Page 2 of Home Between Homes

Sure, the nozzle looked like an…interestingpartof the male anatomy, and I was about to put it into ahole.

But damn it.

I was twenty-seven years old.Like anyproper adult, I should be focusing on my anxiety, not laughing at somethingso childish.

The belching exhaust of an approaching car distracted me from my giggling enough to insert the nozzle without further imagining the filthy image.

A light blue pickup truck, which looked like it was held together only by duct tape and good hopes, came to a stop behind me. A guy about my age was behind the wheel, andwow. I had to do a double-take. His well-trimmed beard, the deep brown eyes I knew I could get lost in, the way his right ear tilted to his shoulder when he noticed me staring—handsome.I hadn’t expected to encounter someone as young and attractive as him in a dead town like this.

I focused on the pump in my hand. I couldn’t come to a place where everybody probably knew everyone else and just stare at people like I was in a zoo.

A creak announced the opening of the car door behind me. It took all my willpower not to look a third time.

“Noah?” asked a surprised voice that could only be his.

The cold crept into my stomach and made it churn.How did he know my name?I turned to him, now greeted by a smile that could move mountains, but as antisocial as I had become in the last year, I raised my eyebrows at him. “Do we know each other?”

My eyes wandered from his head to his toes. He wore tight blue jeans and a warm-looking yellow plaid jacket that he left open as if it wasn’t freezing. His ears protruded from his head as if waving at me.

I had no idea who he was.

He pointed his right hand at his chest. “Jack? From General Biology?” His bushy brows twitched, making his eyes look full of hope that I would remember him. “Penn State? We did a group project together, and you lent me your notes a few times.”

I took those general biology classes six years ago. I lent my notes to dozens of people who were gone as fast as I met them. I searched my brain for his image because I couldn’t believe I wouldn’t remember someone like him, but nothing came up.

Worse, I couldn’t believe how spectacularly I had failed in my attempt to escape all the probing questions and people I knew. Was this some kind of cosmic joke? Like in ancient Greece? The harder I tried to avoid something, the more certain it was to happen?

I giggled nervously.

“How have you been?” he asked but didn’t stop there—almost as if he wanted to save me the embarrassment of admitting that I did not know who he was. “What are you doing here in Seastone?” A cheerful laugh accompanied his questions. “Did you get lost?”

Lost wasn’t the worst word to describe it.

“I’ll be in town for a few days,” I replied, my head spinning as I tried to figure out why I couldn’t place his beautiful face.

“Do you have family here?”

“No.” The pump in my hand jumped slightly as it stopped. I turned to it and wiggled it around to shake out the last drops and pursed my lips. Another dirty image in my mind.

Could this please stop? I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown because my life choices seemed to follow me everywhere I went. I didn’t need to think about sex right now.

But my stupid brain wouldn’t listen to me and let a chuckle escape my mouth.

Jack kept his smile but raised his eyebrows as if trying to figure out what was so funny.

“No, I…” I didn’t want to tell him why I was in Seastone. Not about the whole running away from my responsibilities thing. Not about the dog-sitting job. I didn’t need any more people to join the Inquisition. So I stupidly laughed in his face. “It’s more like avacation?”

“In Seastone?” Jack waved it off. “I get it. You don’t have to tell me.” His smile was still on me while his eyes wandered knowingly to the floor. He didn’t say it, but his whole bodyalmost screamed that he knew that this town wasn’t a place where people who had made it in life went.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a card. “Seastone can get pretty boring and lonely, especially around the holidays.” He held his hand out to me, and I reached for the card without thinking about it. “Let me know if you want to hang out and have a drink or something.”

I looked at the card because I felt obligated to do so.

Jack Norlander

Home Services Expert

(555) 555 5555

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