But the truck… It’s coming toward me. Quickly, I leap off of the street and back onto the sidewalk, the salvaged books falling from my hands into the puddles. The truck pulls up along the side of the road, then reverses to be right in front of me.
A protest dies on my lips as the tires crunch over the broken remains of my little library. What does it matter? I couldn’t save it, anyway. Dried flowers shed their petals in the mud.
I blink as the truck cuts its engine. Who would stop to talk to me? Now that my eyes clear from the blinding headlights, I can make out the logo on the door of the truck. Poussin Hunting Co. Is it one of the Poussin guides? But why?
A flush of anticipation tingles through my body.Wait…
Heavy boots thud on the other side. My heart hammers in my chest as I step around the truck. The drizzle finally breaks into rain and heavy drops pellet the ground, the streetlights gleaming harsh shadows off every tree.
“Rosalina O’Connell. It can’t be.”
It can’t be is right. Because standing in front of me is Lucas Poussin. My ex-boyfriend.
My throat seizes. Oh god. He looks… good. I mean, he always looks good. It’s been nearly a year since I last saw him. He always graces Orca Cove with his presence at Christmas time, but this is way too early.
Lucas runs a hand through his dark red hair. He’s wearing a leather jacket with a black shirt underneath and snug jeans. He looks more ‘city’ than the usual guys around here, but he still has that edge to him. The edge of the hunter’s son.
“Here I was, driving to your house, when I see someone splashing around in the mud. I figured it was some sort of vagabond or other undesirable, so I pulled up to send them packing. And what do I know? It’s Rosalina O’Connell herself.”
I’m completely drenched in mud, from my jacket to my black leggings. I know there are bags under my eyes, and I’m sure this rain is not doing my mascara any favors. Of course, he looks like he walked off the cover of Men’s Health.
Lucas narrows his hazel eyes at me, and I realize I haven’t said anything. Oh god. It’s my turn to say something, isn’t it? But as always, I’m completely stuck.
Cause that’s what Lucas does to me. Shows up once a year and completely immobilizes me. It’s like I regress to being back in high school, hanging onto his every word. The worst part is, I know it’s pathetic. You’d think I was sixteen, not twenty-six.
Everyone in Orca Cove thinks Lucas is God’s gift to humanity. The only time the residents thought of me as anything other than Crazy George’s daughter was after the incident at the frozen lake. Back then, I was Lucas’s girl.
My throat clenches as if it’s all those years ago, the ice water pouring down at me. I see his hand like a beacon.
Despite myself, I know being Lucas’s girl felt better than being the outcast like I am now. Being asked about Lucas was so much easier than people asking why my dad is growing fairy circles in the backyard.
But being Lucas’s girl didn’t feel good when he dumped me right before he left for university. Or the time he came home for Christmas, took me out to dinner, and ordered a salad for me because,‘You’ve packed on the freshman fifteen and aren’t even in college’. Or last winter when we went for drinks at the Lodge, and I took him home so he could fuck me. I woke up, and he was sexting some girl from his university. I pretended not to see.
He stares down at me, his eyes narrowed. And he smiles. “Babe, you must be so excited to see me.”
And despite it all… I am.
He pulls me into him, and it feels so good to be wrapped up in his warmth. I inhale. He smells like cologne and leather and it’s so fucking familiar, I can’t help myself. “I missed you.”
“I know, pumpkin.” He pulls away and gives a shining grin. My chest bursts. He’s smiling forme.
“I-I’m surprised to see you,” I somehow manage. I’m tall at 5’11, and he has one inch on me, but when he stares at me like this, I feel like I’m five years old.
“That’s what I wanted.” He grins. “I graduated in spring. Did you hear? With honors, of course.”
Yeah, I heard. The Poussins are basically royalty to Orca Cove. Everyone was talking about it.
“So you got a job for some accounting firm in the city?” I ask.
He snorts. “Yeah, I’m done with that. They had a problem with my visionary attitude. I don’t need to put myself in a cage, you know?”
“Sure,” I say. “How long are you in town for?”
He ignores my question and grips my chin. I suck in a breath, staring up at him like one of his does. “You really are startingly beautiful,” he whispers, but it’s not like he’s saying it to me. It’s like he’s saying it to himself. “Such a unique sort of beauty.”
My skin itches. I pull down on my left sleeve.
He whips away and heads to the truck. “Dinner at the Lodge tomorrow night. 7 p.m. Bring your dad if he’s not too busy, you know, catching gnomes or whatever.”