*All characters are over the age of 18.
-
Traffic was practically non-existent in this area of eastern New Hampshire. Even when a car pulled onto the forest-lined highway, it never stayed long, and as the woman behind the wheel of the 2015 Honda CRV followed the directions on her iPhone to her final destination, she never felt like she was being held up by slow-moving ahead of her. It was September, and the leaves on the many trees surrounding this part of the road had only slightly begun to color, letting the world within know that Autumn was starting to approach.
While she drove, the woman behind the wheel smiled softly at the small towns that she drove through along the way. Quaint little villages practically forgotten in the bustle of time, and so very different from the places near her home in Portland, Maine. Old, rectangular houses popped up here and there, practically screaming that they'd been on this land since the 1700s. Large, attached sheds and garages hinted that winter was hard, and no one really liked to have to go outdoors during that time of year.
Signs lined the road foretelling of a future festival in a nearby town. "Ethel's kids corner," and "Maple Candy," and "Pumpkin patches," clued passersby of the many things they could see in a few weeks when the festival was set in motion. The woman driving read the signs and felt a warmth inside, she'd grown up in the midwest where county and state fairs were huge and common and well attended. Yearly flea markets were the norm, and she'd missed them ever since moving to Portland with her husband years ago, after college and before having children of her own. Times felt so much simpler back then, and they were, for she had so much less responsibility before. Now, she was fraught with it.
Her phone rang and she looked to see who was calling her. Thad? Already? The kids couldn't be driving him crazy this quickly.
"Hello?" She asked after pushing the button on her steering wheel.
"Tru, you there yet?" Her husband's deep voice sounded through her SUV's speakers and she smiled, all these years and she still loved his voice, still loved him, despite everything.
"I think I'm close." She bit her lower lip as she took the turn to the right that her iPhone had just stated she should take.
"Good. Look, I know you were hesitant about this weekend. But I really think this will do you good." He sounded like he had when he was trying to convince her to go on a vacation by herself.
She had not wanted to go, she had resisted the impromptu trip for weeks. Why should she get time to herself when he worked so hard himself, and he would be left to take care of their four kids by himself while she was off alone. It didn't seem fair, and the timing seemed bad, as well. They'd been going through a rough patch the last half of the year, and she'd worried that he was going to go off to work one day and then suddenly disappear for good. He had seemed so unhappy, but he had assured her that there was nothing really wrong, it was just one of those slumps. She had felt it, too, and she worried that one day, those slumps would turn more into a deep vat of despair that caused them to finally separate.
That, she did not want, but she wanted their happy back. And neither of them knew how to get it. At least, not yet. Thad sending her off to the boonies of New Hampshire didn't exactly feel like a step in the right direction.
"A bottle of wine and a John Hughes film fest in our bedroom while the kids were asleep tonight would have done me just as much good, Thad." She muttered as she turned on her turn signal, to the right this time.
Her husband chuckled and she could almost feel him shaking his head at her, his blue eyes would be sparkling, "But instead you get two nights to yourself, and you can spend the time you're awake editing that story you need to get submitted next month."
"I might even get ahead. I guess, Thad...thank you for doing this. I still feel guilty, but you insisted." She sighed, she looked to her right and saw the big yellow farmhouse that she'd seen in pictures on Airbnb come into view. It was as pretty as in the pictures, and she couldn't help but smile at the old structure as she pulled onto the grass covered driveway in front of it.
"I want you to enjoy yourself this weekend, Tru. I mean it, don't say no at any opportunities you have this weekend to enjoy yourself. Take long hot baths, buy a cake and eat the whole thing, read a smut book-."
"I am not eating a whole cake."
"Maybe half?"
"Maybe half." She chuckled throatily as she put the car in park finally.
"I do love you, Tru." He sounded a little more serious when he spoke this time.
"I love you, too. I'm here now. It's very pretty."
"Ok, I'm going to let you go then. Remember, don't say no. Tru, I want you to enjoy this weekend."
"Ok, babe. I'll talk to you later."
"Bye, love."
She turned the car off and pushed the button on her phone to hang up. Thad was a good husband, always busy with work, but a good provider, and a great father. They had two boys and two girls, and every afternoon it seemed that all four little sets of eyes would stare out the front window waiting for him to get home. He often joked that they made him feel like a celebrity, his four little paparazzi members constantly following him everywhere he went.
Tru often felt like the fifth paparazzi when it came to her husband, wanting his attention just as much as their children did. They'd married right after she finished college and had spent two years alone before their first child, a son had come along. It seemed like it had been a long time since she'd gotten to have his attention all to herself.
She opened her car door and climbed out, dropping her phone and keys in her purse before shutting her door and going to the trunk. She'd brought one suitcase and several bags of groceries with her. Thad had suggested that she just eat locally, but she figured if she was going to have time alone to write, she'd like to use that time wisely, and driving around looking for food in an unfamiliar area, let alone eating by herself, wasn't high on her list of "fun times." Walking up onto the front porch that stretched along the entire front of the house to the door, she pulled open the really old screen door first, and then turned the knob of the inner door. The old, handmade inner door stuck just slightly before finally opening and showing her the front foyer of the old house.
The house outside had been a canary yellow with faded green shutters, and inside, it was painted in pastel yellows and greens. The floors were old, oversized pine wood floors that weren't as level as they were aged, and Tru smiled as she walked inside and put the groceries on the wooden dining room table that was inside and to the left. Then she went back to the foyer and after peaking at the prettily decorated living room, completed with old brick chimney and mantle, she went upstairs and looked in all three of the bedrooms before choosing the one in the back, closest to the bathroom. It had a king sized bed and a table near a window stacked with old books.
Setting her suitcase on the floor near the bed, she went back downstairs and walked around for a moment, taking in the serviceable kitchen and fireplace in the dining room before going back over to the groceries and removing them from the bags they were in and putting them in the kitchen either on the counter or in the refrigerator. Once that was done, she went back upstairs and unpacked her suitcase, setting her laptop on her bed before putting her clothes on the shelves in the little alcove that accompanied the room. It looked like there had once been a fireplace in this bedroom, as well, but it had long been boarded over.
When that was done, she used the restroom and then took her laptop with her and went back downstairs. It was still light outside, and she'd seen what looked like some comfortable chairs on the front porch, so she went back outside and found a seat on the northern side of the porch and sat cross legged in the large chair and set her laptop up in her lap. She edited books for a small publishing company, and the quiet of this place was perfect as she went through another author's work slowly.
For over an hour, she sat there and reviewed the digital file for errors, and in that time, only a few cars had driven by along the dirt road that the rental house was situated on. There was a house slightly south of the one that Thad had rented, but there was none across from her, and she hadn't driven farther down the road to see what lie north of her location. She was still buried in her work when she felt a slight chill and looked up to see a man standing in her yard, his hands tucked into the front pockets of the jeans he wore. He was also wearing a gray T-shirt covered by a black, well-worn leather jacket. He was a little older than her, his hair speckled black and gray, the gray actually tipping the scales on amount. His eyes were brown, and as he stood there looking at her, his head was cocked slightly to the left and his strong, stubble-covered jaw and wide mouth were set in a way that made him look like was contemplating something, her maybe?
"Hi?" Tru asked, closing her laptop as she looked over at him. Where had he come from.
"Hi." He said as his head straightened and he moved his mouth into a smile that extended a little bit higher on the left than the right. "I don't mean to bother you. I'm staying with friends in a place up the way and our wifi is out and our cell phones are being sketchy. Any way I can use your wifi for a second to call the owner?"
She cocked an eyebrow at him. There was more than one rental house along this road? That was weird, but she figured it could happen. She couldn't imagine there being a lot of people living in this area, it seemed very scant on local jobs. Nodding, she set her laptop to the side.
"I know I have it here, but I haven't signed in myself yet. But my phone works here, you can borrow it to make your call." She told him, he seemed harmless, and they were outside, and there was that house just south of her, she could run there in under a minute.
"Ok. That would be great." He smiled at her and stayed where he was as she walked towards the door of the house.
Tru looked back at him and smiled shyly, "It's inside. I'll be right back."
She went in and found her purse. Digging out her phone, she brought it back outside and walked off the porch and handed it to him. Not wanting to feel intrusive, she made her way back over to the chair that she'd been sitting on while he made his call. She heard him talking, but Tru didn't try to listen. Instead, she opened her laptop back up and started rereading the paragraph that she'd been working on before he'd appeared.
A few minutes later, she heard his footsteps on the porch and she looked up to see him smiling down at her. He handed her the phone and she took to and smiled up at him.
"Thank you for the phone." His voice was unusual, she realized finally, gravelly, as if it were dry and he was almost having difficulty getting sound out, but deep, sexy. She'd always been a sucker for deep voiced men, Thad had often teased her about it.
"No worries." She bit her lower lip as he shoved his hands back in his pockets again, she wondered if he did it to appear less intimidating. He was only 5'10" or so, but he was built nicely. His eyes were intense, though, like he was trying to look through you when he met your gaze.
"I'm Kit, by the way. You have a nice house." He looked at the front of the house as he spoke.
"I'm Tru. It's not really mine. I'm renting for a few days, too."
"Oh, that's nice. The person we're renting from is my friend's uncle. He said there were a few other rentals in this area."
She nodded, "I guess so."
