Snowspell

Chapter 4: Following Judd-1

Chapter 4: Following Judd

For the next two days, after closing his shop, Avery followed Judd Maxx everywhere the man went: to the Templeton post office; to Ludo’s Bistro for lunch; to The Last Book Store on the Planet; the local pharmacy on Grand Street; to Michael-Michael’s grocery store; and the local movie theatre that showed independent films. Avery became obsessed with Judd. He couldn’t explain why he wanted to know every fine detail about the man, learning the innkeeper and how he behaved in his private world. All the ins and outs. Everything.

Judd visited a three-story house on Glennfield Street on the northern side of Colsen. The house looked stunning, grotesquely massive, and haunted. Windows garnished every wall, and a porch skirted its base, wrapping around the structure. Avery thought it one of the largest houses he had seen in Colsen; one that could comfortably house ten children, a father, wife, a mother-in-law, and a maid. A gated fence surrounded the house and tiny yard, and ice and snow covered beautiful oaks, making them look like candy. Frankly, the place resembled a photograph in a Better Homes and Gardens article, uppity, and expensive to tend.

Seated inside his black Jeep Wrangler, parked three doors down from 148 Glennfield, Avery saw Judd climb out of his salt-covered navy Ram 2500. The familiar basket, tissue, and candle that Avery had prepared hung in Judd’s left hand as he walked up to his aunt’s abode. Judd looked dapper in a pair of tight jeans, North Face jacket, and Timberland boots. His ass shifted left and right as he walked, sexy as hell. Avery didn’t realize how broad Judd’s shoulders were: a horizontal I-beam atop his chest. Nor did he comprehend how lithe the innkeeper walked, climbing up the four wooden steps to the front door.

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable behind the Wrangler’s steering wheel, half excited at the sight of Judd Maxx, Avery reached between his legs and jostled his private parts. He pushed the set left and right, pleasurably groaned, and continued to survey the situation, squinting.

Judd knocked on his aunt’s door. A plump, sixty-something woman answered, grinning from ear to ear. Her hair was pulled up into a tight bun at the back of her head, and she wore an ivory and violet muumuu that swished around her bare ankles. She welcomed her nephew inside after hugging him. She kissed Judd’s left cheek and patted his back. And before Avery realized that his show had ended, Judd’s aunt closed the door, sealing Judd off from the world and Avery’s invasive prying.

Avery waited for the next forty minutes while Judd visited his aunt. Eventually, Judd climbed inside his Ram 2500 and drove the eight miles to Colsen and The Maxx Inn. Avery watched him park behind the inn, climb the set of six steps to a back entrance, and enter the inn for the night, and whatever lifestyle an innkeeper processed.