Meant for Me | ✔️

12) it's personal

Friday 16th August.

Z A C

Addie was the sort of beautiful that you would see on the understated girl in a bad lifetime film. The girl that was cast as the best friend beside some tall, blonde pageant queen but the viewers were obviously looking at the secondary character and wondering why she wasn't in the spotlight because she was so gorgeous that surely she should have been the one that was caught in a dramatic love triangle.

We walked upstairs once we got back to the farm, arms full of her belongings. Which in the grand scheme of things, wasn't a lot. She was still wearing a large T-shirt and shorts so small that I couldn't see them at all until I was a few steps behind her. It was hard not to stare but I wasn't a creep so I watched my feet until we hit the landing.

"Same room that I stayed in last weekend?"

"Yep," I nodded and gestured in the direction of the spare room that I'd prepared for her. No one had slept in it since she had, but I put down fresh sheets and cleaned the en-suite anyway. "You can do whatever in here. Hang photos or add decor. Make it personal if you want."

We stopped at the threshold and she looked around. "I don't have photos or personal stuff but thanks."

Of course she didn't. "Alright, well, you go ahead and settle in. I have to get outside fix a few of the hinges on the stable doors."

She looked me over, fast, lashes fluttering as she nodded and gave me one of those tight lipped smiles that I think she believed were full and convincing. It was always tempting to ask her how her sister died, it obviously wasn't something they had seen coming and it was tragic enough to give her nightmares so horrific that she screamed the entire house down. As much as I wanted to know, I wouldn't ask her.

I closed her door and headed downstairs, passing the sitting room where dad was in his armchair with an old album in his lap. He wasn't looking through the photos, just staring out of the window at the vast rolling hills and landscape. Most of what could be seen belonged to him. Something that he worked hard for his entire life but no longer seemed to appreciate the same way he did when mom was alive.

"You alright, pops?"

He flinched and his focus came back to the present. Smiling, he stood up and nodded.

"Need anything?"

"Na na," he said. "Just doing some thinking. How's this morning's work coming along?"

"Yeah not bad. I'm just about to head down and fix those stable doors. Uh Addie is upstairs sorting herself out and settling in. She might be down at some point, just mentioning it."

"Oh of course," he nodded and we wandered through into the dining area on the other side of the passage. Blake, the housekeeper, must have done one of her thorough sanitising wipe downs with the disinfectant. It stunk of citrus, the sort that stung the nostrils. "Kind of her to help Raine out with her wedding."

I nodded and stepped out of the French doors and onto the deck to find Blake getting morning tea organised for the staff. There weren't a lot of staff. Me, Hallie and Kev, the horse trainers and their son, Cain, who helped out with the basic's like cleaning the stables and feeding the horses and laying grass seeds. Whatever odd jobs that needed to be done.

"Zac," Blake was setting items from a tray and onto the table. Items like milk and sugar and cups. Her frail hands had a slight tremor and her shoulders were hunched as she leaned over and set it all out. "Does the new guest have food allergies?"

"Oh," I looked into the house but saw no one else besides dad who shrugged as if I'd been seeking for the answer from him. "I don't know. I'll ask her." I thought for a moment and then added, "she likes the scrambled eggs, a lot."