Left Them Loved Myself (Stella Spencer) novel Chapter 141

Chapter 141

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Simon set the stuff down and turned around, finally taking the chance to gulp in a few desperate breaths.

When he found the bags and handed them to Erica, he was cool as ever–acting like nothing had happened.

Erica couldn’t even bring herself to watch him. ‘He sounded like he was one step away from collapsing. Does he seriously think I’m blind?‘ she thought.

“Hey, Simon.” Erica patted his shoulder, a bag in her other hand. “You know what you remind me of right now?”

“What?” Simon asked.

Erica grinned. “A sports car.”

Simon blinked, totally lost. ‘A sports car? Is she calling me sleek and powerful?‘

“All that shiny bodywork, and a lawnmower engine under the hood.” Erica dropped the line and walked off, completely ignoring how pissed he looked.

After a while, Erica, Stella, and Daisy came crashing back through the bushes, lugging two enormous bags of mushrooms so stuffed they were almost dragging along the ground.

“You planning to eat nothing but mushrooms for the rest of the trip?” Simon grumbled, his eye twitching with disbelief.

Erica let out a snort. “Of course not—we just grabbed every type we could find, poisonous or not. Once we actually sort through them, there’ll probably be almost nothing left.”

Simon was still smarting from her earlier jab about being ‘a lawnmower engine,‘ so he was quick to clap back. “If you’ve got so much to prove, why don’t you go push a tractor up a hill?”

“No problem, Erica fired back instantly. “Just point me to your family’s field. I’ll get it done.”

‘Way to go, Simon. You really set yourself up for that one, Simon groaned to himself.

Instead of roasting Erica, all he got was Stella’s unimpressed stare.

Simon couldn’t even manage a smile. “I–I was just kidding, alright?”

Erica rolled her eyes and sneered. “Oh, a tough guy? More like a tough–guy action figure. All look, no

function.”

Simon had nothing to say after that.

He just squatted off to the side with his phone, silently scanning mushrooms as if he were one of them. ‘Great, just call me Mr. Sad Mushroom, Simon sulked to himself.

Even if Erica couldn’t tell a poisonous mushroom from the safe ones, she knew her luck all too well and didn’t

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Just like that, after sorting through the bounty, those two bulging bags of mushrooms barely scraped together enough for a single pot.

“Good thing I brought some extra food–we’ll just toss everything together and make a big pot of soup,” Simon said, getting things organized. “Why don’t you girls take the stuff over to that spring and wash it? I checked earlier, the water’s nice and clear.”

“I’ll hang back and set up the grill and throw the pots together,” he added.

“Sure,” Erica answered.

Stella and Erica gathered up the food, then headed off with Daisy toward the spot Simon had pointed out.

Daisy walked between them, holding both their hands, her little legs swinging back and forth like she was on a swing–she was having the time of her life.

Pretty soon, they got to the spring. The water was crystal clear–so pure one could see every pebble on the bottom–and sunlight danced on the ripples as a bunch of fish zipped around, living it up down there.

“Wow, Ms. Pretty, look at all the fish!” Daisy cheered, bouncing with excitement.

“Yup, a whole crowd of fish,” Stella smiled as she leaned down so she was face–to–face with Daisy. “Guess the fish are big fans of you, Daisy–they’re coming over just to check you out! You can watch, but don’t forget to keep some distance, or you might end up falling in with them.”

“She’s right–if you tumble in, those fish might go ‘chomp!‘ and gobble you right up,” Erica joked, barely blinking as she tried to spook Daisy.

But Daisy just burst out laughing, totally unfazed. “Erica, you’re fibbing! Fish would never eat people!”

“Oh, they absolutely would!” Stella said, pretending to be dead serious.

I get it–I’ll keep my distance!” Daisy promised, then scampered back a few steps, her face bright with mischief.

Erica burst out laughing, then lunged over and gave Daisy’s cheeks a good pinch. “You little rascal! Who was the one having fun with you mushroom hunting earlier, huh? And now you’re giving me the double standard

treatment?”

Daisy’s lips puffed up from all the pinching. “Erica, 1–I’m sorry!”

Erica gave a little huff. “Fine, since you apologized so quickly, I’ll let you off the hook this time.”

“Thank you, Erica! You’re the best…” Daisy piled on the cuteness, flashing her biggest smile.

Erica was loving every second of it.

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Stella’s ears perked up at the faint sound, but she couldn’t tell where it came from.

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“Erica, is that you?” Stella called, trying to keep her voice steady.

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But only the chirping of insects and the croaking of frogs echoed back to her–no answer, nobody in sight.

Just as Stella was about to brush it off as her imagination and walk away, the sound came again, just like a pebble dropping to the forest floor.

Stella’s heart soared. “Erica, keep it up! I’m coming your way!”

Another tapping sound rang out.

“I heard that!” Stella called out, her voice full of hope.

The sound kept going on.

“It’s getting louder–I’m coming your way!” Stella shouted, her steps quickening. “Hang in there, I’m almost there!”

Following the sound, Stella ended up standing in front of what looked kinda like a cellar.

Basically, there was this huge hole in the ground–easily bigger than any bathtub.

“Erica, are you down there?” Stella called, peering down into the hole.

A small, trembling voice rose up from below. “It’s me…”

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18:15 Mon, Oct 20

Chapter 142

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