Startled, she waited for her heart to stop trying to escape through her rib cage and padded to the door. Luna, still tied to the doghouse with Bruno after her earlier round of errands, barked in constant rhythm, and when the pounding didn't stop, Farrah threw open the door.
A woman stood on the other side with a small boy peeking out from behind her legs. Tall, with fashionable leggings and fur-lined boots, she looked down at Farrah with a humorless set to her perfectly glossed lips. Her make-up was impeccable, right down to her false lashes. Her blond hair was streaked with neatly kept highlights, and was pulled high into a ponytail that curled at the tip. One sandy brown eyebrow arched, and her deep, coffee-colored eyes narrowed.
"Um, can I help you?" Farrah asked.
"Where's Aanon?"
"He left this morning on a business trip. He won't be back for a few days."
No answer as the woman stretched her neck and studied the small cabin over Farrah's shoulder with a judgmental pucker to her lips.
"Do you want me to leave him a message?"
The woman scoffed and pushed her way inside, dragging the toddler behind her. "You must think you're pretty clever."
"No," Farrah said slowly. "I actually find myself very un-clever. I'm sorry. Who are you?"
"Erin."
"Oh," she said, nodding at the mix-up. "Aanon said he has a reservation for you guys to meet up in the city. He's there right now to meet you. I'm sorry if the communication got crossed or-"
"Would you shut up? No communication got screwed up. I just didn't want to meet him is all. This is Dodge." She pointed to the little boy who sat quietly on her unmade bed.
Opening her mouth, then closing it again, she frowned and said, "Hi, Dodge." Okay, she was missing something big, but Erin was kind of crazy and not talking in a straight line.
"Does he look familiar?" Erin asked, crossing her arms like a towering drill sergeant.
The boy was about three years old. He had big beseeching blue eyes that beheld her seriously and tufts of platinum blond hair that peeked out from his little snowball-topped toboggan. He might have literally been the cutest little boy she'd ever seen in her life.
He also looked like a miniature spitting image of Aanon.
A deep sinking feeling traveled from her throat to her stomach, then out to her limbs as they grew so heavy, she didn't want to move. "He looks like Aanon."
"Good girl. You aren't as stupid as these red-necked townies thought after all. So this is how this is going to go. What I say goes because if Aanon steps out of line for even a minute, he doesn't see his son. Am I clear?"
She couldn't take her eyes from the little boy. "Crystal."
"Good. I don't want you being friends with Aanon, and I sure as sugar don't want you dating him."
"Wait wait wait," she said shaking her head to clear the insanity that had just touched her ears. "Why would I be dating Aanon? He's with you."
"Is that what he told you?" She snorted. "He probably said that to spare your feelings. You aren't exactly in his league, Dweeb."
Oh, this girl was too much and had clearly been talking to some of the townies about her unfortunate high school awkwardness. "That's The Dweeb to you, and I'm not shooting for anyone's league. He's said nothing but nice things about you, said you are together and that he gets frustrated when he doesn't get to see you."
"Ha. It's not me he's trying to see." She jammed a finger at Dodge. "It's him. He had his chance to try and make us work, and he blew it when his dad died. We had these plans to buy a house in Anchorage together. Had one picked out and everything. We were supposed to be a family, but he decided to move out here to the fucking wilderness and ruin every chance we had."
Farrah's eyeballs felt like they were going to fall from her sockets and onto the floor. Dodge didn't even flinch at the curse word his mother had just flung.
"So, this is how we work, and if you ruin this, I'll yank his son away so hard and so fast, Aanon will never forgive you for ruining his life. What I say goes. I don't want him dating anyone until I'm good and ready for him to. He takes me out to nice restaurants when he's in town as part of our mediation, and if he behaves in a way I think is appropriate, he gets to see his son. This," she said, twirling a manicured fingernail in a tiny circle. "This doesn't work for me. And are you pregnant?"
The crazy lady was now yelling, and Farrah put her hands over the fitted shirt covering her belly. "Yes," she squeaked.
"Oh, that's rich. You stupid trollop. I'll be damned if you or anyone else is up here playing on his sympathies. His focus right now needs to be me and his son and making up for ruining my life."
A horn blasted from outside and Erin stuck her head out the door to scream, "I'll be there in a minute!" Shutting the door once more, she smirked. "That's Daniel. He's taking me on a weekend getaway before the snow hits. This shithole was on the way so I'm dropping off Dodge instead of meeting Aanon in the city."
"Whoa, wait. I already told you Aanon is out of town and will be for a few days. Does he know you are dropping his kid off here?"
Her eyes grew wide, like Farrah was the dense one. "Well, I'm sure you can earn yourself some brownie points and tell him yourself." Throwing open the door, she called over her shoulder. "You can tell him about Daniel, too, while you're at it."
Farrah followed, panicked. "Wait! You can't leave your son here. I'm a complete stranger, and I don't even have a way to get in touch with Aanon from here. I'd have to go all the way to town."
Erin whirled around, her boots squeaking across the wet grass. "Remember what I said. I call how this goes." With a disgusted look around the homestead, she snarled, "You know why that is? He has no chance of getting joint custody. Not when he lives in a place with no electricity or running water. What judge is going to okay a home where there is no heater? Where Dodge could get mauled to death by a bear? And is that a wolf?" She jabbed a finger at Luna.
"Okay, wait," Farrah said, holding her hands out in an effort to calm the rabid beasty. "I don't think Aanon took this place to ruin your life, or I don't know, choose this place over his son or anything like that. I think he took it because it's been in his family for generations, and he probably wants a place to be able to pass down to Dodge, right?"
Why did Erin's laugh make her feel petty and stupid? "My son will never live in a crusty commune. He deserves better."
"Commune?"
Oh God, this woman was nuts. How could she look around and see anything but paradise? Dodge would be lucky to grow up knowing this place, knowing his heritage.
"You have no right to manipulate Aanon like this, Erin. Using his child as a tool to bend a man to your will? That's disgusting."
"Yeah? Does your baby daddy have full rights to come see his child whenever he wants? To take his child whenever he wants? No? Accept it. You're just as disgusting as me." A cruel smile crooked her lips, and she spun for the shining black SUV that idled on the front lawn.
A dark-headed man with an impatient expression waved Erin to him, and she hopped inside. Without a glance in Farrah's direction, he pealed out of the yard, spraying mud over the big house's front porch.
"Oh, my gosh," she said in utter shock. She spun, then jogged for her house and lit the lanterns inside.
Little Dodge sat where he'd been on the bed, but now his tiny bottom lip trembled, and his eyes held a rim of moisture.
"No, no, no," she cooed, squatting next to him. "It's okay, little buddy. Look, I'm Farrah, and we're going to get this all sorted out, all right? We'll just-" She wracked her brain for answers. It wasn't as if she could just chill here with a three year old for a few days waiting on Aanon. He needed to be told, and now. But without a truck, how was she supposed to get to town to put a call into him? "We'll just have an adventure. Does that sound like fun?"
One tear slid down his rosy cheek, and she wiped it with the pad of her thumb. "Have you ridden a four-wheeler before?" Oh geez, was it even legal for little kids to ride them? She hadn't a guess. At his nod yes, she jumped up. "Okay, let's go see if your dad has a helmet anywhere for you. And then we'll go into town and call him. And then maybe we can get some dinner and maybe some ice cream or something."
"I like ice cream," he said softly. Oh great goodness, if she wasn't pregnant, she'd ovulate right then and there. He was so cute, and his tiny voice made him even more adorable.