Chapter 6
“Walk with me,” Aidan said after he’d paid the check, waving off her protests. “I want to show you something.”
Outside, Main Street had transformed into something from a Halloween fairy tale.
The decorations that seemed cheerful in daylight had become mysterious in darkness, shadows dancing between streetlights, jack-o’-lanterns grinning with ancient knowledge.
The mountains pressed close, their darkness complete except for the occasional light from houses scattered like fallen stars on their slopes.
They walked in comfortable silence until Aidan stopped at an empty storefront three doors down from the garage. The windows were dark, dusty, forgotten looking, but he produced a key with the flourish of a magician revealing the prestige.
“What is this?” Dylan asked.
“Potential,” he said, unlocking the door and finding the light switch.
The space exploded into visibility—high ceilings that seemed to reach toward heaven, original hardwood floors that had supported a century of dreams and failures, exposed brick walls that wore their age like dignity. It was raw, empty, waiting.