AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 1
Harper
I’m about three-thousand-dollars deep in Uber bills when I realise that this was probably not my best idea.
“Actually, maybe we should turn around,” I say, my eyes sliding over to my hastily crammed hand-luggage on the seat beside me. The fact that I brought my wrinkly childhood growly bear is confirmation enough that I’m not exactly treating this impromptu getaway as a short-term solution.
And the word ‘growly’ is literal. It’s one of those stiff-limbed vintage teddies that growls when you tip it upside down. When we hit a dip in the road a few miles back it made a sort ofharrumphsound that had the driver warily glancing back at me.
But I digress.
Did I really think that running away would make me feel better? The delay in my flight from LA to Montana made the plane journey last more than three hours, and then I ended up getting five different taxis to take me up the twists and valleys that lead from there to Phoenix Falls. I glance distressed out of the window at the side of the vehicle and I try to think of something positive.
A change is as good as a rest after all, especially when it comes to getting the creative juices flowing. And I’m literally a screenwriter. I’m sure that there’s a story somewhere amidst all of this chaos.
I clear my throat to try and capture the driver’s attention but he just shoots me a disbelieving look and remains silent as he puts the car in park. Yes I did just suggest turning around one second before we reached our destination. The driver can’t believe his luck and is consequently unwilling to jeopardise this eight-hundred dollar relationship that we just formed with anything as risky as “talking”or “stating opinions”. If only the rest of his sex were as considerate, maybe I wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with.
I roll my lips into my mouth, tensely quaking withwhat-the-hell-did-I-just-donervous spasms, and then I finally push open the door to the backseat, clutching my travel bag like a life jacket and shutting the cab up after myself. The driver is almost as much of a wreck as I am. He thinks that he’s just beenPunk’dand that I’m about to murder him in the middle of this deserted holiday village.
When he realises that this really is my destination – a semi-reconstructed cabin retreat up the mountains at the back of Phoenix Falls – he can’t get to his notepad fast enough, scribbling down his digits like his life depends on it. He hands it over to me through the rolled-down passenger window and I pluck it between two fingers, glancing down.
Name. Number. Smiley face.
I offer him a small almost-smile in return and then he begins to slowly pull away, checking for me in his rear-view every few seconds. He’s making sure that I’m not about to change my mind and have him take me back to the last drop-off point that I was at, which was approximately one billion miles away from this one and where I said goodbye to disbelieving taxi-driver number four.
The disappointment in his face when I don’t wave him back would almost be an ego-boost if the past month that had just happened to mehadn’tjust happened to me. But it did. There’s no denying it. And now I’m feeling in no way gratified by any male attention.
No more men, ever.
I re-hoist my luggage and raise my chin, feeling that end-of-summer clarity in the evergreen air. The warning clouds overhead are hovering dangerously dark and stormy, but even they hold off, sensing that I could snap at any moment. Mother Nature is on my side which only re-solidifies my stance.
No more men, no more men, no more men.
I round the corner and stop short.
Five male heads turn in my direction.
So admittedly my new standpoint would be easier to embark upon if I hadn’t just pulled up to a building site mid-reno, where it’s being redeveloped by an all-male team of lumberjack handymen. Obviously this is a test from God, showing me the way through a baptism by fire.
I pray for strength and then whisperAmen.
As I begin to walk their way I spare them a glance, quickly wishing that I hadn’t. They’re what I would describe as “dangerously tall”. I readjust my trucker cap over my hair, blowing the soft baby-blonde tendrils out of my face, and I walk purposefully past the whole bunch of them, only shooting back a stare when I sense their eyes still burning into my own. Each one of them looks away with their eyebrows slightly raised. They’re unfamiliar with my kind entering their territory and not one of them knows what to do about it.
Okay, so I’m a little gratified, especially by how well-behaved they seem to be reacting. Did they know that I was coming? I mean,Ibarely knew that I was coming, at least not until taxi driver number one, who I must admit took the brunt of the lot.
I pull up my phone and tap through to the Messages app, purposely making my eyes go blurry as I scroll past theI’m sorry’s and thehear me out’s. He’s been texting me from other people’s phones because he evidently assumes that I’ve blocked him. Which I have. And now I’m going to have to block everyone else too.
Finally I come across the messages from my mom, the no-nonsense tycoon behind Ray Corp’s small town vacation retreats, and I tap on the rectangle to open up her instructions.
I scan through her text bubbles and then look up, scanning the cosy valley for my new hideaway.
Where are you little bungalow?
“Ma’am?”
A voice sounds out from the middle of the pack and I twist slightly to catch its owner. Deep bass, confident and casual. He sounds like a heartbreaker.
Not my problem.
