Just My Ducking Luck

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(43 43 43 1)>Her fresh start? Cute. Until my ducks made her their emotional support human and now I'm starring in a small-town romance novel I never agreed to.</strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(43 43 43 1)>Frankie showed up with too many boxes a smart mouth and the kind of laugh that settles somewhere uncomfortable in my chest. She runs a pink overly cheerful bookstore next door. I run from the past I'd rather forget. And yet somehow my damn ducks-traitors the lot of them-have decided she's their new emotional support human.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(43 43 43 1)>We started with a busted fence and a battle of wills. We spiraled into late-night arguments slow-burn tension and a kiss that nearly unraveled the careful distance I've spent years building.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(43 43 43 1)>She's chaos in lipstick and Converse.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(43 43 43 1)>I'm a man still clawing his way out of a mess no one knows the full truth about.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(43 43 43 1)>The smart thing would be to stay away.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(43 43 43 1)>The problem is I've never been great at doing the smart thing-especially when she's standing on my porch with fire in her eyes and my duck tucked under her arm.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(43 43 43 1)>This was supposed to be her clean slate. Too bad I'm the dirt she can't quite scrub off.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(43 43 43 1)>One woman I shouldn't want.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(43 43 43 1)>One past I can't outrun.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(43 43 43 1)>And a duck determined to start drama.</span></p><p></p>