doing?” Travis slaps me on the back as I lift my labrador, Betsy, up onto the examination table.
“She’s great, Trav. You know my girl, always a champ.” I lower my face to Betsy’s nose and give her a rub behind her ears. Her big, dark brown eyes light up and she pants as her tail swings around in an exaggerated wag.
“Well, she’s certainly in fine health,” Travis says as he checks her over and makes some notes on her file. “Just the regular flea dose today, then?”
“And some of those shiny coat supplements we got last time. You like those, don’t you, girl?” I direct to Betsy, who whines and then lets out an excited bark.
Travis laughs. “You spoil her, dude. She’s a young dog, she doesn’t need those.”
“Ignore him, Betsy.” I round my eyes on Travis in horror as I press my hands over her ears. “Only the best for my girl, man. Okay?”
Travis shakes his head with a chuckle as he grabs a bottle of the pills and places them on the table. “It’s your money to burn, man.”
“Only the best for my girl, Trav,” I repeat as I swipe them up.
“What are you doing with yourself for the next few weeks then, now that filming’s finished?” He looks at me with interest
“Me and Betsy are going to have some nice quiet time, aren’t we, girl? Plenty of fresh air and hikes.” I draw in a deep breath, recalling how clear the early morning air is up in the forest. How it re-fuels me like nothing else.
“Mr. Wild is going back into the wild. Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Travis grins.
“Hey, man. I didn’t make up the nickname. The group did that.”
He barks out a laugh. “Come on! You love it! The idea that there’s a group of women out there running an online fan group since they saw the show?” He shakes his head like he can’t believe it.
Ever since a TV production company approached me and asked if they could film some of the outdoor survival weekends I run, it’s been a constant source of amusement to my mates.
“What can I say? They’ve got impeccable taste.” I flex my biceps and press a kiss to each one. “You have met my friends, Des and Troy, haven’t you, Trav?”
He rolls his eyes and lets out a sigh.
“That’s right. Destroy!” I grin.
“That joke wasn’t funny the first time you said it, so it sure as shit isn’t funny now.”
I turn toward the sound of Kayla’s voice as she pokes her head around the door and sticks her tongue out at me.
“Hey, it’s one of my finest jokes. That one always gets a laugh from the ladies.” I flex a bicep at her as if to stress my point.
“Trav, your next patient is here.” She ignores me and smiles sweetly at my best friend, whose eyes sparkle—fucking sparkle—in response.
“Oh, God,” I groan. “Come on, Betsy. Let’s get out of here before their married romantic crap suffocates us.” I press a kiss to her head as I lift her down to the floor.
“Nice to see you, Blake.” Kayla smirks, leaning down to fuss Betsy as we pass her in the doorway.
“Later, lovebird losers,” I call out with a chuckle as I raise a hand in send-off.
The door closes behind me to the sound of Kayla tutting. I smile. She knows I’m only joking. Seeing two of my best friends so happy is incredible, even if I have to witness them eye fucking each other whenever we’re together.
As we head outside, a cat runs across the street in front of us and Betsy looks up at me.
“Look, I know you want to, but you can’t chase the cats around here. Save it for the squirrels in the forest, okay?”
She lets out a low grumble as we walk back toward my truck.
My phone beeps as we reach the truck, so I pull it out of my back pocket.
Cindy: Herbies tonight?
I sniff and rub my hand across my jaw. That text means one thing. Despite our recent conversation, Cindy’s still up for an after-hours fuck later.
I open the door and whistle to Betsy, who jumps straight in the truck and sits on the front seat, waiting for me to join her. I tap out a reply and hit send before heading around to the driver’s side and sliding in.
“Come on, girl. Let’s go home.”
After I’ve fixed us both some lunch—turkey sandwich for me; just turkey for Betsy—the two of us kick back on the enormous sofas I’ve set up on the rear porch. Apart from out in the forest, miles away from anyone, this is my favorite place. I got the house at a steal as it was so run-down. But it was nothing some elbow grease and sweat couldn’t sort out.
I gaze out over the lake. It’s quiet here, just my house, and the one on the other side of the water, set back, away from the town and main residential streets. It’s peaceful. Not as peaceful as when Betsy and I take ourselves off into the surrounding forest for a couple of days at a time, camping, but damn close.
“This is the life, eh, Betsy?”
I reach down to where she’s laid her head in my lap and stroke her ears. She lets out a contented sigh and gazes out over the water with me. I love when it’s just the two of us. It’s been so busy lately. Things got kind of mad when the outdoor survival training company I run attracted the attention of a TV studio. They wanted to make a series showing real people being pushed to their limits in the great outdoors. It was fun. After all, it’s what I live for—pushing people out of their comfort zones to help them discover their own strengths. It’s incredible what people are capable of when they have the faith in themselves. People think it’s all about roughing it and surviving the elements, but it’s much more of an inner journey.
Movement on the opposite bank catches my eye and I look over just in time to see someone dive off the jetty into the lake, disappearing under the water, barely leaving a ripple.
“Looks like Daisy’s aunt’s house has a new tenant,” I say to Betsy, whose ears prick up as she watches the surface of the lake.
Daisy.
Even after all this time, I still wonder how she is, what she’s doing. We all stayed in touch on social media for a few years after her aunt died. But then one day, it all stopped with no explanation. She deleted her accounts and disappeared completely.
Gone.
Betsy sits up suddenly, her eyes trained on the water as a dark-haired head breaks the surface and swims effortlessly across the center of the lake.
I sit forward and drain what’s left of my bottle of water.
“Come on, girl. Let’s go be neighborly and introduce ourselves.”
We get into my truck and drive the short distance round to the house across the lake.
“Stay, Betsy,” I instruct, leaving her sitting on the grass next to the truck until I’ve met our new neighbour. I know not everyone likes dogs, although how they couldn’t fucking baffles me.
I throw a grin back at Betsy over my shoulder, and her eyes light up as she watches me wander over to the jetty.
I raise a hand in a wave to the person swimming toward me.
“How’s it going? I’m Blake. Your neighbor,” I call, motioning over to my house on the other side of the water.
The person—a woman—whips her head around, looking at my place, and then back in my direction, before swimming over.
I push my hands into the pockets of my cargo pants as I wait for her to reach the jetty. She climbs up the small wooden ladder and I avert my gaze politely, but not before I see a glimpse of a black bikini and a pair of long, shapely legs being wrapped in a towel.
“Hi, Blake.” Her voice comes out breathy from her swim.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet—”
I raise my eyes to hers and am caught under an intense blue gaze, which steals the words from my mouth. My eyes rake over her face. It’s different—older. And her long blonde hair is now short and dark.
But I would know those eyes anywhere.
“Daisy?” I break out into a wide grin. “Fuck me! What the hell?” I take a step forward and wrap my arms around her, breathing in the freshwater scent clinging to her skin.
She makes no attempt to hug me back.
I pull back and fist my hands in my hair as she stares at me. “God, you…” I look over her face again, and then back into her eyes. “You’re different, but it’s still you! I can’t believe this. What are you doing here?”
She pulls the towel tighter around herself and gives me a small smile.
“It’s good to see you, Blake. You’re looking well.”
I feel my forehead crease as I look at her. She’s different somehow. I mean the hair, obviously. But something else too, which I can’t put my finger on. I probably shouldn’t have hugged her. Maybe she didn’t recognise me and it freaked her out, thinking some random guy was trying to grab her when she’s barely dressed.
Her eyes scan up and down my body, and—hell, I’m a man—I pull my shoulders back and place my hands on my hips, grinning at her as her eyes return to my face.
“Checking out what you’ve been missing all these years, huh?”
She narrows her eyes at me, and then the corners of her lips curl into a smile.
“I see your jokes haven’t improved.” She raises an eyebrow at me as I clutch my chest in pretend hurt.
“Daisy, your words wound me.”
She winces for a split second. It passes over her face like a ripple on the water, and then it’s gone.
“I prefer to be called Dee now.”
“Sure.” I hold out my hand for her to shake. “Nice to meet you… Dee.” She takes it and I wrap her tiny hand in mine. “So, is this some kind of role-play thing you’re into now?” I wink.
There’s no way the Daisy I know would want to be called anything else. This is the girl who made daisy chains while we lay around under the summer sun, dreaming of the future and what we saw ourselves doing.
Something to do with the great outdoors or photography for me, and something that benefitted animals for her.
She pulls her hand back as though I’ve burned her. “No. It’s who I am now.”
I look into her bright blue eyes and nod slowly. “Okay. Dee it is.”
Her shoulders relax, and she lowers the towel and wraps it around her waist. I can’t help my eyes dropping to her full, round breasts.
Fuck. I do not remember seventeen-year-old Daisy having those.
“My parents want to sell the house,” she explains as she slips her feet into a pair of sandals and walks up the jetty next to me. “I’m here to tidy it up.”
My eyes cast up and over the white weatherboards of her aunt’s house. Sure, it could maybe do with some fresh paintwork, but it’s actually in great shape.
She sees me looking and I must have a disbelieving frown on my face as she adds, “There’re things inside that need doing too.”
“Right.” I nod as we walk across the grass toward my truck.
She freezes as her eyes land on Betsy, who’s watching us both with interest. I look between the two of them. Dais—Dee’s face pales and her eyes widen.
“You have a dog?”
“Not just any dog. The greatest dog ever to exist, aren’t you, girl?” I give Betsy a hand signal and she barks excitedly on command, her tail wagging furiously. But her butt stays glued firmly to the ground, awaiting permission to come greet us. “You still like dogs, right?”
“Oh, my God.” She drops to the ground and smiles the first genuine smile I’ve seen, lighting up her entire face.
And just like that, Daisy is back.
I give Betsy the signal and she races over to us and straight into Daisy, almost knocking her over as she licks her face and whines in excitement. Daisy laughs and wraps her arms around her, stroking her in long, fluid movements down her back. Betsy laps up the attention as her tail beats me around the legs.
“I think you’ve got a fan.” I laugh as Daisy falls back on the floor and Betsy jumps on top of her.
“Come on, girl. That’s enough.” I chuckle and clap my hands. Betsy abandons her playful assault and sits down next to me, her eyes bright and eager.
I hold out a hand to Daisy, and she takes it. The towel has completely unwrapped now and is in a heap on the floor. After helping Daisy up, I bend down to retrieve it and fight my hardest not to let my eyes rake over her body as I stand up. Judging by the pink blush on her cheeks as I hand it back to her, I would say I failed.
“I still can’t believe you’re back here.” I grin at her. “Wait until I tell Kayla and Trav. You know they’re married now. You must have seen…” I trail off.
What can I say?
You must have seen it on social media before you ghosted us all?
“I know.” She gives me an uncomfortable smile. “I knew about that. But I guess there’s a lot I missed.”
I look back at her face and the way her eyes pull down as she gives me a sad smile.
Just like that, she’s Dee again. A woman I barely know.
“Hey!” My voice lifts as an idea hits me. “I’m having dinner with Kayla and Trav at the diner in town later. Come with me! They’ll want to see you.”
Daisy shuffles her feet and fiddles with the towel, which she’s wrapped firmly around herself again.
“Oh, I don’t know. I only got in yesterday, and I’m still pretty jet-lagged, and—”
“Pick you up at six, then?” I grin as I head back to my truck and whistle to Betsy to get in.
“Blake… I…” she calls after me, but I’m already turning the truck around.
I stick my arm out the window and give her a wave as we drive away.
