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Chapter Twelve – December 13 - Addy

It had been almost a month since Hurricane Kevin had left town. Every morning I tore through the fields behind the cabin with Robin Hood, trying to ignore the memories that were conjured up. Even though I thought often of Mason (and admittedly, Kevin), I was glad that life had returned to normal. I liked waking up in the morning and knowing what to expect.

I had practically succumbed to a panic attack the morning that dad and I drove Kevin to Lexington Memorial. It had been almost ten years since I had walked the halls of that hospital and the sheer memory threw me into a cold bath of horror. Dad could sense my fear; he put his arm around me as I looked around at the all too familiar walls.

"You want to leave?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Again, I shook my head. Dad had been trying to get me to talk about it for years. It was a story I never wanted him to know.

And as much as I wanted to leave the hospital, I couldn't; I needed to make sure that Kevin was going to be okay. I didn't want anyone dying on my watch. Dad and I had sat in the waiting room for what seemed like forever before a nurse had led Kevin's mom into the room. She wanted to meet the person who had saved her son's life.

The Kevin she talked about was a completely different person than I had ever met. She must have felt the same way; as I described the scene I had walked into, she shook her head in disbelief.

"He's always been the strong one," she told me. "This is all Kristin's fault."

At my blank look, she filled me in on the back story. As she talked about Kristin's desire to take Mason, a little bit of Kevin's inane logic seemed to become clearer.

Not that it made me any less furious.

Looking back, I have to admit that my meltdown in his hospital room was probably a bit uncalled for. I would have at least taken back the punch to his shoulder. Even now, his acidic words came back to me every so often and I knew now that he had been right.

I didn't know anything about him.

That was why I was glad when his brother had come and emptied the cabin. I knew he was back in Lexington, which was where he needed to be. And I was back in Sadieville, far away from that damned city and the part of my past I never wanted to revisit.

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I had slept late this morning; Dad was already gone to the office. I was feeling especially lazy; Christmas was two short weeks away. It was always my favorite season. Dad would make his warm cinnamon cider and we would chop down a tree a week before Christmas and decorate it with all of the old family ornaments. Dad’s favorite was a reindeer I had made out of popsicle sticks in second grade. Poor Rudolph’s red pompom nose was incredibly crusty, but he cherished it all the same.

I dressed in heavy layers, deciding to walk into town this morning. I slid into tall white boots and my puffy white ski jacket. I tugged a white faux rabbit fur cap on my head, complete with white flopping tassel. I was dressed like a twelve year old and I loved it.

As I walked along the empty streets I kicked snow up into big flaky clouds. A little snow family sat in front of the Wilcox’s house. Their twins, Susan and Savannah had even made a snow kitty, complete with a white marshmallow nose and white straws for whiskers.

Farther down the block sat the Farris home. Thomas Farris had died three weeks ago. His family, all from out of town, had quickly put the home up for sale. I was so used to seeing the For Sale sign that at first I walked by without giving it a second thought. I walked past two more houses before I stopped and turned.

The For Sale sign had a Sold sign across it.

This might not seem unusual, but for a house to sell that fast in Sadieville was a rare occurrence. I knew of two houses that had been for sale since I was practically born. Eventually the town turned one into a small library; the other one was decorated up as a haunted house every Halloween.

I turned onto Main Street, still thinking about the house. I opened the door to dad’s office and walked inside, already pulling off my gloves. My mouth was watering for some hot chocolate. The microwave dad used for heat packs did dual duty in the winter; I went through instant hot chocolate with mini marshmallows like crazy.

As I sat down in one of the hard plastic chairs to take off my boots, I heard voices coming from the exam room. I looked at the clock; I had overslept, but still dad rarely had anybody in the office this early in the morning. As I was peering into the microwave, I heard the door to the exam room open.

“I really appreciate the advice Dr. Selinski.”

“Hey, you’re an official Sadievillian now. Call me Chris.”

I turned around, my eyes wide with surprise. I knew that voice anywhere.

It was Kevin.

“What are you doing here?” I said, a little louder than I had intended.

His head swiveled in my direction; he broke out into a grin. I hadn’t seen one of those before except for when he beat me in the horse race. That had been a triumphant “na-na” taunting grin; this was actually…friendly. It was the type of grin that would melt make most girls start shedding their clothes right then and there. I wasn't "most" girls. I raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

“Hello Addy,” he said. “It’s good to see you again.”

I didn’t know what to say. I stared at him like he was an alien from Planet Cuckoo.

“Honey, your water’s bowling over.”

“Shit!”

I turned around and stopped the microwave. A large burst of steam escaped the door. I wadded a mass of paper towels and began to dab at the water on the rotating tray. The cup would have to cool before I was going to touch it.

“Why are you doing here?” I asked again. I kept my back to him.

“I wanted to stop by and thank you and your dad,” he said softly. It was the same soft tone I had only ever heard him use for Mason. I turned my head. He was staring at me, his hands clasped in front of him politely.

“Thank us?” I said. I tossed the paper towels in the trash. “What for?”

“Well, I wanted to thank your dad for getting me to the hospital,” Kevin explained. “And I wanted to thank you for giving me a kick in the ass.”

I didn’t know what to say. I stood there awkwardly.

“And,” Kevin continued. “I also wanted to let you both know that I’m an official town resident.”

I sputtered. “What?!” My mind went automatically to the Sold sign I had passed just this morning. “You mean that cabin right?”

Kevin shook his head. “Everyone was right. That wasn’t any place to live, especially for Mason. A house went up for sale a few weeks ago and I signed the papers this morning.”

He held up a house key. I looked over at my dad. He was smiling.

“Kevin bought the Farris place,” he explained.

“Why?” I blurted out. Dad frowned; rudeness was something he looked down upon. At the moment, my rudeness meter was through the roof.

“Well, for one, as part of my divorce settlement, I had to sell my house in Lexington. I was going to do that anyhow, but it just helped me move things along a bit faster. I wanted to get a house in an area with a low crime rate and within close distance to a good private school. There’s one right smack dab between here and the next town. Then of course there’s that barn behind my house so I can stop paying stable fees on my horse. And lastly, there’s just something about this place that I kind of like.”

I was confused. This wasn't the surly guy I knew.

Who are you?” I blurted out. I couldn't help it.

“Adelaide!” dad admonished. Kevin just shook his head.

“No, she’s right. Listen, I know we got off on the wrong foot,” he said. “I’ve never acted like that before, and I’m sorry. Can we start over?”

I didn’t know if I wanted to start over. When he and I weren’t getting along I felt safe. I didn’t like guys being truly nice to me.

It never ended well.