Chapter 13

"You lived here your whole life?" he asked after a minute of silence.

"Yeah," said Halle. "You're new here right? I haven't seen you here before."

He nodded. "Came here with a friend."

"Oh, any reason?" asked Halle dubiously. "I don't think there's anything special in this town to get tourists."

"No no." he chuckled. "A friend of mine is getting married."

Halle looked shocked for a second. "That's . . . great. When is it?"

"In two weeks, I suppose."

Halle laughed nervously. "Came here to have fun right? Two weeks is close to a holiday!"

"Yes." he grinned. "I thought so too when he decided to come here and spend some days here. I like this town too, now. Nice and quiet. Calming too."

"It for sure is." she agreed. "Ah, we've reached. Let me unlock it . . ."

The door was already unlocked and Halle went in nervous, did he do something to the shop? Was that why this fella ended up pretty close to the shop? She found Pace unlocking the Baking Room.

"You're early!" said Halle relieved.

"Yes and for good reason! You're—" Pace cut off as she saw the person next to her. "A customer this early?"

"My hard work." Halle replied.

Pace seemed hesitant so Halle turned to him. "Please sit. What would you like?"

"You have cupcakes right?"

"That's our specialty here."

"I'll take a look at them and decide." He went to the counter and looked at all the cupcakes.

"I'll try the Devil's crunch." He grinned. "The name sounds pretty sassy."

"Okay." Halle looked around for Pace. She was still staring at the whole thing going on. "Pace, go heat this up and bring it."

Pace did as she was told.

"I completely forgot to ask," Halle sounded sheepish. "Your name, I didn't even ask your name."

"Name's Luke."

Pace brought the cupcake, nice and hot.

"You said about the wedding right? Who's wedding is it?" asked Halle.

"My buddy Carter, he's getting married."

"Oh, Carter?"

"You know him?"

"Almost everyone here knows every other person, this is a small town."

Pace nodded. "We went to school together."

"Man, must be awesome living here."

Halle crinkled her nose. "Not always. But if you do like it a lot here," she added. "You can settle here."

Luke looked taken aback. "I wish I could, but I and Kairo have an awesome job out there in the city and it pays a lot. Neither of us would want to leave that job."

Halle did her best not to look shocked hearing his name spoken so casually.

"The job must be tiring." Halle noted. "Since they pay you all a lot."

"That's the thing here, the job isn't that hard. We were lucky to get that job."

"Must be great for you." Halle said.

"Immensely." He completed the cupcake and got up. "I should get going. We're having a party in the evening." He grinned.

"Great. Enjoy." Halle watched him leave.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" asked Pace completely serious. "I haven't—"

"Shh." hushed Halle. "We're not out of his sight yet."

After a few moments, Halle turned to Pace who was standing near the counter and pointed to the window near it. "We're quite visible at any angle until he's walked a few meters."

"Are you possessed or something?" Pace screamed.

"What do you mean?" asked Halle. "It's just—"

"You're insane! Why were you flirting with him just now?"

"I really wasn't."

"You think I'm blind? You don't even try talking with people who come here. I'm the one does most of the talking here to make sure the customers come back. And you spoke quite well with that fella. Why would you even do that?"

"Why are you screaming?" Halle walked to the counter. "Nothing bad happened."

"Did you notice nothing last night?" Pace asked irritated. "It looks like I'm the one who's paranoid and you're completely fine!"

"What are you talking? What happened last night?"

Pace's eyes were worried. She looked pretty shaken up. "Good thing we took you home last night. On our way to your home, we went the usual route you take to go home, right?"

"Yes . . ."

"I saw someone standing in the alley, waiting." Pace touched her chin thoughtfully. "It could be anybody. It probably wasn't him. But the fact that we both felt the same way was shocking, we couldn't sleep last night."

Halle slowly came to her senses. "Oh my . . . even if the chances that it may have been a random person standing there, if it looked creepy then it's a good thing I listened to you."

"And you're listening to me until he leaves this town."

"But . . ." Pace was right. She needed to be careful.

"I don't care about your buts. If you want to save me some time then you should probably come to my house, but I am not leaving you alone. Okay?"

"Alright."

"Now." Pace looked furious. "Why did you do this?"

"Do . . ." Halle understood what she was talking about. "It was necessary."

"No, it wasn't." Pace insisted. "You will end up playing right in his palm. How is that good? What are you even gaining by giving me a heart attack?"

"Well . . ." Halle said thoughtfully. "First of all, we know that he didn't come here for me, he probably remembered me after coming here. We know why he came here, so we know he'll leave. And he's pretty selfish and money-minded so he will not obsess over me to the point of losing his job. So this whole drama will be temporary."

"You seem optimistic."

"It's either that or I drown myself in sleeping pills to keep my anxiety away. We'll lose the café."

Pace sighed. "Anyway, if we both end up screaming in terror, nobody can save us."

Halle laughed. "That much is true."