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“His name is Dillon Ford,” Alison said, finishing her sentence and finally taking pity on me. “Don’t worry, you’re not the first person to get all hot and bothered by him.”
“Why hasn’t he been in before?” I asked. “I feel like everyone in town’s been in this damn shop at some point since I started.”
She laughed. “You might be right about that, but Dillon’s a bit of a recluse. Lives on the mountain in a cabin, just him and that dog.”
“Oh,” I said, interested. “What does he do?”
“Not sure,” she said, looking out the door. “He used to live in Nashville, and he was a cop out there, but then he came back here when he quit the force.”
“Did he grow up here or something?” I asked, feeling like it was a pretty random place to move to if you didn’t have any connections here.
Then again, I’d picked this place by putting my finger down on a map, so I definitely shouldn’t be talking.
“He did, yeah. His uncle left him the cabin when he passed a couple years back,” she said. She came over and bumped my hip with hers. “You know, maybe this could be the start of something for you here.”
I snorted, walking around to rearrange the magazines for something to do. “Come on, Ally. I was just asking.”
“What?” she said. “I’m stuck at home with Jessie and Jordan all the time. Can’t a girl have some vicarious fun?”
I couldn’t fault her for that. Working with all the children of single parents that I had in the past, I knew the impact it had on kids when parents focused all of their energy on their children and forgot to take care of themselves. Thankfully, Ally seemed to be the type of mother who knew where to put her energy and priorities so that she could be the best mom possible to her twins.
That being said, she couldn’t have known the effect that her words would have on me and how I would feel being presented with the prospect of a man. Any man, no matter their history.
And there had seemed to be something about Dillon that had led him to pick up on my tension as soon as he mentioned that I was good with his dog. Every muscle in my body had locked up when I felt his eyes on me. It hadn’t taken me a long time to become aware of my body’s tendencies toward panic, but body awareness and trigger elimination were two very different things.
“Well, it doesn’t really matter,” I said as I turned back around, brushing my hands off on my vest. “Nothing’s gonna happen, anyway.”
“It definitely won’t with that attitude,” Ally said, crossing her arms over her chest.
I looked up at her with her raised eyebrow and sighed. I knew she was curious about me; she’d invited me out a couple of times when I first moved to town, telling me that it would be fun to get out with her and her friends, but I’d always turned her down, telling her I felt claustrophobic in bars. Sort of true, but also sort of a lie. But I hadn’t said no when she’d asked me to come over and babysit, insisting that I didn’t mind. It was true. I didn’t mind, and the kids were easygoing, fun company. I really liked hanging out with them. It made me feel like I was at home, still doing the work that I’d put all of my heart and soul into becoming qualified for.
Not that Ally knew what that was. She just knew that I liked kids and that I was lucky enough to be good with them, and her kids liked having me around.
“Do you want to come over for dinner tonight? I know the twins would really like to see you,” Ally said.
“Sorry, Al—I actually have plans.”
Alison was nice enough not to say anything to contradict the fact that I hadn’t had any hint of a life since I’d moved to town and that she was pretty much the only person I’d spoken to at all since I’d come here. Except, this time it was true. I was planning on calling my mom and giving her a life update.
“Do you at least have anything to eat at your apartment?” she asked.
“Yep—I made a crap ton of pasta the other night, so you do not need to worry about me.”
“I will never understand women who are able to eat as much pasta as you do and not have it show on your hips,” Alison said. “The jealousy is so real.”
I laughed. “You know, if you eat a little bit of pasta more often, it’ll take on less power over your mentality, and then you won’t feel the need to binge eat it.”
Ally turned to me with a surprised look. “Were you like a shrink in your past life or something?”
I shrugged. “I just follow a lot of therapists on Instagram. You end up picking up on a lot of useful stuff.”
“Huh. I should probably follow some too.”
“I’ll recommend some to you,” I said, coming back around to the other side of the register just as I was hit by a wave of exhaustion. It was strange, but the simplest things seemed to be taking everything out of me lately. All of a sudden, I couldn’t wait for my shift to end.
* * *
By the time I got home to the little studio I’d been living in since I’d moved to the Ridge, as residents called it, I was just about ready to pass out, like I felt every time I got home from work.
