Chapter 305

Bonus 5: The Tease

Enzo

Dust and sweat clung to my skin as I wrestled with the new living room furniture.

It was a final touch to the renovations we’d been slogging through for months, transforming our once dull house into a vibrant home. Despite the exhaustion tugging at my muscles, a sense of satisfaction washed over me as I looked around the house. Our house.

Just as I was finishing up on the final bench for our massive dining room table, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

A picture of Nina lit up the screen, her smile making my lips curve in response. “Hey, love,” I answered, using my cleanest elbow to press the speaker button.

“Enzo,” she started, and I could already hear the hesitation in her voice.

“I… uh… had a little run-in with a raccoon. I maybe… sort of… kind of got myself stuck in a ditch.”

The last part of her sentence came out all at once like an avalanche. I could tell immediately that she was embarrassed. And I was a man; it was my job to capitalize on her embarrassment. What good would it be if I didn’t tease my fiancee a little?

I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. A raccoon?” 1 chortled. “Are you telling me you swerved off of the road because of a little raccoon?”

“Yes, okay! It was scary, alright? And I didn’t wanna hit it!” Nina huffed on the other end of the line. I could almost see her pouting, her arms crossed in defiance.

I couldn’t stop myself from teasing her relentlessly; to think that Nina Harper, the strong and independent woman who pretty much single-handedly saved the entire town of Mountainview from the Crescents, survived on her own with a bullet hole in her leg, got spooked by a little raccoon.

tease as I stood and wiped the sawdust off of

said, ignoring

took on a more serious

out a small sigh of relief. “Just artnoyed, both at myself and that damn

pick up Nina, I hung up and prepared to leave. Just as I was heading out the door, however, a glint caught my eye. I frowned as I approached the little hallway table that sat near

my mother in a cracked frame, forgotten in the whirlwind of renovations. I picked it up gently, tracing the image of her smiling face. I missed her. It wasn’t fair that she wouldn’t be

I wanted nothing more than to make up for those lost years, to finally come

made on this house; my mother likely would have loved the bright colors and the eclectic furniture. I think that my father would have liked it,

just a way for him to punish himself, a way to convey the feeling in his heart that his life had become void of

mental note to pick up a new frame

satisfied look around the nearly finished living room, I

headed to the car. Not even ten minutes down the road, I spotted her. As I pulled up next to Nina’s car in the ditch, I found her sitting on the hood

expression struck me as comical, and I

my father’s truck, but I decided to use it rather than let it sit in the garage and

steal much of anything. The act of ransacking my dad’s house was more of a way to show their disrespect than anything else. They may as well have spat on his grave. But

I could see a smile tugging at

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