Page 62 of Protecting Her Secrets

“What about your mom? Are you close with her?”

“No.”

I suck in my lips and nod. Now he’s starting to piss me off. I get that my presence could potentially bring unwanted trouble to the town, and maybe he’s afraid his best buddy won’t have time for him with me here, but he might as well try because I’m not going anywhere.

“If you just want to take me back to Walker’s house, I can make the phone calls from there,” I say with a bite to my tone. “I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

His focus remains on the road, and if he catches my irritation, it doesn’t show on his expression or in the casual way his right hand is draped over the steering wheel.

“Seriously, Wilder. I don’t want to be somewhere I’m not wanted. Turn around.”

A long minute passes before he finally speaks. “Have you gotten a tour of the town yet?”

I stare at him dumbfounded. Is he just going to ignore my request? “No. I saw the grocery store when I first got into town, but I wasn’t really paying attention. We went to the diner last night, but it was dark, so I couldn’t see much.”

“Yeah, we don’t like light pollution around here, so you won’t find many streetlights.”

“I noticed.”

We reach the main drag where all the shops are located, and Wilder slows to a crawl. Lining both sides of the road are small houses, each painted bright red with white trim, green pitched roofs, and small porches covered by scalloped awnings. Wooden signs with cute painted logos announce the shops’ offerings.

“You know the grocery store.” Wilder points to the first building that’s bigger than the rest. His finger moves across the street to another shop. “That’s the mercantile. They mostly pander to tourists, but they carry a lot of local products.”

“What kind of products?” I ask, some of my annoyance giving way to curiosity.

“One of our residents, Mary, is a beekeeper, so she sells honey. Some of the Geezers sell their knitting. There are some candles, pottery, that sort of thing. Next to the grocery is a clothing store, but Alberta is seventy years old and thinks women still want to wear polyester pantsuits and knee-length wool skirts with cardigans, so don’t get too excited.”

“Is that the only clothing store?”

“Yep.”

“I fear that’s where my replacement wardrobe will have to come from.”

“Hope you’re cool with lookinggroovy.”

I grin. “Was that a joke, Wilder?”

“What can I say? I’m a funny guy.” He continues to point out each store. There’s a hardware and sporting goods shop, an ice cream shop next to the diner, both owned by Lavanya and August, an antique store, a coffee shop that doubles as a bookstore, a bar, a gas station, and finally, an outpost.

The building is literally labeled “Culver Springs Outpost” and looks boarded up for the winter. Next to it is a very large hole in the ground, a walking trail circling it.

“What’s an outpost?”

“Oh, he didn’t tell you? That’s Walker’s shop. He books all his excursions out of there, but he also rents paddle boards and paddle boats for the pond. We drain it in the winter to kill all the leeches.”

I obviously knew about Walker’s business, but he didn’t say he had a whole shop. Pride fills me with what he hasaccomplished. It makes me feel stunted, as if the day I left Vegas, I stopped living.

Wait, what did he say? “Leeches?”

“Yeah, they attach themselves to the ducks, then the ducks go into the pond, and bam. It happens every year.” How can he be nonchalant about something so disturbing?

“And you let people go in the water?”

“They’re not dangerous and pretty easy to remove.”

“That’s disgusting.”

He reaches over and musses up my hair. “Welcome to mountain life, city girl. We have leeches, mosquitos, bears, bobcats, rattlesnakes, and even mountain lions.”

---