Caleb saw the sadness in Everly’s soft, green eyes. Before he could stop himself, he reached out and swiped a stray hair from her face.
“Stop,” he whispered. His hand lingered on her chin, and she didn’t push it away. “You can’t keep blaming yourself for what happens to other people. I mean, unless you physically murdered him and stuffed his body in the dumpster, it’s really nothing you did or didn’t do. Things have a way of happening exactly as they should, and there’s not a whole lot we can do to change it.”
Wow! Did he sound like his mother or what? Red splotches decorated his cheeks as Everly walked away to tend to the few customers in the cafe. He didn’t know if he made Everly feel any better or not, but he hoped he did. She hadn’t shied away or pushed his hand away when he’d let it linger on her chin. Maybe things weren’t as settled with the mysterious boyfriend as she let everyone think. Was it possible the boyfriend was entirely made up, a way to keep unwanted advances at bay?
His heart fluttered. It suddenly mattered more to him than it had before. Then again, maybe his wishful thinking had him seeing the signs he wanted to see. Jennifer’s parting words echoed in his head: Tell her before it’s too late. His vulnerability and mortality hit him as hard as his truck had crashed into the tree. What if all this hokey business with the lady in white was true?
His cellphone buzzed. He had a text from his mother.
Mom: Are you ready to go?
No. I need a little more time.
Mom: I’m done shopping. Cold groceries. Can’t wait long.
Ok. Give me 5 & I’ll be right there.
He didn’t want to leave yet. Now that he understood his mother’s fears, there was no way he could justify not leaving with her. Besides, a headache crept in, and he felt himself weakening. The last thing he wanted was to be weak in front of Everly. He slid carefully off the counter stool as Everly rejoined him.
“Ma’s waiting. I have to go. Thanks for the coffee,” he said.
Everly reached out and covered his hand with hers. “Caleb, I-I overheard you and your mom talking earlier.” She blushed. “What if she’s right? Are we safe here? Should we get out of Rickdale while we can?”
He took her hands in his. “I would love to leave town with you, but if Ma is right, leaving town is the worst thing we could do right now.”
Her eyes watered, and her hands trembled. “Even if we left before dark?”
He stroked her hair and cupped her chin with his hand. “And where would we go?”
“There’s a cabin my dad owned.” The pleading in her eyes was almost more than he could bear. “You always said you wanted to get out of Rickdale. Here’s your chance.”
Was she acting out of fear, or because she really wanted to be with him? He couldn’t leave with her until he knew the answer. He couldn’t leave his mother guessing for the rest of her life if she lost him, too. The timing was horrible. He wanted nothing more than to run off with Everly, but he couldn’t.
He stared into her eyes. “I can’t leave yet. Now that I finally understand her fears, I don’t think my mother could handle it. We can wait out the week, and if you still want to leave, we’ll go after the full moon.”
Everly’s lip trembled. He wanted to kiss her so badly, but he didn’t.
“And what if one of us doesn’t make it? Please, Caleb? These past couple days without you here made me realize how much you mean to me. I don’t want to live in Rickdale without you.”
She leaned in close, and he kissed her. The cafe patrons cheered, and they both blushed. They had forgotten they had an audience. Edna peeked her head from out of the kitchen and smiled.
“It’s about time. We’ve been watching you two fall for each other for, oh I don’t know, a couple years now. It’s high time you all finally did something about it.”
The customers echoed Edna’s words, and Edna went back to cooking.
Caleb ignored the rest of the cafe, disappearing in the warmth of Everly’s eyes.
“I have to talk to Ma. Please understand. I want this more than anything, but I can’t run off on Ma like my dad did. She doesn’t deserve that. Stay safe, stay away from the fog, and I’ll be back tomorrow. I promise.”
Chapter Ten
“Lock your doors at night, don’t go out after sunset. I am imposing a 6:00 p.m. curfew on all of Rickdale as of tonight. All businesses including bars and restaurants are to close early enough to allow all employees to be home safe before the fog rolls in. This is not optional. It is mandatory,” Sheriff Greyson said over the radio.
He’d had the radio station declare an emergency broadcast he knew would result in the station phones ringing off the hook.
“You probably shoulda told them why,” Carla said. “They’d comply better if they knew why.”
“Sometimes I forget you’re an outsider too,” Tom said. “Rickdale doesn’t need to be told why. Rickdale knows. Even the youngest child knows, even if they don’t believe it.”
Carla didn’t believe him. He could see it in her eyes, the way she looked at him like he was crazy, and in the way they slowly rolled to the ceiling. Carla was too young to know. She’d come into Rickdale not long after Duke had, decided she liked the town enough to stay, and started working at the police department. He didn’t know how much she knew, and it probably wasn’t enough for her to really understand the danger the town was in.
“The coroner sent me the results on that drifter. Caleb Asher had nothing to do with the drifter’s death. He was long dead before Caleb crashed.”
“Oh, yeah?” A spark of interest flecked her eyes. “Who is it?”
“Harlan White. He’d been dead for sixty years. Died in an accident not long after his wife jumped off the bridge.”
“So, someone dug up a corpse and sat him up on the road. Sounds like a prank to me, but not something worth shutting the town down for.”
Carla still had her doubts. She’d grown up not believing in anything other than the power of self. This whole urban legend thing the town believed in was very hard for her to grasp.
“This is exactly what happened thirty years ago. The fog rolled in, Harlan appeared, and then our young men went missing. We have at least two men missing that we know of, and now we’ve discovered Harlan’s returned, too.” Tom leaned his arms on her desk. “These boys disappeared on my dad’s watch, and I saw how badly it tore him up. I’m not about to let it do the same thing to me. I’ll shut the town down completely if it guarantees the safety of the people of Rickdale. That’s my job as sheriff. We already lost Ash and Garvey. I refuse to lose more.”
“Do you really think setting a town curfew is going to stop something you claim is supernatural from happening? You only have three deputies, and one of them is missing. How are you going to enforce it? I may not believe what you believe, but I’ve seen enough movies and TV shows to know it’s impossible, even if you had the manpower. There’s always someone who disobeys the rules. How are you going to keep them contained without risking losing another cop?”
Tom hated to admit it, but she made a valid point. He’d have to risk the lives of the two remaining deputies to ensure everyone followed curfew. He hadn’t thought it through enough. Yes, the curfew would limit the number of people who went missing, but it wouldn’t stop the disappearances from happening. It was discouraging.