Page 3 of The Hunter’s Affection

Chapter 2

Ye Old Curiosities had always felt like a place of discovery to Charlotte. No one ever came there because they were in need of something—its shelves were too disorganized to be of use to someone with an agenda—but most of the browsers walked away with something they’d never realized they needed. The store reminded her of her hometown in South Carolina, and so did the street that hosted it. It felt like the little bit of home she’d been allowed to keep when she, her mother, and her stepfather moved to Pennsylvania.

The store was owned by her friend Toni’s aunt and uncle, and Toni had worked there for as long as she’d known her. Still, it had surprised her when Toni had told her and their other friend Alessandra to meet her at the shop to kick off girls’ night. She’d assumed Toni had already quit to devote herself full-time to the new bar she was opening with her boyfriend.

When Charlotte walked in, Toni was behind the counter, fiddling with a box of what looked to be mood-changing pens.

“Didn’t you say the new girl started last week?”

Toni looked up, her smile broad, as she closed the register in front of her.

“She did. And promptly quit two days later. So much for hiring college students.” She shrugged. “What’s up with you? I feel like I’ve hardly seen you since school started. You literally ghosted me.”

Charlotte smoothed her tailored pants, pretending to pick off nonexistent lint as she considered the question.

“I’m sorry about that. Nothing much is new. So tell me about—”

“Not so fast.”

Toni crossed her arms. “Spill it,” she ordered, her tone as fiery as the red hair piled atop her head in a messy bun.

Saved by the bell. Or perhaps not. The person who’d just strolled into the shop, triggering the tinkling bell over the door, wasn’t a customer but Alessandra Fiore, the third in their group of musketeers. She was maybe even tougher than Toni.

“Just me,” she said, grinning at them. “Who’s ready for girls’ night?”

“Where are we headed?” Toni asked.

Grateful for the distraction, Charlotte shrugged. “Are we blacklisting Murphy’s?”

Alessandra and Toni exchanged a glance, and something must have been communicated between them in that silent best-friend language of theirs because Alessandra answered for both of them.

“No, that’s fine,” she said. “And you’re dressed perfectly for it too.

Ha. Ha.

Taking off her blazer to reveal a bright green cap sleeve cami, Charlotte made a face at them.

“There, see?”

She was accustomed to their ribbing about her inability to dress casually, but as she’d told them repeatedly, where she came from, it was perfectly acceptable to dress as if you could be meeting an important politician or the owner of a Fortune 500 company at any moment.

Because usually she really was meeting someone like that. Back then, at least.

“Perfect.” Toni slung her ever-present messenger bag over her shoulder and stepped around the counter to join them.

“Let’s go,” Alessandra said.

Walking from the shop, the women skirted an occasional crack in the sidewalk and navigated the passersby as they made their way from one end of Main Street to the other, not a long walk. Tomorrow was Friday, and it would usher in this weekend’s batch of tourists. Double the people or more would roam the streets of the “Switzerland of the U.S.”—the Pennsylvania town known as much for its local charm as the small South Carolina one where Charlotte had grown up.

“I can’t believe it’s getting cold already,” she said, pulling her blazer back on. After seven years, one would think she’d be accustomed to the cooler northern climate.

“You say that every year,” Alessandra accused as they closed in on their destination. Murphy’s Pub. Not special, perhaps, but familiar, and its location catty-corner to the visitor’s center and the sole gazebo in the small square at the heart of Stone Haven pretty much guaranteed it was always busy, even on weeknights.

“Do you miss it?” she asked Toni as they found a four-top and sat.

Toni snorted. “You’re kidding, right?”

She’d worked a second job as a bartender at Murphy’s for as long as Charlotte had known her. That job she had dropped.