My eyes stayed locked on my boots as I headed along the stone path to the village store. I didn’t need anything. I shouldn’t have stopped in town at all. The prickly red dusk set me on high alert, and the faint scent of woodsmoke clung to the chill already creeping over the valley.
But the chance of seeingherwas worth the risk of stumbling on old ghosts.
Lola.
Looking at her made my heart beat fast—like a panic attack, but good.
She was all shy smiles, with a cherub face half-hidden behind a veil of champagne hair and tiny blue eyes peeking out from behind glasses too big for her face. She kept her head down, hershoulders always curling in like she wanted to tuck herself out of sight.
Yeah, Lola tried to hide, but I noticed her everywhere.
She wandered around town after the clinic closed. We’d stammered through a few awkward hellos at the village store. A wave hello at the coffee shop. Sometimes, I spotted her on the bench by the riverbank reading a book.
Yesterday, she’d clutched a copy ofFlowers for Algernonunder her nose, only pausing between pages to nibble her sandwich. I’d gawked at her for so long that Rose had sidled up beside me on the street.
“And what’s caught your attention over there?” she asked, craning her wrinkled neck to peer around me, desperate for gossip to share with the other old crows at church.
I stuffed my hands in my pockets and shrugged.
“And here I was thinking it might have been the pretty doctor catching your eye,” she said. “What’s her name again?”
“That’s, um…” I coughed into my fist, but my voice didn’t grind out the name any easier. “Lola.”
“That’s the one. She rents the place next to Yolanda Briggs, you know. The poor thing is living all on her own without a friend in the world! What doyousay about that?”
Nothing. That’s what I’d said.
A nod goodbye, and I’d gone about my business… but not without one last look at Lola over my shoulder. Maybe if I got my hands on that book, we’d have something to talk about beyond awkward hellos.
I cursed myself for still not ordering a copy as the door to the village store loomed in front of me. My palm landed on the flaking green paint. I gritted my teeth.
Harden up, you weak bastard.
I could hear the almost two hundred years of history when the door groaned open, but it was the jingle that always turned my gut.
I hated that damn bell.
Ashley was crouched on the wooden floor. She hummed as she slid a cereal box onto the shelf, swaying to the music, her dark ponytail swinging in time. I was too big to sneak past her. My boots were heavy, and her head whipped around before I’d made it two steps.
“Back again, Aiden?” She slid another box onto the shelf like nothing was out of the ordinary. “That’s the fourth time this week.”
“I…forgot…” What? I never forgot a damn thing. Routines ruled my life. They had to. One misstep, and my world could unravel. “Something.”
Her mouth curved as if she were about to laugh, but instead, she only nodded. “You’ve been forgetting things a lot lately.”
I grunted and picked up a basket.
Ashley went back to stacking cereal, and I wandered around the cramped aisles, wasting time, picking up junk I didn’t need. Laundry detergent to add to my growing stockpile. A box of pasta that would sit untouched in the pantry.
Minutes ticked by.
The store was silent except for the thump of my pulse and the croon of some feel-good playlist Harry would like. I kept my mind occupied rehearsing what I’d say to Lola. She wouldn’t get any jokes from me, but something casual could work. How was she settling in? How many invitations had she dodged from the matchmaking busybodies? I raked my fingers through my hair. Nah, I couldn’t ask her that. What about the weather? Yeah, the cold front expected over the valley was a safer option than imagining Lola smiling at some other man.
The bell never jingled.
No Lola tonight.
Sighing, I headed for the checkout, my footsteps slowing as dread turned my muscles to lead.
