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My back pocket vibrates and I take out my cell phone and find Tyler’s name on the screen.
Is your reception good enough to get this text?
Of course he would text something like that. Not wanting to look rude in front of my new friend, I slip the phone back into my pocket without replying. Waiting a little bit for my reply won’t kill the boy.
“When did he leave Salt Gap?” I ask, followed quickly by, “Do I have any relatives in this town?”
“He left the day he buried Carol. He packed up their baby and filled his pickup truck with all of the essentials. His friends all told him to stay and give that baby attention, but he insisted on leaving. Said he couldn’t live in this town without his wife.” She shrugs and gives me a sad smile. “I guess that’s when he went to Houston. I never saw him or heard from him again.”
Grandpa moved across the state because he was heartbroken. And here I am not allowing myself to love out of fear of being heartbroken again. Hell, I’m not even allowing myself to go on a measly date with the hottest small town man around. Ms. Candy grabs my hand, startling me out of my own thoughts.
“Why did you come here looking for answers, girl? What are you trying to learn?”
I shrug. “Believe it or not, I didn’t come to Salt Gap on purpose. I just happened to stop here for food and, well, I haven’t left yet. I found a picture of grandpa in the countertop photos at the Salt Gap Diner and it made me want to figure out why it was there.”
“How wonderful,” she says with a cute little laugh. Her hand flies to her chest and then her fingers grip the cross on the necklace around her neck. She shakes her head as her laughter fades. “It’s amazing what fate does, isn’t it?”
I can’t help but smile. “Yeah, it is amazing.”
Chapter 12
The stop sign at the end of Ms. Candy’s road can’t arrive fast enough. When my tires finally roll to a stop at the four-way intersection, I glance in all directions and confirm what I already knew: there’s not another car in sight. I grab my phone from the cup holder and open Tyler’s text.
I type a quick reply and I don’t spent sixty seconds pondering over which words to write.
Me: Yup. Luckily I was outside so that probably helped.
Tyler: I tried calling but it didn’t go through. Are you busy?
I consider saying yes, but what’s the point? Me: Nope.
Tyler: Great. Meet me at the library. It’s on Main Street.
Nerves filter into my stomach as I put my car in park. Salt Gap Public Library is bigger than I’d imagined for a town so small. It has a red brick exterior and wraparound floor to ceiling windows around the whole front of the building, allowing a great view of the bookcases inside. Libraries don’t usually make me nervous. But of course that’s not why the butterflies are having mini heart attacks inside my chest.
Tyler raps on my car window and I let out a shriek of surprise, tossing my car keys into the air. He laughs and pulls open my door for me.
“Hey…jerk,” I say as I reach into the floorboard to retrieve my fallen keys. “You scared me.”
“You looked pretty serious in there. Were you car meditating?”
I roll my eyes and climb out of my car. “Is car meditating a thing?”
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He shrugs. “You’re the big city girl. You tell me.”
I swallow, wanting the expression to calm my nerves but it doesn’t. “Nope,” I say with a smile that I hope hides my nervousness. “We city folk still do our meditating indoors.”
Even though the last time we talked was when he dashed out of the diner, Tyler doesn’t have a hint of awkwardness in his voice. I guess the awkwardness is only on my side. Tyler looks incredibly normal today. Dark jeans as always, white t-shirt that hugs his chest in all the right places. Tanned skin and short black hair. IPhone compressing against his ass in his back pocket. Oh to be that denim…
I shake my head. “So what are we doing here?”
Tyler’s sly grin widens into a full out child-on-Christmas-morning smile. He shoves his hands in his pockets. “I have a surprise for you.”
“Is it a book?” I ask with a wave of my hand toward the library.
“Kind of.” He rocks back on his heels and this little dimple forms in his left cheek and ugh, I wish I hadn’t said no to that date. “Miranda just served me lunch and she got to talking about the photo of your grandfather in the counter.” He pauses and looks at me as if he’s expecting me to have some kind of reaction to this news. Not sure why I would…Miranda has a huge mouth after all.
