“I’ll meet you back here in an hour. Oh, and ignore any looks or comments you get. Unfortunately we aren’t used to new people in this town, and these guys can be pretty narrow minded. Try not to take any of it personally.”
“I can handle myself, big guy.”
“Meet me back here in an hour.”
“Yes, sir.” I gave him a mock salute, and walked towards what looked to be an estate agent. If I was planning on staying in this strange town, I should probably have a look at the sort of thing I could end up living in.
JACKSON
“Jackson! How are you?”
I stepped in to the store which sold everything from milk, to computers, and smiled at Bella, the shop assistant. She had been a shop assistant here for as long as I could remember, but was also famous for being the local gossip. She was middle aged but had still kept her youthful exuberance, and was well loved among the community. Her dark hair was pulled up in to a tight bun, and she gave me a huge smile as I approached the desk.
“I’m very well, thank you Bella. How are you?”
“Fab, as usual. How can I help you?”
“I’m sure you’ve already heard about our visitor last night?”
Bella looked sheepish for a moment, before smiling again. “Yeah, I know all about her. Will she be staying?”
“I don’t know yet. I need you to do me a favour, though.”
“Of course.”
“Pretty much everyone in this town uses this store, and you have a good rapport with your customers. Would it be okay, if you could tell everyone to be nice to Laura? People are bound to be worried, but I won’t tolerate disrespect towards our guest for however long she is here. My men and I are keeping an eye on her, so no-one has any need to be concerned.”
“Absolutely. I’ve heard some people express concerns, but most people are intrigued more than anything else. I’ll make sure it’s clear for everyone, though.”
“Thanks, Bella. Anything I can do for you while I’m here?”
“Well...” Bella stopped talking, looking down at the floor as if wondering what to say.
“Bella? Is everything okay?”
“There’s been word of unrest within the town.”
“Unrest?” Alarm shot through me as I processed Bella’s comment.
“I can’t tell you where the rumours are coming from, because I have no idea. Each day people come in and tell me about things they’ve heard. All I know is that it’s got the people worried, and they are preparing for something to happen.”
“Do you have any more information?”
“No, I’m sorry it’s not much to go on.”
“That’s fine, Bella. If you hear of anything else, please ring me directly and let me know.”
“Of course.”
As I left the small shop, I felt like another monkey had been added to my back. We live in a peaceful town, where the community is safe. I won’t let anything change that.
LAURA
Okay, I know I told Jackson that I could handle myself, but after an hour of continuous comments and scathing looks sent my way, I had to say I was not handling it as well as I thought I would be. My time in the small estate agents had been interesting, and I’d seen a few places that looked good, but the woman in there clearly didn’t want me to buy anything. She gave me the snootiest look and gave a whole new meaning to the word ‘unwelcome.’ I almost wanted to put a deposit down on somewhere just to prove a point to her, but then I realised that would be stupid. I’d only been here five minutes and I needed to make sure I absolutely wanted to stay here before I used the little inheritance I had on buying a place. I had pretty much the same experience in every other shop I went in to; scornful looks, whispered comments to friends whilst blatantly looking at me. Oh, I couldn’t tell exactly what they said, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out they were talking about me. The icing on top of the cake (excuse the pun), was when I went to the bakery to grab a quick sandwich to stop my rumbling belly. The young man in the bakery looked absolutely terrified of me, stumbling over his words and practically throwing the food at me to get me out of the place as quickly as possible. I tried to remember Jackson’s words and not take it too personally, but that was harder than it looked. The most difficult part was not having any idea why these people were reacting so badly to me. Like, did I smell or something? Half of the people looked angry at me and the other half looked absolutely petrified. What made me so different from these people? And why were they so untrusting of strangers?
The only positive aspect of my trip to town had been a run in with Logan. I’d bumped into him as he was stepping out of the bank, and I couldn’t contain the smile that I projected as I finally bumped in to a friendly face.