Page 23 of Stardusted

That was it. We would go back to normal. He’d forget my name again, and I’d pretend I wasn’t one awkward outburst away from a restraining order.

With that plan in place, I felt noticeably lighter as I finished the front yard and moved to the small patch in back. I’d be done before Bob even got back from his diner breakfast.

Humming along to my peppy music, I let myself zone out to the mowing vibes.

If only forgettingit all were that easy.

“Did you hear about the UFO lights last night?” Amelia asked as she plopped down across from me at the picnic table I’d claimed outside Kepler Hall. Her Coach bag clanged on the metal surface, but I barely heard it.

The words sank in. I inhaled a mouthful of rapidly cooling coffee and immediately sputtered, hacking.

When I could breathe again, I gaped at her through watering eyes. “What? Whatlights?”

All around us, TWU students lounged in scattered clusters across the courtyard, hemmed in by the four main buildings. It was a beautiful fall day, warm enough that I’d tied my emergency cardigan around my waist.

Now, though, goosebumps prickled across my arms. I fought off a shiver.

“The spooky UFO lights.” Amelia wiggled her fingers in mock-suspense, showing off her new red manicure. She snickered and tossed her hair. “Apparently, people saw them all over the country roads last night?”

The last bit came out question-marked, like she wanted to bait me. Her grin said as much.

“Ball lightning,” I muttered, setting my cup down a little too hard.

Her smug grin faltered. “What?”

“I said, it was probably ball lightning.”

“Ri-ight.” She tapped her nails on her cup and studied me with narrowed eyes. “You look tired. Up late thinking about a certain enigmatic bartender,Rachel?”

“Ha. Funny.” If only she knew. “Hardly. I’ve got midterms and work all week.”

“You’ve got Saturday off, though. Our plans aren’t until later that night. Just spend the day being a lazy bum.”

“Yeah, but I’m going to see Mom…and Dustin and Lisa.”

I checked my phone instinctively, scanning for a text back from my brother. Nothing yet. I’d sent a groveling thank-you along with a promise of cheesecake this weekend. He and Harry had dropped Faith off at Bob’s just in time for me to make it to class.

Turned out the culprit was a faulty battery. Which didn’t make sense; it was less than a year old. It wasn’t like I’d left it running for long in that ditch. But Dustin had looked everything over and had only found the electrical relay issues, the slipping transmission, and the slow oil leak. Which meant there was nothingnewwrong with my car.

The point was it’d been a fluke, and Faith was still kicking. We both were. It was over.

Ish.

I leaned back, twirling my pencil while pretending to read my notes.

“Earth to Rae!” Amelia snapped her fingers in front of my face.

“What? Sorry.”

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah! Just tired. What were you saying?”

She sipped her latte and leaned her elbow on the table again. “Just that even the One Willow PD got called. They mentioned it at the nail salon this morning. The lights, I mean. A dozen people called them in. And a bunch more only admitted to seeing them after hearingotherpeople did. They were worried they’d sound crazy or something.” She waved a hand as ifthatwas the ridiculous part of everything she’d just said. “But now it’s like the whole town saw them. People are saying it has to do with the base.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. The base is mostly shut down. Has been since Dad worked there.” I waited a beat andsummoned my most casual tone. “But what were these lights supposed to look like?”

Amelia paused, eyeing me like she was deciding how far to push. “Most people said yellow and pink, some said blue and green. Big glowing ball. But get this…” She suddenly dropped her elbow and leaned in.