Page 2 of The Stars

Then she’d spotted the cute couple sitting at the diner and had overheard them mentioning Hidden Creek. It wasn’t that strange, as they were less than twenty miles from the town and, along this stretch of highway, you were either heading towards the small town she’d grown up in or back to Atlanta. A fifty-fifty shot.

Besides, the woman, an Asian beauty roughly her age, kept glancing at her as if she knew her. Had she gone to school with her?

She stood up and instantly felt like sitting back down. But then she locked eyes with the woman and something drew her across the room towards them.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said, feeling as if she had no control over her own body, “but did I overhear that you are heading to Hidden Creek?”

“We are,” the man answered smoothly, as if they’d been waiting for her.

What was she doing? Why couldn’t she turn around and go sit back down?

“I hate to ask, but can I get a ride with you?” she said, totally shocked that she was asking strangers for a ride. This wasn’t like her. “I’m from there and, well, my boyfriend…” She rattled on and rolled her eyes. “Well, now he’s my ex. He just broke up with me and left me at the hotel. He even took my purse, and I only had ten dollars in my pocket. I’m Amy, by the way. Amy Reed.” Shut up. Why couldn’t she just shut up? “My brother Joe owns a liquor store in Hidden Creek. Hidden Creek Wine & Liquor, if you’ve heard of it. You can look me up. I’m not some crazy woman, I swear.” Oh god, this was just going horribly. She felt her face heat as she continued to just vomit words. “I was going to call my brother and have him come give me a ride, but…” She shrugged and glanced out the window wishing she was anywhere but here. Why was she doing this? She always did this. “I didn’t want to wake him or Liz up this early in the morning since they work late at the store and, well, Liz is pregnant.”

“Why don’t you have a seat?” The man motioned towards the spot next to the woman.

“Thanks,” she said and, to her horror, she actually sat down.

“I swear Ryan normally doesn’t do this. Just up and leave me.” She sighed. “Joe’s been warning me about the guy for months. I guess he was right.” She sagged in her chair. “Gosh, you two are such a cute couple. What are your names?” she asked as she bit her lip. There, that would force her to shut up.

The man motioned to the woman. “This is Mia. I’m Lucas.”

“Are you just visiting Hidden Creek?” she asked as she fidgeted in her seat.

“We’re… thinking of moving there,” Mia admitted.

“I actually know your brother,” Lucas said, surprising her.

“You do?” Mia and Amy said at the same time.

Lucas smiled and nodded. “I met him the last time I was in Hidden Creek. He helped me with… a problem that I had. We rented a house a few miles from their house,” Lucas said.

“Oh, cool.” Amy relaxed slightly. The fact that the man already knew her brother made her feel better about barging in on the couple.

For the next half hour, while they waited for her food, they chatted about the town, what each of them did for a living, and how they had met. She found the story of them meeting through a mutual friend very interesting. They left out a lot of details, but Amy didn’t mind. She could tell they were in love and far closer to each other than she and Ryan, or any other boyfriend she’d had for that matter, had ever been.

Once they were finished eating, they climbed into Lucas’s car and headed towards town. They were about a mile out of Hidden Creek when Mia asked Lucas to pull over.

“What’s wrong?” he asked when she jumped out of the car.

Amy worried that Mia was going to be sick. Had she eaten something bad at the restaurant? She knew that bird flu had passed through the state a few weeks back so maybe it was that.

“Are you okay?” Amy asked Mia when she climbed out of the car after her.

“You need to come with me,” Mia said, shocking her, then she took her hand and started pulling her through the tall grass. “Trust me.”

She frowned over at Lucas, who shrugged. “Let’s take a walk,” he suggested, and the three of them walked through the field.

“Here.” Mia stopped frowning as she did a full circle.

“Wrong time?” Lucas asked.

Mia was glancing up at the sky. “We need to come back,” she said finally.

“What’s going on?” Amy asked. “Why are we in the Anderson’s field?” She knew this field well. Actually, her parents’ place was less than a mile from here. If she wanted, she could just walk home.

Lucas turned to her and then did a circle. “Where’s the silo?” he surprised her by asking.

“Gosh, you know about that?” Amy smiled. Then she turned and pointed in the direction of the old military silo. It wasn’t as if it was a town secret. In the past few years, there had been plenty of stories circulating about strange things happening down there. Some of which included her brother and his wife, along with their new group of friends. “Just over there. Jacob keeps the entrance locked now. We used to go down there and party all the time in school,” she admitted.