It wasn’t like it was so rare. Natasha was used to men telling her she didn’t live up to their expectations, or changing their minds about her after a couple of dates after seeming incredibly keen to get to know her at first. This wasn’t anything that hadn’t happened before. She’d been stood up and ghostedwaytoo many times now for this to be a surprise.
I really, really should have known better.
Sighing, Natasha tried to push down the disappointment she could feel gathering inside her. Maybe she should have tried harder to keep thinking of Kieran as just a vacation fling, something that didn’t mean much to her.
She’d tried – she really had! But Kieran’s broad smile – the way he’d seemed sogenuinelyinterested in her – the cute mop of blond hair – the way he’d really just seemed like he was looking forward to seeing her again – the way she’dreallyfelt like they somehow had a real connection –
Stop. Stop remembering all the good stuff about him. And of course you didn’t have a connection – you barely even know him! And he sleeps in the woods! That’s not cute, it’s just weird!
Maybe she’d let a pretty face – and anunbelievablyhot body, not that she’d had the chance to see it unclothed – turn her head. Maybe Kieran was really just a player, and she’d been played.
Natasha checked her watch again. Twenty-five minutes after their date was scheduled to start, and there was absolutely no sign of Kieran.
That’s it. I’m not going to sit here like some pathetic cliché. I mean, I barely even know the guy! Why am I sitting here like some abandoned woman?!
With a huff of resolution, Natasha slammed her palms down on the table and stood up. She didn’t care if Kieran didn’t show up for their date – she hadn’t come here to find a boyfriend, she’d come here to rest and relax and have some alone time! The next time she saw him – which, she realized with a slight sinking in her stomach, was almost inevitable given how small Girdwood Springs was – she’d just completely ignore him. She’d show him she didn’t care at all that healsodidn’t apparently care!
Going to the counter, she told the young girl working the register that she’d decided to have her order to go, after all. Thankfully, it seemed that Mrs. James – Eula – wasn’t working today, otherwise Natasha wasn’t sure how she’d deal with her probably well-meaning but nonetheless intrusive questions about whether she’d been waiting for someone, and if so, who.
From the sympathetic look in the young girl’s eyes, though, as she brought out Natasha’s order – and the way she whispered, “By the way, I slipped you some extra onion rings,” – it was obvious that she’d figured out Natasha had been stood up anyway.
Ugh. Humiliating,Natasha thought as she left the diner – shedidappreciate the extra onion rings, though.
Well, she had a chili dog with everything on it, she had her onion rings and soda – now all she needed was something sweet to wash away the bitter taste of the failed date from her mouth. And luckily, she knew exactly where to go.
“Oh, Natasha!” Sylvie looked up with a smile when Natasha entered her bakery – it smelled just as amazing as it had the other day.
“Nice to see you again – oh, you’ve been to Eula’s?” she said, on spotting the diner bag in Natasha’s hand. “Good choice.”
“Yeah – I figured I’d come pick out my dessert,” Natasha said, trying to inject her voice with as much false cheer as possible. It was harder than she’d thought it’d be, though.
Why the hell do I care so much?! I mean, yeah, embarrassing, but it’s not like I was invested in this guy… was I?
But apparently her distress was more obvious than she’d thought, because Sylvie frowned at her, pausing before she asked, tentatively, “Is there anything wrong, Natasha?”
Natasha shook her head, but she could already feel a lump climbing up her throat. Well… perhaps if she couldn’t deny it, she could make a little joke out of it.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” she said breezily, waving a hand. “I just got stood up for a date, if you can believe that. Bizarre, right? I mean, is there so much else to do here that you’d forget you have a date?”
Her laugh soundedincrediblyforced even to her own ears – and it was patently clear that it wasn’t fooling Sylvie.
“You got stood up?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “By who – it wasn’t that Jake Summerton, was it? Natasha, he’s been a player since school, you know that. Don’t let it –”
“Oh, no, not him,” Natasha said quickly, shaking her head. To be honest, she barely even remembered Jake Summerton, and she’d definitely never had a crush on him, even though her one memory of him was that almost every other girl in Girdwood Springs definitely had. “It was just… some guy. An out-of-towner who said he was just here staying in some house in the mountains for a vacation.”
“The… thehauntedhouse in the mountains?” Sylvie asked, frowning. “That place has been empty since… well, since Henry Holmes died. Ithinkthat was the guy’s name, anyway. He was so reclusive he became a bit of an urban legend himself. Do you remember how kids used to dare each other to go up to his front gate?”
“Um. Not really,” Natasha admitted. She’d probably been studying while the cool kids were doing things like that. She’d never really been invited on those kinds of adventures. “But you’re the second person who’s said that house is haunted! I’m beginning to think maybe that guy reallyisjust a ghost after all. He definitely ghostedme,anyway.”
“Maybe it’s a different place up in the mountains – there are a few of them now,” Sylvie said, as she resolutely pulled off her uniform cap, and then lifted the apron withSylvie’s Bakery and Sweetsprinted across the front. “Maybe he’s some rich guy who’s rented out one of the chalets that usually only get used during the ski season. Sounds like that kind of bastard.”
“Well, he didn’tseemthat way to me –” Natasha began to say, before cutting herself off.He told me he was a horticulturalist… they’re not known for pulling in the big bucks, are they? But maybe that was just part of his devilish lies…Even as she thought it, however, Natasha’s mind rebelled against the idea. Kieran just hadn’t seemed at all like the sleazy moneymakers she knew in the city. But then, healsohadn’t seemed like the kind of guy who’d stand her up, either.
“But maybe you’re right,” she concluded lamely. What else could she do? In the midst of her mild depression, however, she noticed that Sylvie had marched to the door of her shop and flipped theOPENsign toCLOSED.“Oh – are you closing? Sorry, I didn’t realize –”
“Nope,” Sylvie said, gesturing to one of the chairs at one of the little tables that lined the wall. “You missed the lunchtime rush, so things usually get a bit quiet around this time. And it sounds like you could use a friendly ear.”
“Oh, Sylvie, no, you don’t have to do that,” Natasha protested. “We haven’t even seen each other inyears,and I –”
