19. Colton
nineteen
Colton
“S o that whole thing with Kiara is over, huh?” Willow asks me when she picks up her CRV that I’ve been servicing at the garage.
“What’cha mean?” I hand her the paperwork. “Keys are on the dashboard.” I walk her to the car, wanting to know what she’s talking about.
She has a playful smile. “No more dating? Fake or otherwise?”
“What makes you say that?” Despite everything Kiara said in the car, I know how she felt in my arms. It’s only a matter of time before she gets off her high horse and agrees we should be… together. But the decision needs to come from her.
She lifts her shoulders. “She’s on the apps,” she says as she opens her car door.
That dagger she planted in my heart last weekend twists a little deeper. “She’s what now?”
She throws her handbag on the passenger seat and turns back to face me. “On the apps. The dating apps?”
Yeah, I got that part. “What the fuck?”
“She didn’t tell you?” She frowns and looks at me with sympathy bordering on pity. “It happened last night. I’m sure she will. Grace told her to send screenshots of her dates to a friend. I kinda assumed she’d tell you…”
The harder my heart beats in my ribcage, the more her words trail off until she stops talking completely.
“Yeah-yeah, I’m sure she will.” I force a smile and knock on the roof of her car as a goodbye. “Take care,” I say and turn around.
“Colt!” Willow calls out.
I turn around reluctantly. Being the object of someone’s pity isn’t exactly something I like. I school my features to seem professional and absent of emotion. “Yeah?”
She shuts her door and walks toward me hesitantly. “Maybe… maybe I could help you.”
“Help me with what?” Willow grew up here, like me. I’ve known her all my life. She’s a great girl, for sure. She works for my cousin Chris—started as a shopkeeper in his bakery and is now doing the pastries with… Kiara .
Her eyebrows shoot to her hairline as if I’m being a little slow on the uptake. “Kiara!”
I try to hide the punch to the stomach I feel at the sound of her name. Stroking my chin’s three-day stubble, I answer, “Not sure what you mean.”
Hands on her hips, she tilts her head. “You’re fooling yourself. That sad puppy look would give it away if I didn’t already know you two need to give this a real shot.”
I tilt my head to the sky, take a deep breath, and turn around, raising my hand in a goodbye gesture.
“Are you really okay with her going out with strangers?” she calls out, raising her voice so I can hear her. “Cos I’m not.”
Me neither, but I don’t say that. I don’t say anything; I’m sensing a trap. Willow might not be a cop, but anything I say can and will still be held against me.
“Colt?” she insists.
Glancing at her over my shoulder, I say, “She’ll be a’right. Won’t do anything stupid.” Apart from letting another man set his hands on her.
Willow catches up to me. “Are you okay with her going out with someone else?” she asks again, disgust on her face.
“Kiara is entitled to date whoever she wants.” I just need to get her out of my system.
“She’s scared of commitment, Colt,” Willow continues. “That sound familiar?”
I stop in my tracks. “No, it doesn’t.”
Willow sighs. “Does the name Valerie sound familiar?”
“The hell does she have anythin’ to do with Kiara?”
“You let her get away, for starters. That’s something they have in common.”
Seems to me I dodged a bullet when it comes to Valerie. “What makes you think I wasn’t the one who broke it off?”
Willow plants her fists on her hips. “Well, were you?”
One thing I’m not doing, is going over my relationship history with Willow. “Is there a point you’re trying to make? I’m kinda busy.”
“Yes, there is a point. Kiara is perfect for you. She’s your best friend. You have stars in your eyes when you think about her.”
I don’t know about having stars in my eyes, but I’m not going to argue that I have feelings for Kiara. More than vague feelings. The idea of her on a date with a stranger revolts me.
Willow reads my mood. “Let me help you.”
“And how are you going to do that?”
She smiles like she’s won Ms. Angela’s spelling bee a-fucking-gain. “I’ll put you on the same dating app as Kiara. It’s slim pickings, so I’m sure she’ll be interested in you.”
“Why would she click on my profile?”
“Oh, she won’t know it’s you. I’ll put a fake picture.”
That doesn’t sound right. “Isn’t that, like, illegal or something?”
“Well, you’re not trying to go out with other women, right?”
This makes me pause. But how would trapping Kiara on a date with me make things better? I don’t like this scheming. “I don’t know, Willow. I don’t like it.”
“Oh, come on. What’s the worst that can happen? She doesn’t swipe on your profile? She leaves your date when she sees it’s you?”
I chuckle. “She’d be pissed, for sure.”
“Pissed is her baseline attitude. You got nothing to lose.”
If it works, it could be fun. I already know where our first date will be. She’ll absolutely love it. Even if nothing comes out of it, we’ll have a fun night. Willow’s right: what is there to lose? “I’ll think about it.”
“Good. Don’t think too long. I put her profile up last night, and she already has a lot of… interest.”
Fuck. I check the time. “I have to head to the Select Board meeting in half an hour.” I finally put my name down, and tonight the board is interviewing the candidates and making their selection. The meeting is in an hour, and I’m not showing up late. Not with how Kiara encouraged me to join.
Willow lets out a little shriek, runs to her car to grab her bag, and drags me to my office in the back.
Five minutes later I’m revising my opinion on Willow not being a cop at heart. “Alright, interests. Tell me everything you like, and we’ll keep only what’ll tickle Kiara.”
“Pepperoni pizza, Allagash IPA, dark grade syrup on Noah’s bratwursts, Chris’s brioche, napoleons, chocolate cheesecake, Mom’s lasagna… You’re not taking notes?”
She purses her lips. “Let’s maybe elevate this out of the food arena.”
She making fun of me right now? “You asked what I liked.”
She sighs, then sits up, realizing her patronizing attitude isn’t the way to go with me. “Okay.” She spreads her fingers out, counting. “Snowboarding. Video games. Fixing cars. What else? What do you do for fun?”
“I race cars.”
She tilts her head again. “How did I not know that?”
“Keep that to myself. Mostly.”
“That’s pretty cool. Does Kiara know?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay then, let’s muddy the waters. We won’t mention racing or she’ll see right through it. Give me a few minutes. I’ll come up with something.”
As I walk into Town Hall that evening, I know it was the right call. It’s time I not only give back to my hometown but also put my mark on it. Kiara said something to that effect too.
The meeting goes as planned. I’m asked a few questions, the other applicant as well, then Lynn, Cassandra, Owen, and Noah retreat to a small office, followed by Ms. Angela who serves as secretary. They come back minutes later and announce they chose me to replace Stan for the remainder of his term. The meeting is adjourned, and the few people in attendance start leaving.
“Colton, dear,” Ms. Angela says. “Stay a minute. We have things to discuss with you.” She produces a thick three-ring binder with my name on the cover. “Why don’t you take this home, look through it, and let us know your questions.”
The binder has several tabs, including procedures, minutes, and upcoming meetings. Fuck. This is gonna be real work—not that I didn’t know.
“Appreciate it,” I say, tucking the binder under my arm and zipping up my jacket. Then I make it to Lazy’s, right around the corner from Town Hall.
“Yo, Colt. They rope you in?” Justin asks, drawing my favorite IPA.
“They sure did.”
“Thanks for stepping in, man. And congratulations,” he says as he sets a beer in front of me. “On the house.”
“Thanks, man,” I say, lifting the pint glass to my lips.
Cold seeps into the pub as the door opens on Grace, her husband, Ethan, Chris and Alex, then Kiara and Willow, and finally Noah. Justin’s dog Moose greets them, sniffs the outside air, then lies back down next to the bar.
Instead of congratulations, my friends and sister thank me. “I was hoping you’d step up,” Grace says, looking at the three-ring binder I set on an empty stool. Kiara gives me a friendly back slap. “Proud o’ya,” she says, her gaze averting mine.
“You’re exactly what the town needs,” Justin confirms. Then, to everyone, he asks, “You guys gonna eat something?”
Several “hell yeahs” echo, and we move to the far end of the room, pushing two tables together so we can all fit, the guys naturally gravitating to one end while the women take the other.
“You’re gonna get even more popular than you already are, you watch,” Justin tells me once we’re all squeezed in and eating. He sat on the board for a while, after his accident.
“I’m plenty popular,” I joke, struggling to not let my gaze slide to Kiara.
But the rest of the group falls silent as Justin dispels pieces of advice.
“People are gonna ask you to vote for this or that,” he explains. “Try to make you see their point. It can get… a lot. Give ’em some standard answers like, ‘We’re looking into it.’ Or: ‘You have a strong case. You should come to the next meeting and make your point.’ Now, any questions about rules and regulations, just go straight to Ms. Angela. She knows everything and everyone. She’ll tell you why things are done a certain way—there’s always a reason. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes not.” Then Justin turns to the rest of the group. “Just—you guys, leave him be. Don’t ask him for favors or shit. We wanna make sure he stays on the board and doesn’t give up. Got it?”
Everyone nods and hums.
“He’s right,” Noah says. Then, after a quick glance around the room, he adds in a low voice, “You guys should listen to Justin, or else we’ll only be left with people like Owen who actually enjoy giving favors.”
I lean over to Noah. “Is he that bad?”
Noah shrugs. “You’ll find out. Don’t want to spoil all the fun,” he adds with a smile.
I’m about to ask for more details, but my attention shifts to the other end of the table when I hear Willow say, “What do you mean, he looks too good to be true?”
“What’s ’at?” Grace asks, leaning across the table.
“Nothing,” Kiara says, while Willow leans over and whispers, “Dating app”.
My blood freezes.
My sister pushes her chair back, eyeing me. “Time for a bathroom break!” she says, effectively summoning the other women to follow her.
“Sure got quiet here,” Justin says as his wife, Chloe, leaves the room to follow along. “I wonder what they’re up to.”
Chris looks at me. “Are we still supposed to pretend you guys are dating or what? I heard a rumor.”
“What rumor?”
He shrugs. “Breakup? Fake breakup? Fuck if I know. Be nice to be notified, though. I’m kinda losing the plot.”
My phone dings with a sound I don’t recognize. Grateful for the distraction, I pull it out.
Pixie802 hearted your profile. I frown.
“Everything okay?” Ethan asks.
“You good?” Noah echoes.
I rub my stubble. “Uh… not sure. I guess?”
Noah adjusts his glasses. “Anything you wanna share?” He’s not nosy, just being a good friend. On top of running the family general store, Noah is our resident geek along with Ethan, who recently moved back. Noah glances at my phone, but more out of concern. His gaze quickly settles on Justin. “When’s the next community dinner? I want to advertise it at the store. Get more people who need it to come.”
My thumb hovers over the app’s logo while Justin, Noah, and Chris discuss the next community dinner at Lazy’s—a get-together where food is free and the more fragile in our community have a chance at receiving help, through friendship and donations.
Kiara’s pretty face is staring at me in a neat little circle, with a heart next to her screen name: Pixie802.
I have no fucking clue what to do with that. Do I answer? If yes, how? This is when I need Willow, but of course, she’s locked up with the girls in the bathroom.
“What’s up, man?” Justin asks.
“I don’t even know where to start.”
“At the beginning,” Ethan suggests.
I give them the down-low of what Willow set up. Set the phone on the table so they can see for themselves. They all huddle over it once they catch the gist of what I’ve gotten myself into.
“Wouldn’t touch that shit with a six-foot pole,” Chris mutters, looking at the phone like it might bite.
“Willow set you up with that?” Noah asks. “That’s fucking catfishing.”
“That’s what I said. Didn’t know the word, but it didn’t seem right to me.”
“Delete your profile,” Noah instructs, looking anxiously toward the bathroom door, from where the girls are bound to reappear at any time.
What’s taking them so long?
“Wow-wow-wow,” Justin intercedes. He hovers his hand over my phone like he wants to protect it, while looking at it like it’s a bomb ready to detonate. “What’s the harm? Just say hi.”
“It’s wrong,” Noah says.
“Eh,” Chris argues. “It’s Kiara. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“I’m with Chris,” Justin says. “Go for it. This could be fun.”
Noah shakes his head but has no counter-argument.
“I don’t want to have fun at the expense of Kiara. That was never the goal.” I glance nervously toward the women’s bathroom, but there’s no activity.
“What’s your goal?” Ethan asks.
Taking a deep breath, and at the risk of losing my man card, I concede. “I… want to date her. I…” Fuck but these words are hard to say. “I care for her. And honestly, knowing she wants to date other guys, I just…”
“D’you try asking her out?” Justin says like I’m an idiot.
“Yeah—she won’t.”
“But she’s fine being on a dating app ?” Noah nearly screeches and pushes his glasses up his nose. “This woman is nuts . You sure you want to date her?”
My glower shuts him up, and the energy radiating from me must carry over because all four look at each other and nod in agreement. “Go for it,” Chris agrees. “Just don’t you hurt her. She’s the best. You know that, right?”
Yeah, asshole, I know that, I want to answer my cousin, but I don’t because my finger taps on the screen and now I’m staring at a chat box.