The Midnight Boys

Chapter 3

Coldwater, Wisconsin—Bumfuck Nowhere as I had christened it—was exactly what I expected it to be. Quaint and completely unremarkable. The Brooks lived on the outskirts, just beyond where businesses and backyards met the forest, and even though it was only a ten minute walk to the town square, I decided to take my car.

Main Street, appropriately named since there was only one main road, was lined with old brick buildings outfitted with green pinstriped awnings. All of the usual small town suspects were present: a butcher shop, a bakery, a family diner, and a hardware store. When I spotted the movie theater, which according to the sign only had one screen, I wanted to bash my head against the steering wheel in desperation. This place was so freaking small.

My GPS started to beep, telling me that I'd arrived at All Star Lanes, but the bowling alley was nowhere in sight. Ahead, all I could see was Color Me Crazy hair salon and a used bookstore.

"Stupid piece of junk," I grumbled, tossing my phone onto the passenger seat. I knew it wasn't really my phone's fault that Google Maps totally failed me; the cell service in the area was crappy. Ever since arriving at Ruby's, I had two bars at most.

Not knowing what else to do, I parked and hopped out, deciding to finish the rest of my search on foot. All Star couldn't be that hard to find considering it took all of five seconds to tour the whole of Coldwater. Worst case scenario, I'd ask someone for directions.

There was a parking meter to feed, and as I dug through my purse in search of change, my skin started to prickle, almost as if I was being watched. Sure enough, when I looked up, I caught more than one curious local staring at me, and all the muscles in my body tensed. Back home, I was used to this kind of unwanted attention. After the accident with Elliot, the kids at school stared at me openly and didn't bother to whisper when they gossiped. I quickly learned to ignore it, and at any rate, I was too checked out most of the time to care. But I didn't expect that same scrutiny here, where nobody knew my story or even who I was for that matter, and I didn't realize until now how much I was looking forward to my anonymity. Of course, that was exactly why people were staring—nobody had a clue who I was, and in a town this small, everybody probably knew everybody.

Just because they're staring doesn't mean they know the truth, I had to remind myself. There was no way these people knew that I was the girl who let Elliot drive home drunk. They had no knowledge of my faults or my past. To them, I was just an unfamiliar face. And Elliot? Here, he was nonexistent.

After taking a deep breath, I pushed back my hair, squared my shoulders, and started down the sidewalk in what I hoped was the correct direction. I'd only gone a block before the colorful front display of a candy store caught my eye. There were rows of caramel apples and chocolate dipped strawberries, and glass jars filled with a rainbow of lollipops, but it was the help wanted sign taped to the window that made me pause. Working at a place with an endless supply of sugar would probably be bad for my waist line, but it sounded a hell of a lot better than some smokey bowling alley.

Before I could change my mind, I pulled back the door and stepped inside. The first thing I noticed was that the entire store smelled of hazelnut and salt water taffy, and I drew in a lungful of the mouthwatering scent as I glanced around the room. Then I noticed the dark-haired girl who was standing behind the counter. She was short, but not as short as me, and had cheeks that dimpled as she smiled.

"Hi, welcome to Kandy Kane," she said. "You must be Evelyn."

The smile on my face went stiff. "Wow, not creepy at all that you know my name," I told her. I didn't mean to come off as rude, but hearing a complete stranger say my name was freaky in a horror movie sort of way.