“Beau, you could show her around town,” she said. “You don’t have anything else going on, right?”
Damn it, Delilah.
“Sure,” I said slowly, dragging the word out. “I can show her around.”
I was trying not to sound weird about it—like I wasn’t nervous as hell to spend a whole day with someone I barely knew but already kinda liked. Noelle didn’t need to know how strange this place really was, or how often Delilah’s predictions had ended with one of my brothers saying “I do.” She didn’t need to hear about the church, or the ghosts, orwhatever the hell had happened with Rhett and Willow in the woods.
She just needed a ride to the festival and maybe a stop for coffee. That was it.
Totally normal.
Not ominous at all.
“Cool,” Noelle said, her voice bright but a little uncertain. “I mean, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“No trouble,” I said quickly. “I’ve got the day.”
There was a short pause, the kind where it felt like we were both waiting to see if the other one would say more.
Then Delilah cut in again. “Perfect. So we’ll see you in thirty?”
“In thirty?” I repeated. “That’s?—”
“Just in time for you to grab a seat at Mabel’s before the lunch rush!” she said. “I know, so you should hurry.”
I stared at the phone like it had personally betrayed me. Mabel’s Table on a festival day was the opposite of low-key. It was where everyone went…which meant half the town would see us together, and the other half would hear about it within the hour.
Delilah knew that. She’d planned it that way.
Of course she had.
“Alright,” I said finally. “See you in thirty.”
I ended the call and tucked my phone back in my pocket with a sigh. Milo let out a single bark, wagging his tail.
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “You’re not the one who has to walk into town like you’re bringing a date to family dinner.”
I gave the radiator one last look—just enough to remind myself that yes, it really was that bad—and slammed the hood shut with a loudclunk. Then I went inside to change.
If I was going to be Delilah’s latest matchmaking pawn, I might as well put on a clean shirt.
Not because I wanted to impress Noelle Kinney.
Not at all.
CHAPTER 5
Beau
“I’m walkingdown the street in Willow Grove, Georgia—home of the Annual Gloaming Festival and, according to locals, the ‘strangest town in the south.’ I didn’t mean to end up here—but a random breakdown has me stranded…and it just so happens to be the weekend this town celebrates its own homegrown cryptid, the terrifying Gloamstrider.”
Noelle paused in front of me so fast that I almost bumped into her as we wove our way down Main Street, past stalls full of cryptid merch and antler crowns. She was talking into her recorder like I didn’t even exist, sweeping her gaze over every tchotchke.
“Wait a second,” she said, eyes finding mine. “Is that how it’s pronounced? Like glow?”
I laughed. “Yeah—got a nice ring to it, huh?”
She shrugged. “Could be better.”
