First of all, OH MY THANK SO VERY MUCH FOR THE KIND REVIEWS! it literally means so much to me and sorry if I didn't get back to yous, I'm still trying to figure my way around .
Second thing: I wrote Rachel's husband imagining him as James Marsden, but yous can imagine him like whoever you want!
Third thing: i couldn't remember Ashley's and Sam's ages and I tried looking around for them but I couldn't find anything. So we're just gonna pretend Ashley is 12 and Sam is 10. If you know the actual ages just hmu and I'll change them ;))
Fourth thing: I had in mind something completely different for this chapter, but I just kept writing and writing, so it ended up being more of a bridge chapter than anything else. Now I'm already in the process of writing the next chapter so you won't have to wait too long!! ;))
She woke up slowly, trying to take in as much of the surroundings as she could. She had to admit the new house was beautiful. Before, when living in New Haven, she had lived in a penthouse and she loved it, but there was something much different in living in a detached house.
The walls of the bedroom were painted a soft green, upon her request.
She studied the unfamiliar furniture that had been brought because he hadn't wanted to get rid of something that his mother had given him.
I's not like it was bad or ugly, it just wasn't her. The floor was covered with a big beige coloured carpet and cream curtains were at the sides of the enormous windows. Each side of the bed had a bedside table and there were also two large sofas in front of the windows.
Rachel turned her head to the left so she could study the man that lay beside her. She remembered the night they had just spent and how nice it was, how happy he was. It wasn't every day that he was in such a good mood, and she wanted to keep things this way for as long as possible, the implications if she didn't too dark for it to even be a possibility.
Careful not to make any noise she got out of bed and put on a tank top with some pyjama bottoms and headed downstairs to make some breakfast for them both. The house was a whole lot bigger than what it had seemed the day before and it took her a couple of seconds to find her way around. She noticed that the fridge had been refurnished with goods and decided to whip up some pancakes.
Twenty minutes later and she was almost done with her cooking when she felt two strong hands encircle her thin waist. She froze on the spot, deciding against pushing him away. "You didn't wake me up" he stated, almost in an accusatory tone. She knew she had to be very careful if she didn't want to ruin whatever peace she was trying to maintain. She shook her head "I thought I'd surprise you with pancakes".
He was silent for a moment and she would be lying to herself if she didn't say she was scared he would snap, but he just nodded. "Alright" he went on to take two plates from the cupboard and lay them on the table, as she stood there shocked at his reaction "That pancake is going to burn" he told her, and she snapped her attention back to cooking.
"I'm going out to meet some new potential clients in an hour and I'll probably be out until late afternoon," he told her after they had sat down to eat "You have the day to yourself, so I don't know do what you want to do, but be home and ready to go at 7:30" he continued. She looked at him puzzled "There is a town festival tonight and I thought we should go, introduce ourselves to the community" she nodded, slowly "Wear something nice, will you. Maybe that one black dress that suits you so well" he stood up from the table and left to go upstairs to get dressed for his meetings.
The first thing she did was explore the house. To complete a throughout investigation of it she would need a couple of days, she concluded, but she was satisfied with the area she had covered in just a couple of hours. Thus far she had discovered a gigantic studio, three different bedrooms and a pool. She had to admit, the house was very nice.
Upon looking outside and seeing it was a lovely day, she settled for going out on a walk to make herself familiar with the surroundings. As it was early September the temperature was warm enough for her to wear a short dress and she picked one of her favourites: a simple red, knee-length dress, with white points. She put on some comfortable slip-ons, grabbed a small purse and left the house.
She noticed an old woman sitting outside the porch of the house opposite hers. She smiled at her as her neighbour started getting up. "Hello dear, you must be my new next-door! I'm Lily Van Der Twinker. It's so nice to meet you" the woman sounded truly genuine and Rachel's smile grew bigger "Likewise. I'm Rachel Scott"
"You look very pretty dear, you heading somewhere fancy?" the older woman asked, making Rachel blush. "Oh no, not at all. I was just going to go for a stroll around town. But, to be honest, I have no idea what way I should go"
"It's very easy, dear. We are not too far from the centre here, but far enough so we won't be bothered too much" she winked at her "Just follow this street, and at the crossroad turn right. Once you see the big white gazebo, you're at the heart of Hight Peaks"
"Thank you so much, Lily! I would have totally been lost without you" Ms Van Der Twinker chuckled at that.
Getting to the centre was truly as easy as Lily had made it to be; she reached her destination within ten minutes and, just like her neighbour had said, standing next to the white gazebo did, in fact, feel like she was at the heart of the town.
The vibrant energy of its inhabitants was having a positive effect on Rachel, who was feeling very pleased with her decision of going out. The small town was almost picturesque, with big green playgrounds, vintage bookshops and cafes and vivid coloured - painted buildings.
She walked aimlessly away from the gazebo, exploring her new place of residence. At the end of the street, she turned left and she saw a huge football pitch with kids playing and having fun. She got closer to the field, not paying much attention to anything else until she nearly fell on the ground after colliding with someone.
Tom was rushing to his kids' little league training, after completely losing track of time with paperwork. Ashley and Sam would be finished soon and he wanted to be there when they were dismissed by the captain so they could see how proud he was of them. It didn't help that he had been very distracted since his meeting with a certain British woman.
The more he thought about her, and their brief meeting, the more he realised he knew nothing about her. He had the opportunity to ask and got completely lost in her beauty. He had, in fact, thought of looking her up in the database, but decided against it, much to his displeasure. He thought he could maybe have a chance to get to know her personally, which would be infinite times better than looking her up.
As he rushed toward the entrance of the pitch, he felt something bump against his chest and he was thrown slightly off balance. He extended his arms to hold onto that something out of pure reflex, and when he looked down he saw the very woman that seemed to have occupied his mind as of lately.
He helped her get steady on her feet, while she kept franticly apologising. "Hey, stop apologising. I bumped into you just as much as you bumped into me" she didn't look too convinced and she was about to protest again but ended up just smiling at him. Not a full smile, but was just enough for him to see her dimples, and he swore he was going to die right there and then.
His hand went subconsciously an inch or less from her lower back and he immediately withdrew it. He couldn't understand what his desire was to fit his body next to this woman whom he'd only met the day before. She was looking up at him and he was once again startled by her beauty. He took a moment to take in her looks, her brown eyes, her full lips, her soft skin. He couldn't tear his eyes off her.
"Daddy! Daddy! I just scored an incredible goal!" the moment between them was ruined by Ashley's screams, her and Sam running towards him.
He lifted his daughter up to hug her tightly and then he did the same thing with his son.
"Hi, I'm Ashley! Who are you?" the girl asked her and Rachel just lowered a bit so there wasn't much difference between her and the girl "I'm Rachel. I just moved here to High Peaks" the little girl nodded, satisfied with her answer
"Why do you talk to so funny?" the boy asked her and she almost couldn't contain her laughter.
"She doesn't speak funny, Sammy. She has an accent" his sister answered before Rachel could, rolling her eyes at her little brother "He's Sam, by the way" the girl added to her, as the little boy nodded beside her.
She smiled at him.
"So, how are you finding town?" Tom asked her, desperate to talk to her.
"Good, good, yes. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by all this" she answered, motioning with her hand to their surroundings.
"Well, I'm pleased Peak Highs can still impress" she offered him a small smile, making those dimples of hers appear again.
He got lost in her yet again.
"Daddy, can we get ice cream? Please, please, please!" Tom's attention snapped back to his kids, while he forced himself to smile at them "Of course, guys" just as the children started jumping up at and down from the excitement "Do you wanna come with us, Rachel?" Ashley asked her and he really hoped she would say yes "I'm afraid I can't, sweetie. Maybe another time, what do you think?" his daughter, and him, was a bit disappointed by Rachel's answer but nodded anyway.
Tom nodded as well. "I'm glad you're enjoying the town. If you need anything, well you have Tex's number" she nodded, but for some unknown reason to him he kept rambling "but if you ever need to talk to me... just dial 911 I guess" he started mentally beating himself the moment the words were out of his mouth. However, Rachel didn't seem to notice his discomfort, as she threw her head backwards and laughed loud and unashamed.
"I will definitely do that, Tom" hearing his name roll off her lips did something to him. The previous embarrassing moment now a distant memory to him. He felt his hair stand up all around his body and it was almost like he was dizzy.
"I'll see you around, Rachel"
And with that they parted ways, going into opposite directions, both knowing they would meet again very soon.
SO?? What did you think? Please please please review! It truly does motivate me to write more and faster ;)))
kudos if you got that 9-1-1 reference ;)