Chapter Five

“Hello?” a sweet, soft voice called out like a bird chirping in the morning. “Anyone home?”

I opened the door to find a petite woman with bouncy blonde hair and bright green eyes standing on my doorstep. She held a plate piled high with chocolate chip cookies and wore a smile that seemed to light up her entire face.

“Hi!” she said, thrusting the plate toward me with such enthusiasm I had to step back to avoid being hit. “Welcome to the neighborhood. I meant to stop by yesterday, but time got away from me, and then it was nine and I figured that would be too late.”

“Hi,” I said, glancing past her to the empty street, unable to tell where she’d come from. I accepted the plate of cookies that would last me at least a week. “And thanks.”

She turned, following my gaze to the junk yard house across the street. Her eyes widened, and she waved vaguely down the road.

“Oh, no,” she said, letting out a melodic sound that matched her appearance. “I’m Courtney. Courtney Cross. I live a mile down the road… not in that house.”

“I’m Everly, and I wasn’t sure if anyone lived in that place,” I said, still looking at the house.

“Believe it or not, someone does live there,” Courtney said, blinking several times. “That guy, though, he keeps to himself. Barely ever see him come and go, other than his truck going up and down the road once in a while during the night. It’s a loud old piece of junk. Never really sure where he’s going, though. Pretty sure he’s retired.”

I set the cookies down on the table beside the door. “Um, well, I’d invite you in, but the place is an absolute disaster.”

Also, I didn’t want to let a stranger into my home.

“That’s okay,” she said, twisting her fingers. “I know you’re busy and stuff, and I didn’t mean to intrude. I really just wanted to say hi and let you know I’m just down that way, should you need anything.” She grimaced, her nose wrinkling. “I’m sorry. I know I can come off strong. I just talk a lot when I’m nervous.”

I shook my head. “Don’t be nervous.”

“Are you kidding? Look at you!”

I cocked my head.

“Gosh darn. I’m so sorry,” Courtney said, taking a step back. “I also sometimes just say what I’m thinking when I shouldn’t. It’s kind of a real problem, but I’m not really sure there is anything I can do about it, you know? Really, though, you’re absolutely gorgeous. It’s like you have it all together.”

I laughed. “Don’t worry about it, and I wish that were true. If I had it together, I probably wouldn’t have moved away.”

“That’s a story, isn’t it?” she asked, raising a brow before quickly holding up her hands. “Sorry again! I’m being nosy.”

“It’s okay, really,” I said, glancing back into my messy house. “It’s not much of a story, really. I just needed a change. Chicago was getting too… um… much.”

Her eyes widened. “Chicago. Gosh, I can imagine. I visited once and was so anxious that I didn’t leave the hotel room. That place is busy. Insane. So much going on. I like it here, and you will too.”

“How long have you lived here?” I asked.

“Born and raised,” she said, proudly pushing her shoulders back. “Left for college but couldn’t stand that, dropped out, and moved back. There’s just something about this place that gets in your blood. Or something. I can’t imagine being anywhere else, even though I don’t know how I’ll ever find a husband when the pickings here are somewhat slim. There is a bar not too far and a club in the other direction, but as you might have noticed, I’m not really good at the whole social thing.”

I smiled at her, and she seemed to relax for a second before tensing her shoulders. She looked down at her phone and powered it on.

“Oh, shoot,” she said, sighing. “I should go. I just wanted to say hi and meet the person who moved into Old Man Harrison’s place.”

“Thanks again for the cookies,” I said, placing my hand on the door.

She turned but glanced back over her shoulder. “This is stupid, but I can’t stop myself from saying it. I have a feeling we’re going to be good friends, Everly.” Her smile was infectious. “Feel free to stop by anytime, like if you need a cup of flour or sugar… oh! Maybe we could do lunch sometime? There is a diner not far that serves the best cheeseburger in a hundred-mile radius. You’ll love it.”

“May’s?”

“That’s the place!”

“Had it today.”

Courtney seemed to deflate slightly. “Oh.”

“Well, maybe sometime. It was a good burger,” I said, not committing. I wanted my solitude, but telling her that would clearly break her heart. “I should get back to unpacking, and eventually I’ll have to find a job.”

“Oh! I heard Black’s Construction is hiring.”

I shook my head. “I checked. Pretty sure that position’s been filled.”

“Aw, bummer,” Courtney said, puffing out her bottom lip. “Too bad, though. Every single woman in a hundred-mile radius would kill to work for Ryder Black. I don’t get it, though.”

“What do you mean?”

She leaned in. “Everyone thinks he’s just the best thing since sliced bread. Sure, he’s attractive, but he’s just so… um… tall.”

“Tall, yeah,” I said.

“Like, even if I were twice as tall as I am, I’m not sure I’d even reach his shoulders. Anyway,” Courtney said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. “I’ll see you around, right?”

“Sure.”

“I’m just down the road, okay?”

I gave her a quick nod. “Okay. Thanks for stopping by.”

I closed the door after her, leaning back against it. The cookies on the side table called my name, and I grabbed one, biting down into the still-warm gooeyness.

“Oh,” I said, closing my eyes.

It was utterly divine, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d said about Ryder. Every single woman would kill to work for him, but I bet if they’d met him in the woods surrounded by wolves, they’d feel differently.

But that was not my problem, and I really needed to stop thinking about it. I grabbed another cookie and headed back to my unpacking. At least one person in this town seemed mostly normal and friendly. That was something.

I’d barely closed the door behind Courtney when my phone started buzzing. Annie’s name flashed across the screen, and I sighed, letting it go to voicemail.

After meeting the overly enthusiastic neighbor, stopping at May’s Diner, and the uncomfortable meeting with Ryder, I just didn’t have the energy. Sorry, Annie. I knew she, of all people, would understand.

And besides, I didn’t want to talk to her because I might break down and tell her that I thought I might have made a mistake moving to Birchwood Hollow. Hearing her beg me to move back wasn’t what I needed right now, because I’d probably jump in my car and drive back.

I grabbed another one of Courtney’s cookies — they really were incredible — and continued unpacking boxes and putting things away. The sun had already set, making shadows in the living room deeper than anything I’d ever seen in Chicago.

In the city, lights were everywhere. Out here, it was all darkness. The quiet was almost too much after all the years of city noise. There were no distant sirens or neighbors shouting at one another through thin walls and no constant hum of traffic… just complete, unsettling silence.

“This is what you wanted, Everly,” I said, sucking in a breath as I walked around the house, turning on every light I could find.

After another hour of half-hearted unpacking, I decided to call it a day. I dug through a box labeled “BEDROOM” until I found my sheets and comforter. All I wanted was to crawl under the covers with my book and forget about everything.

Clear my head.

That’s why I was here.

As I tucked in the last corner of my fitted sheet, Dean’s warning about locking up echoed in my mind. Because of where I used to live, locking doors was an automatic thing. Still, I checked them nonetheless.

I walked through the house, checking each window latch and testing the front and back doors. I peeked out the back window, staring off toward the pitch black woods where I’d first run into Ryder.

He’d been scary and intimidating when we met in the woods, but he was a business owner in this small town. It wasn’t like he was going to try to break into my house to threaten or interrogate me.

I shook my head and checked the door again, and with everything locked up tight, I changed into my pajamas, brushed my teeth, and slipped into bed. The mattress felt like heaven after the long day. I opened my book — a thriller I’d only started a week ago — and tried to lose myself in the pages.

The quiet made it easy to concentrate, at least until my thoughts kept drifting back to Ryder standing in the woods, tall and imposing, with the wolves coming out from behind the trees. He hadn’t even been scared. What kind of person has wild animals that are comfortable around them?

I was just starting to get absorbed in my book again when I heard it.

A howl.

Long, mournful, and much closer than I was comfortable with. I froze, my finger marking my place on the page as I listened. The sound came again, joined by another, then another — a chorus of wolves calling to each other in the darkness surrounding my house.

Another howl, this one sounded as though it were near the back of the house. I turned to the window, the bright full moon lighting up the sky through the curtains. It felt like I was being watched.

I swallowed hard, my voice soft. “Go away.”