The Cabin

Setting a box down Cheyenne looked around at the cabin wondering if she might be better off at her parents. It was clear no one had stayed there in a while. It wasn’t dirty but the air had a staleness to it. The cabin needed to be aired out sooner rather than later if she had any hopes of sleeping there tonight.

The cabin was rarely used anymore. Neither her dad nor Nick hunted much anymore. In fact, the cabin had turned into a storage building more than anything else. Cheyenne couldn’t deny the spot that it had been built on was beautiful especially in the fall.

“It’s not that bad is it?” Ed asked walking in the door. “We can move these boxes to one of the bedrooms and you can have the other to yourself.”

“Does it matter, like is one your’s, one Nick’s?” Cheyenne had to admit she would be far too amused to be able to tell Nick she had slept in his bed before she actually “slept “in his bed.”

Shaking his head Ed looked down at her. “I don’t imagine so. Nick might have some clothes in one of the rooms but we’ve never stayed here. Well besides the time he did. The whole cabin thing sounded like a good idea at first,” Ed laughed.

“Cheyenne you can’t tell me you actually want to stay here,” Rachel said walking in frowning as she waved at the air as if she was being attacked by invisible insects.

“It’s not that bad mom, Jesus we just need to let the place air out,” she said as she walked down the hall to decide which room she wanted to be hers.

The only people who had actually ever slept here were a few clients from work who had traveled a long distance and Nick when he was going through his divorce. Opening the first door to her left Cheyenne immediately knew this was the room Nick had slept in. She could practically still smell his cologne in the room almost as if it was a ghost refusing to let go. Wanting to appear like she was still deciding she went to check the other room. The two rooms were identical in appearance, even the furniture was set up the same. Cheyenne knew she would have to change that.

Walking out Cheyenne paused in the hallway, “I think I’ll stay in this room and we can move all the files to this room.” Making a face she sighed, “I’m assuming this place doesn’t have cable or internet.”

Ed shook his head, “I think Nick had some kind of cable when he stayed here. We can look on the roof for the antenna but the internet is out. You only get your cell.”

“Did I hear my name?”

Cheyenne looked past her dad at Nick walking in looking around, avoiding any eye contact with her. He had conveniently had to go out of town after their breakthrough and now she wasn’t sure if he was still on board or not. Ed laughed, “we were talking about cable and internet. Didn’t you have something hooked up?”

Nick nodded, “yeah I had the local cable guy install a dish, the satellite is still up. Internet is nonexistent out here. You have to go out on the porch to even get your cell to act right.”

“Perfect,” Cheyenne said frowning.

Nick finally looked up at her, “it’s not that bad. I’m sure you can find other ways to entertain yourself.”

Cheyenne looked at him smirking. Maybe he really did have to go out of town because the look he had just shot her was far from innocent. Their little moment was missed by both of her parents. Her dad had started to move boxes and upon seeing what he was up to Nick moved to help him.

As they finished moving boxes Cheyenne and her mom brought the rest of her belongings in the cabin and started setting things up some. Rachel had brought food so she would have some groceries and Cheyenne had brought her tv from home so she would have a tv in her bedroom. She thankfully had an old PlayStation that she still used to watch DVD, and Blu-ray so it wouldn’t be completely useless. Dish had said it would be Wednesday before they would be able to make it out.

As she walked back out into the living room she was a little bummed to see Nick had already left without telling her bye. After assuring her mother that she would be fine in the cabin alone her parents left as well. It was super quiet without them but she would be ok.

Going around she closed every window they had opened and turned the air down to 70, there was no way she could make it in this heat. It had been a cooler day because of all the rain but not enough to go without air. The house already smelled better, well maybe it was the candles and oil diffuser, whatever it was the cabin now didn’t smell like a tomb.

Sitting on the couch in the living area she stared at the tv mounted above the fireplace. She wondered if maybe she should have hooked the PlayStation up in here instead of her room. Sighing she grabbed her phone out of her pocket and decided to bug Nick. She had been good and not bothered him on his trip. “You can’t tell nobody bye?” She text.

It took a minute but Nick responded, “who said I wasn’t coming back?”

Cheyenne couldn’t hold back the grin, he was being playful and that was a good sign. “Well, what are you doing?”

He responded, “Tate has a baseball game in Lindale.”

“We’ll have fun. You can always bring me home dinner tonight.” She texts back.

Nick responded back with, “I’m beginning to think you use me for food.”

Cheyenne laughed to herself. “That’s all I’ve been able to get out of you.”

Setting her phone down Cheyenne got up and decided to go finish unpacking what little she had left. She hadn’t brought a lot with her so it didn’t take long. With nothing else to do she curled up in bed and watched a movie.

The movie ended up watching Cheyenne. She awoke to the opening screen of the movie she had put in. Yawning she got up and went to the bathroom before walking back out into the living room. Seeing the sun begin to set she went outside and sat on the front porch.

It was quiet outside, the only real sound was the wind blowing the leaves in the trees. She tried to imagine how the place would look in the fall. The leaves didn’t really turn colors around here they just flat up died. In her mind, however, she saw the place surrounded by trees in shades of reds and oranges. She could imagine the fireplace lit and smoke rising from the chimney. It didn’t matter that the fireplace was gas, she preferred her own imagination.

Her phone vibrating brought her out of her hallmark channel fantasy and back to reality. It was Nick, he had asked her what she wanted. Smiling she replied back to his text telling him it depended on where he stopped. Was he actually going to come back to see her?

She looked back down at her phone seeing he had told her a local restaurant in town. She text back letting him know she wanted some honey chipotle crispers and a coke. Getting up she went inside and took a quick bath and changed. When he had come earlier she had been in a T-shirt and some shirts, no makeup, hair up in a messy bun. This time when he got here she would still be in a pair of shorts but she now wore one of her racerback shirts. She put on enough makeup to bring out her features and she pulled her hair over one shoulder and did a quick fishtail braid.

Cheyenne had no clue what would happen tonight. He could simply drop off her food and leave, or he could stay. She wouldn’t push him to do anything he wasn’t ready for. He had already opened up to her so much. She had actually thought it would take them longer to get to this point after his reactions to her. It still could but she was ready for whatever came her way tonight.