East Of Eden

Chapter 9

NOVEMBER
(1 month later)

After spending a whole month in a chilly house only having one mattress in my house, I finally have everything done. Through all of October, I installed my heater and air conditioner. I gave all of the old furniture in the house to the only church in the town to give to whoever needed it. My house still smells like paint. Every room was painted a new color. Most of the house is a beige or a soft cement gray. One of the guest bedrooms is a forest green and the other is pastel white.

My bedroom is my favorite part of the house. I bought a king ranch bed frame and Tempur-pedic mattress. I have 6 fluffy pillows covering the top half of the bed to sleep with. The big windows are draped with curtains at it sides and are pulled to cover the sun if I want to sleep in. I refurbished the outside of the house and repainted it the same color. I hired and a gardening team to maintain the tress, shrubs, and grass, but they don't come out until the spring.

It has been warm through out October. It only gets a little chilly at night. The day is usually around 70 degrees. After all my furniture delivered I asked Laly and Erica to help me. I met Erica a week after my move into the house. She is incredibly amazing and funny. All three of us have been hanging out a lot and going to dinner.

My house is finished to perfection and I can't believe that I'm living on my own. I just need to go into town tomorrow morning so I can shop for more things. I need more groceries in my fridge and I need to buy pots and pans. I click my lap off and lay on my back. The night sounds of swaying trees and crickets and I drift of into sleep dreaming of Nathan by my side in the bed.

I slowly open my eyes as the morning sun shines through the large windows. I stretch my arms out and arch my back to wake my body from my slumber. My silk robe is hanging on a hook a couple feet away from my bed. I wrap the cold material around my body and slide my feet into my slippers. As I put a pot of coffee to brew I turn on the T.V that sits on a counter across the island. The weather man reports that we will be having rainstorms through the rest of he week at night which will break Hamdem's drought that lasted two months. I cook myself some breakfast and get ready to head to town.

The drive to town felt fast I think to myself as I pull a paper bag from a tray and look around a small outside farmers market. Stands all lined up are filled with fresh fruit and vegetables. I walk around deciding what I will need for the week and for dinner. Erica and Laly are coming over and I wanted to cook a home cooked meal. Perhaps, lasagna or Chicken Corden Blue. I decide on lasagna so I look around for a tomato stand. It takes a few moments to realize that I'm right next to one and I mentally slap myself. "Hello, need some fresh tomatoes?" A sweet old lady says through her southern accent. "Yes, I do." I smile. "Well here you are." She beckons to the stand. "You want to pick fresh ones." She says as if it's a secret. "Well how do I know which ones are fresh?" I curiously ask. "Well you don't want to get the ripe ones, the ones that are green. You want to get the red ones." She explains as she picks one from the stand. "Then you grab ahold of one and grip it tight, not to right and see if it feels sturdy or mushy. The sturdy ones are the ones you want. Last, you smell." She pulls the tomato to her nose and gets a good whiff. "You can smell the freshness. Here." She puts the tomato to in front of me. I bend down slightly and I smell. "It smells good." I tell her. "Mhmm." Is all she says. "Here, sweetheart." She hands me three tomatoes, which all look in good condition. I place them at the bottom of my paper bag and pull out a $5. I hand it to her. "No, honey. On the house. First time is free." "How do you know this is my first time?" I smirk. "Small town, honey." She explains and sends me off without taking my money. I walk off to look at the other stands to maybe get some apples maybe to make an apple pie for desert.

"Holly?" A voice pops from the side. I quickly turn my head to the familiar voice and Kaleb is standing there holding a paper bag and a nostalgic look on his face.

"Oh my God, Kaleb." I smile at him. We walk to each other to hug. I wrap my left around around his head and he smells good. His buff arms feel nicely around my waist. "So you actually live here, now?" He chuckles. "Yes." I smug. "That's crazy where do you live?" He asks. "I live on the White-Leaf property." I answer. "White-Leaf?" He sounds shocked. "Yeah." I laugh. "Wait, how is that possible?" He is in disbelief. "The lady who used to live there, she doesn't anymore." I explain. "Did she die?" He asks flatly. "What?! No!" I laugh. "She just moved. Now I'm living there." I smile. "But that house has to be worth a lot, I mean doesn't that property have its own lake?" He's confused. "Um yeah, I came into some family money." I lie. My breathing hitches giving away I'm lying. He doesn't seem to notice. "Well that's awfully nice." He smiles. "So how do you like Hamdem?" He continues. "It's honestly amazing, it's really starting to feel like home." My heart warms at such a feeling.

I look into his eyes and they're so lovely. "So are you going back home for Thanksgiving or the holidays?" He asks. "Um, I don't know." I haven't even thought about that. "Maybe." I just say. "It's kinda weird, seeing you after what we did at the motel." He says. I snap my head. "Ugh, that was a weird thing to say." He rubs the back of his head and chuckles nervously. I laugh at him. My stomach flutters and I gasp at the memory. If I'm being totally honest with myself I want to do it again. The thought of it turns me on. I look into his eyes and he really is hot. "I hope we can hang out soon." I tell him. He looks up at me and smiles. "I hope so too." He pink full lips turn up into a smile.