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The entire town shuts down for the Lock Ceremony.
She glances over her shoulder. “Is it flirting if it’s a fact?”
“Yes,” I say. “It’s a flirty fact, Kenobi.”
Her lips twitch like she wants to smile again. After I place the white fur coat on a stool, I slide behind the bar and grab a couple of seltzers from the cooler. Rounding back to the main floor, I pass her the can.
Our hands brush for a split-second. I zero in on her fingers. They were inside me last night.
Heat cascades, and I want a repeat so badly. To give October what she gave me.
She’s currently staring at me with full awareness. Like she’s already in my head reading all my dirty thoughts.
“What?” I ask.
Play it cool.
I pop the cap and take a small sip from the cherry lime drink.
“You’re asking me what?” She applies a thin sheen of lip gloss. “You’re the one that’s seconds away from a moan.”
I’m staring at her shiny lips. “Am not.” I dribble the seltzer a little on my chin. Quickly wiping it up with the back of my hand. Blushing. “You’re the one who fingered me. Tell me that’s not all you’re thinking about.”
“I don’t deny it,” she says like she’s giving a testimony.
Okay.
Progress, Zoey.
I lick some of the seltzer off the rim of my can. Keeping my eyes on her. She watches me, her pink lips parting a little. A want gnaws at me. Her full lips. On my lips
My tongue, licking more than just this alcohol up.
I can’t have that. She doesn’t want me to touch her. Fuuuck.
This whole thing is torture. Shedding all flirtation, I take a normal sip from the can, and October watches more keenly.
Maybe she can tell a switch went off in my head. That I’m trying my best not to flirt or fantasize because it’ll only hurt me in the end.
“Let’s talk,” I tell her, “like you said.” And I slide into the nearest booth. The wooden surface is stained and scratched. Crayons mark it up.
Taking off her jacket, she slips into the other side and pops the seltzer can. “Parry might be right.”
“About what?” Maybe we’re not on the same page. Maybe she’s thinking about something else.
“About Colt. That missing girl.”
Awesome. Same horrible page then.
October stares hard at the table before her eyes flit to me in a way that says buckle up. “I agree with Parry. I don’t think there’s a missing girl.”
My mouth dries. “Why didn’t you tell me this last night after I explained everything?”
She glances towards the window, but the blinds are shut. Nothing to see outside. “It was just a feeling last night, but today at the Lock Ceremony, I realized Parry understands this town a little better than you.” Ouch.
I shake my head vigorously. “There is no proof that the town is setting up Colt.”
October tilts her head, appraising me like I’m a flower wilting in the winter. “Do you remember the first day of high school? How everyone brings umbrellas because of the leaky ceilings.”
My grip tightens on my can, not knowing where this is headed. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Why do you think the pipes bust every year on the same day?” October asks me.
I don’t believe the ghosts of Lenard Doyle and Madeline Mackay roam the halls, but I’m not a complete cynic either. “Because of weird, strange coincidences,” I say into a shrug. “This town relies on them. Some things you can’t explain, Kenobi.”
“I agree. Some things can’t be explained,” October refutes. “But I can explain that.”
I cage breath.
She takes a small, delicate sip from her seltzer before saying, “The pipes are purposefully loosened on that day every year. The city funds the repairs.”
It shouldn’t be a surprise that something juvenile and harmless was orchestrated all along. But it feels a little like someone revealing the answer to a magic trick, draining the magical aspect from it entirely.
“How do you know that?” I wonder, even though I have a guess.
“Aunt Effie is a part of the town council. I know a lot of things.” She narrows her eyes. “Like the fact that tourism in this town accounts for ninety-percent of its business. We’d all be destitute if it weren’t for its notoriety.”
“I know the ‘town playing a prank on Colt’ is a viable theory—”
“One you don’t want to believe is true.”
I can’t deny that. “But we’re talking about purposefully making my brother go insane. Making him think he heard a mayday call. For what? To maintain the fact that this town is cursed? The motives are a little loose, don’t you think? They could do that a million other ways without being completely fucking sadistic.”
“Your family is what’s cursed,” she counters. “It’s been generations since a family has had as much misfortune in town as yours. The people here aren’t going to let Colt have some docile curse like losing his sense of smell.”
