“I’ll just have a diet soda,” I say when his eyes hit me after getting Nat and Wren’s drinks. I expect an argument, for Nat to tell me I need to have fun or that I need to let loose, but there is none, just a nod from Jesse, who moves to get his brother’s order before walking over to Hallie. He places a hand on her lower back, and she turns to him with a soft look before leaning into him. I try to ignore the ache in my chest as I avert my gaze and look around the bar.
The bar isn’t packed, but it’s definitely busy, with most tables having a few people seated or standing around the high tops. Something feels strange, different, and a bit unsettling as I look around. I can’t put a finger on it at first, but then it clicks.
No one is staring at me.
I can’t remember the last time I went somewhere without having to be on, knowing phones were lifted and turned toward me, ready to capture any misstep or embarrassing moment. When I think back, I realize that the same thing happened at the diner, to a degree, but not nearly like this. Here, it’s like I’m…no one.
“You look like you just saw a ghost,” Adam says with a laugh. I blink, trying to come back to myself, but the truth is, I feel like I did: the ghost of some life I never knew existed, one where I’m normal, where I’m a no one.
When I look back at them, I realize he’s grinning at me, thoroughly entertained. A blush blooms over my cheeks as I bite my lip. “I promise I’m not trying to be full of myself, but…no one’s staring at me.”
“And they won’t,” Adam says with a shrug, settling into the chair beside Wren and across from me. She smiles sweetly and leans into his side, but I’m stuck on his words.
“What?”
“They won’t stare at you. I mean, you’ll have a few here and there who want to talk or ask for a photo or a signature. But it will stay within the town. No one will bother you here, not unless you want to.” I stare at him, disbelieving.
“We take care of our own,” Wren says with a shrug.
“But I’m not…” I start, then bite my lip. I’ve been doing that a lot lately, and I suppose without Jackie here, I have no one to stop me. “I’m not…” I don’t have to finish because Wren understands.
“You’re part of the town. You’re here at the Mill with us, so it’s clear we’ve claimed you,” she replies as if it’s pure logic, and warmth floods my system at her simple, sweet words.
We’ve claimed you.
People have ‘claimed me’ or befriended me a hundred times over in my life. But they’ve always had an ulterior motive, always were looking for some kind of connection or favor. But as I look around this table, I realize that no one has asked me for anything, except once Adam asked me to FaceTime a twelve-year-old, which I was more than happy to do.
“So I can…” I ask, my words trailing off. Jesse and Hallie come over, setting drinks down, and I absentmindedly take a sip from my drink.
“You can let loose,” Adam says simply. Instantly, my mind moves to Leo’s insistence that I stay out of trouble and the subsequent chaos. I haven’t seen or heard from him since, though with the way his arm felt on my waist, the unhinged and entirely inappropriate thoughts that went through my mind, I am more than happy with that. “And if you do, no one will be the wiser.”
“No one would risk the wrath of Colton,” Hallie adds, picking up on the conversation effortlessly.
“Thewrath of Colton?”I ask,trying not to look at the bar where the large teddy bear of a man stands.
“Oh yeah. He’s tough,” Hallie says. “Will kick anyone’s ass who gets on his bad side.” As seems to be the way, I can’t quite decode Hallie, though there’s a tiny quiver to her lip as if she can’t hold back much longer. Before she cracks, Wren rolls her eyes and sighs.
“He’ll just blacklist them. Hallie just loves dramatics.” She lifts her bright red drink and takes a small sip. “There aren’t many bars in town, and this is really the only good one if you’re under the age of sixty. So if you get kicked out for good, you’re kind of out of luck in terms of socializing.”
“Huh,” I say low, mind reeling.
Just then, the song changes, turning to some upbeat summer song from a few years back, and Nat turns to Hallie with wide, excited eyes.
“Dance?”
“Hell yeah,” she says, chugging her drink until it’s nearly empty, then standing. “Willa?”
I shake my head. “Maybe later.”
Nat glares. “Definitelylater. You’re having fun tonight.”
“Let her be,” Adam says, surprising everyone. “Let her settle.”
Nat takes us in, then rolls her eyes and nods before skipping off to the center of the room to dance with Hallie, and I sit back and bask in the magic of Holly Ridge.
Thirty minutes or so later, I’m still nursing my drink, now mostly ice and watered-down soda, when it happens. Some kind of energy shift, the door opening, and a bell jingling over the door, still heard despite the low music that’s playing. Hallie promised me it gets louder, that she could probably convinceColt to allow karaoke again (something that, apparently, she and Wren managed to get outlawed two years ago after a very boisterous round), and every head in the bar turns to the door.
Leo walks in, gaze scanning the bar hesitantly.
