Page 9 of Love Fast

“Come on.” I head out. I don’t want to argue about paying for a shot of tequila. “Consider it a welcome to Star Falls.”

I hold the door open for her. She pauses before dipping under my arm. As she passes me, her arm grazes my chest, and at this brief touch, we both jump apart like we’re two magnets with our poles pointing toward each other.

“Sorry,” I mutter. I don’t want her to think I’m flirting. I’m not. The last thing I want is a one-night stand in a town that probably has my inside leg measurement in a central repository somewhere. As well as being gossips, the residents of Star Falls have long memories. A single indiscretion will last a lifetime.

I lead her toward my truck. She seems thoughtful, or maybe disappointed.

I open the passenger door and she climbs in. “Star Falls…” she says. “The name seems a little… ominous. Don’t you think?”

“Ominous? Because…?” I always thought Star Falls was a pretty name. Almost too pretty, given how ugly life got here for me.

“I’m just being silly. I’ve had a bad day and I’m not in the most positive mindset.”

“A falling star is a meteor shower,” I say. Maybe there’s a little defensiveness to my tone. I wanted to escape Star Falls so badly when I was younger, but I can’t see what a stranger passing through town would have to complain about. “Meteor showers are… cool.”

She laughs, and I realize I sound a little unhinged. “I guess. I don’t know why, but it makes me think of someone who has fallen out of favor. A Hollywood movie star no one likes anymore. She doesn’t belong.”

My eyes widen at her description. We couldn’t be coming at this from any further apart. Star Falls says “interstellar wonder” to me and “washed-up misfit” to her. “Wow. That’s… depressing. Youhavehad a bad day.” As soon as I say it. I wish I hadn’t. If she walked out on her wedding ceremony, a bad day will be a massive understatement. “Sorry if I’m being insensitive.”

“Why? Because of this old thing?” she says, pulling at her dress. “Gives me away a little, doesn’t it? Yeah, well, however bad a day I’m having, a guy I know is having a worse time.” She glances down at her lap.

I want to ask more, but I don’t want to prove my heritage as a Star Falls native son. No nosey gossip-hunting from me. It helps that our journey is at an end.

I pull off the main road and park in front of the two cabins.

“Here we are,” I say.

She ducks to look out the window. “A perfect place to be murdered,” she mutters.

I push my palm over my jaw and blow out a breath. “We haven’t had a murder in Star Falls for at least twelve months.” My tone is deadpan.

She snaps her head around to look at me, her eyes wide and wondering.

“I’m kidding,” I say.

“Oh yeah, I can tell you’re a real joker,” she replies sarcastically.

Iwastrying to make a joke, but I don’t know why. It’s not like I’m trying to get to know her. But something inside me wants her to feel okay. “You’ll be safe here. I’m next door. There’s nothing to worry about.”

I bet at least half the town doesn’t lock their houses at night. She doesn’t need to be concerned about being murdered.

I pull my mouth into a contorted smile. “I’ll get the key.”

I grab the key to the empty cabin from the hook inside my front door. I’m about to hand it over, when I remember the lock being stiff when I checked the place out when I first arrived. “Let me make sure you can get in.” I leap up the steps to the porch and put the key in the lock. It fits like a glove. “Yeah, it’s fine. It didn’t fit so great when I tried it the other day.”

I turn to find her at the top of the steps. “Thanks,” she says.

“Do you need anything?” I ask. I’m not by nature a hospitable person, but this woman is having a really bad day. Maybe it’s something about the air in this town, or maybe I’m overcompensating with kindness to lessen her fear of being axe-murdered.

“A new life?” she suggests. She gives me a half smile, and my breath catches in my throat. Her eyes kind of sparkle in the moonlight.

“New lives aren’t available until morning,” I say.

She gives me another small smile and for some reason it feels like the promise of something more. I shake it off. I don’t need to be reading meaning into a pretty stranger’s smile.

“This is great. Thank you,” she says.

“Heaters are electric. If you have any problems, need a cup of sugar, anything, I’m right next door.”

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