Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Bugs. Well, beetles, but it doesn’t matter because they keep disappearing. Poof. Insects, bugs, or just creepy crawlies, Paxton doesn’t care what they’re called because they’re the most fascinating creatures he’s ever seen, and as an entomologist, that’s saying a lot. But since he’s currently in the most frustrating town he’s ever seen, there might be a connection.
Fraser
Bugs. Fraser is fascinated by the adorable bug doctor who’s running around town digging in the dirt and playing with bugs. He also agrees with the rest of the nuts in town that Paxton has to be a little. But there’s one big question on everyone’s mind. Does Paxton know he’s not as vanilla as he seems to think he is?
When the bugs are vanishing and the locals are perplexing, falling in love just might be the easiest part of Paxton’s magical discoveries.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter 1
Paxton
How were there never any normal questions from anyone in the entire town?
“I’m…I don’t know?” I wasn’t even sure what the question meant, much less how to answer it.
The old man sighed and looked at me almost sadly, like he thought I was stupid. Some people said I was too cute to be a scientist but no one had ever said I looked like an idiot.
But this one was shaking his head.
“What flavor of little are you?” Enunciating the words slowly, he kept going with the strange topic. “We just need to know your category so we can make sure we match you up right.”
I knew we weren’t talking about work and I knew he wasn’t taking my lunch order, but that was all I could narrow it down by.
Was he senile?
Half the diner was staring at us like they were waiting for my answer, so to me, that said they thought he was still fully functioning.
But how was that possible?
“Do you have a list I can choose from?” I wasn’t sure if I was being smart or rude, but my question had him freezing in place.
Was I supposed to apologize?
After a few seconds, he came back to life and turned to the rest of the room. “He’s new. He doesn’t know where to start. We should’ve realized that.”
Oh.
That sounded dangerous.
I’d somehow made it worse.
I’d traveled all over the world. I’d eaten insects and bugs in strange places. I could explain US politics to a variety of cultures and have it make sense.
But I had no idea what the people in a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina were doing.
Maybe the reason they had such unique flora and fauna was because the water was poisoned?
Too many toxins in the water could explain a lot.
Right?
“He’s not educated like our Kenzie or Lorne.” The old man continued to shake his head. “He doesn’t even read those educational dirty books like Stefan.”
There were educational dirty books?
No, that wasn’t what I was supposed to be paying attention to.
It was what caught their attention, though. Half the room started shaking their heads and most of them kept shooting looks of pity my way.
Not sure how I’d ended up in this situation when I’d just been looking for lunch and to ask about the local insect population, I watched the strange scene unfolding in front of me. There were a few people who didn’t seem to notice or care about what was going on but everyone else was riveted.
It was like that Amazon trip all over again.
But that’d made more sense.
“Where do we start?” Another older man with a woman who seemed to be his wife or partner frowned and crossed his arms, but he seemed to be taking the situation as a challenge if I was reading his body language right. “If he’s this confused, we can’t just send him to the library to get books on the subject. He won’t even know where to begin.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong about that assumption, so I wasn’t surprised when everyone else started nodding along and giving me more confusing expressions.
Old man number one turned back to me. “Well, we’re going to help you figure this out. Don’t worry.”
How was I supposed to respond to that?
“Thank you?” I’d clearly made him happy based on his smile and the way he reached out to pat my head, but I still didn’t know what was going on.
The man was very confident, though. He glanced around the room and chuckled. “He’s so polite, just like the rest of them.”
Okay, so I was doing something right.
Something cute, maybe?
Politeness was definitely a good thing, so I filed away that knowledge and decided not to leave my notebooks in my car ever again.
“I—” I wasn’t sure what I’d been going to say, but my ramblings were cut off by the owner or cook coming out of the kitchen with my lunch.
“Here you go.” She frowned at the room and gave them a stern glare that had half the patrons squirming. “Let me know if you’re being bothered.”
I wasn’t sure what it meant that she was ignoring the first old man who’d seemed to be trying to be helpful, but since explaining that I wasn’t sure what was going on would only make me look stupid, I smiled. “Thank you, ma’am. I’m fine.”
That had several people making aw sounds like I was an adorable toddler, but it made no sense at all. The only thing I could connect it to was the politeness comment from a moment ago, but there was nothing else to go on.
Why hadn’t I at least taken a few more classes in cultural anthropology?
Classes on flowers and insects weren’t helping me at the moment.
“He got tomato soup and grilled cheese. See?” The old man was smiling as he shook his head. “I told you.”