Page 11 of Small Town Girl

A voice is calling my name.

“Zander.”

Fingers trail down my spine. My brain is still far off and not quite connected to the real world.

“Zander, I have to go. I turn into a pumpkin at sunrise,” Nollaig says softly, laughter in her voice. She’s standing on my side of the bed, slipping her sandals on in the dark.

I reach up and run a hand down her arm, pulling her back to me. “You sure you can’t stay? I’d like to get to know you better.”

Her eyes flick to the window, and she sighs. “It is such a beautiful area. It’d be a great place to plantroots.”

I smile. There isn’t much beautiful about this overgrown lot behind the Wild Hare, but if anyone can see the potential of it, it’s Nollaig. “It has its charms,” I agree.

She laughs and opens a small purse strapped across her body. It’s tiny, and honestly, I don’t remember her having it last night, but I guess most women have one. Though what could actually fit in Nollaig’s, I have no clue.

“My people are outgrowing their home. This would be the perfect area for us. It has so much space, too. We could really spread out, maybe even plant some crops.”

Her words are utterly confusing, or maybe it’s just I’m not quite here in the real world, yet. The wooded lot this RV is parked in is barely the size of a parking lot. You might get a decent garden for a small family going…maybe, if you were a plant witch like Darla, but her people and crops?

“May I bring my people with me when I come back?”

“Sure.”

From the depths of her tiny bag, she pulls out a large gold coin and places it in my palm. She wraps my fingers around it and brings her hand to my lips. “My promise to you. We’ll be back in three days. May I see your wolf then?”

I grin. “Of course.”

She leans over and kisses my cheek. “Sleep, Zander,” she whispers.

My body obeys her command. My eyes grow heavy, and I’m asleep before the front door even closes.

Chapter Seven

In Which Nothing Goes Well for Anyone

Iwake up to the sound of someone knocking on the front door. I pull the pillow over my head and try to ignore it, but the knocking turns into banging, and becomes more and more insistent until I drag my ass out of bed. “I’m coming!” I yell and regret it instantly. I can feel the blood pounding in my head. Thankfully, the beauty of living in a tiny RV is that I don’t even have to open my eyes to make it from the bed to the door.

I squint against the bright light of day as my older brother, Zach, looks me over before shaking his head. “Oh good, I thought you were dead,” he says. “I didn’t want to have to tell Mom.”

“Thanks, man.” My head feels fuzzy, and I’ve got a pounding headache spreading from the back of my head towards my eyes.

“You were supposed to be on shift three hours ago.”

I run a hand down my face and close my eyes. “Fuck, sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I didn’t have more than a beer last night.”

“Zane said you brought a girl back here. Did she put something in your drink?”

I shake my head and move away from the door, the light outside making the headache a million times worse.

“That was like three hours before closing. It would have to be the slowest-acting drug in the history of drugs.”

“So then why do you look like shit?”

I shrug. “I dunno, because I look like you?”

“Did she steal anything?”

I sit down at the little table and put my head down. “Nollaig’s not that kind of girl. In fact, she gave me something.” As I say that, I realize the coin she left me is still clutched in my hand.

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