Page 18 of Hello Darling

6

Stella

Main Street looks strangely quiet and mostly empty when we emerge from the theater. Not that it’s usually a hotbed of late-night activity, but it’s not even ten pm and around here it’s pretty much just us and the few others who’ve left the movie to return to their cars. I guess it’s that day-after Halloween vibe. People are at home recovering.

Evan Hunter holds the glass door open for me, smiling down at me as I walk past him, and I am so aware of how tall he is. I look down the street, for my parked car. He shoves his hands in the front pockets of his jeans after zipping up his jacket, and before I have a chance to say “well goodnight,” he asks me for a tour of Main Street.

“Unless you’re in a hurry to go somewhere…”

“Oh. No. Not really. You aren’t sufficiently tired out yet?”

“If only the company weren’t so stimulating.”

“Well then maybe I should leave.”

“I’ll sleep soon enough. I feel like walking around a bit, don’t you? It’s a nice night. I can’t remember the last time I went for a walk at night in a place this quiet, with such clean air.”

“Okay. Yeah, it is a nice night. We’re very proud of our clean air here…Let’s go this way. We’ll go past the hotel and then cross over and up.”

“Lead the way.”

I don’t want to walk up in the direction of the gym. I don’t want my brothers to see us together, even though I’m fully aware of how dumb that is. “So you’ve been to the Rose, obviously, but it’s not just the theater we were in, there’s also an event room upstairs, and a screening room where they show cool little second-run movies. They probably should have screened Butch and Sundance in there, I don’t know why they didn’t.”

“I think I know what my new alias will be,” he says, grinning.

I look at him for a beat. “Harry Longbow?”

He looks completely surprised.

“It’s the Sundance Kid’s real name.”

He furrows his brow. “Tsk.Know-it-all.”

“Well don’tnotuse it because of me—I’ll keep your secret.”

“Nah, I’ll have to come up with something better now. I don’t want you calling my hotels all the time, trying to get through to my room.” He can barely say it with a straight face.

“You’re right,” I laugh. “I wouldn’t trust myself either.” I point out the deli. “That’s my favorite place to have lunch. FYI, Mrs. Flauvich is all stocked-up on your favorite tea and teatime snacks. As far as the internet has told her, anyway.”

“Is that true?” His eyes are all sparkly and wrinkly around the edges when he smiles. He really is a nice guy.

“Yeah. You should pop in there and make her day.”

“I will. That’s so sweet.”

“Billy and I are addicted to her sandwiches. She has gluten-free bread and she uses all these amazing spreads.”

“I like your brother Billy. He’s very affable.”

“Yeah. He’s the Tom Hanks of brothers.”

“How many do you have, exactly? Brothers?”

This is starting to feel more like a walking date than a walking tour. “Three. Billy’s the youngest. Keaton’s two years older than me, he works at the gym too, and Martin’s two years older than him. He’s at Western Washington getting a degree in sports psychology.”

“And you’re their only sister?”

“Lucky me.”