Chapter 2
When Hayley pulled up to the ramshackle cabin tucked in the woods of Tremont on the other side of the island from Bar Harbor, she saw smoke wafting from the chimney. She knew her ex-husband Danny’s uncle Otis was home.
And as she stepped out of her car, there was no mistaking the screaming, wailing animal cry of Axl Rose from Guns N’ Roses, Danny’s favorite band, being blasted from inside.
That was all the proof she needed.
Danny was here and he was probably inside smoking some weed and guzzling down some of his favorite uncle’s homemade moonshine.
Two of his favorite pastimes.
Otis was the one who taught Danny how to carve pumpkins when he was a kid. It was the only nice thing he did teach him. The rest of his educational lessons were hot-wiring cars, selling pot, and outrunning the police.
Hayley had always been attracted to the “bad boys” when she was growing up.
Until she actually ended up marrying one.
After ten years of marriage to Danny, she was officially cured.
But he wasn’t all bad.
He did have a few good points.
He fathered two wonderful children and he loved them to bits.
He worshipped those kids and would do anything for them.
Danny definitely had a soft, gooey center.
He also sported rugged good looks and was a sweet-talking charmer, both of which he maximized to his full advantage.
He would screw up time and time again with one scheme or another, and then when his back was against the wall, he would pour on the charm and flash that high-wattage smile. Hayley, not to mention almost everybody else in town, would fall for it ad nauseam.
Hayley would find herself saying, “I think he’s finally maturing” or “This time he’s really going to change” and inevitably she would wind up disappointed and heartbroken.
After they divorced and he moved to the Midwest their relationship improved slightly, mostly due to the distance between them, but they would always be a part of each other’s lives because of the kids.
Hayley marched up the dirt path to the faded front door and rapped on it with her fist.
There was no answer.
Probably because she could hear Danny and Otis screaming along with the song playing on the sound system. Something about being in the jungle, feeling a serpentine, and wanting to hear someone scream.
Hayley couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
Really?
She banged on the door harder.
Still no answer.
She tried the knob.
The door was unlocked.
She swung it open to see Danny and Otis, arms around each other, small jugs of moonshine in their free hands, faces beet red from screeching, swaying back and forth, bobbing their heads up and down, totally caught up in the song.
The blue glass bong with a white skull on the side that sat on the scratched-up, barely erect wooden coffee table in front of them confirmed her suspicions that they would be high on weed as well as drunk when she found them.
Otis looked like he had just flown in from Duck Dynasty Headquarters in West Monroe, Louisiana. He had a sagging, thin, weathered face and a long, reddish beard that reached all the way down to his belly button. He wore an Army-green T-shirt and a red-and-black checkered hunting shirt over it, jeans smudged with caked mud, and a pair of scuffed tan hiking boots. Danny was in a tight-fitting black T-shirt that showed off his muscles, and tight jeans and black boots. It was obvious he still liked to work out. That was another weapon in Danny’s arsenal. He had a great body to go with the charismatic personality.
She ignored how good he looked.
It took years of practice but she was finally immune to his charms.
Hayley looked around the ramshackle cabin.
There was junk everywhere.
Fishing equipment stacked against one wall.
Empty jugs Otis used to fill with his moonshine stacked everywhere.
Dirty dishes piled high in the sink.
Boxes of papers and a rickety metal shelf filled with pot paraphernalia.
Otis was a slob and if not a full-blown hoarder, he was very close to getting there.
They hadn’t noticed Hayley standing in the doorway.
Danny set his jug down on the floor beside him and lowered his mouth over the opening in the bong to take a hit, and that’s when his eyes met Hayley’s.
Without missing a beat, he pushed the bong aside, jumped to his feet, and dashed over to her, arms outstretched.
“Babe, what a surprise!”
He grabbed her in a bear hug and tried to plant his lips on her mouth, but she managed to push him away before he kissed her.
“How long have you been standing here?” he asked, grasping her shoulders with his strong hands.
“What are you doing here, Danny?”
“What?”
“I said what are you doing here?”
“What?”
Danny turned to Otis. “Uncle Otis! Turn down the music!”
Otis was still wailing to the Guns N’ Roses song with his eyes shut.
“Sorry, he’s a little hard of hearing!” Danny said, before sprinting back to the ratty old couch they were sitting on and searching for the remote. It took him almost a minute to rummage through the discarded newspapers and used joints before he found a sticky, ancient remote and hit the volume button.
The music faded and Otis opened his eyes to find out what was going on.
“Look who’s here, Uncle Otis!” Danny said with a bright smile.
“Hayley! How have you been?” Otis said, his speech slurred.
“Fine, Otis. And you?”
“I got arthritis in my hand. Hurts like a son of a bitch. And the doctor says I got a fatty liver but what the hell does he know?”
He probably knew an alcoholic when he saw one.
“Can I get you a drink, Hayley? Otis just whipped up one of his best batches of moonshine I’ve ever tasted,” Danny said.
“No, thank you. Why are you in town?”
“I had some time off . . .”
“You’ve been working?” Hayley asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, I got a job. Good one too. Night watchman at a warehouse. Pays well. Decent benefits. Everything but dental.”
“And they’re already letting you take a vacation?”
“I did some double shifts so I could take a week off.”
“And you decided to come here?”
Danny tried to step closer, but Hayley kept him at arm’s length.
“Yeah. I’ve been missing the kids. I got to thinking I hadn’t been home in a while so I just kind of found myself driving east. Got here last night.”
“And the carved pumpkins on my front porch was your way of telling me you’re back?”
“Something like that. I didn’t want to just show up on your doorstep unannounced if you weren’t ready to see me.”
“Good call.”
“You’re looking prettier than ever, Hayley,” Danny said with that engaging smile.
How could he have such perfect teeth and not even have dental insurance?
“So you’re not here to borrow money?” she asked, arms crossed, suspicious.
Danny’s smile slowly disappeared, his eyes were downcast. “No, Hayley. I don’t want any money.”
His feelings were hurt.
Or was he just trying to convey to her that his feelings were hurt?
He was that good of an actor.
If he had channeled his abundant energy into performing, he could have been the next Ryan Gosling.
With the same rock-hard abs.
Danny couldn’t blame her for being suspicious.
She had fallen for this before.
More than once.
“Danny, if you’re short on cash, you come to me. I’ve got plenty,” Otis said, marching over to his bed in a sectioned-off corner of the cabin.
Well, a mattress on the floor.
There was no bed frame.
There were sheets that were once white but now covered in stains (from Lord only knew what) balled up on the floor next to it and a couple of flattened pillows strewn across it.
Otis got down on his hands and knees and stuck his hand through a slit on the side, fished around, and pulled out a wad of cash. He then crawled back up to his feet and noticed Hayley staring at him.
“I don’t trust banks. Never did.”
He walked over and tried to hand it to Danny, who waved it away. “No, Uncle Otis. I didn’t come here to take your money. I don’t want it or need it.”
Then he turned pointedly and said to Hayley, “And I’m downright insulted that anyone would think the only reason I came here is because I’m broke.”
He waited for Hayley to apologize.
But she didn’t.
This was a pattern.
He always made a great show of insisting he was not home because he needed something.
And then, after a few days, once he was able to suck you back in again, he would find a subtle way to ask for what he needed.
He was the master of manipulation.
But Hayley was ready for him this time.
Or so she thought.