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“Can I help you?” he asks again. “No, thanks. We’re just waiting for the owners. We need a room,” I say. Before he says anything, I glare at him. “You know, you almost killed us back there.” He looks at me with a tilted head. “You were in the middle of the damn intersection,” he says, nonchalantly, as he makes his way around to the cab of his truck. He pulls out a long piece of wood, and carries it toward the front porch. “You had a stop sign,” I say. “It’s a stop sign,” he says. “Not a stop-and-wait-for-an-hour sign.” I roll my eyes. “We have a kid, asshole,” I say. My language catches him off guard, and he looks at me through a side-eye. “I see that. So you should probably drive more carefully,” he says, walking back toward the truck to grab another piece. I hear Millie snort from behind me, and I glare at her. “Whatever. We will just wait around back for them to get back,” I say, ushering Caleb and Millie along. “That’s fine, but the owner is already here,” he calls from the cab of the truck. I freeze. “They are? Where?” I ask. A sly smirk tugs at his lips. “You’re lookin’ at him. Mr. Asshole, at your service,” he says, tipping his hat, then pulling it back on his head tightly. “What?” I ask. He doesn’t reply, he just walks past me with another piece of wood. “The website said that a couple owned it, Mr. and Mrs. Rowan?” Millie asks. His attitude changes a bit with Millie. He stands a little straighter, looks her in the eye a little longer. I see him studying the black-and-blue on her face, but he looks away quickly. “They’re dead,” he says, walking back to the truck. “I own this shithole now.” I look up at the house. I remember the photos on the website–clean, stunning, so well-kept. And now, here it is, in shambles, like a tarnishing piece of silver. “Who are you?” I ask. He turns to me, wiping a bead of sweat onto his sleeve. “Jesse Rowan,” he says. “Rowan?” I ask. “Rowan. Like the sign!” Caleb says. Jesse looks down at Caleb, who’s back to stroking the dog. That smile tugs at his lips again. “Like the sign,” he says.