Page 1 of Reluctant Chemistry

Tulloch Point

Part I

1

Rabbit Hole

Keeping to the grass verge, CeCe headed along Old Cemetery Road, illuminating the way with her phone as the moon slipped behind a cloud. Attending the Christmas party had been her cousin Molly’s idea.Come, she’d pleaded.It’s about time you let those curls down again.So CeCe had gone with her.

Restless, she’d nursed a half-size bottle of sparkling rosé until she could no longer stand the same old crowd, the boring small talk, or the sight of her ex, Travis.

She checked her phone for service. Coverage stopped about five miles out of town and didn’t start again until you reached the junction of the coastal highway. But even if she had reception, with her parents away for the evening and her brother, Mitch, in town with friends, who would she call?

The beat of the music from the party competed with the roll of the surf, confusing her senses. And as CeCe stood on the side of the road, trying to get her bearings, the sound of an approaching car startled her. Although not unusual for locals to use the back road, her gut clenched and her stride quickened. Maybe Travis had realized she’d bailed and come after her, but his souped-up Impreza had a distinctive throaty roar, and this one sounded quieter.

CeCe hurried across the road and headed toward a shelterbelt dividing one field from the other. Her heartbeat racing, she clambered over the fence in front of her. Pine needles softened the impact on landing, but as she glanced over her shoulder at the looming headlights, her foot caught in a rabbit hole, and she hit the ground with a thud.

“Ow! Shit.”

The vehicle passed at speed, dust billowing in its wake before it slowed. Her eyes welling with tears from the pain, CeCe remained frozen in place as its taillights turned from red to white.

The driver reversed, stopped to her left, andlowered the window. She dropped her gaze and kept her head down, knowing she couldn’t make a run for it even if she tried.

“Are you all right?” A man’s voice, deep and filled with concern, boomed through the night air.

CeCe scooted backward on her butt, pine needles stabbing the skin through her skimpy summer dress.

He opened the door, rounded the front of the SUV, and stepped toward her, his headlights illuminating their surroundings. “What are you doing out here?”

“Nothing. Walking home.”

Keeping to the far side of the fence, the man crouched in front of her. Although darkness shadowed his features, CeCe could tell by his stance and the sound of his voice that he was tall and youngish. “Are you hurt?”

She shuffled backward a fraction, wincing from the pain. “I’m fine. My boyfriend’s on his way to collect me. He’ll be here any minute.”

The guy glanced up and down the road then looked back at her. “My name’s Luka. I work with Search and Rescue as a paramedic. Do you need help?”

“Next you’ll tell me you live on the second floor.”

He chuckled. “Ah, the girl has a sense of humor! So, how did you become separated?”

“What?”

“From your boyfriend? You said he was coming back for you.”

“Look, I said I’m fine. Please just leave me alone.”

Luka jumped the fence with ease. “You think I’m going to leave you out here at the intersection of ‘Nowhere’ and ‘I Don’t Give a Shit’?”

“I’m not getting into a car with a stranger.”

“So you’d rather stay here and wait for your elusive boyfriend? Who, by the way, must be a prize jerk for leaving you alone out here in the first place.” He leaned toward her as if waiting for a response, his hair flopping over his forehead. “Do you think you can stand?”

She shook her head.

“What’s your name?”

She didn’t want to tell him her name, didn’t want to get in his car. A female hitchhiker had been murdered in the area when CeCe was a child, and that story had stuck in her head.

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