Her gaze dragged upward. When she noticed me, she blinked as if she was surprised to see anyone.
“A traveler,” she said in a rough voice. “Don’t get many of those around here.”
I shrugged. “Yeah. Probably not.”
“Just you?”
I nodded. She could easily tell I wasn’t in the mood to talk, and that was the way I wanted to keep things. The fewer people who noticed me, the better.
She sat me in the corner next to two older women playing cards. I didn’t give them a second glance. Once my drink order was taken, I was left alone.
Or so I thought.
“Those are some nice tattoos,” the woman behind me said. She craned her neck to check me out. “You must have started young.”
“Really, Marjorie,” the other woman hissed. “You’re not even gonna say hello before questioning him?”
“What? I’m just making casual conversation, Henrietta. It’s what we do around here.”
This had happened to me before. Small towns were usually tight-knit in ways my birthplace wasn’t.
I figured I’d use a trick I’d developed over the last few years. It wasn’t the kindest thing, but people got the message when I simply didn’t answer their questions and went about my day.
This woman did not, however. She stood right up and plopped down on the other side of my booth.
“Hello? Did you hear me?”
I blinked and managed a nod.
“Good.” She blew a piece of long, gray hair out of her face. She’d been the first one to speak, and her companion had called her Marjorie. I had a feeling she was the kind of woman who wasn’t forgettable. “So, which wrong highway did you take to get here?”
“Uh, the main one.”
“Hecantalk,” she replied. “Henrietta, get over here. We made ourselves a new friend!”
Henrietta sighed. “You should’ve kept ignoring her, kid. She’s bored and doesn’t know when to quit.”
“I take people ignoring me as a challenge. Everyone gives in eventually.” She scoffed and turned to me. “I like to bother the people around here. The town just made a Facebook group that I plan on trolling. Do you know about Facebook?”
Yes.“Nope.”
“I bet you’re lying.” She leaned in, eyes narrowed. “You young people live on that social media crap.”
“I’m not lying.”
Marjorie hummed and leaned in closer. “I think you are, though, you seem pretty good at it. Like you’re a pro.”
My body tensed as I tried to pull away. No one had gotten a read on me so quickly before, and that meant I was in the wrong place.
“You’re making him uncomfortable,” Henrietta said. “Not everyone wants to spill their life story, dear.”
“I don’t mean anything by it,” Marjorie replied, but with a second glance, she sat back. “Sorry, kid. I didn’t mean to pry. I’m just curious about you.”
“I’m not ... I’m just a guy. Nothing interesting about me.”
“All right, I’ll pretend to believe you. As long as you keep talking to me.” Marjorie winked. “Are you just passing through? Or did you get lost?” She lifted a finger and tapped her temple. “This thing’s a steel trap, you know. I can get you to where you need to go without one of those GPS thingies.”
“Don’t you dare lie,” Henrietta said. She fully turned around in her seat. “You tried to take me to Mammoth Cave and we ended up in Alabama!”
