Page 10 of Halloween Haunting
With his attention fixated on a random spot on the lake, Grace stared at the side of his face with wide eyes. She hadn’t really spoken to another divorced person since getting one herself. It felt oddly reassuring, as if she was once alone in the entire world, only to stumble across the single other person around that might understand the voices in her head. Grace opened and closed her mouth many times as she searched for the right words to say, but nothing felt truly right.
“I like vanilla coffee, too.” He looked over, slyly smiling. “I guess there are a few things we have in common.”
Grace glanced down at her cup. “H-How did you know?”
“You know.” Bryant shrugged one shoulder and looked away again. “Got a good sense of smell.”
“Is that why you’re the Sheriff’s Deputy?”
Bryant’s stiff demeanor cracked at that. His shoulders relaxed as he lounged back in his seat, wrinkles forming around his eyes as he let his smile broaden. “Sure,” he drawled. “That and my incredible inability to play the guitar.”
“I suppose if you lived here all your life, you always wanted to work for the department?”
“Not quite,” he replied. “I didn’t want to follow in my father’s footsteps, but this sort of thing happens as you grow older. Protecting came easy to me, as if it was in my blood.” Something clouded his sharp eyes, as though he was suddenly haunted by amemory Grace was incapable of seeing. “Eventually it just made sense for me to wear the uniform, same as he.”
“But you enjoy it, don’t you?”
Bryant’s uneasy expression faded. “I do.”
“Then I guess that’s all that matters.” Grace looked down at her cup as the silence spread between them another time. She was eager to get to know a person she never knew, to peer more deeply into a stranger’s life, but feared what might happen if she crept too far. Something told her that Bryant was not the sort of person who engaged in anything deeper than polite conversation. At the same time, she wasn’t ready for any of it to end. “Any advice for the new kid in town, Deputy?”
He chuckled again and considered it as he overlooked the lake. “I doubt you’ll need any help in making friends,” he replied in a quiet voice.
“Try me.”
Bryant’s eyes sparkled as he turned his gaze to her. “Most of the people in Holiday Hollow were born and raised here.”
“Like you.”
“Like me.” Bryant looked away when he laughed again. “I’m sure you’ll be the talk of the town in no time.”
Grace sighed. “I’m not sure if that’s something to look forward to.”
“Don’t worry.” He leaned forward, his eyes mischievous and youthful. “We don’t bite.”
Though everything about his demeanor made her think he was simply teasing, Grace couldn’t stop the unpleasant feeling of someone watching her crawl across her frame. She tried to brush it off with a laugh, but the sound was wispy and unbelievable. In the same breath, her phone rang and vibrated in her pocket, jutting into their conversation.
Bryant smiled warmly. “You should take that.”
“T-Thanks,” Grace murmured as she turned, retrieving her phone and pressing it to her ear in the same breath. “Hello?”
“Grace Baker!”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Caroline Shepard. Good morning! I didn’t take you for an early riser.”
“Me?” Caroline laughed sharply into the speaker. “Every morning begins with a mile run around town, Gracie. Maybe you can join me on one?”
Grace rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I went running.”
“It’s never too late for a new habit!”
“I suppose not, but –”
“We’ll plan a run soon, won’t we?”
Grace sighed again and was left with a smile on her face. She couldn’t remember the last time she breathed so easily, when so many things made her feel seen in more ways than one. It was just a run, but it meant that she was being thought of. She was beingconsidered,and that was more than what she had experienced for the last few decades of her life.
“I guess if something is chasing me,” Grace replied.
