Love Fast

Rosey needs a place to stay and I’m probably the only person in town who can provide it. That’s my fault, since I’ve rented out every available place in Star Falls. Giving her the cabin next to mine for a couple of nights is the least I can do. The only thing that makes letting Rosey stay palatable is that she’s not from around here. If I take a shower at four in the morning, the patrons of Grizzly’s won’t be talking about it the next day because she doesn’t know anyone.

By all accounts, Rosey’s only going to be here for a couple of days. The wedding dress is a clue she’s not looking to stay. She’s looking for escape.

I know the feeling.

I put some cash on the bar to cover both our drinks.

Rosey stands in my jacket, which completely drowns her, and tries to get the attention of the bartender. She offers me a smile. “I only have my phone to pay, so I just need to⁠—”

“I’ve got it covered,” I say, nodding to the cash I’ve laid out on the bar.

Her eyes go wide. “No, you can’t. I mean⁠—”

“Come on.” I head out. I don’t want to argue about paying for a shot of tequila. “Consider it a welcome to Star Falls.”

I hold the door open for her. She pauses before dipping under my arm. As she passes me, her arm grazes my chest, and at this brief touch, we both jump apart like we’re two magnets with our poles pointing toward each other.

“Sorry,” I mutter. I don’t want her to think I’m flirting. I’m not. The last thing I want is a one-night stand in a town that probably has my inside leg measurement in a central repository somewhere. As well as being gossips, the residents of Star Falls have long memories. A single indiscretion will last a lifetime.

I lead her toward my truck. She seems thoughtful, or maybe disappointed.

I open the passenger door and she climbs in. “Star Falls…” she says. “The name seems a little… ominous. Don’t you think?”

“Ominous? Because…?” I always thought Star Falls was a pretty name. Almost too pretty, given how ugly life got here for me.noveldrama

“I’m just being silly. I’ve had a bad day and I’m not in the most positive mindset.”

“A falling star is a meteor shower,” I say. Maybe there’s a little defensiveness to my tone. I wanted to escape Star Falls so badly when I was younger, but I can’t see what a stranger passing through town would have to complain about. “Meteor showers are… cool.”

She laughs, and I realize I sound a little unhinged. “I guess. I don’t know why, but it makes me think of someone who has fallen out of favor. A Hollywood movie star no one likes anymore. She doesn’t belong.”

My eyes widen at her description. We couldn’t be coming at this from any further apart. Star Falls says “interstellar wonder” to me and “washed-up misfit” to her. “Wow. That’s… depressing. You have had a bad day.” As soon as I say it. I wish I hadn’t. If she walked out on her wedding ceremony, a bad day will be a massive understatement. “Sorry if I’m being insensitive.”

“Why? Because of this old thing?” she says, pulling at her dress. “Gives me away a little, doesn’t it? Yeah, well, however bad a day I’m having, a guy I know is having a worse time.” She glances down at her lap.

I want to ask more, but I don’t want to prove my heritage as a Star Falls native son. No nosey gossip-hunting from me. It helps that our journey is at an end.

I pull off the main road and park in front of the two cabins.

“Here we are,” I say.

She ducks to look out the window. “A perfect place to be murdered,” she mutters.

I push my palm over my jaw and blow out a breath. “We haven’t had a murder in Star Falls for at least twelve months.” My tone is deadpan.

She snaps her head around to look at me, her eyes wide and wondering.

“I’m kidding,” I say.

“Oh yeah, I can tell you’re a real joker,” she replies sarcastically.

I was trying to make a joke, but I don’t know why. It’s not like I’m trying to get to know her. But something inside me wants her to feel okay. “You’ll be safe here. I’m next door. There’s nothing to worry about.”

I bet at least half the town doesn’t lock their houses at night. She doesn’t need to be concerned about being murdered.

I pull my mouth into a contorted smile. “I’ll get the key.”

I grab the key to the empty cabin from the hook inside my front door. I’m about to hand it over, when I remember the lock being stiff when I checked the place out when I first arrived. “Let me make sure you can get in.” I leap up the steps to the porch and put the key in the lock. It fits like a glove. “Yeah, it’s fine. It didn’t fit so great when I tried it the other day.”

I turn to find her at the top of the steps. “Thanks,” she says.

“Do you need anything?” I ask. I’m not by nature a hospitable person, but this woman is having a really bad day. Maybe it’s something about the air in this town, or maybe I’m overcompensating with kindness to lessen her fear of being axe-murdered.

“A new life?” she suggests. She gives me a half smile, and my breath catches in my throat. Her eyes kind of sparkle in the moonlight.

“New lives aren’t available until morning,” I say.

She gives me another small smile and for some reason it feels like the promise of something more. I shake it off. I don’t need to be reading meaning into a pretty stranger’s smile.

“This is great. Thank you,” she says.

“Heaters are electric. If you have any problems, need a cup of sugar, anything, I’m right next door.”

“Thank you, Byron.” She narrows her eyes.

I hold up the key, which is attached by a chain to an oak disk with Star Falls Cabins etched on it. “Welcome to Star Falls, Rosey,” I say, sounding like the head of tourism for this tiny town I’ve avoided for so long.

My insides twang at how warm and entirely genuine the smile she beams at me is. I love New York, but it’s full of fake smiles. My gut tells me there’s nothing fake about this woman.

I realize I’m staring at her, so I give her a two-fingered salute and head back to my cabin.

Inside, I busy myself, turn on the TV and grab a tub of leftover curry I have in the refrigerator. I can’t get Rosey’s smile out of my head. Nothing can stop the images of her flashing through my brain. Where did she come from? Who was she going to marry? Why did she run away? Her escape clearly wasn’t planned, since she had nothing with her but the clothes on her back. Her wedding clothes.

Shit, she’s got nothing to change into.

I slide the cold curry onto the counter and head into my bedroom, pulling out a couple of t-shirts and some joggers. They’ll be comically large on her, but at least she’ll have something other than her wedding dress to wear tomorrow.

I stride over to her cabin, but pause as I get to the porch steps. I don’t often question myself, but I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing by disturbing her. I’m no Good Samaritan. My reaction to Rosey isn’t normal for me. First giving up my privacy to give her a place to stay and now making sure she has a change of clothes? Is this who I am in Star Falls, or has Rosey sweeping into town shifted things somehow?

I have no explanation, but she answers the door as soon as I knock, like she’s been waiting.

“Just in case you needed a change of clothes. They’ll be too big, but at least…”

Her face is full of confusion, and for a second I wish I’d stayed the fuck in my cabin and finished the curry instead of trying to help.

“That’s so kind of you,” she says, like no one’s done anything kind for her in her life. “You’re a good man, Byron.” Her tone hits me right in the center of my chest. I’ve been called a lot of things in my time, but I’m not sure kind or good have made it to the top of the list. Somehow, when she says it, that’s how I feel. I get the urge to do more. To offer to cook her dinner, run her a bath, do something—anything—else.

Instead, I nod and turn away before I make an epic fool of myself. “Sleep well, Rosey.”

I need to get to bed myself. Maybe a night of rest will help quiet all these strange… urges I’m having. By tomorrow morning, the runaway bride will probably have moved on and I’ll never see her again. She’ll learn soon enough that Star Falls is a place you run from—not to.