Page 30 of Sunset Catchers

Sunset Hour

“Is the sunset to your satisfaction,” Levi calls out to me.

I’m standing on the pathway between our two cottages, my empty dinner plate in tow, the crickets chirping all around me.

I whirled toward him, scowling. Levi is leaning against his porch railing, waiting for me to answer.

“What?”

“You’re just always staring intensely at it. I’m just wondering, does its sight please you?”

“It pleases me more than the sight of your face.”

“Okay. Yeah. That’s really mature.”

“Oh, so sorry, Officer. I didn’t know I was in the presence of the maturity police.”

“Well, you are.”

“Well, I wasn’t going for mature anyway, so…”

“No. You were probably going for brat, if I were to take a guess.”

I roll my lips together. I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of laughing. “Nobody asked you to take a guess, Levi!”

“I’m still taking one. It’s a free country.”

“Freely go fuck yourself then.”

“That…that doesn’t even make sense.”

“Your face doesn’t make sense.”

He sighs. The sky is a gradient of blues and purples, no pink, and I’m disappointed by it. I walk to my cottage.

“Good night, Winnie.”

“…”

“Sleep tight.”

“…”

“Don’t let the—.”

The door to my cottage closes behind me with a loud thud.

8

I’m reviewing my first week of working alongside Levi while driving with the windows rolled down an inch to let the fresh morning air, and the slight scent of manure, twirl my hair around like a lover’s hand.

It has gone by surprisingly well, overall.

Every morning, we met up in my cottage at 8:30 to go over our plans for the day. From morning until late afternoon, we worked together on trying to turn these basic spaces into warm, eclectic rentals.

At this point, both kitchen backsplashes were up and finished. I had been right about the dark pink grout; it complimented the tiles beautifully. It was the same for the dark green grout for the other kitchen and its pale blue and green tiles.

We’ve also added more pieces of furniture to both cottages. Levi now had two blue gingham patterned armchairs, where I knew he enjoyed sipping the coffee he made from his expensive machine every morning, while I now had a dresser, in a perfect shade of pink, to put my clothes away in.