A Fresh Start (2 page)

She tried to be friendly with everyone who had come up to her, but she hated having to dodge all the questions about her past. The only thing she could do was to avoid conversations altogether by keeping out of sight.

The Seymours were the only ones who hadn’t tried to pry information out of her. They welcomed her to town, gave her a bag of muffins, and told her to ask if she needed any help. Mr. Seymour chatted with her for a while then, when asked, suggested the two companies she could work with.

“The house looks good.”

“Only on the outside. I’m thinking of painting up the rooms on my own. I’ve already bought the paints.”

“How about the pipes in the house? The bathroom? Kitchen cabinets?”

“I’m thinking of heading down to Cheyenne and find someone tomorrow.”

“Why not get someone in town? It’ll be much cheaper than whatever they have to offer there.”

Paige gave him a small smile. “Sounds like you have someone you’d like to recommend.”

“I do, actually.” He grinned. “I came out here to talk to you about that. My friend’s son, Travis. He got fired a few months back, wife’s pregnant, so he’d been picking up work to do. He’s good and honest. If you’re looking for someone to work on your house, you should get him; he knows what he’s doing.”

“You know him personally?” Paige asked.

“Yes, watched him grow up.”

“He’s always lived here?”

The second question brought a slight furrowing of brows from Mr. Seymour. “Yes. Don’t worry, I can vouch for him.”

She gave Mr. Seymour a wry smile. “It isn’t that. I just,” she paused for a moment, licking her lips, “I just prefer to work with someone who isn’t a complete stranger.”

“I understand. Do you want his number? You can meet up with him before making any decisions. Don’t hire him just because I asked, all right?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Mr. Seymour reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of folded paper.
 

“Thank you.”
 

He waved it off and said, “Now, let me help.” He took a step forward and looked into the car. Then he glanced up the driveway that led right up to the open space in front of her house. “Why won’t you drive the car up front? Then you don’t have to carry all the things up the slope.”

Paige grimaced, she was hoping Mr. Seymour wouldn’t notice.

She loved the rocky steps on the green grass patch right beside the road and didn’t want to risk ruining them. “I haven’t driven in a while, my driving skills are…rusty. I’m afraid I can’t reverse the car back down without destroying something.”

“If you trust an old man, I can drive it up, unload your things, and return your car right back here.”

She handed Mr. Seymour the keys without a second thought. “I’ll be extremely grateful if you do.”

Paige climbed back up the stony path and watched Mr. Seymour maneuver the car with ease. As she looked on, she reminded herself to set a time to practice her driving, and most importantly, her parking.

“Your car is complicated.”

“Tell me about it. My brother said I should get all those gizmos since my driving skills are so fantastic.”
 

Mr. Seymour laughed and proceeded to help her unload her things, carrying them into her living room.
 

For an old man, Mr. Seymour was rather strong. He carried the three-gallon water bottle without much effort, moving the three bottles without any complaints.

She tried to carry as many of the bags as possible so that she didn’t have to trouble Mr. Seymour anymore than needed.

“Is the electricity and water up?”
 

“Yes, I got my fridge and microwave. But the bathroom isn’t in the best condition.”

“That brings me to the next reason for coming out here. Celia says to use our bathroom if you need to, and she’d like to invite you over for dinner tonight,” he said. “Don’t send me back with a ‘no’, because she’ll send me right out to ask you again before coming here on her own to force you to have dinner with us.”

Paige chuckled softly. She looked over at all the things she’d bought. “I don’t have anything to bring over.”

“Bring yourself. There’s no need to bring anything, she always cooks way too much.”

She smiled, hesitating for a moment.

“She’s a great chef.”

Paige laughed softly. “Okay, I’ll be there.”

Justin sat beside Amy while Travis helped her with the dishes. He got up and leaned against the kitchen counter, taking in the modern look of the house.
 

Though Travis was still living in the house that his father had left him, he’d made significant changes to it.

The white wallpaper with the ugly green leaf motifs had been removed and his walls were now plain white.
 

Most of the furniture in the room were different as well.
 

“So, Justin, Travis says you’re flipping houses?” Amy asked.

He nodded and took another mouth of his beer. “Yeah, I was in Cheyenne, so I thought I’ll drop by and pay a visit.”

“And how are you doing?”

“Good.”

Amy titled her head slightly and narrowed her eyes. “Really? You disappeared for nearly a decade. Now, you’re back in your nice clothes and a pocket full of cash, but still look as unhappy as ever.”

He peered over at his arm and wondered what was so nice about his clothes. He had a batch of them made a while back and had been wearing them since. It was probably time to get some new ones.

Looking back at the petite ginger hair Amy, with a belly that was too huge a burden for a woman her size to handle, his lips curled up. “Who says I’m unhappy. Like you said, I’ve a pocket full of cash.”

“Then I guess you’ve found out that money doesn’t buy happiness. And you have to stop offering money to Travis.”

“Treat it as advance payment. I have my eyes on a few houses in Cheyenne and I’ll need help.”

“Then pay me when I start working. I don’t believe in advances,” Travis interrupted.

Justin raised his hand up in peace. “Fine, just let me know if you guys need anything.”

“Don’t worry about us. There’s someone new in town. She bought the haunted house and Mr. Seymour recommended my service. She already gave me a call just now, I’m supposed to head over to meet her after dinner.”

“Someone bought the haunted house?” he asked, his curiosity over the courageous woman peaked.

“Oh, I want to show you the ultrasound scan of our twins!” Amy pushed herself off the seat and immediately, both Justin and Travis moved over to help.

“I’ll get that,” Travis said.

It was nice to see his two friends together.

He’d known Travis and Amy since they were kids. They were the only ones in the neighborhood who didn’t shun or look down on him.

Amy waved Travis off. “It’s all right. I can’t be sitting around all day. You guys talk.”

“She shouldn’t be walking at all,” Justin said after he was sure Amy couldn’t hear him.

“Try getting her to listen to that.”

“So, the haunted house?”

Travis grinned. “Right, some woman. Paige Watson. Told her I’ll swing by after dinner. From what I know of the house, there’ll be plenty of work to do.”

Before Justin could reply, a yelp came from the stairs and they hurried over to see Amy sitting on the steps.

“Did you fall?” Travis asked as he sprinted up the stairs, conquering three steps in one stride, then help Amy to her feet.

“I slipped. I’m fine, I think.”

“We’re going to the hospital.”

“But you’re supposed to go to the haunted house,” Amy said.

Justin saw Travis hesitate. “I’ll go. You bring her to the hospital.”

Travis looked over at him and nodded. “Thanks.” Helping Amy into his truck, Travis handed Justin the house keys. “Thanks, Just.”

“Go.”

After locking up, Justin drove toward the haunted house in his truck. He was intending to join Travis on the trip anyway. He wanted to see for himself the woman brave enough to take over the infamous haunted house of Pine Bluffs.

The weather appeared to be helping him set the scene for his revisit. The dark clouds that had been hovering over the town started pouring, and along with the strong wind, the heavy drops pelted against his car’s window.

It would be an interesting night.
 

His lips turned into a wide grin as he thought about the house.

One of the stupid things he’d done with Travis when they were young was to dare each other to go into the house. They always went in together, only to dash out of it soon after.
 

He didn’t believe in ghost, but gossips and an overactive mind were more than enough to freak two kids out.

And it wasn’t just them.

With all the graffiti he had seen inside, there were plenty of stupid kids around.

Laughing to himself, he figured Travis was right. There would be work for him there.

He drove into the street he was once so familiar with, moving past the Seymours’ house and continuing toward his destination. A Subaru Forester blocked off the slope leading up to the house. He frowned, wondering why the owner didn’t just park her car right outside the house or at least park it further up so that others could do so.

He was tempted to press on the horn and get the owner to move her car, but he didn’t think Travis would appreciate him being rude to his potentially big client.
 

With a frustrated groan, he parked his car behind the Forester and ran up the slope to the house.
 

Getting wet didn’t bother him much, but he was peeved with how inconsiderate the owner was, especially since she was expecting someone to come over.

He suppressed his annoyance and knocked on the door, all the while standing under the small, pathetic shelter that didn’t do much good in keeping the rain from him.

After knocking for a few times with no answer, he peered through the window into the well-lit house. But there didn’t seem to be anyone inside.

Even before actually meeting the owner, he was ready to leave.

But it wasn’t his job.
 

Travis needed the money and he wasn’t going to screw it up for him.
 

Taking out his phone, he called Travis for Paige’s number. He tugged on his drenched shirt that was sticking to his body and fanned it while he called Paige. “Paige Watson? I’m outside your house,” he said curtly.

There was a slight confusion on the other end of the line and Justin realized that Travis hadn’t informed Paige about sending someone else over. “I’m Justin, Justin Doyle. Travis’s wife slipped and fell. They’re on their way to the hospital now, so he sent me over instead.”

Paige repeated his name and he could hear it being repeated again in the background.
 

He sighed, frustrated with the further delay. Then, he heard a familiar voice on the line telling him that Paige was next door and he should head over to join them for dessert.

The sudden change of events lightened his mood.

He looked out at the rain and shrugged. He was already drenched anyway.
 

Tucking his head, he headed out toward the Seymours’ house.
 

“Justin?”

He squinted through the rain as he heard his name. Between the downpour and the wind that was whipping the rain right into his eyes each time he tried to open them, he couldn’t see who it was. All he saw was some red moving closer toward him.

He continued dashing forward as he heard his name again, this time, nearer to him.

The first thing he saw was her light ember eyes that were brightened by the dark chocolate hair flying around in the wind.
 

She held a red umbrella in her hand, even as she struggled against the wind, and smiled broadly at him. “Justin?” She stepped closer with her arm raised and held the umbrella over him. “Gosh, you’re all wet.”

Justin found himself staring at her as she moved closer. Her head came up to his chest, and she was probably only an inch away from him.
 

He almost wrapped his arm around her shoulder as another wave of wind rushed by and he saw how she tightened her fingers around the umbrella to keep it over them.

He shook his head and took the umbrella from her, bending over slightly and tilting the umbrella forward.
 

When Travis told him that some woman had bought the haunted house, he immediately assumed it was some old lady with plans of retiring in a quiet town. The last thing he’d expected was to see someone like Paige.

Amid the rain, Paige’s eyes seemed to glow, capturing all his attention.

She tucked her brown hair behind her ear and pressed her hand down against it. The rest of her hair continued to drift along as the wind swept by. Her brows drew closer even as she broadened her smile. “I just remembered my car, I should’ve moved it further down the lane. I’m sorry you got wet,” she said, brushing the rain from her face.

The car.
 

Right, he was supposed to be annoyed with her. “Let’s get in before you get drenched as well.”

Justin remained half a step behind her, their shoulders overlapping, as they headed toward the Seymours’.

His height, large bone structure, coupled with his workouts often led to people being cautious of him. But as he watched her, she continued strolling forward, her shoulders relaxed.
 

“Is Travis’s wife all right?” she asked.

“Huh?”

Paige peered over her shoulder and repeated, “Is Travis’s wife all right? You said she slipped and fell. She’s pregnant, right?”

“Oh. She seemed fine, wasn’t in pain or anything, but Travis wanted to make sure.”

Paige nodded and brushed the rain from her arms as they stepped up the deck. She was wearing just a tank top and jeans. Her hair was slightly damped while her jeans were soaked up to her knees.

“You shouldn’t have come out. Now you’re wet, too.”

She shrugged. “It’ll dry off.”

“Justin! Finally back in Pine.”

“Mrs. Seymour.” He bent over and gave the white, curly hair woman a hug. “Like your new look.”