No Shots Missed

Chapter Five- Happy Dances and Hard Truths

(Taylor's POV)

A two-hour drive, listening to a wonderful book did great things for my mood and then I pulled into the driveway, realised that both Gabby and Zane were already here and my chest positively bubbled with happiness.

I backed my truck into my spot and pushed the park button, letting my gaze track up to our cottage and down to the lake, smooth as glass. The sun was starting to lower and I knew I needed to get inside so we could all take in the sunset together.

Five years ago when Zane had sent me the real estate listing for this place, I had laughed in his face. The idea of owning this monstrosity had felt foreign. An impossible pipe dream.

As my eyes ran over the white siding and never ending chestnut porch, I was incredibly thankful that Zane was a persistent bugger.

A year after our initial refusal, with a few more wins for Gabby and I, and a five year Tower contract for him, Zane reapproached us. He'd treated us to dinner and plied us with good wine before handing us each a folder. Our beautiful beast of a cottage had sat vacant for a year and he was convinced that we could get it for under asking price. He'd also done his homework, punched numbers on what each of us would need and what our payments would look like.

He'd been clear, "It'll only work, if we are equal partners." Being invited to buy a family cottage with my two best friends was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up and now, parked and letting the comfort of home send warm fuzzies through my heart, it was the best choice I had ever made.

I reached down, grunting at the weight of the groceries that I'd picked up while in town. As I closed my door, I heard a high pitched shriek and was pummeled into my truck door by sixty pounds of gurgling excitement, the groceries dropped to the ground, unimportant. "Auntie Tay Tay!"

Janessa gave me one of her giant squeezes, and her scent of sunscreen and joy invaded my nostrils. She held me as tight as humanly possible for a solid ten seconds. Then, having stood still longer than her norm, she was off again, hustling towards the house. Her mouth was moving non-stop, making me laugh, "Nessa, I can't hear you because you're too far away."

She turned around, realizing that I was still picking up the groceries that had dropped and shot me a bashful look before running back down to help me.

Nessa only had one speed. Super, and she went at super speed all day long, until she crashed completely.

"Thanks, Lovebug." She smiled at me sweetly as she took one of the lighter bags from my hands and I grabbed my backpack from the back seat and handed it to her. "Okay, what were you saying?" I asked, as she slipped the straps over her shoulders. I grabbed my giant purse, as well as the remaining bags and we walked towards the main house.

Janessa laughed, "We waited for you to eat dinner. Everything's set up on the back porch." Those warm fuzzies danced around in my heart and with everything we needed in tow, we made our way to the steps.

They led up to the wooden porch that wrapped around the entire cottage. It was one of my favourite features because we had various cozy nooks set up all around the outside. Each little space was decorated with accents of different shades of blue. They were perfect to set up with a cup of coffee and a good book.

"Through here, Tay." She spoke as if I didn't know my way around, making me smile at her exuberance. If there was a chance to boss someone around, this eight year old didn't miss it. "Hurry up."

"Okay, little Miss Bossy Pants." She giggled, as I poked her and we worked to put away all the groceries together. The kitchen was still relatively clean for after dinner. The lack of explosive dishes, a clear indicator that Zane hadn't been our chef for the evening. "Your mom cooked tonight, huh?"