Sara’s building was at the end of the row, and I stood at the corner, looking down the waterfront. A line of shops and restaurants ran down the left side of the road. To my right was the ocean. Ahead of me, the town waited to be explored.
The first thing I noticed was the small coffee shop next door to Sara’s building. I could only shake my head and smile. Why on earth would she buy me that fancy espresso machine with a coffee shop next door? She was determined to spoil me.
The sun was warm on my face despite the cool ocean breeze, and I stopped to turn my face to it for a moment before I moved on. For the last two decades, I’d been a creature of the night, too young a vampire to survive daylight. I hadn’t known how much I’d missed the feel of the sun on my skin until I was healed. At Westhorne, I’d spent every minute I could outside when the weather had permitted.
I started walking again, passing a bookstore, a pub, a drug store, a bakery, and a small grocery store that also sold souvenirs, based on the display in their front window. It was all so clean and quaint, the kind of place featured in one of those travel magazines. And people actually smiled and waved at me as I passed them. Where I’d grown up, I knew a lot of the people in my neighborhood, but strangers didn’t greet each other on the street.
I’m living in Mayberry, I thought as I returned the smile of an older man walking a Golden Retriever. I’d been outside for ten minutes, and already I was half in love with this place. Why would anyone ever want to leave here?
I reached the end of the waterfront and stopped, debating where to go next. The intersecting street wound up a hill where a white church steeple peeked above the tops of the trees. Feeling adventurous, I started up the hill, and five minutes later, I came to a Catholic church and a high school. This must be the school Sara had gone to. She’d mentioned it more than once.
I’d never finished high school because Eli took me at the start of my senior year. I planned to enroll in school because I wanted to graduate and go to college. I could probably do online courses or do an equivalency exam, or even ask the Westhorne security guys to fake my senior year transcripts. But I wanted to have the experience that was stolen from me. I wanted to cram for an exam and hang out in the library, as lame as those things probably sounded to every other teenager. I knew school had changed a lot since I was a student, which meant I’d need to brush up over the summer. I used to be an A student, so I was confident I could get back up to speed.
I kept walking. Half a block from the school was a diner called Gail’s with a sign that boasted the best seafood in town. It was a nice-looking place, and my growling stomach reminded me I still hadn’t eaten yet today, so I crossed the street to check it out.
Inside, the diner was clean and bright with a mix of tables and booths and a long counter. Several of the booths were occupied, as were half the stools at the counter. A blonde waitress who looked to be in her forties was behind the counter, and a younger brunette was serving one of the tables.
I wasn’t sure whether to wait to be seated or not, so I stood there until the blonde lady noticed me. She smiled and came over to me.
“Table for one?”
“Yes, please,” I said and followed her to a booth.
“Haven’t seen you around before. You visiting for the summer?” she asked as she handed me a large laminated menu. Normally, I’d think of the question as nosy, but from her, it sounded friendly.
“I just moved here.”
“Well, welcome to our little slice of heaven.” She smiled and pointed at her name tag. “I’m Brenda. I came here twenty years ago, and I never left. And you’re in luck because you found the best restaurant in town.”
“Amen,” said a man in a checkered shirt as he left his booth and headed for the door.
“And the most understaffed,” grumbled the brunette passing us. She sighed loudly and went to greet the four men coming through the door.
“Don’t mind Tina,” Brenda said in a lower voice. “Two of our waitresses quit last week to go to college. That’s what happens when you mostly have high school students working here. Don’t suppose you’re looking for a job? We have a full- and a part-time position available.”
My stomach fluttered with excitement. I hadn’t planned to get a job right away, but I couldn’t sit around the apartment all day painting. I’d go crazy in no time.
“I’ve never worked in a restaurant before,” I said.
Brenda waved a hand. “Nothing to it, and we’re used to training new girls.”
I bit my lip. I wanted to get out of the apartment, but was I ready for this?
“You think about it,” she said. “Now what can I get you?”
I ordered the fish and chips and a Coke, and sat back to study the place while I waited for my meal. It was a nice restaurant, and Brenda was friendly. Tina probably was too when she wasn’t overworked. And it was within walking distance of the apartment.
Brenda returned with my meal and a sheet of paper, which she laid on the table. “In case you change your mind,” she said before she walked away.
I picked up the paper and saw it was a job application. Guess you didn’t need a résumé for this place, which was good because I didn’t have one of those.
I exhaled slowly, suddenly overwhelmed by all the things I needed to learn or catch up on. I was lucky, at least, that I knew how to use a computer. Vampires liked to keep up with technology as much as anyone else.
Laying the paper down, I started on my meal. It was as good as Brenda had boasted, and I was so famished I almost cleaned the plate. I liked food, but my appetite hadn’t been good since I was healed. Looked like it was pretty healthy now. I smiled at my plate and then almost laughed at being happy over something as silly as eating.
Brenda came over to take my plate, and ask if I wanted some of their fresh apple pie. I passed on the dessert, but I asked her for a pen. I didn’t know what made me decide to fill out the application, but I was only going to move forward if I kept pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Besides, if it didn’t work out, I could always quit.
She smiled knowingly, handed me a pen, and then left me to fill out the form. I took my time, and I felt an odd sense of change sweep over me when I signed my name at the bottom. This is a good thing, I told myself as I slid out of the booth and carried the form to the cash register at the counter.
Tina was closest, and she came to take the form and my money for the meal. Her eyes glanced over the form, and she even managed a small smile as she rang up my bill.
Behind the counter, there was an open window into the kitchen, and I could see a man cooking while a dark-haired boy prepared two plates. The boy carried the plates to the window and called out the order. When he saw me, he gave me a friendly smile, and I realized he was my age or older. I gave him a tentative smile in return and took my change from Tina, leaving a nice tip on the counter.
“Gail will look at your application when she gets in on Monday,” Tina said.
“Thanks.”
I left the diner and headed back toward home. When I reached the bakery, I remembered what Sara had said about Bill’s chocolate croissants, and I ran in to buy one. Next stop was the bookstore. I browsed for a while, and when I came across the cookbook section, I thought about my disastrous attempt to cook eggs. I found a beginner’s cookbook and purchased it, along with a local tourist guidebook that had a map of the town in it. I hadn’t gone far today, but my first glimpse of New Hastings made me want to see more.
My day hadn’t started out well, but it had definitely taken a turn for the better. My steps were light as I walked the short distance to home.
Chapter 3
Roland
“I knew you missed me,” joked Paul when I pulled up to his garage on Monday. “Couldn’t stay away, could you?”
I laughed and got out of the car. He wasn’t wrong. The garage was on my route home from the lumberyard, and I was so used to coming here after work every day.
Paul wiped his hands on a rag and walked over to me. “How’s she running?”
“Perfect. All the guys at the yard were drooling over her.”
“They’re not the only ones,” he said. “I showed those before and after pictures I took to a guy I know in Portland, and he went nuts over them.”