He’s like who I always saw myself with when I was older. Someone non-threatening but successful.
My mind flashes to Teller and I realize that I’m comparing the two of them. It’s no contest. My brain might say that I should pick someone like this guy, but my heart and body say something completely different.
“I’m Chet, by the way.”
He holds his hand out to me and I take it, forcing a smile to my lips as he shakes my hand. There’s no spark or connection here. In fact, I feel a little uneasy in his presence but I try to shake the feeling off.
I’m probably just tired from driving the last few days and I’m overreacting to a guy who is just trying to be friendly to the new girl in town.
“Are you new to town?”
“Yeah, I’m just here for the summer to work for my great-uncle at the Mystery Cabin.”
As soon as I mention Stan and the Mystery Cabin, his nose scrunches up like he’s tasted something bad.
“Stan Tate?”
“Yep.”
“That’s cool,” he says but I can tell that he doesn’t mean it. “How are you liking Destiny Falls so far?”
“I haven’t been here that long but so far, I like it.”
“If you want, I can show you around sometime,” he says, taking a step closer to me.
My spine tingles in warning but I push the feeling away. We’re in a crowded grocery store. He’s not going to do anything to me.
“Oh, uh…” I start, trying to figure out a way to let him down gently.
“I’m the mayor’s son, so no one knows this town better than me,” he boasts and I want to roll my eyes.
It feels like he’s just trying to be friendly and I don’t want to come across as rude so I find myself nodding.
“Sure. I could always use a new friend in town. A friendly tour would be great,” I say, making sure to emphasize the word friend so that he knows that I’m not looking at dating him.
“How about tomorrow night? The Mystery Cabin closes at seven pm. I can pick you up at seven-thirty then.”
“Oh, um…” My eyes dart around as I try to think of a way out of it, or maybe to push it back until after I’ve settled in more, but I come up empty. “Sure, sounds great.”
He gives me a smile but it doesn’t affect me the same way that Teller’s does.
“I’ll see you then,” he says and I give a distracted nod as I hurry outside and back to my car.
I’m way past the thirty-minute lunch break and I hope that Stan and Teller aren’t too upset with me.
Chet seemed friendly enough, I guess. Maybe a little full of himself but harmless. I guess he would be the type that I should be trying to date. It’s obvious that he’s got high aspirations, that he’s well off, and yet, he does nothing for me.
I know that it’s supposed to be a friendly tour but I’m still not looking forward to tomorrow night but it’s just one night.
6
Wednesdays are apparently slow at the Mystery Cabin, so after lunch, Teller comes to find me in the gift shop. Lyla is supposed to be in for her shift any minute and I’m looking forward to meeting her, but when Stan walks in after Teller, I have a feeling that I won’t get the chance to today. At least not right now.
“Hey, do you want to give me a hand with the zip line?” Teller asks as he sets his toolbox down on the front counter and digs his baseball hat out of it.
“Uh, I’m not sure that I’m really qualified for that.”
Teller laughs and I could swear that I see Stan smiling too but it must be my imagination.
“No qualifications necessary. I just need help fixing one of the steps on the ladder,” Teller assures me, and I look over to my uncle again.
If Teller is asking me in front of him, then he has to be okay with me leaving to help Teller, right?
“Okay, sure. Should I wait until Lyla gets here and can cover the gift shop?”
“No, I’ll get it,” Stan says and I nod, shoving my cell phone into the pocket of my jeans and following Teller outside.
I still haven’t gotten much of a chance to know my great-uncle. I made dinner for us last night and he had sat with me in tense silence as we ate it. He had fled as soon as his plate was cleared and had disappeared into his bedroom. I had been exhausted, so I had gone upstairs and taken a shower before I passed out for the night.
He hadn’t been around for breakfast this morning so this is the first time that I’ve seen him today and even then, he didn’t bother to say much of anything to me.
I don’t know what my mom thought was going to come of me working for him for the summer. He barely seems to tolerate me.
It’s another beautiful day outside and I try to push my less than stellar relationship with my great-uncle aside as I follow Teller down the path to the zip line course.
“So…” Teller says as he adjusts his hat and sets his toolbox down next to the steps that lead up to the first zip line platform. “How are you liking Destiny Falls so far?”
“Is that the town motto?” I mumble and Teller looks over at me with a confused look. “You’re like the third or fourth person to ask me that since I got to town.”
“Yeah, who else has asked you?” he asks as he grabs a hammer out of the box and climbs up to the sagging step.
“I met Madelyn and Iris yesterday when I went into town for lunch and then I ran into a guy named Chet when I was leaving the market.”
“Chet Morton?”
“I didn’t get his last name. He said that he was the mayor’s son if that makes a difference.”
“Yeah, that’s Chet Morton.”
I can hear the hint of annoyance in his voice and I think that it’s the first time that I’ve heard or seen Teller without any easygoing smile on his face.
“You don’t like Chet?” I ask, prying for more information.
“I’m not his biggest fan, no. Although the rest of the town seems to love him. He’s the golden boy, born and raised here, his dad has been mayor for like a decade and it’s rumored that he’s looking to take his father’s job when he retires.”
“He offered to give me a tour of the town tonight,” I admit and I wonder if he can hear how I’m less than excited about it.
“You should know, Chet and Stan do not get along.”
“Why not?” I ask, passing the plank of wood for the new step over to him.
Teller digs in the toolbox, pulling out a power drill and some screws before he gets back to work.
“I don’t really know, to be honest. They haven’t been fans of each other since long before I came to town. The mayor is always calling the Mystery Cabin a shack and trying to rile Stan up but the truth is that this is a big draw for people to stop in town and the mayor knows that.”
“So I probably shouldn’t tell Stan that Chet’s going to be showing me around tonight then. He already isn’t my biggest fan and I don’t see that earning me any brownie points.”
“Probably not,” Teller says and it might just be the sun in my eyes, but Teller’s smile doesn’t look as bright as it normally does.
“To be honest, I don’t really want to go. I tried to tell Chet that yesterday but he didn’t seem to want to take no for an answer and then it felt like I was making a big deal out of it.”