Page 5 of The Totally Typical Tale of Mappy McMapface (Ghostlight Falls #1)

Chapter four

Ratcliff's

Miguel

G hostlight Falls is like no other town I’ve been to.

I’d heard rumors, which is why I was driving through in the first place, but it’s a whole different thing seeing it yourself.

From the moment I laid eyes on my bat-map-man, there’s been a part of me that has thought that maybe this place could be home.

No one gives a second look to creatures of all types as they walk through town.

There’s a section at this restaurant with seating that accommodates even the largest creatures.

Makes sense if that’s something that comes up a lot in your town. Which it must here .

Shaking my head, I check my watch for the ten millionth time. I’ve never been stood up before, and I’m not exactly sure of the protocol. I thought I felt some vibes with Mappy, but maybe it was all one-sided? Him not being here says it all.

Either way, a guy’s got to eat. When my hot server recommends the honey holes, I don’t question him.

The food is delicious. Hot Jeremy knows what he’s talking about, even if he's not the best server I’ve ever had.

He and the rest of the staff are nice enough.

But the company is lacking. It’s not that I’ve spent much time with Mappy, but I can’t stop the disappointment that he didn’t show.

It was his idea to get dinner in the first place.

Why ask me out if he wasn’t planning on coming?

Stewing on it doesn’t help, so I pay my bill and head back out.

There’s a part of me that wants to revisit the heart of town to confront Mappy.

If he’s still standing around. Does he have to stand there twenty-four seven?

Obviously not if he was planning on meeting for dinner.

None of this matters. I don’t have to stay in Ghostlight Falls long term.

I’m sure there are other towns like this that will be just as accommodating.

I hold back my frustration as Eli continues to apologize.

It’s not his fault that the repair is more complicated than it had first appeared.

Rosie is basically held together with duct tape.

My ex-girlfriend was the car person in the relationship.

She handled everything, from the oil changes to the big repairs, and when things ended, I let a lot of the maintenance go with her.

Thanking Eli for his help, I leave the shop and try to figure out how to kill some time.

I definitely don’t walk toward the Visitors’ Bureau to find a certain map-man.

It’s just where a visitor would go for information.

So, I’m definitely not let down when I don’t see him outside .

Pushing open the door, I smile at Mabel. “Hey, Mabel. Got any suggestions for how to spend my days while Eli is fixing my car?”

She hands me a couple of brochures to look at—one is for The Wonder Hole and the other is for some frog museum—then she basically shoves me out the door as she points.

“You can catch the bus. Stop’s there.”

“Oh, do you know when the next bus will be here?”

“You’ll know because the bus will be there.” She turns and heads back into the building. Not the most helpful, but at least this time she gave me something to work with.

Taking a seat at the bus stop, I open the brochure for The Wonder Hole and begin reading. Seems to be a standard tourist trap, although given what I know about this town, there could be something wondrous about it. Maybe the frog museum has more going on too?

“Hey there!” Mappy’s grinning face beams down at me.

He’s strutting around in his tiny shorts, showing off more of his body than I’d like at this exact moment.

I suppose it’s somewhat necessary so that you can see all portions of the map, but I really don’t want to be distracted by his abs right now. Or the bulge in those mini-shorts.

“Hey,” I grumble, looking up the street, hoping the bus will get here soon. I don’t know if this is an every-fifteen-minutes sort of thing or a once-a-day bus, but either way, I hope it's soon.

“About last night.” He pulls his long hair away from his face into a bun. Somehow, this makes him flex all of his muscles at once. How I’d love to run my tongue along his body. Nope. Still mad. He stood me up, and he better have a damn good reason.

“Did I show up to dinner?”

I’m so taken aback by the question that it takes me a moment to answer. “Wouldn’t you know if you did?” He blushes a little, but stares at me, waiting for me to continue. “Fine, I’ll say it. No, Mappy, you stood me up.”

He looks disappointed. What was he hoping I’d say? That he was there? Lie to his face? How would that help anyone?

“I have a good reason for not being there.” I raise an eyebrow, ready to hear his excuse. “It’s just that, I, um.” He scratches his arm and looks away uncomfortably. “I don’t really remember what happened.”

“So, your good reason is that you don’t remember?”

His smile returns. “Yeah! I was in the shower, thinking about you, actually.” I try not to focus too much on that.

Except, how do I not? Is he saying what I think he’s saying?

He continues on as if that was a completely normal thing to confess, so maybe shower thoughts are a less dirty thing in bat-man culture?

“And then, next thing I knew, I was in bed, and it was morning. I wasn’t even wet from the shower at all.

” He states that last bit as if drying off is the weirdest part of his story.

“Does that happen to you often?”

“Yeah, I usually have to use a towel, though. I guess if I stood there long enough, I’d dry off on my own. Is that what you think happened?”

“I meant the time lapse. The not remembering part?”

“Oh! Maybe? I wouldn’t remember, would I?” He smiles at me, and it’s so warm and genuine that I almost forget he stood me up last night. Almost.

“Is that what had happened in the alley? When I found you?”

He scrunches up his face in thought, and it’s adorable. I want to kiss the lines between his brows, which is ridiculous, because I should be mad at him. But it’s really hard to stay mad at him.

“Um, maybe? I don’t really remember how I ended up there.” I’ll go ahead and assume that’s what happened.

“You don’t seem that concerned that you’re missing chunks of time? ”

He shrugs. “I don’t think there’s much I can do about it. I’m more concerned that I didn’t go to dinner.” He takes a step closer to me, our knees almost touching. “I was really looking forward to it.”

This whole thing seems way too weird to be true, but at the same time, Mappy does not give off any hint that he’s lying.

He’s either really, really good at it or he’s telling the truth.

I don’t have much time to consider it because the largest bus I’ve seen pulls up to the stop.

It’s big enough to fit Bigfoot. Shit, does Bigfoot live here? The bus hisses as the doors open.

“That’s my ride,” I say, standing. Mappy doesn’t move, and now we’re inches apart.

Just like yesterday, there’s electricity between us.

I want to grab him and pull him the last little bit to me, but I also need to figure out if he’s full of shit.

And if he is blacking out all the time, we need to figure out what that means.

No, Miguel, he needs to figure it out. There’s no we.

“See you around,” I say, my voice coming out husky as I sidestep around Mappy.

He doesn’t move, just nods as I make my way onto the bus.

The doors shut behind me, and he finally turns, waving goodbye as we pull away.