At the inn, a couple heads down the steps, a camera slung around her neck, his hand gripping a map as he points farther down the street. I bet they’re heading to The Slippery Dipper, the lotions and potions shop down the road. It sports a sign in its front window reading:Yes,that scenewas shot here.
“That scene” hails fromSomeone Else’s Ring, the movie Banks worked security on. That’s how he met Ripley, who was assigned a bodyguard to protect her since her identical twin sister was the lead.
“How are you finding Darling Springs?” he asks me, slowing his pace, too, as we cool down with a walk in the summer-morning air.
That’s a good question. I’m not entirely new to the town. I’d been to Darling Springs a few times before I moved. I’ve had business here over the years, stopping by for client meetings now and then, and to see my sister, since she and her husband have a place up here that they use for couples retreats—they’re dating podcasters. I picked this town for Dog Tails for many reasons—my analysis said it had the clientele to support a bougie dog daycare, and since it’s also close enough to my other locations that I can swing by San Francisco or Lucky Falls once or twice a month to visit the Dog Tails there, and I’ve been to both in the past week. But the point of hiring good people is that I don’t need to go back to babysit each location. I also picked Darling Springs because it seemed like the right placefor a changefor me. Trouble is I don’t entirely trust my choices these days, so I hedge my bets as I answer with, “I can’t complain.”
“That’s hardly a ringing endorsement, even from the king of understatements,” he says.
I scratch my beard, weighing the question. I’m not trying to be evasive. It’s just…“I’m someone who takes a while to decide if I like something.”
“Dude, it’s a town,” Banks says, like my reserving judgment is ridiculous.
“Did you fall in love with it right away?” I counter.
“Fair point.” He sighs thoughtfully. “I liked it, but seeing it through Ripley’s eyes over time? That made me fall in love with it. Can’t imagine being anyplace else now.”
Something warms in my chest. Something steady. A sense of rightness—calm even. I want that. I crave that. I’m not there yet though. It’s too soon to fall for anything. But maybe in the near future? “That sounds nice. I’d had enough of the city. It reminded me of…”
I trail off, not sure I want to go there, but Banks waits patiently for me to finish as we walk.
“Of the life I’d planned with Katya,” I say, finishing at last. Better to keep facing it and all.
“I hear ya,” he says with a pensive note in his voice. “Sometimes you just need a place where…nobody knows your story.”
“Exactly. Somewhere that’s a blank slate,” I say, which is why I need to be careful with the next hundred and sixty-eight hours. And the week after that, and the one after that. Working with awoman I wanted a second date with—if not right away, then in the future—is tempting as hell for a guy in my situation.
I’ve got a new home, a fresh location for my newest business, and a clean slate in a town where no one sees me as the guy who got screwed over by his bride-to-be. Darling Springs truly is perfect for that. There’s so much happening here that my backstory hardly matters. I’ve got plans for Dog Tails. Meetings with other business owners around here to line up partnerships and events to sponsor. Not to mention the partnerships I’m overseeing in the other locations too.
That’s why the life I’m building ought to be my focus, not these insistent questions in the back of my mind: What’s Chloe doing? What’s she up to? Does she still hate me?
But I can’t get distracted by her. I need to find my rhythm. I clear my head and turn to Banks. “Let me treat you to a cup of coffee.”
“I won’t say no to that,” he says.
We grab a table outside at Pick Me Up and shoot the breeze.
* * *
The thing about sharing space with someone is…you can’t help but hear things. Like the commotion among the staff. They think they’re whispering, but they sound like a Greek chorus—Levi, Zuri, Hazel, and Nisha. I’m in the office later that morning, crunching first-week sales figures and comparing them to the other locations, when their voices float to my half-open door.
I cock my head at another high-pitched sound. Did someone just shriek?
“Shut up. I love her!” It’s Levi.
“Shut up. She can hear you probably,” Hazel hushes the groomer.
“Shut up, she’s outside,” Levi volleys back to the daycare staffer.
“How about we just behave,” Nisha offers, no-nonsense, as always. “You two are worse than a pair of yappy Pomeranians.”
A louder, authoritative voice chimes in. “Huskies. They’re worse than Huskies. No one whines like a Husky.”
That’s Zuri, but she’s drowned out by Hazel again. “I love Saffron. I just love her so much. She was so good onThe Invitation.”
“I know! When she seduced the hotel wellness director on the second night, I died,” Levi says. And hell, he’s right. That was a jaw-dropping twist in the show.
But that’s also my cue to intervene. Those must be Chloe’s new clients they’re talking about, and while I’m not a star gawker, I do know an opportunity when it comes my way.
