The Perfect Lie (Hope Falls Universe)(3)
“I started doing out what you’re doing. Odd jobs and anything that needed to get done. I still do that, but on a higher level. I organize the temporary help and make sure all the stations are manned. I work with the tourists and make sure anyone who needs help gets it.”
“So…everything. You do everything.”
“More interesting than just one thing day in and day out.”
“Amen,” she muttered.
He wondered where she had come from that gave her the dislike for the mundane. Though a lot of the temporary help would spend a few days running around every end of Mountain Ridge and would leave after a week missing the comfort of an office job. Even if he could get a respectable office to hire him, he’d go stir-crazy sitting in a cubicle for eight plus hours a day. He’d been lucky that the only place that would take a chance on him happened to be a little slice of paradise.
“Where did you work before here?” He had to keep reminding himself that asking personal information from a coworker wasn’t stepping over bounds. It was just getting to know a coworker. So why did it feel like more than that?
“I’m from the city. This is a nice change of pace.”
Change of pace. Was she just testing out the wilderness before running back to the populated areas? Or was she going to be like him and stick around for as long as she was welcome? Maybe after a few weeks, he could take a chance and ask her out. Amanda and Justin didn’t have any policy against employees dating, for obvious reasons. He’d never debated crossing those lines before, but he’d never been this drawn to one of the employees before. It was just as possible that after he worked with her for a while he wouldn’t be able to stand her, but something told him he wasn’t going to get tired of Gwen anytime soon.
They just reached the parking lot again when Gwen ran her hands over the front of her pants. She hadn’t gotten them dirty, so he wondered whether she was feeling nervous around him, too. He smiled at the thought.
“So what’s next on the agenda? After starting with poop bags, I’m positively intrigued at where you go from here.”
He let out a little laugh. There were about a hundred things on his list, but he decided to say the thing that would probably impress her the most. “We can head out to the stable. You like horses?”
Her eyes widened. “Oh my goodness, I love horses. I haven’t been riding in ages.”
“Sometime this week, I’m sure we can work something out. We just got a new horse in and he’s been a handful. All the girls love him.”
“It’s always the pain in the ass ones, isn’t it?”
“Got that right,” he said as his walkie chimed. He held up his hand as he pulled it off his belt. “Josh here.”
“Hey, Josh,” said Justin over the radio. “You going to be back anytime soon? The new hire has been waiting for about twenty minutes.”
“What? I’m already with…” He trailed off as he saw the woman in front of him take a nervous gulp. “I’ll be right there.”
The liar in front of him took a step back and held up her hands. “I can explain.”
Chapter Two
Okay, so maybe she couldn’t explain. What was she supposed to say? I’m sorry I lied about who I was, but you were so smoking hot that I literally forgot how to speak for a moment? Damn, damn, damn. “I’m sorry. I had a brain fart and—”
“Your brain fart has my boss calling and asking where the hell I am, so thanks for that, lady.”
He started to turn away from her and the blood rushed to Steph’s face as embarrassment washed over her.
“Hold on, Josh, let me make it up to you!” He was at the door to his truck and she followed him, trying desperately to get him to listen to her apology. “I’m sorry. I know it was stupid but—”
“But what?” he bit out, turning to face her and she had to slam on the brakes to keep from slamming into him. “But I am a nobody, so it didn’t matter what you said? But you were bored, so it was okay? Please, tell me what ‘but’ you came up with to make this okay.”
Her mouth went dry as she realized how right he was. There really was no “but” that she could give. “If you get into any serious trouble, please let me know. I wasn’t thinking and—”
“You see, if I were going to tell you if I got in trouble, that would imply that I was ever going to talk to you again. And I can’t afford to talk to people who don’t think. In my life, not thinking isn’t an option. So get back in your car and don’t think until you’re far away from Hope Falls. Got it?”
She took a step back and averted her gaze to the gravel lot. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done something so reckless. In her family, she was always the reasonable one. The cautious one. And in one split second, she’d gone and outright lied to this guy, who was just trying to do his job. A job he loved from the sounds of it and she might have gotten him in trouble.
Instead of trying to apologize again, she weakly nodded as he pulled his door shut and slammed the truck into reverse. The gravel kicked up as he ripped out of the lot and she was literally left in the dust.
For a few minutes, she just stood there, feeling a mixture of guilt and self-pity. What was she supposed to do now? Keep on her soul-searching road trip? Go back home? Hope Falls obviously didn’t hold any hope for her. If anything, it was just a stark reminder that she didn’t really belong anywhere. She didn’t belong with good people like Josh. She didn’t belong with the craziness that surrounded her parents. She finally managed to move back to her car and behind the wheel. She left the parking lot a bit more carefully than Josh had and made her way back to the main highway. She could go left and head toward Lake Tahoe or right to Hope Falls.