Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 57897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
“Okay.”
As she walked past me, I caught a whiff of her perfume. It smelled like sugar and cinnamon. She smelled like dessert. I was fairly sure she was more than that. She was the whole damn meal.
I sat in her seat and pushed the key into the ignition. The engine turned, and it roared to life. I turned to see Beth Ann, clasping her hands together and doing a little hop in joy.
For the first time in years, a thought appeared in the center of my mind.
I wondered if she was single.
5
BETH ANN
Well, Ashford was at least proving to be interesting. And that was what I wanted.
At least it was enough to keep me from breaking down into tears as I stood there watching Jason, as I’d recently learned his name was, using his truck to jump my car. It would be sexy watching him lean over and connect the cables and rev the engine like that if it wasn’t my car he was essentially defibrillating.
“There you go,” Jason said, grinning at me from behind the wheel of his truck. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“Will it get me all the way to my place?” I asked, eyeing the car suspiciously.
Part of me was waiting for it to just stop right then. It kept going, but I wasn’t sure how long that was actually going to last. It wasn’t until I looked over at him and saw his cocked eyebrow and the smile teasing his lips that I realized how that question sounded. I didn’t know exactly how to backpedal myself away from sounding like I’d just tried to pick him up as if we were in a bar, and I felt like if I started talking, it would just get really bad, really fast, so I stayed quiet.
“Um,” he said, realizing I wasn’t going to continue on with the accidental flirting. “I would think so. You said the land your family left you isn’t too far from here, right?”
“About ten minutes according to my GPS,” I said. “It should be right up the mountain.”
He nodded. “Alright, that should be absolutely fine, then. If it would make you feel better, though, I could follow you.” As soon as he said it, his face dropped a little. “I’m sorry. You probably wouldn’t want some stranger following you home. That’s one of those basic tips to avoid a serial killer, isn’t it?”
At least we were both doing fantastically with this conversation. Between me sounding like I was throwing myself at him and him lifting lines straight out of an afternoon special cautionary tale, we were apparently jockeying for the position of most uncomfortable moment in the situation.
I did my best to diffuse the awkwardness and push the conversation forward by laughing and shrugging it off.
“Well, the fact that you said that actually makes me feel better. I mean, a serial killer probably wouldn’t make jokes about being a serial killer, right?”
Jason gave me a slightly strange look. “I mean, he might if he was trying to convince you that he wasn’t.”
We stared at each other in silence for a long moment.
“I really would like you to follow me to make sure everything is okay with the car, if you don’t mind,” I finally said, breaking the awkwardness again.
He nodded. “Absolutely. You just go ahead in front of me. If something goes wrong, pull off on the side of the road, and we’ll see what we can do.”
“I really appreciate this,” I said.
“No problem at all. Just consider it your neighbor welcoming you to Ashford.”
I let out a short laugh at that. This was one hell of a welcome to town. I climbed into the car and set my GPS to give me directions to the trailer on the farm. I read through the first couple of steps to make sure I knew where I was going, waved out the window, and headed out of the parking lot. A quick glance into my rearview mirror showed Jason’s truck was following close behind.
Even though I didn’t even know the man, it was reassuring to know he was there. It was like having my own personal roadside assistance program ready and available at the first sign of trouble. I wasn’t sure how I was going to properly thank him for going so far out of his way for me, but I figured I could try to come up with something once I was safely at the trailer.
Everything seemed to be going well as I traveled down the street away from the gas station. I turned smoothly onto the mountain road and started the ascent. That was when things started to get a little iffy. The road didn’t spiral around the mountain like many did to create a less steep incline. Instead, it was cut right into the mountain and crept upward at an ever-increasing pitch.