My Favorite Souvenir(67)

Oh, Hazel. All the things I would do to you tonight if I could. I wanted to devour her mouth so badly right now. My eyes lowered to her neck, and I wished I could bite it.

Maybe it was a good idea if we got the hell out of here for a bit.

“Didn’t you say you needed to take her out for a walk?”

“Yeah. It’s that time of evening. Let me get my leash.”

I laughed to myself as she walked away. This was going to be interesting.

After she returned, I bent down, setting the rabbit free and watching as Hazel adjusted the leash around her. We grabbed our coats and headed out for a brisk walk around Hazel’s neighborhood.

It was dark aside from the light coming from people’s houses. Abbott scurried a few inches in front of us.

“So, no one ever questions why you’re walking a rabbit?”

“Oh, I get looks, believe me. I just don’t care.”

“I love that you don’t care. Fuck people if they have a problem with it.”

Hazel slowed her pace and arched her neck to look inside one of the houses.

“What’s so interesting over there?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing. One of my favorite things to do is walk at night and look inside people’s homes,” she said. “When it’s dark and people have their lights on, you can really see inside. There’s something so interesting about catching people in the midst of their daily lives without them knowing, whether it’s a man reading a book in the corner of his living room, or a family sitting down to dinner. It’s real, unfiltered life, you know?”

“I believe there’s a name for that.”

“Yeah?”

I knocked my shoulder playfully into hers. “It’s called voyeurism.”

“Very funny.” She laughed.

“So, this…spying inside people’s houses while walking Abbott on a leash is basically your nightly routine?”

“Yeah. Abbott likes fresh air, and I find it calming for me, too. Well, except for that one time a dog tried to attack her. Have you ever heard a rabbit scream?”

“Can’t say I have.”

“They don’t do it often, but it sounded like a screaming child. It was a shock to hear that noise come from her. They say rabbits scream when they’re feeling truly threatened.”

I could relate to that. As soon as she said those words—feeling threatened—they reminded me how I felt about losing Hazel to Brady. Maybe I’d feel better if I screamed out into the night like a scared rabbit to let out my frustrations.

I breathed in some of the cold night air. This walk was good for us. The less time alone in her house together, the better.

As Hazel and I continued our stroll, it seemed her habit had rubbed off on me. I was now checking out the insides of people’s houses. We caught one couple having a pretty heated argument and watched about two minutes of the news on someone’s television.

“Thank you again for agreeing to stay in town a little longer,” Hazel said.

I looked down at my shoes hitting the pavement. “Leaving so soon didn’t exactly feel right, although I’m not sure I’ll be going back with any more closure than if I’d left when I was originally supposed to. This feels like…an impossible situation. And right now, time doesn’t seem to be fixing it.”

That was more than I should’ve shared on what was supposed to be a casual walk. Without knowing how she truly felt about Brady, the future was a blur to me. I didn’t know what would happen with us, or with my friendship with him, for that matter. I didn’t even know if I’d see her again after I went back home. I had to trust that I’d gotten into this situation for a reason, and what was meant to happen would.

I backtracked. “You know what? I shouldn’t have gone there. Let’s just enjoy each other’s company tonight.”

She reached for me, looping her fingers with mine, and we walked the rest of the way hand in hand.





Chapter 21




* * *



Hazel



Once we returned to the house, the mood brightened as Matteo and I hung out in the kitchen, demolishing some of the sweets I’d baked. A part of me wanted to dip his fingers in the frosting so I could suck on them again. But I refrained. This more relaxed vibe as we noshed was almost reminiscent of our Milo and Maddie Hooker days.

A feeling of nostalgia came over me. How much simpler things had been back then, only a matter of weeks ago. Catching myself getting emotional, I shook that thought from my head.

“I never really gave you a proper tour of the house.” I got up. “Come on, I’ll show you around.”

He seemed hesitant but got up anyway. I knew why—because I knew Matteo. We’d always worked so damn hard to not be in a bedroom alone together. It was almost comical how diligent we’d been about that. But you know what? I took a lot of pride in my house and wanted him to see every room.

We started with the wall that displayed my sixty-eight smile portraits.

“Wow.” He stopped in front of it and grinned, marveling at the black and white photos. “The famous smile wall.”

“Yeah.”

I watched his expression as he took it all in.

He pointed to one of them. “Who was this?”