A newly expanded and professionally edited version of the Boy in the Woods is now available for sale as an ebook and paperback! Buy it at Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and many other online outlets. Winner of the 2014 Wattys Talk of...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
As soon as Jess and Doug arrived home after leaving Louise's house, Doug got out of the car without a word. When Jess got out, she refused to look at him but she could tell he was heading to the front door instead of the kitchen like they normally did. Before she'd made it very far down the drive, she heard the front door slam shut, but she didn't care.
Doug's silence in the car on the ride home had let her know he was still angry about having to go to Dwyer's Drugs, but she was just as angry at him. Even though he hadn't ruined the day for Louise, thanks to Jess keeping her from noticing his behavior, he'd still ruined it for her. This was the first time she'd been able to have an outing with a friend since she'd moved there, and it was going to be a long time before she forgave him.
When she entered the kitchen, she smelled ham baking in the oven and Annie was at the table cutting up peeled potatoes.
"Hi, Jess!" she said, her face lighting up. "Did you have fun with your friend?"
"Uh, yeah! We had a swell time!" she answered, trying her best to sound convincing.
She knew Doug had acted the way he did because of what had happened between Annie and Mr. Dwyer's son. Judging by how uncomfortable Annie had been when Jess had questioned her about it in the past, she knew Annie wouldn't welcome it being brought up now. And besides, there was no point in making her feel bad for being the cause of Doug's bad behavior.
"Did she like the books?"
"She loved them," Jess said with a smile, going to give her a hug.
"That's good. Where's Doug?"
"Uh, I guess he's too full to want a snack."
"Oh, are you full too? I was going to fix your basket but if you're not hungry –."
"No! I mean, I will be," Jess insisted, thinking fast. "I just had a little ice cream." And then she cringed inside, realizing she'd practically given away where they'd gone with Louise. She kept her smile going, praying Annie didn't put ice cream and the soda fountain at Dwyer's together in her mind.
"Oh, alright," Annie replied, turning back to her potatoes and Jess slumped with relief. "Why don't you get changed and I'll get started on it in just a second."
"Thanks, Annie," she said heading for the stairs, grateful the conversation was over.
Once she was in her room, she changed into her outdoor clothes, already feeling better. After all the tension that afternoon between her, Doug, and Marty, she would soon be at the cabin where she could relax in Marty's peaceful presence.
When she reached the clearing, she wasn't surprised the front door of the cabin was closed since Marty had been delayed making his deliveries. After she let herself in, she went straight to the kitchen and began setting out the food, knowing the extra time he'd be taking would mean he'd be even more hungry than usual. Just as she was putting the last of the food on the table, she heard a quiet, "Hi, Jess." Smiling as she looked up, her heart leapt with joy seeing Marty smiling back at her.
