a problem?” Kael turned around but kept walking backward, keeping us distanced.
“I don’t have a poop bag.” I glanced up to see a guy in his front window, sipping his coffee as my dog took a shit in his yard. There would be no kicking snow over the pile of steaming poop and running.
“Shit happens. Let’s go.”
I covered my mouth, so the homeowner didn’t see me talking. “He’s looking at me. I have to pick it up.”
“With what?” Kael laughed.
My nose wrinkled. “Meadow … why didn’t you do this in our yard?” I grumbled, bending down to scoop up a large pile of snow beneath the poop. Then I turned and headed back home, carrying the poop on the clump of snow like a stranded polar bear on a melting piece of ice. Time was of the essence with the sun peeking out, expediting the melting of the snow along with the heat of her turd.
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing.” Kael taunted me as he jogged to catch up. “Just drop it.”
My pace doubled. “I can’t just drop it. It’s frowned upon. Someone will see me.”
“You weren’t worried about anyone seeing you leave shit behind the day you were spying on me and Amber.”
“I wasn’t spying on you. I was hiding from you.”
“Same thing.”
“No. It’s not.”
“You were behind a tree … watching us. A classic case of spying.”
“Spying implies I followed you. Which … I did not.”
“Then why hide behind the tree? Why not just keep walking your dog and give us a wave?”
The snow was melting … too quickly.
“This is a stupid conversation.” I started jogging.
“You wiping Amber’s kiss off my lips … so fucking sexy.”
I rolled my eyes, but he couldn’t see it. “Stop gloating.”
“Did you go on a date with the banker?”
“If I did … are you going to wipe his kiss off my lips?”
“Wow … you kissed him?”
“Do you care?”
“Not really.”
I turned and threw the turd at him. He ducked, avoiding the collision by inches.
“WOW! You threw that at me? What did I do?”
I glanced behind him at the poop. We were in front of my house, so it landed in my easement. “I’m not emotionally dead like you. I care. Sorry … I just do.”
“I don’t think I’m emotionally dead.”
“You are. You just said you didn’t care.”
He rested his hands on his hips. “Because I thought that’s what you wanted me to say.”
I shook my head. “No. That’s bullshit. I think you want me to be with other people, so you don’t have to worry about me emotionally clinging to you … so you don’t have to carry my baggage.”
Kael winced, and I turned, taking my emotionally-out-of-control self into the house before I said anything else, before I showed him all of my baggage.
Depositing my coat, mittens, and scarf onto the floor like I didn’t give a shit— and I didn’t—I kicked off my boots as the door opened behind me. I closed my eyes. “Go. Save yourself.”
He sighed. “The baggage statement. That came out wrong. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”
“You did. And that’s fine.” I shuffled my socked feet into the kitchen.
Moments later, I felt him at the threshold to the kitchen, eyes on me, but I kept my gaze out the kitchen window, hugging my arms to my waist.
“And I chose nothing,” I said, feeling every ounce of defeat from the previous year. “I chose to not ask you to carry one single bag of mine. I wanted the sex. I got the sex. And it was good. But I can’t stop. I can’t see the line. And maybe some of us just aren’t wired to see that line.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re too good!” I whipped around to face him. “This whole fucking town can’t stop talking about you, and it’s driving me crazy.”
“Um … okay. I didn’t ask for anyone to talk about me. I think it’s just a small town, and everyone talks about everything.”
“Well, you don’t have to give them so much to talk about. You don’t have to shovel snow and rake leaves. You don’t have to be Mr. Handyman one day and drive old ladies to visit their daughters the next day. All the changing tires, loading Christmas trees, clearing windshields, and warming up cars … it’s insane. And it’s not fair!” My voice escalated to an outright yell, and he was only ten feet away.
He glowered. “You’re mad because I’m nice?”
I shook my head a half dozen times. “Not nice. You’re lovable.” The word