JOSIE
What the fuck just happened?I ask myself as I lean my ass on the table behind me, feeling my legs turn to Jell-O. It’s like someone else possessed my body, and I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. Like my whole being’s sole goal was to aggravate and push him just so I could see how far he’d go.
Iwantedhim to go off the rails. I pretty much begged for it with those ‘good boy’ comments. I wasn’t wrong though—the sheriff looks like a guy who likes to solve everyone’s problems and carry them on his mighty shoulders. Whereas I am a girl who’d end up in the back seat of his cruiser in cuffs. And not the fun kind. I might look all polished and expensive now, but the truth remains the same—you can take a girl away from a deep country with questionable values, but you can’t take the country out of a girl. Turns out, it takes me half a breath to revert to my roots and turn into a prickly rebel.
I need to interrogate Alicia about him carefully—after all, he’s the local law, and I need a lot of help with the permits and help with certain people. Things I can’t do now because I’ve been clearly placed on the sheriff’s shit list. I’ve never fucked up a project so badly before, especially before it even started.
I can’t even blame him—I was way out of line here. And why did I try to escape him? I guess old habits die hard. It was sort of embarrassing and I don’t know what possessed me, but it also felt very cool and liberating. Something I couldn’t afford to do for a long time since I was trying to maintain my appearance of being this professional and expensive badass who shits rainbows and farts designer glitter.
Always being calm, cool, collected, and on top of my game was exhausting, but I understood that only when I dropped the act for the first time a couple of months ago when I got fired and stuck with nothing but thin-crust pizza and my knowledge of the industry. This turned out to be insufficient since knowing the right people is apparently the only way to bloom in the big city. After that, I understood how hard it was to always keep myself in check. Always smile at everyone and respond to every single phone call from my clients, no matter the time or the circumstances. Sometimes, their demands were ridiculous, but I had to find a way to resolve the issue and pull a pink rabbit out of a hat with holes because the clients were always right. Even if they wanted a fluffy rug in front of their fireplace.
I think the sheriff is doing the same thing I’ve been doing for years. So now, naturally, after tasting freedom, I want everyone around me to feel the same liberty of just being themselves.
As I start walking around the house and taking measurements, I think about Archie’s warning about my car. I was too stubborn to listen to him, but he turned out to be right. Unfortunately. I might need to think about other driving arrangements while I’m here because the location of this place is remote, to say the least. But since he didn’t take my car seriously, I refuse to rent another car. Maybe I’ll find a horse.
Yes, that sounds like a plan. After all, I know how to ride one.
This house is a long project and won’t be livable for a long time, so I must also find a rental. Where is that charming cottage with a hot neighbor? I’ve read too many of Alicia’s books. They’ve raised my expectations for small towns too much.
By the time I’m done with all the measurements and look out the window, it’s gotten pretty late. After checking my phone, I understand I’m stuck here since the roads are shit, and it’s past seven and getting dark quickly. Not knowing the way around town, I can’t drive from here in my little car for fear of getting stuck in the middle of the forest alone at night. Getting stuck here totally beats being stranded out there. Even with the threat of an unstable roof over my head. But I can always ask Alicia and her boyfriend to come and pick me up. Mark has a big-ass truck, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.
Still, I hate being a burden.
I look at the ceiling and groan in annoyance with myself for losing track of time and being too stubborn to listen to Archie.Crap. Fetching my phone, I find Alicia’s number and press Dial. And nothing. My eyes dart to the corner of the screen and find no bars. Just great. I move around the house, trying to find reception. The more rooms and windows I walk to, the less hope I have. No bars anywhere.
Well, I got my wish of being stuck here. The only way to get out of here is to go to my tiny car and pray that I don’t end up in a ditch since the mud definitely hasn’t dried out even a bit and that some random wandering bear doesn’t find me.
Locking the house behind me—again, a useless task since no squatters can even get here, but old habits and responsibilities die hard—I walk to my car, looking around. It’s gotten really dark. Looks like I spent quite some time wandering around the house looking for reception and lost precious minutes of light.
I climb into my vintage baby and slowly turn it around toward the road. This time, I don’t have a police officer chasing me, so I carefully press the gas pedal, paying close attention to the road ahead of me.
Sometime later, I let myself relax since everything’s going great.
Shush.Swish.Bum.
A blink later, I find my car sliding into a ditch, and there is nothing I can do about it. I try pressing the gas, then the brake, then the gas again. I turn the wheel in all directions but still end up in a ditch.Fucking awesome.
I push the door open and step outside, shin-deep into the gooey mud. Lifting one foot, I say goodbye to my fantastic shoe I used to love so much because it staysinthe mud, and I don’t see how my favorite pair of perfectly lacquered mules can survive this.
“You must be kidding me,” I murmur as I bend to retrieve my shoe but lose balance and fall forward. It all happens in under two seconds.
“C’mon!” I yell to the universe. My hands instinctively get thrown forward, preventing me from smashing my face into the dirt, but nothing else is so lucky.
“Fuckity fuck!” I yell, smacking my open palm into the mud, making sure the splashes reach the very last untouched spot—my face. I groan loudly and smack it again until I no longer have any anger left in me.
The bushes to my right rustle, and I freeze, my mouth open, ready with another curse word.
Another rustle.
I’m too scared to breathe, remembering the horror stories Alicia has told me about local bears and their one-sided ‘love’ for newcomers. Me. I’m the newcomers. And she didn’t tell me what that ‘love’ entailed.
I try to push myself up, but my foot is still stuck in the mud, so I pull it harder, freeing it in the process but leaving the last shoe in the same mud. Saying a final goodbye to my favorite shoes with the “Bat-Bitch” vibe, I push away from the ground and scatter toward the car.
But I’m not fast enough—a low rumble sounds behind me just as heavy paws pad from the bushes. Toward me.
Motherfucking shitty shit!
A bear. A fucking bear! Coming my way!
