It took a moment for the waitress to fight her way through the crowd, but soon enough, I was dipping cheese sticks into marinara while answering rapid-fire questions from both of them.
“So, Hope, what brings you to Big Bear?”
“Um… I was looking for a change of scenery.”
“Where are you from?”
“Riverside, actually.”
“Oh, cool. How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-four.”
“I’m twenty-four too, and Tyler’s twenty-six. We both go to the university, which is 20 minutes from here. I’m studying biology, and Tyler’s planning to be a nurse,” Macey said, popping a fried pickle into her mouth and wiggling her eyebrows at him.
“That’s cool,” I said, glancing at Tyler. He gave me a gentle smile, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
“You must’ve graduated early to be a hygienist already,” Tyler commented.
“Yeah, I did,” I said, not elaborating.
“Well, I think it’s awesome. We’ve been in desperate need of a hygienist lately. It’s hard to find one who’ll stick around here…”
“Well, I’m glad I can help,” I said politely, trying to steer the conversation away from me. I really didn’t want to talk about myself anymore.
“Jay’s been stressed the past few months. He was worried he wouldn’t be able to find anyone for hygiene.”
“Oh…” was all I managed. The conversation was slowly shifting toward Jay, and I tried to tell myself I wasn’t interested in learning anything about him. But if I were being honest, I had lots of questions about him.
“So, Dr. Jay,” I started, unable to resist.
“What do you want to know?” Macey grinned. “Actually, never mind. I’ll give you the fast track. He’s thirty-one. Single. Keeps to himself. Doesn’t date.”
“Wait, what?” My eyes widened, heat rushing to my cheeks.
“Not everyone wants to know that, Macey,” Tyler said, rolling his eyes.
“Are you kidding? Every girl who comes to this town wants to know that,” Macey shot back, biting into a mozzarella stick with extra sass.
“I’m not interested in Dr. Jay.” Maybe I had been once—but now? Now I couldn’t be.
“I was more curious about how he ended up here.”
“You mean how he ended up with such a massive house?” Tyler said, grinning.
“Well… not exactly.” It was exactly. Dentists made good money, sure—but a private lake and that enormous house didn’t add up. And not to mention, it seemed incredibly lonely.
“I heard his grandfather died and left him millions,” Tyler said.
“I heard it was a great-aunt who died in a diving accident,” Macey countered.
The rumors grew more elaborate by the second, and I realized the town had probably twisted whatever the truth was into something unrecognizable by now.
“We can’t exactly ask him,” Tyler sighed. “That would ruin the fun.”
“Maybe at the annual barbecue we’ll get answers,” Macey shrugged. “I can’t wait to see his house again.”
“Me either,” Tyler added.
