Chapter 2
Luca
I was four months into living in Willowdale, and I still couldn’t get over how weird it was. In a nutshell, this place was goofy as fuck. Oh, it lived up to its designation as the coziest town. Someone designed the place straight out of a fairytale.
Main Street featured small shops, a bakery, a coffee shop, and the cutest library you ever saw. There was even a bookstore and a place that sold local handmade items from artisans in the area. Each storefront had a unique sign, and the buildings were clean and cared for. Locals gathered outside and chit-chatted about the weather.
Everyone was nice—more than nice. They smiled when they saw me, engaged me in conversation. Though I had only been here a short while, I knew most everyone’s name. When I walked into a store or encountered someone on the street, they either knew me or knew about me. Like I was some sort of oddity. Sometimes, it just felt like everyone knew something that I didn’t. It seemed that everyone I met had lived in this little town their entire life. I was the only transplant, except for a few who had married lifetime residents.
Was that odd? Probably.
But Willowdale was just so darn cozy and fun and nice. I couldn’t leave it—plus, I needed the job. Because I was a paramedic with almost every possible specialization, I easily secured a position on their medical services team. I knew that I was sought after for my skills. Thankfully, the workplace was very well-managed, and I enjoyed it.
I had a schedule of three days on, three days off—three days of twelve-hour shifts, then three days without. Depending on the events of my shift, it was either incredibly boring or insanely busy. I loved it. I’d always known that I wanted to be a paramedic or a nurse. Once I made up my mind, nothing could stop me.
I was enjoying the last of my three days off. I had spent most of that time catching up on sleep, reading a few books, cleaning my apartment—generally being bored. Today, I needed to get out of the house.
My first stop: the coffee shop.
When I walked in the door, it was as if everyone there quieted down and looked at me. This was one of the many quirks of the place. It seemed like whenever I walked into a place, everyone grew quiet, like they had just been talking about me or about something I couldn’t know about. But there was nothing to really say about me. I didn’t do anything that would illicit any gossip. I was boring.
“Hi, Luca!” Michelle called. She was the manager of the coffee shop and worked the morning shift. “You looking for some coffee?”
“Of course,” I said.
Bernice, the owner of the bakery, smiled at me. She stood on the customer side of the counter.
“What’s on special today?” I asked.
“For you? Whatever you want. For everyone else? I felt like making pie.”
“Pie sounds good,” I said. “A little sugary for this early in the morning, but that’s all right.”
Michelle filled me a cup of coffee, adding a splash of creamer like she knew I liked, then slid over a plate with a slice of apple pie on it.
“Today your day off?” Bernice asked.
“It is,” I said. “Back on schedule tomorrow at seven.”
She nodded. “Well, if no one’s told you about it, I suppose I’ll be the first one.”
I took a sip of my coffee, intrigued.
“A week from Sunday is the Midnight Maze Run. It tends to be an interesting event. The young boys like to compete for who can get up the Shadowpeak trail the fastest. You’re bound to get plenty of sprained ankles—potentially a search-and-rescue.”
“Fantastic,” I said. “That trail isn’t even dangerous, though?” I had been on a few hikes near the town. National forest and wildlife reserve surrounded the town. The trails were relatively tame as long as you stayed on them.
She chuckled. “Kids will be kids, I suppose.”
“Yes, we were all young and dumb once. Thanks for the heads-up.”
Michelle snorted. “Yeah, kids. As if there aren’t just as many grown adults running the trail.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Unfortunately. It’s a tradition. It’ll be fine, though. We don’t get many serious injuries.”
Still. It seemed like a silly thing to do if people were just going to get hurt.
“You settling in okay? Everything good? Normal?” Bernice asked. She searched my face as if looking for any sign that something was amiss.
I smiled kindly. “I love it here,” I said. “Everyone’s great.”
Her brows rose in surprise. “Really? That’s fantastic. You haven’t had any issues with people treating you different? Or any local wildlife run-ins? Wolves or maybe bears?”
“No,” I said. Not sure how I could be treated differently. I wasn’t unlike many other residents. The place seemed to be a mix of different races and genders. Perhaps she was worried because I was gay? Still, I had seen more than one pride flag being flown. Jordan, the owner of the bookstore, was non-binary, and as far as I could tell, everyone treated them the same as everyone else.
As for the wildlife, I had seen plenty of tracks—a crazy amount, really. But never any of them in the flesh.
This conversation, like many others I’d had in this place, turned odd quickly.
“We’re happy to have you here, Luca. You just let A— Tyler know if anything is amiss, all right?”
“Of course.” That was the advice that I got from a lot of people: Go to Tyler if you have any issues. When I first arrived, I asked if Tyler was the mayor, and someone had laughed.
“Suppose you could call him that. It’s fitting. In fact, when you meet him, call him Mayor,” they had said that to me, and I just shrugged it off.
Still, as quirky as this place was, I loved it here. It felt like home. There may have been a few things missing—namely, a lack of alphas I was interested in pursuing—but still, I liked it.
I sat down at a booth and sipped my coffee. After a few minutes, the door chimed and my friend’s voice filled the air.
“Michelle, dearest, I need your strongest coffee, love, pretty please.” Theo’s gaze caught mine, and he squealed. “Luca! You didn’t tell me you were here!”
From the day I arrived in town, Theo had adopted me, and I didn’t know why, but I didn’t hate it. He vibrated with life and positive energy and somehow decided that we were besties.
“I was going to text you once I got my coffee.”
“Any exciting plans today? We should go shopping!”
I laughed. That seemed to be his solution for a lot of things. Not that I could complain. I enjoyed hanging out with him. “I need groceries.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Well, food shopping is still shopping, so we can do that. Afterwards, want to come over to mine? That baking show has a new episode that came out while you were working the other day. I haven’t watched it yet. I saved it just for you, boo.”
I grinned. “Yeah. That would be fun.”
Michelle set a massive cup of coffee down in front of Theo. He stared up at her with stars in his eyes. “Thank you, thank you. I was afraid I’d perish without this sustenance. But now that I have it, I can find the energy to keep going.” He blew her a kiss.
Michelle laughed. “You’re ridiculous, Theo. We were just telling Luca about the Midnight Maze run. Are you doing it this year, Theo?”
Theo nodded vigorously. “Yeah! I can’t wait.”
“You? You hate running. You didn’t even want to do the fundraiser walk with me last month. I had to promise a lazy day and buy you a new blanket in order to convince you.”
He shrugged. “The Maze run is different. It’s... tradition.”
“What’s the purpose of it?” There had to be more significance than they were letting on.
Michelle and Theo exchanged a glance. “Um… It’s just for fun. There’s a superstition that whoever finishes first will find their ma— life partner next.”
“Oh. Well, that’s kind of fun.” Weird, but fun. Not that I believed in any of that sort of thing, but traditions were always fun. And it fit in with the rest of this town’s quirks.
“Should I do it?”
“No!” Theo shouted. Then he smiled, grasping my forearm. “We need you to be a medic, dearest. Lots of silly w— runners get hurt.”
I was met with lots of nods.
Yup. Definitely another one of this town’s weird quirks.