Page 6 of Hot Summer Nights

Iris– 555- 0157

Sutton – 555- 0195

Lyla – 555- 0186

Gavin – 555- 0117

I smileat her thoughtfulness and grab a magnet so that I can hang the note up on the fridge.

It’s been a while since I had a girls’ night or a lot of friends and part of me wants to meet them, but I know that I won’t be staying in town for long. Maybe it’s better if I don’t. That way I don’t have to worry about my curse rubbing off on them.

I open the fridge and smile when I see that it’s fully stocked. I have a feeling that Flynn did this last night while I was sleeping. I passed out after I got back with my stuff. I could barely keep my eyes open in the shower and when I couldn’t find my pajamas, I just put on an old paint-splattered shirt and some underwear and called it good. Luckily for me, I was more awake when I got dressed this morning.

Now I’m feeling more well-rested. It looks like I’ll be in town for a few days, so maybe I get dressed and see some of the sights. Or I could sit out on the porch here and read a book. It might be safer for everyone if I stayed by myself. It’s been a while since I last laid around for a whole day. I was always working at least one job and painting in my free time. Not that I regret that. It allowed me to save up so that I could get out on my own.

I snag a muffin from the container on the counter and take a bite as I head over to the front windows.

“Hey!” a pretty purple-haired girl says, popping up right in front of me and giving me a heart attack. “You must be Record!”

I stare at her wide eyed and that’s when I see the pink and red-haired girls standing behind her.

“We’re Madelyn’s friends,” the pink-haired girl says, and I lift a hand to wave at them weakly.

“Uh, hi.”

They wave back and head for the front door and I try to calm my racing heart as I move to let them in.

“Hey! I’m Lyla,” the purple-haired one says. “And this is Sutton and Iris,” she says, nodding to the pink and red-haired girls in turn.

“Hey, it’s nice to meet you.”

“I love your hair,” Lyla says as they come into the house and I smile.

“Thanks. I like yours too.”

“I need to dye it again. It’s starting to fade already. Maybe I’ll try blue this time.”

“Yeah, I need to touch up mine too. I love the color, but it fades so fast,” I tell her as we all head into the kitchen.

“Madelyn and Flynn left,” I inform them.

“We know. We wanted to come meet you before we had to head to work,” Sutton says.

“Yeah, Madelyn told me that you own the antiques store in town,” I say to Iris and she nods.

Lyla passes her a muffin and grabs another for herself.

“We work at the Mystery Cabin. I don’t know if you want to do any touristy thing while you’re here, but we could take you over there if you want,” Sutton says with a smile as Lyla hands her a muffin too.

“Yeah, I was just thinking that I should try to poke around town today. I didn’t have any concrete plans though.”

“Let us take you over there. You can check out the cabin and then we can take you out for lunch,” Lyla says.

I bite my lip. These girls are really nice and I already like them. I don’t want to put them in harm’s way though with my curse.

“Let’s go!” Lyla says, making the decision for me and I grab my phone and Madelyn’s keys off the counter before she drags me out the front door.

“I’ve got to meet Arlo and get into the shop, but I’ll see you guys at lunch,” Iris says with a wave.

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