Chapter 13
The house wasn’t a house at all but a freaking mansion with an ocean view. However, the best part about it was it had a circular driveway. There was no way I was going to be able to go through with this. It was a moment of insanity from having my heart annihilated.
I pulled into the circular drive and began moving to exit, watching the double doors to ensure they didn’t come out and catch me escaping. I wasn’t paying attention and felt my tire run over something that was not the smooth concrete of the drive. Slamming on my brakes, I swallowed convulsively.
Glancing at the front doors to make sure they were still closed, I opened my door and peered out. A small gnome was under my front tire. His rosy-red-cheeked face was just as shocked as I was.
Holy fuck, I killed their gnome.
Carefully, I backed up and got out to assess the damage. His tiny red hat was broken, crumbling in my palms when I picked him up.
“Don’t worry about him. My son got him for us as a joke, and I’ve been asking him for years to take him to his place.”
I startled, whirling around, the ruined gnome still clutched in my hands.
Kelly Ann stood there wearing a smart-looking black jumper. Her hair was smoothed back in a high ponytail.
“I’m sorry,” I said, holding the broken gnome close to my chest.
“Honey, it’s fine.”
“No, not because of the gnome. Well, I mean about the gnome.” I was rambling and I couldn’t stop myself. “I can’t do this. This was a mistake. I was actually driving away, but I wasn’t paying attention.”
Kelly Ann strode over to me, a warm smile on her face. She placed her hand on my shoulder in a motherly gesture, which made no sense since I was supposed to be there to have sex with her and her husband.
I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing this was just a bad episode from crying too much.
“I see you didn’t read our last message?”
I shook my head, refusing to open my eyes.
“Oh, sweetie, we sent you a message telling you that we no longer wanted to go through with this, but we’d be happy to have you over for dinner. You seemed to be in a really bad place.”
My eyes sprang open, stunned. I was getting dumped by my threesome partners, too.
Holy shit, I’m a loser.
“Have you had dinner?” she asked.
“No.”
“Come in. You look like you need a good meal.” She ushered me toward the front door, the little gnome still in my arms like a tiny broken shield.
“Robert, honey, Rachel’s going to stay for dinner. She did us a favor and killed Gnomen.”
“My savior,” a man who I assumed was Robert cried out.
The house seemed even bigger from the inside. The open plan sprawled in front of me. In the far back was a large window showcasing the ocean.
“Let’s go out to the patio.” Kelly Ann glided in front of me as if she wasn’t aware I was having a full meltdown.
The weather was cold, with the ocean was our view, but Kelly Ann fixed it by pressing a button, lighting heaters around us to make it comfortable.
The man I saw in the picture came out, a bottle of wine in his hand. He reached to shake my hand, and I had to set poor little Gnomen down by my feet.
“Thank you for taking care of that for us. We didn’t have the heart to get rid of him because our son gave him to us, but the little guy never connected with our family.” Robert winked, grabbing wine glasses from the outside kitchen.
“Would you like some wine?” he asked.