I felt kind of stupid, continually glancing out my window, waiting to see a mountain man, dripping wet, shouting for the trespassers to show themselves.
But when enough time passed, I released a deep breath. Whoever that weirdo was, he must have gone home to shower and dry off rather than to hunt me down. I’d lived here all my life and never met the guy, so I had to logically assume that I didn’t have to live the rest of my life in fear, that the mountain man would disappear as quickly and mysteriously as he had appeared.
So, I went to run my errands. There was a check to deposit in the ATM. Dry cleaning to drop off for Tilly. She’d already put it in a pile by the front door, where she used to put my dry cleaning for me.
Hell, I might even buy a grill for a spring cookout. I was going to look, at least. Prices should’ve been pretty low.
And it was a nice day for a walk, so I did. Well, as nice as October could be. It wasn’t raining, so that was a plus. I dropped the clothes at the dry cleaners’ drop off since they were closed, then walked a few blocks to the bank and left the check in the ATM.
Then, as I was walking toward the hardware store for the aforementioned grill, I spotted a group of guys in their early twenties horse-playing in the street, shoving and cursing, laughing and wrestling. Basically, behaving like a group of teens, only this didn’t feel right.
Usually, I’d roll my eyes if that was the case and mind my own business. These guys had a vibe that made me want to stay far away from them. Plus, I’d never seen them before, and this was a very small town. I’d seen everyone.
I stuck to the sidewalk even though they were directly between me and home. The logical thing would have been to veer off the sidewalk and go down the path that would take me to my neighborhood. I couldn’t shake that gut feeling that I should stay away from them. Even if I was going to have to walk a block or two out of the way to avoid them.
Avoid them I would have if Tilly hadn’t come around the corner with a cup of coffee and greeted them like they were old friends. She grinned as a guy gave her a quick hug, and then two others were shouting to her, while she shouted back, although I couldn’t quite hear what they were saying. It was impossible to ignore the fact that she was comfortable with them, almost blending in with a group that scared me a little. These weren’t the usual kind of guys Tilly brought around. These were long-haired smokers. Guys in grunge. They weren’t terribly unlike Tilly’s father, to my chagrin. Scraggly layabouts in ripped jeans. That was what my mama would’ve called them.
But no, that wasn’t the issue. Was it? I grew up in the nineties. I loved grunge.
I frowned, trying to come to terms with what my issue was exactly. I didn’t care what my daughter’s friends wore. She had been artsy her whole life and had friends who were into grunge, metal, etc., but none of them had made me feel a spike of fear. These weren’t just kids showing their personalities through their clothes, they radiated a kind of danger that worried me. Not that they were going to do something bad to me, per se, though that was a distinct possibility. But that my daughter was with them and seemed to have no sense of the things my instincts were screaming.
And I couldn’t stand by and watch my daughter with them.
I walked across to where they were now standing in a semicircle. “Tilly?” I waved big and wide like I wasn’t embarrassing my daughter, holding onto the straps of my purse with one hand and smashing the damned thing under my elbow. None of these losers were going to get it from me without a fight. And while there might not have been any water to push them into, I was crafty. I would figure something out if I needed to.
As soon as I walked onto the scene, they calmed, stared, still shifty and none smelling too fresh, but better than a moment ago when they’d been on the verge of causing a car accident. Instead, they radiated the kind of energy a stray dog might have. Like either you’d take the creature home, give it a bath and a good meal, and it’d be your new best friend. Or…it’d tear your hand off.
“Hi, Mom.” Her voice was thin, like the ringing of a wire, and her skin was flushed. “Guys, this is my mom.” Up close, I might’ve been a bit generous in my assessment of them. I’d classified them as layabouts, but the truth was, they were losers—full-fledged children of disappointed parents and my daughter did not belong with them. Though their parents probably all thought the same about them. Urgh.
One of them held out his hand to me, which was a surprise. The way his lip curled, the way his gaze ran over me as if checking to see if I had anything of value, freaked me out. It felt like the only reason this guy would want to shake my hand was to impress my daughter, so I let my gaze move to his outstretched hand. It was dirty, probably sticky and the last thing I wanted to do was shake it, but Tilly nudged my shoulder.
Ick.Just as I suspected, he was sticky, and I didn’t want to think about what had made his hand that way. I waited a second until I could swipe the goo onto my slacks. Then forced a smile.
“I’m Cam,” the man said, and again his gaze moved over me in a predatory way.
“I’m Bethany.” My words came out less friendly than I’d hoped.
And now he had my name. If he asked for my social security number, I was out of there. And I would be dragging Tilly along by her hair behind me. Yeah, it was true she was a grown adult, but if she wasn’t wary of these people, then her instincts were broken.
Tilly introduced the rest of her friends who were shifting and sliding in and out of eyesight, suspiciously eyeing my bag, which would have brought them about eleven dollars on the black market and that was if they left in the five, I kept hidden in the pouch. None of them were clean. None of them looked like they’d ever held down a job. And I wondered where they usually hung out in town because I wassureI’d never seen them before.
Not at school when Tilly was younger, even though they were a similar age, nor at any of the typical summer jobs for teens. Did these kids just hang out in the shadows of their parents' basements, coming out into the light of day to steal and buy drugs?
I shuddered, hating how judgmental I sounded, even though I didn’t think I was wrong.
“Well, Mom, we’re going to head on to the movies.” She nodded down the block toward the theater. Before I could ask her about it, the group turned and left.
“Okay, be careful.” My words tasted like ash on my tongue. What else was I to do? Cause a scene in the middle of town? No, but this definitely wasn’t over. If my daughter’s instincts were faulty, I was going to be the one to show her the light. She wouldn’t repeat my mistakes.
I watched them walk down the street, then startled when someone else touched my shoulder.
I spun around and came face-to-face with Tabi. Today she was wearing a similar outfit to the one she’d worn to the party. Her shirt was a brown, button-down with several buttons undone that showed off the pink tank top underneath. Her dark brown slacks were tucked into nice boots. Her hair was swept away from her face and almost pushed to hang down one shoulder, although her shoulder-length hair wasn’t quite long enough to give the full effect.
“Morning,” she said.
My heart thundered, and I realized my hand was pressed to my chest. “Oh, Tabi! You scared the crap out of me.”
Even as she laughed, my heart continued to pound. She laid a hand on my shoulder. “Come here. We have to talk.”
