AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Price
It’s beena week since the incident. I’ve worked twice, but Scottie said less than five words to me both times. I don’t think she’s mad; I think she’s scared. And maybe it’s time for me to leave. She’s found happiness. It’s not fair of me to expect anything more from her.
As I meander barefoot in the backyard, contemplating my next move, the door to the gate squeaks open. I glance over my shoulder, expecting my neighbor.
It’s Koen.
He adjusts his brown baseball hat and clears his throat. “I was an asshole.”
I smirk, shaking my head while earthing through the thick, overgrown grass. “If the tables were turned, I would have put you in the hospital. Frankly, I’m disappointed in you.”
“Why did you never marry? Have you pined for her all these years?”
Staring at my feet, I stop and curl my toes into the cool blades of grass that still have morning shade. “Have I thought about her? Yes. Pined for her? No. I’ve had a good life. Are there things I would change? Absolutely. But despite this … predicament I’m in, I have very few regrets.” I nod toward his feet. “Take off your boots and socks.”
“I’m good.”
I chuckle. “I was good too until they told me I had less than six months to live.”
Koen frowns, but he unties his boots. “Do you regret letting Scottie walk away? Do you regret not fighting for her?”
“No.” I glance over at him as he steps barefoot into the grass.
He narrows his eyes as if my immediate response isn’t what he expected.
“I’m going to say something that you might not like hearing, but maybe you can at least grasp a better sense of understanding. While there’s only a three-year age difference between me and Scottie, her innocence felt magnified twelve years ago. I didn’t know she was a virgin until I was in the process of taking her virginity.”
Koen frowns, brow tense.
“She was innocent in every way. Uninspired by money and status. Oblivious to big dreams and accolades of success. But take her out of the city to stare at the stars or sit in the grass at the park and listen to the birds, and then you see Scottie Rucker. A human unlike anyone I had met or will ever meet in my life. But even in those moments where I should have let myself be more like her, all I could think was … how can I capture the stars and the sound of birds and sell it?” I laugh. “I wanted to make money. And I was good at it. She jokes about world domination, but she’s not wrong. I’ve made a fuck-ton of money.” I slowly shake my head and rub my lips together. “And the fruits of my labor are literally killing me. So I regret not learning morefrom Scottie, but I don’t regret not fighting for her. She’s exactly where she’s meant to be.”
Koen gives me a half grin. “She loves big.”
I chuckle. “Being loved like that is … indescribable.” I close my eyes for a moment and think ofher.
A buzzing noise in the distance pulls our attention toward the sky.
“Some rich fucker flying an ultralight along the river,” Koen mumbles.
“Have you ever flown one?”
He grunts, giving me the hairy eyeball. “What do you think?”
I park my fists on my hips and stare at the plane in the distance. “I think we should go fly one today.”
“You can fly one?”
I nod.
“I have to work. I’m already late.”
I shrug. “Call in sick.”
Koen eyes me with concentration. “You just happen to have a plane here?”
“No.”
“Can you rent them?”
