“I heard that’s why you were kicked out of Massachusetts,” He snickers with just his breath, testing the waters to see if his joke is funny or too soon to comment on. Sounds like Brendan told him why I’m really in South Carolina.
“My clocks are all off by a few minutes. It’s not my fault,” I explain.
“Mmhmm. I’m calling your bluff, Miss Bruiser.”
“Why are you so worried about getting me back to the festival in time if it’s still open for a few more hours?” I ask him, curious to hear his intentions.
We start walking down the hall toward the front lobby as I wait for a response. It takes him a minute, though. Maybe he didn’t think I’d ask, or maybe he didn’t know what time it was, but I’m guessing he did.
“I was going to let you lead the way to see how well you were doing with getting around town,” he finally says.
“The whole town is basically one street. How hard is it to find where you’re going?”
“Then, I guess we’ll have more time at the festival,” he says.
“Who is this ‘we’ thing you’re talking about? I was at the festival with Brendan, not you and your lady friends.”
“They’re my co-workers, for your information.”
“They’re ladies and obviously, they’re your friends if you’re out with them. I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
He looks over at me, narrowing his eyes as if he’s trying to figure me out, but I just smile. I’ve come to notice that a smile will almost always conceal the truth. I don’t know a thing about this man and before I spend any more time with him, I think there are a few things I need to figure out.
“You’re like two different people, you know that?” he says.
“How so?” I ask, just as we make it back outside.
“Never mind,” he says.
“How long have you lived here?” I ask him.
“My whole life.”
“Your family still live here too?”
“Nope.”
“Couldn’t take the perfection and cuteness around here?”
“Nope,” he says again.
“Where did they move to?” I continue. I’ve noticed that the average age in this town is fifty plus, so I’m not sure I understand why a good looking—and I assume, single—man like Austin would be living here. Surely, there are other hospitals in this state where he could work.
“Did you grow up in Boston?” he replies, completely ignoring my question.
“I grew up about ten miles outside of Boston. The city is much different than the suburbs, though.”
“Where are your parents?” he asks.
“In the town I grew up in,” I answer. “They don’t know I moved down here yet. We aren’t super close and I’m an only child.”
“What’s there to hide?” he asks. “You’re a grown woman.”
“I’d like to ask you the same question, but seeing as I’ve met you three-and-a-half times now, I probably haven’t earned a worthy answer from you.”
Silence grows between us and I know there’s something he wants to say but has no intention of saying it. Therefore, he’s gotten all he’s getting out of me at this point.
As the lights to the festival come into view, I know our time together is coming to end, but I realize he’s made me smile more in the last couple of hours than I have in the past week. This place is certainly not as horrible as I initially thought it was, but I have felt very homesick. “Well, I guess tonight made me stop thinking about home for a bit,” I admit.
