Page 17 of The Fangirl and the Grump

“But…you don’t evenknowme.”

Willow rolls her eyes before reaching down to grab my wrist. Lifting my hand, she slaps her keys into it, saying, “I’m pretty good at reading people, and I can tell you’re a good person, Keegan. I know I can trust you. Just have the car back by closing. Eight o’clock.”

When I close my fingers around the keys and nod, she releases me with a smile.

“Thanks, Willow,” I murmur, my voice filled with emotion, and she nods.

“It’s the green hatchback outside. Can’t miss it.”

With that, she moves behind the counter, grabs our dirty dishes, and carries them through that same door she went through before. I look down at the keys in my hand and blink a few times.

Is this what real friendship feels like? I knew Madison foryears, and she’d never even consider loaning me a purse, much less her car. Hell, I’m surprised she trusted me with a key to the apartment after she let me move in.

My throat tightens. She probably invited me to move in out of guilt, not friendship.

If she can evenfeelguilt. I’m not so sure.

Shaking off the thoughts, I grip the keys tighter and head out. Willow’s car is clean and cute, and I make it to the store she mentioned in mere minutes. The store is much like the ones we have back home, except the people I see in the aisles smile and nod instead of pretending I’m not there. The cashier is sweet and talkative, and as I roll my cart through the parking lot, I can’t help but smile.

That smile drops, though, when I see a police cruiser parked behind Willow’s car, blocking it in the spot. I hurry my steps, and as I approach, a cute guy in a policeman’s uniform climbs from the car and moves in to intercept me.

“Can I help you, officer?” I ask, pulling Willow’s keys from my pocket.

“This is Willow Bardin’s car,” he says, his face blank. “And as I just saw her working at Moonstone Mystic, I know she’s not here.”

“Oh. Yeah,” I say with an uneasy laugh as my skin tingles with nervous energy. “We met this morning, and when she found out I don’t have a car here, she lent me hers so I could do some shopping.”

I hear the words as they leave my lips, and I know they sound crazy. I’m about to get arrested for grand theft auto. Isn’t that the piss-covered cherry on the shit sundae this trip has become?

But the officer only watches me for a moment before his stance relaxes and a smile lights up his face. “Yep. Sounds like Willow.”

Relief floods through me as he grins, then holds out a hand for the keys. I hand them over, and he unlocks the back of the car, pushing the hatchback up before proceeding to place my bags in the trunk.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” I say, but he waves me off.

“My pleasure, Miss…?”

“Carpenter. I mean, Keegan. Call me Keegan.”

“Well, it’s my pleasure, Keegan,” he says.

I nod and watch him as he empties my cart. He’s really quite handsome, with all-American, clean-cut good looks, dirty blond hair, and blue eyes. And the way he fills out that uniform?Yum.

“How long are you staying in town?” he asks.

“A couple of months,” I admit, and he looks as surprised as Willow did.

Closing the hatchback, he hands over the keys, saying, “Well, in that case, I’d love to take you out sometime. Maybe dinner?”

My head jerks back in surprise. “Really?”

“Really,” he says with a smile, his eyes roving down my body before snapping back up to meet mine. “Sometime this week?”

“Sh-sure,” I stutter.

“Good,” he says, pulling a card from the front pocket of his shirt. “My number is on there. Text me.”

I take the card from him, and with one last smile, he takes my cart and rolls it toward the corral. I climb behind the wheel of the small hatchback, watching through the rearview mirror as he climbs back into his patrol car, gives me a little wave, and drives off.

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