Page 14 of Falling Back to You

“Mama D’s waiting!” Ruby cut in, her voice squeaking. She scooped the girl and cat up in one swoop. “Noelle, we’re still on for tomorrow night? The photo shoot?”

I sighed and nodded. “I’ll be there.” Was I photogenic? Not in the slightest, and my current acne outbreak had me feeling the furthest thing from put together. It was an unfair world to have more pimple problems at thirty-two than I ever did at seventeen.

But I’d felt guilty about saying no to Ruby after all the ways I’d hurt her. So I’d agreed—flagging confidence and all—to a blind photo shoot with a stranger. Thrilling.

Hopefully this wouldn’t become the next Dateline feature.

Ruby tittered like I’d handed her Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket but hesitated at the door, Khia in tow. “And maybe I could come early and help with this?” She motioned around the room.

Dear, sweet Ruby. “I’d like that. Maybe around ten? That’s when the movers are scheduled to arrive.” I needed all the sleep I could get.

Ruby practically glowed. “See you then!”

With a final hug from both of them, I was left alone in the small cottage.

Fatigue dragged my limbs, but my skin crawled after spending the day in airport terminals. So gross. And don’t even get me started on the bathrooms. A shower isn’t going to kill you. Maybe not, but with how bone-deep exhausted I was, showering might be the straw that finally took me out.

I loved the clean-after-a-shower feeling as much as anyone, but the actual process of showering was a whole event.

Then there was the issue of dinner.

Unless things had drastically changed, Serenity Springs didn’t have takeout. And if they did, it wasn’t gluten free. Looks like I was making do with the handful of groceries I’d grabbed in Boise.

After I showered—well, I sat on the shower floor with hot water pouring over me, too tired to really do anything—and changed into clean sweats and an oversized hoodie, I scanned the contents of my meager cooler.

“Grilled cheese and a movie?” I mumbled. Oh, look, I was talking to myself. The sure sign of mental stability.

I slapped a piece of presliced cheese on the six-dollar gluten-free loaf I’d grabbed. Did it taste like cardboard with a side of sawdust? Yes. Once I was on my feet again, I’d make my own. For now, dry bread it was. Better grab a water to help wash it down.

Collapsing on the queen bed with my grilled-to-perfection sandwich and a sleeve of gluten-free double-stuffed OREOs, I queued up The Dick Van Dyke Show on my laptop.

Everyone had a rock-bottom movie to pick them up off the gum-infested shoe of life. This was mine. Maybe it was the humour or the way Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore played such a comedic couple.

Or was it the memories of watching it with Cal?

I was halfway through the OREOs when Mary took her epic pool shot, and my phone chimed with a text.

My skin crawled. Was my secret out? Did everyone know I was back? The feeling of being watched haunted me, despite being hidden away in the cottage. No one knew what I drove because it was a rental, and no one besides Ruby, and Dallas apparently, was expecting me. I hadn’t even told my dad I was coming. But Ruby wasn’t known for her ability to keep a secret, and Khia . . . Well, I doubted she’d be keeping it quiet either. One whiff of my name and the town would descend like bloodhounds on a rabbit’s trail.

Small-town gossip was an untapped resource for the intelligence agencies of the world. You want information? See Ms. Cheryl at the Snips and Curls hair salon, and you’ll get information you didn’t even ask for.

Thankfully, it was just Macy, checking in before she went to bed. It was already past midnight on the East Coast.

MACY:

If I know you, you’re already into your emergency Oreos and halfway through a show.

ME:

You know me.

MACY:

My flight got bumped till later tomorrow.

ME:

You’re all packed and ready? Did you remember your anti-nausea meds?