Chapter 21 #2
“The Phantom and Christine. Obviously.” I still had no idea what that meant, but I gave a thumbs-up. I glanced over my shoulder as though my name had been called. “Levi’s happy because he is using the mask as an excuse to not speak to people,” Claire said.
“I wanted to be the Mandalorian, and then nobody would know who I was, and I wouldn’t be able to take off the helmet,” he mumbled from behind the mask.
“This is the way,” Claire said. “But I didn’t want to be a giant baby Grogu. I felt like it sent a weird message. This works better.”
Levi grabbed her cinched waist and pulled her up close. “Yeah, it does.”
Normally, I wasn’t bothered by the happy couple’s PDA, but today I found myself looking away. I searched for Sophie in the crowd. She could be that giant inflatable dinosaur waddling toward us. I could see her, like Levi, using a costume as protective anonymity.
“Is Sophie coming as Jane?” Claire asked.
“What? No,” I said too quickly and somewhat defensively when I spun back to them. “I’m George of the Jungle, not Tarzan.”
“Obviously,” Levi said dryly.
“Who?” Claire looked abashed. “It would make a cute couple’s costume. Jane and Tarzan.” She glanced up to Levi, who nodded in agreement.
“But we aren’t a couple,” I said. “And I’m not Tarzan.”
“No. Right. Sorry,” she said.
She looked down and fixed a ruffle on her full skirt.
I felt tense and mean, and I didn’t like this side of myself. “I’m sorry. Sophie and I are meeting up. I just don’t know what she’s wearing. We aren’t together though. We are just going together. For the list.” I fumbled for the right words, but every explanation made it more awkward.
I didn’t even recognize myself.
“Yes. For the list,” Claire said.
“Are you okay, man?” Levi asked.
His gaze flicked to where I had been rubbing at my exposed man chest.
“Just cold,” I lied and relaxed my arms.
What had I been thinking with this costume?
Thankfully, Sophie had suggested warm Ugg-type boots to match, otherwise, I would be really freezing.
Last year, I would have freaking loved walking around on Halloween, on display for the whole town to see.
Today, I felt weird and shallow. I didn’t want to hear the comments from tourists and thirsty ladies.
As it was, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prickle.
A passing group of teens strode by. A dumbass kid in the front banged on his chest and made the Tarzan call. He and his buddies all laughed.
“I’m George of the Jungle!” I yelled after them, but they didn’t hear.
Levi and Claire shared a couple’s knowing look, and my irritation grew.
It was like an alarm rang incessantly and annoyingly in the back of my mind, and it caused an overload to my brain so that every other sound or comment pushed me close to snapping.
But I couldn’t figure out what had me so irritated.
Sophie was a little late, but nothing to worry about. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms.
“Is she late?” Claire asked.
“I guess. She never has been before. Not her style. She’d rather be way early than a minute late,” I mumbled, checking my phone for the hundredth time.
“Actually, that’s good. I found out something I need to tell you, and it may be better before she gets here,” Levi said.
Claire’s head snapped to her fiancé. “Maybe now isn’t the best time,” she whispered.
“No. He needs to know. I’m not going to let him find out through someone else.” The sense of dread was so palpable now that my muscles were all tensed like I would need to sprint at any moment. “Kaylee is back in town.”
Now my head snapped to Levi. I was so distracted by the worry grinding loudly in my ears that it took me a minute to even put two and two together.
“Kaylee is in Cozy Creek?” I asked Levi.
This feeling wasn’t normal for me, this growing pressure in my chest. It was like one more piece of information, and I was going to collapse inward like a building that had lost its structural integrity.
I’d been in actual life-or-death situations, with flames licking up walls feet from me, and I hadn’t felt this way.
Levi nodded, brow knit in concern. It was Claire who stepped forward to get my attention.
“Her dad is sick, I guess. I’m not sure.
I just overheard at the confectionery that she was in town.
And I remembered Levi mentioning the name.
” Claire talked rapid-fire. “I had Levi make sure it was true before we told you. I didn’t want a classic case of misunderstanding, but she really is here.
I’m sure—” Claire rambled, but then it hit me.
I knew what set me on edge. I held up a hand. I was sure that they misinterpreted the sudden concern in my features.
I couldn’t process Kaylee’s return with the other flashing red alarm blaring in my mind. At one point in time, that would have been all I could think about, but it hardly registered because I’d figured out what had caused my sense of dread.
In the air, above the happy shouts of the crowds in town and the smell of popcorn and cotton candy, was a sharp, acrid, burning smell.
Not of the safe variety that came from firewood and campfires, but the wrongness of a chemical burning that shouldn’t be.
That was what had been niggling at me. It was hardly noticeable, but I must have gotten notes of it.
And now it was like I was a heat-seeking missile, and that was all I could focus on.
“Are you okay, man?” Levi asked, gaze intense and piercing.
I shook my head, as if to say, It’s not about Kaylee, but I’m sure he took it as No, I’m not okay.
“I smell a fire,” I whispered as if being quiet would help me smell better.
“What?” Claire gasped and looked around.
The smell was very subtle, so it couldn’t be nearby.
And just as I was wondering if the guys at the station had it handled, my phone vibrated in my hand.
It was a call, not a text from Sophie, like I’d hoped.
“Hello?” I said, as my heart sank.