A Fresh Start (13 page)

“You want to know how Mrs. Seymour got Mr. Seymour to wear that awful shirt?”

She laughed and nodded in his chest. “Yeah.”

“Lunch is ready.”

Justin pushed the door of the wardrobe to the side, sliding the door left and right, making sure it was working fine. “Your wardrobe is ready.”

“Yay. My clothes finally have a place to go.” She grinned.

“What are we having today?”

“Four cheese pizza.”

Though he didn’t like eating microwaved frozen meals, he had to admit the four cheese pizza was pretty good. He headed down the stairs with her and sat on the new hardwood floor. Over the past week, while waiting for her furniture, he had ripped off the old floorings and replaced them with the wooden panels.

It was a lot of work, but he had managed to complete them before the furniture arrived.

“Do you know how to cook?” Justin asked.

She laughed softly as she pulled the box of pizza closer toward them. “Simple stuff like spaghetti and salad.”

“Salad doesn’t count. And when you say spaghetti, are you referring to boiling the pasta then pouring in the ready-made sauce?”

“No.” She rolled her eyes. “I can make the sauce, too.”

He took a bite of the pizza and glanced at the boxes in the living room.

“Are you sure I can’t help?” Her forehead puckered.

He reached out and pressed his finger against her forehead. “You are helping.”

“I’m just passing you the stuff you need; it doesn’t seem like much help.”

He put down the slice of pizza and pulled her chair closer toward him. “I like you close by.”

She bit down on her lower lip and turned away while her lips curled up.

He grinned at her reaction. He wanted to continue teasing her, but her reaction always made him want to pull her in for a kiss.

He pushed the thoughts from his head and changed the subject. “Do you want to go buy some plates and stuff for your kitchen and bathroom?”

“Oh, I’m meeting Jane on Friday to go shopping. I’ll get the stuff then.”

“In Cheyenne? You’re driving?”

“Yeah. We’ve been practicing. Besides, my car can park itself.”

He had been practicing with Paige over the weekends and she was getting better. But whenever it came to parking manually, she would get all panicky. “Your parking is fine. You just need to trust yourself.”

“Do you want to get anything?”

“Some real food?”

“The stove will be here by Friday?”

He nodded and said, “It’ll be here tomorrow.”
 

“Okay.”

“Really?”

“You said you’ll be done with all these tomorrow. So when I get home on Friday with the real food, you won’t be here anymore.”

“Chasing me out already? I remember someone still owes me five dinners for all this.” His thumb jerked toward the stack of boxes in the living room.

“I remember. If I make the dinner, does it count as two since it takes more effort?”

“No. And after looking at the amount of work, I’m thinking of raising it to 10.”

“That’s ridiculous. We agreed on five.”

“You don’t have much of a choice. Either we bump that up to 10, or you’ll have to do it on your own.”

“That’s blackmail.”

“Yes it is.”

She laughed softly. “Fine, 10.” She took a bite of her pizza.

“Besides, you still want the deck, right?”

“Yeah. I almost forgot about that.”

“So, when you get home on Friday, I’ll be here.” He picked up another slice of pizza and took a bite.
 

“What?” Paige asked. “Feels like you have a question for me.”

“Why did you have to hold two jobs in New York?”

She shrugged. “I don’t like to waste my time. Going out to party at night feels like a waste of time to me. And I kept reading on the news about how veterans couldn’t find jobs.”

“You’re worried about your brother.”

She nodded slowly. “I thought I could set some money aside for Drew. Why?”

“The photos you received; they chronicled your life. And it just seems like you didn’t do much.”

“I know I have a boring life.”

“Then when you were painting, you used to learn Italian while working. You have to make full use of all your time.”

Paige arched a brow and waited.

“I’m curious to know what do you do for fun?”

“I read.”

“That’s not fun. What do you do for fun outside the house?”

Paige picked up her glass of water and took a sip.

“After lunch, we’re clearing this, then I’m taking you out.”

“What?” She set her glass down. “But we’re not done here. All the boxes—”

“You have an issue with leaving things half done?” He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at her.

She shook her head. “Fine.” Again, she looked over at all the boxes leaning against the wall.

Justin stretched his hand across the table and took her hand. “Leave it. They’ll still be here when we get back.”

“Where are we going?”

“Outside, for some fun. Wear jeans.”

“Okay,” she said, dragging out the second syllabus.

“Don’t look so worried. I promise we’re not jumping out of a plane or anything major.”

She shook her head, laughing.
 

They finished up lunch and cleared up the place. After which, Justin went home for a quick bath and returned to pick Paige up.

He got out of his car and went over to the passenger side, opening the door for her.

She hurried over in her blue denim jeans and black T-shirt. “Am I dressed right?” she asked with a smile, looking down at her black and white sneakers.

“Yeah.”

She got into the car and asked when he got in, “Where are we going?”

“Cheyenne.”

“For?”

“For fun.”

She stared at him for a moment then turned away from him.

Justin took at peek at Paige. He could understand why her brother was so protective of her.

She was so trusting.
 

He couldn’t imagine how life in town would’ve become for her if she had ended up befriending the Bradleys and their allies first. She was nothing like them. She didn’t like to gossip, and she stood up against them when she thought they were going overboard.

Then there were the letters.

If he’d known, he would’ve chosen a better security system; the best that technology could offer.

Even as he thought about that, his mind was made up. He was going to stay in town until she started work. At least by then, she wouldn’t have to stay in the house alone all day.

“Lions Park,” Paige read the capitalized white words against the brown signboard.

Justin grinned as they drove past the two tower like structure guarding the entrance into the park.
 

She propped her elbow by the window and looked out at the trees on the green grass patch that was right beside the road.
 

There weren’t many trees in Pine Bluffs and most of them were of the basic green that didn’t spark much interest. She gaze out at the various types of trees and the different shades of green. Amid the greens stood a few that glowed light orange.

She thought about the last time she took a stroll through Central Park during the cherry blossom season. That was years ago, and she had only gone there because her mother was visiting and she knew her mom would enjoy the view.
 

She got out of the car and looked around, placing her hand over her brows, shielding herself from the glare of the sun. She turned around when she heard Justin closing the driver side door. “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere. We’re just going to walk around.”

She pursed her lips and looked over at the park. She always had a destination and a point in going anywhere.

She only shopped when she knew exactly what she wanted to get; she didn’t enjoy walking around the mall to look at everything.

“It’ll be fun. Come on.” Justin stepped away from the car and stretched his hand toward her.

She moved over and took his hand. “Have you been here?”

“When I was much younger. The Seymours used to take me here once in a while.”

There wasn’t many people in the park. A few couple sat on the few benches facing the lake, having a quiet lunch.
 

Paige moved up to one of the glowing orange trees and ran her finger along the leaf’s veins.
 

“The colors will get darker, redder towards October. We can come back again,” Justin said, standing right behind her.
 

She tilted her head toward him and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth radiating from his chest.
 

He took her hand again and continued strolling toward the lake, moving toward a small shelter with some canoes and paddle boats.
 

“We’re not going out on the lake, are we?”

“You can’t swim?”

“Of course I can, but I’m not good at it. And I hate canoeing; my arms don’t have the strength for that.”

“We’ll get the paddle boats. I’m sure your legs are strong enough.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Wait here.”

Justin went over to the man seated in the shelter while she looked out at the empty, unmoving lake. She took in a deep breath, taking in the slightly damp but fresh air. Mixed into the air was a light pine scent, probably from the trees surrounding the other side of the lake.

Justin jogged over with a grin. “Ready?”

“No, but I don’t think I have a choice,” she said grudgingly.
 

He led her over to the boat and helped her in. She had one leg in when the paddle boat shook.

She tightened her grip on his hand and he immediately reached over to support her elbow.

“It’s okay, I got you.”

She sighed and smiled. His soft, serious voice always spoke right to her heart.

She got in and Justin kept her hand in his until she was seated.

“You all right?”

“Yeah.”

He went around and got in. “Let’s go.”

She laughed and started paddling. They paddled all the way out to the middle of the lake when Justin shifted his leg off the paddle.

“Let’s play a game.”

She tipped her head back.
 

“Come on. That’s today’s objective. To do stupid things and waste time.”

“All right. What game do you want to play?”

Justin pulled out his phone from his back pocket and waved it. He scanned through the app store and downloaded the monopoly game.

“We’re going to sit in the middle of the lake and play monopoly. Are you serious?”

“I’ve already downloaded it. Loser will be pushed off the boat.”

“Can I push you down now?”

He placed his phone on his lap and twisted his torso toward her. “You think you can push me off the boat?”

She pretended to crack her fingers, but ended up laughing. “You’re irritating.”

He reached over and brushed his thumb against her lower lip. “You’re beautiful.”

That voice.
She pursed her lips and looked down.

“Let’s begin,” he said. “Choose your token.” He handed the phone to her.

They played the game while paddling around the lake, with Justin teasing her about her impending dip in the lake.

Paige laughed so hard that her sides were aching, and her cheeks were so sore that it was becoming a torture to laugh. “Please stop,” she begged, her hands wrapped across her abdomen.

Justin pushed her hair back, smoothing down her hair. “Are you having fun?”

She focused on taking a few deep breaths before answering. “I guess so, but it’s getting kind of torturous.”

With another few rounds, Justin won the game. He returned the phone to his pocket and reached, grabbing her firmly by her shoulders. He gave her a jolt, then grinned when she didn’t cringe or show any fear.

“You’re not going to push me in,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“And you know that because?”

“Because if you do that, I know Mrs. Seymour will nag at you for the rest of your life.”

He leaned in closer until their eyes were leveled. “Is that a threat?”

“Absolutely.”

He grinned and ran his hand down her jaw. “I’ll let you off this time.”

They paddled back and continued to explore the place on foot.

Three hours into their do-stupid-things-and-waste-time day, she went into the washroom and her eyes widened when she saw herself in the mirror.
 

She had to stop skipping her sunscreen.
 

Her forehead, bridge of her nose, and cheeks were flushing pink. She wet her hands and patted them against her face. She checked her arms and repeated the process on them.

She didn’t want the day to end just yet.

They hadn’t done much but talked and laughed over the past few hours. They still had tons to do back at home, but she didn’t care.

She wanted to continue wasting the day away with Justin.

For I know the plans I have for you, plans for good…

Maybe this was why everything happened; a fresh start.
 

God never forgot her.

What she thought was an escape from her stalker, a loss of her job and things she had in New York, was God’s way of reminding her what was truly important.

She stepped out of the washroom and grinned at Justin.

“Tired? Do you want to head back?”

“No, I don’t want to go back yet.”

His lips curled to reflect her grin, but his brows suddenly drew closer and he moved his hands as a shield over her forehead. “Sunburn?”

She swept his hands away. “Just a little.”

“We’re leaving,” he said. “We’ll go somewhere else with shade.”

Her smile returned. “Okay.” She placed her hand into his outstretched palm. “And where is that?”

He shrugged. “Anywhere.”

Since the epiphany she had on the lazy Wednesday afternoon, Paige had begun to realize how little fun she had in the past. She thought about the photos and the life she had before the stalking.
 

The stalking didn’t destroy her life. She didn’t have much of a life even before then.