Page 85 of Where Roads Lead

“Pretty much everyone.” She nodded her agreement, “$36.43, by the way, whenever you’re ready.”

I fumbled for my debit card, brain numbed completely by the turn of events occurring in real time.

“Is that why everyone’s staring at me?” I asked her, dumbfounded.

“Probably.” She shrugged. “Will hasn’t had a girlfriend in years. I guess everyone’s curious about what made you finally turn his head.”

“What, is he, like, some big eligible bachelor of the town?” I snorted, finding the whole situation more absurd than I could imagine even Colbridge capable of.

“I only meant that he’s had plenty of girls interested, and it never seemed to matter before now.”

I turned behind me, checking to make sure I wasn’t holding up any lines, but to my surprise, everyone was acutely tuned into the conversation I was having with—I squinted at the nametag—Hazel with the pink and black hair.

“Well, Hazel,” I said before turning in all directions around the store, cupping my hands around my mouth, “and everyone else listening! Will Hughes and I are not seeing each other. So, if you’d be so kind as to let all the many women lined up for him know that I haven’t snatched him away from them, I’d be ever so grateful.”

“Ask her why she was driving in his car, then!” an old lady whispered in the loudest of volumes to Hazel, despite the fact that I could hear her perfectly well.

“He was giving me a ride home from babysitting last night!” I told the woman.

She frowned as if she hadn’t expected me to answer her directly.

“Not last night,” another woman added. “It was that morning that Will didn’t come into the café. The two of you were gone all morning and the better half of the afternoon.”

A chorus of agreement alerted me to the fact that not only was this something they’d all been aware of, but had apparently discussed. At great length, if I had to guess.

“I’m extremely unsettled that you’ve all been keeping such close track of my whereabouts,” I muttered. “But, once again, he was giving me a ride.”

“Awful friendly of him, don’t you think?” The old lady turned to her friend with a gleam in her wrinkled eyes.

“Oh, God,” I groaned, taking my bags and shoving my debit card back into my jeans pocket.

“Well, this has been fun, but maybe next time you guys can do a better job of pretending you aren’t stalking me, and I’ll do a better job of pretending I don’t notice, and we can save us all from this incredibly awkward encounter. Okay? Okay, great.”

Before I could hear any more rumors about myself circulating in a town I’d only just arrived in, I ran for the exit.

Here I thought I’d be deemed the town weirdo, not the town hussy who stole away Will Hughes from under them.

Why the hell did everything in this town have something to do with that man?

Chapter Twenty-Five

Will

Why the hell did everyone in this town want something from me all the goddamn time? I was only one man.

The customers wanted me running circles to meet their demands.

My parents wanted me to take care of Ava’s emotional well-being.

Ava wanted—hell, I couldn’t even begin to guess anymore what exactly she wanted from me.

And Theo? Apparently wanted me to play matchmaker between him and a girl I’d rather he stay far away from.

The pressure was weighing on me like never before. I wanted everything to just…stop.

The expectations. The errands. The absurd requests from people who wanted me to clear out their attic, or find them the number for animal control because they couldn’t see without their reading glasses anymore, or drop them off at a doctor appointment because they lived alone with no children, and after all, I’d always been like a son to them, anyway.

I looked around the café, finding it mostly dead save for a few regulars that I knew could fend for themselves if need be, and I threw open the door in desperate need of fresh-air.