Chapter 2
Alyssa
Daniela was taller in person. I did a full double take when she opened the door, and if she hadn’t been wearing her signature plaid blazer, I probably would have wondered if it was her or a family member.
“Alyssa,” she squealed, and she stepped out onto the porch to pull me into a hug. “Oh, my god, you’re here!”
“I’m here! I can’t breathe right now, but I’m here,” I gasped, squished into her collar as I hugged her back, and she squeezed me one more time before she stepped back, eyes sparkling, and looked past me, at my luggage and the empty driveway.
“Is this everything? Where’s, er… where’s your car?”
“Yeah, about that,” I said, scratching my head. “It’s kind of a long story…”
“Oh, god, well, we can’t have that, not while you must be exhausted. Come in! Come on, come in. I made you the best spinach frittata you have ever eaten and ever will eat, unless you eat another one of my spinach frittatas in the future. I mean, no offense, but you look dead on your feet.”
“Well, gee, with friends like these, huh?” I laughed, hands on my hips, before I gave her a once-over. “You didn’t mention you were going to wear stilts out to meet me.”
“I told you I’m six foot,” she laughed.
“Are you sure you’re only six feet? I’d believe it if you were rounding down.”
“Come on,” she laughed. “Get inside before I have to carry you in. It’d be easy with my lumbering giant build.”
Aside from the fact that her face was so much higher up than I expected, she looked uncannily the same as she had in selfies, video chats, old Snapchat exchanges, same glasses and messy bun she wore like it was a uniform, and it was funny how surreal it felt.
Like I’d never really processed that she was a real person, like I was meeting a fictional character from my favorite book series.
It was comforting, though. It felt like being home, even in a place I’d never been before, and I was all too happy to follow her into a beautiful house filled with all Daniela’s pops of color everywhere.
She was a design consultant for a real estate firm, and even though she had periods of traveling a lot for work, mostly she worked from home, and she had a million keepsakes from her on-site work travels through her home.
It felt nostalgic and new at the same time recognizing most of those keepsakes—little figurines and framed postcards, books in different languages, street artist drawings, and a million things each with their own stories, most of which I knew.
Daniela led me inside, chattering away the whole time, talking about the big party tonight to celebrate my arrival.
I stripped off my ballet flats at the door and set down my luggage, and I joined her in a big, airy kitchen with bay windows that looked out over the Green Mountains, the room rich with the scent of her food.
She guided me to sit down while she spoiled me—rushed around me and set down a mug of tea, a smoothie, a piece of frittata and potatoes and a croissant with what looked like two different kinds of jam.
“Jesus, woman, I’m not a vacuum cleaner,” I said, and she patted me on the back.
“You don’t have to eat it all. Just making sure there’s enough food for whatever your body needs. You can’t run halfway across the country and not be hungry.”
“Okay, first of all, Boston to Vermont is not half the country, and second of all, I didn’t run, I took a car.”
She laughed. “Just eat up,” she said, dropping down across from me, at a place set with just as much food on her side, and her eyes sparkled as she looked at me. “It’s kind of wild seeing you in person. You look just like… well, you.”
I put a hand to my chest. “Thank you. What a great compliment.”
She grinned. “You know what I mean, though, right? Like, you’ve just been a face in my screen for years.”
“Yeah, honestly. I’d been thinking the same thing. I’m really grateful for you letting me do this… the last thing I want to do is impose.”
She shook her head. “Nuh-uh. None of that! I invited you. Make yourself at home.”
“It’s a beautiful house. Thank you so much. I’ll do something to pay you back, even if you don’t want me to. Just watch!”
She laughed, digging into her meal. “So, what’s the story? Did you get here okay?”
“Yeah, that… I almost drove into a tree.”
She choked on her croissant, a hand over her mouth, as she shot me a wild-eyed look. “You did what? Oh my god, are you okay?”
“A tree fell in the road right on a blind corner, and I got in before they closed the road. I came this close to hitting it,” I said, holding my fingers up close together. “I’m still a little shaky.”
“Jesus. But they’ve closed the road off now?”
“Yeah, and my car’s still there…” I scratched my head. “I couldn’t drive around, and it would have taken ages to reroute to get here from the north. But someone was there doing work around it, and her car was on the other side of the tree, so she just took my luggage and drove me here.”
She stared wide-eyed at me. “You took all your things and got in a stranger’s car?”
“She said she knew you. In fact, I didn’t even have to tell her your address, I just said your name…”
“Oh.” She laughed, relaxing back into her seat. “Thank god. Jesus, that’s terrifying. Who was it?”
Yeah… that was the hard part, wasn’t it? I kept on a smile as I said, “Her name’s Jade.”
She smiled a nervous smile, folding her hands on the table. “Oh… I guess I could have figured that. I’m glad she was there to help.”
I hesitated before I ventured in a careful voice, “So… you two are friends?”
She shrugged, looking away. “It’s a bit messy right now.
I mean, friend groups are always like that, right?
” she said, busying herself with her food.
“I swear I know half the town just because I go to the Birdhouse all the time. Jade and I were close for a while, but there was kind of an… argument recently. I’m hoping things blow over soon. ”
“Oh… that sucks.” I took a bite of frittata, and I put a hand over my mouth. “Oh, wow,” I said. “My god. Why haven’t I had you cooking for me before?”
She flipped back to normal, grinning wide, dimples popping as she did. “Because, you’ve been huddling up with a gross man in Boston! I wasn’t about to go be a part of that.”
I looked down. “Right…”
“Oh—sorry. Should I not talk about him?”
I sighed, poking at my food. “It’s fine… it just feels weird. I don’t know. Part of me feels like he’s going to come after me, even though I know he won’t.”
She furrowed her brow, leaning forward. “You live here now. If he tried, he’d have to go through me. And all our friends, too!”
I smiled tiredly at her. “Our friends, huh? Is this, like, from how many conversations we’ve had about them, now they’re my friends too, by proxy?”
She laughed, relaxing in her seat with her tea held up close to her lips. “You remember me talking about Nayla and Linda and Charlie, right? They’re all going to be there tonight too.”
“Oh, wow,” I laughed. “It’s like I’m meeting the cast behind my favorite TV series. What about Candle Girl? Is she showing up?”
“Ah,” she said, scratching the back of her head. “No, she’s… uh… Candle Girl’s got better stuff to do. But you’ll meet all the rest of our friends there, too.”
Oh, god, that was a sensitive spot I’d just poked. I guess I should have figured there was a reason she hadn’t mentioned Candle Girl for a minute now. She’d been crushing hard on a girl who—well, surprise surprise, made candles, and I’d been cheering her on from afar to go get it with Candle Girl.
Then things had been going thermonuclear enough in my home that I hadn’t even registered she’d stopped talking about the sexy candlemaker.
“I’m looking forward to meeting everyone,” I said, eager to change the subject. “You know, I, uh… I really don’t know what to say.”
She waved me off. “You don’t need to say a word!
I’m just glad you’re getting a place to rest, and I finally get to see you.
I don’t know how long you’re going to stay in Paxton Ridge, but we’re going to make sure you never forget it.
Hopefully we make enough of an impression that you keep coming back even after you’ve moved on and cruelly left us all behind because you don’t love us enough. ”
I stuck my tongue out. “You’re even more of a bully in person than you are online. I didn’t think it was possible.”
“We’ll make sure you get to see all the best attractions. And the hiking! The hiking is so good this time of year. And you’d better still be here for Pride. You can’t miss it.”
“I’ve heard that, yeah.”
“And the Birdhouse, obviously! But you’re going to meet it tonight.”
I cocked my head. “We’re not having the party here?”
“And let Kaitlyn trash my house? Ugh, no. We’re going to the Birdhouse. C’mon, let’s take a selfie together, we’ll show off to everyone that you’re here.”
“And that I look dead on my feet,” I teased as she took her phone out, and she winked at me.
“They’ll understand. And we want to brace them for how zombified you look when you show up, so there’s no screams when you do.”
“Okay, first of all, you jerk,” I laughed, and she posed next to me for a picture, throwing a peace sign. I matched it as best I could, but when she showed me the picture, it was obvious which one of us had more enthusiasm at the moment.
“Abby gave us a fire react already,” Daniela said, tapping at her phone while I drank my tea. “And Drew said he can’t wait to see us.” She paused. “Abby says you’re cute, but she hits on everyone. Do not take it seriously.”
“Ha… I think I have heard that about her,” I said awkwardly, scratching my head. “Colorful cast you’ve got here, huh?”
“Oh, you don’t know the half of it.” She beamed at me, eyes sparkling, just staring at me for a minute, before she came around the table to hug me again, squeezing me tightly. “God, it’s so cool to have you here.”
“It’s so cool to see you,” I echoed, hugging her back just as tightly. “I’m glad I didn’t hit a tree.”
“Yeah. God,” she laughed. “Can you imagine? I’ll drive you to the Birdhouse. We’ll figure out your car in the morning. In the meantime, eat, eat. My culinary genius can’t be wasted on letting the food go cold, Alyssa Taylor.”
“Okay, Daniela Holman, weird that we’re full-naming each other, but whatever makes you feel glorious,” I laughed, but I took another bite of food, and I had to admit, her culinary genius was pretty glorious. I was really spoiled.