Page 6 of Where Roads Lead

“Because I figured if the two women I ran into were more than willing to share your information with a stranger, then I could only imagine what they’d tell you about me.”

She had a point there.

“I’m sure it can’t be worse than what I’ve already observed for myself,” I retorted.

She scoffed. “You know what? Sorry. Forget this happened. Next time I see you, I’ll make sure to go the other way.”

As lovely as that sounded, I knew better than she that this town was too small to go about avoiding anyone. Especially when I covered every square inch of the place twice over daily.

So, unless she stayed burrowed up in her house the entire time, we’d probably be seeing a lot of each other. At the very least, in passing.

Which meant I had to at least attempt to salvage this disastrous meeting, lest the newest town gossip be centered on me being rude to the new girl.

There wasn’t much in the way of scandals here, but people took what they could get. So, even though this spat was nothing short of minor, I knew there were surely people already pressing their noses against windows to insert themselves into something that was none of their damn business.

“Hey,” I said, holding my hands up in surrender. “I think we—”

“You’re kind of an asshole, you know that?”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, I mean, who acts all pissed off and confrontational with a stranger they’ve never met over a simple misunderstanding?”

“I wasn’t confrontational,” I retorted. “I was clearing up the fact that I’m too busy to be running around town helping out random women passing through.”

“Well, I didn’t ask you for help, so it was unwarranted.” She stuck a hand on her hip, head tilted as she stared me down.

Once again, I was reminded of an angry kitten.

“Listen,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’m sorry that I came across as a little abrasive, but—”

“Don’t apologize.” She laughed wildly. “I’m sorry for crossing your path in the first place. I had no idea the thought of me having his phone number could piss a guy off so much.”

You know what? Town scandal be damned. This girl was testing my last nerve, and I didn’t have the time or the patience to deal with some fiery tourist who clearly had questionable taste in vacation destinations.

She could find some other guy to torment while she was here, because it sure as hell wasn’t going to be.

“So, what? Are you going to avoid the only place in town that serves coffee for however long you’re here?” I asked.

“If there’s a chance of running into you, then I’ll let myself die of caffeine deprivation,” she muttered, turning on her heel to storm off.

The direction she chose alone was enough to tell me she was new here, because there was nothing in that corner of town but a murky pond and an old field that had been supposedly important during Revolutionary War times, though no one had ever found any reference to it in the history books.

“Great!” I called back to her retreating figure. “But don’t call me to clean your gutters out once you realize Mr. Briggs hasn’t had it done in the past ten years!”

“Jokes on you, asshole.” She turned back, glaring at me with a scowling face that I highly doubted looked anywhere near as intimidating as she hoped it did. “I never check my gutters, anyway!”

Well, that really wasn’t good.

Did that mean she didn’t care about house maintenance? Would she even bother to get any of the crap fixed in Mr. Briggs’s house, because God knows he’d let it fall into disrepair over the years.

Plus, the lock on his back door was still screwed up and—

Not my problem. I shook my head, forcibly tearing my gaze away from her retreating figure.

I had shit to do and people to see. I didn’t have time to waste ruminating on her.

For my own sanity—and my blood pressure that apparently had spiked in her presence—I figured it would probably be best for all parties involved if I stayed far away from the new girl.