. Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s beautiful, as everything is so green and ripe, but it’s hot. Hot, sticky, and sometimes downright stifling.
I thought I would spend more time outside building and growing a garden. After all, that is why I bought this house, but with the heat and the summer coming to a close next month, I’ve decided to wait until next year before I plant anything. Planting anything in the ground out back, that is. In the meantime, my front porch has exploded with greenery, flowers, herbs, and lavender. I even planted blue hydrangeas along both sides of the porch stairs and the front edge, so the shrubs will be large and plentiful in a couple of years.
I hear the car coming up the road before I see it, and I know it’s Juliet. Today is back to school for Bryce, so her days are officially free. Well, free outside of work, that is.
Juliet is Clay and Ash’s sister, and I wasn’t the only one who decided to return to Horizons Valley. She’d been living in Nashville, where she met her husband and had their son, Bryce, until he decided he didn’t want to be her husband anymore. While what she’s gone through is sad, and I know she didn’t want to have to move back home, I’m glad she’s here.
Excited to greet her, I walk out to the porch and jump at the sight of not one or two deer in my front yard, but as I count them, there are eighteen.
Eighteen!
Yes, I’ve seen a few over the past two weeks, but this is entirely different. Some are female, but the males point their antlers right at me as they have frozen at my sudden intrusion and are staring at me.
Oh my God.
What are they doing here?
The one with the largest antlers starts walking toward me, so I take a step back toward the door.
Fear, similar to the night with the raccoons, explodes inside me. My chest tightens to the point of not being able to breathe, and I let out a strangled sound that echoes around me and over the yard.
The big one stops walking, and I now truly understand the expression, “Like a deer in headlights.” I imagine I look just like them. Big eyes, on edge, but still frozen.
“Morning, Goldie,” someone calls out from the direction of my neighbor’s house and that’s when I know this is his doing. It has to be.
Son of a . . .
I also know he never would have sent them to my yard if he thought they would put me in danger. He’s the one who came barreling over here with his big gun to save the day.
So this is how it’s going to be? He’s risen to the challenge. At least I had the decency to use fake rubber snakes, but no, he had to go and lure every deer off the mountain to my front yard! I know nothing about deer! But he doesn’t know this, or does he?
At this point, Juliet’s car turns down my driveway and comes to a complete halt as she takes in the scene before her. All eighteen deer turn and look at her. She looks at me with her jaw dropped and eyes wide, and then back to them. And then she scares the bejesus out of me and them as she lays on her horn. All nineteen of us jump. One by one, they race off, and she pulls up next to the house and parks.
I’m so happy she’s here. I wave and watch her laugh at me through the windshield.
This isn’t her first time here since I’ve moved in, but it is the first time I have no boxes to unpack. For the most part, everything feels put together.
“What in the world was that?” she asks as she climbs out of her car, holding a drink carrier with two large lattes.
I jog down the steps to hug her, and we turn to look at the yard where the deer were. It’s then I spot all the tiny yellow pieces in the grass. Going to investigate, I pick up what I’m certain is a corn kernel and show it to her.
“Why would you do that?” she asks, kind of horrified.
