years ago in preparation for my return to Brown. A thick layer of dust covered the fabric, and I blew it away. It took me just over an hour to pack up my life. More than two-and-a-half decades on this planet, and everything of value that I owned fitted into a thirty by twenty-inch space.
Looking down at my possessions, my feet felt decidedly chilly. Was I doing the right thing? Baysville was all I’d ever known, and what about Missy? What would she say?
I slumped onto my chair and dialled her number.
“What’s up? Are you crying?” she asked.
“No,” I sniffed. “I’m worried I’m about to do something really crazy.”
“Are you finally gonna tell Buck he’s an asshole?”
A laugh escaped through my tears. “No, but I wish I could. He fired me. I’m thinking of leaving Baysville for a while.”
“Wait, wait. Back up a bit. He fired you? Why the heck would he do that?”
I told her the whole sorry story, ending with my stalker sleeping in my bed, and it sounded even worse out loud. “So that’s why I want to leave. These walls are closing in on me.”
Not to mention some sick freak.
Missy paused for a few seconds. “You know what? Go. When I was nineteen, I did the same thing. That year I spent in Florida was an impulse move, although I’ll admit too many cosmopolitans had something to do with it.” She giggled. “I learned a lot about myself and life while I was away.”
“You really think I should?”
“A break would do you good. After…you know, everything. You’d sure as heck better come back for my wedding though.”
“Nothing would keep me away from that.” Except maybe the thought of the bridesmaid dress she’d choose. Missy and fashion made an interesting mix.
“Wherever you go, you’ll have a great time,” she said, sounding more confident than I felt.
“I’ll call you, I promise.”
A flicker of fear ran through me. I was really going! Into the unknown, whatever it may bring.
I stuffed some money and a note into an envelope for the landlord and dropped it through his mailbox on the first floor before I left. Baysville was coming to life as I walked along my street for the last time. Normally a creature of habit, I rarely saw this side of the town since I slept late after work, and in the daylight, it wasn’t so scary. As I reached downtown at 8 a.m., the sun burned through the clouds, bathing me in bright light. Was it an omen? Would it shine on my new life?
At the bus station on Main Street, I stood in front of a confusing array of screens. Years had passed since I’d been past the town limits, but now the world was my oyster. Or at least the bus network was—my finances wouldn’t stretch overseas.
Where should I go? New York? I could disappear among the thousands of other lost souls who flocked to the city in search of a new life. But I wouldn’t even be able to afford the rent on a closet. The West Coast? Land of surf, sun, and beautiful people? No, I wouldn’t fit in there. What about Minnesota? Snow was pretty, but also cold. Texas? Atlanta? Florida?
Scientific reasoning wasn’t helping here. If I thought about this logically, I’d spend so long weighing up the pros and cons that I’d never leave. Instead, I closed my eyes then spun around and pointed, ignoring the crowd of strangers staring at me as if I’d gone mad.
My heartbeat sped up as I followed my finger. Where would life take me?
The block letters on the front of the bus jumped out in all their neon glory. Virginia.
I was going to Virginia.
CHAPTER 4
A MONTH LATER, I lay back on the shabby bed in my new apartment, studying a water stain on the ceiling. If I tilted my head and squinted, it looked like North Dakota. So, how had things changed? Not a lot, in all honesty. The place in Richmond wasn’t much different from my old home, apart from being in a different state and having pale blue walls instead of cream. And it had a separate bedroom, albeit one I could touch both sides of if I stretched my arms out, plus the hot water seemed reliable if not a little sludge-coloured. As a bonus, it came with a grumpy landlady who lived on the floor below and treated complaining as a hobby.
“You came home too late last night,” she’d told me soon after