Love at First Mate - Badlands Territory

“Yeah.” I sigh. “I know. He sold me my house.”

I don’t offer any other info because I don’t like to gossip, and being the new person in town you never really know who’s connected to who.

Truth is, I almost didn’t call on the little storefront space in town because it was also listed by Robert. It’s not that he seems like a bad guy or anything. It’s just, well, like Josephine said, there’s just this creeper factor that makes you feel like he’s trying to imagine you naked.

“It will be fine. I’m excited for you.” Josephine interrupts my thoughts. “I can’t really think of any other good photographers that are local. There are a few in other towns not far, but from what you showed me of your work?” She shrugs on another of her award-winning smiles. “You’re going to do great. There’s a wedding around here like once a month. And babies?” She laughs, as if there was something else she was going to say, but then shakes her head. “Let’s just say there’s got to be something in the water, because couples around here don’t have one or two, they have a brood. So, between weddings and baby pictures, you’ll have your hands full. Then doing studio work too? Like I said, I’m excited for you!”

She claps her hands on a little jump that makes the messy bun of her long burgundy hair bounce, then she makes her way out from behind the bar.

I spin a bit on my stool, taking another sip of my drink as I see her go to a table with a guy and gal I’ve seen around town. She’s sitting on his lap and he’s got a look in his eye that clearly is telling any other guys in the vicinity that coming close to his woman would be a bad idea.

I feel invasive just looking at them. It’s like they are having sex with their eyes.

This is definitely an unusual area. Most of the men around here are…huge. Rough and surly, but protective, and I can almost see them baring their teeth like an animal whenever they are with their women.

The women too, don’t get me wrong. So many are beautiful, but there’s a toughness to a lot of them and they seem to have that same mama bear vibe.

Then there’s the torn-up clothes I see all around the area.

I first noticed a pair of ripped up jeans and a flannel shirt along the tree line behind the house I bought on the edge of town. Then, when I was in the park one day taking a walk, there was another pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, only those had blood on them and were shredded as well.

I’ve seen others, women’s clothes too, but I never see anything in the local paper about any violent crimes so it’s a bit weird. But even with those eccentricities I’ve noticed since I arrived in the Badlands, I’ve never felt more at home.

I remember the day I arrived, my van was sputtering along the last mile into town and I stopped at the first service station I could find. I’d been driving for days and was happy to have found a town with a mechanic. There was so much to do to settle in someplace new, and I wasn’t even sure about staying.

Not until I saw him, anyway.

I stepped out of the van, stretching my back, smelling the clean, pine air and feeling good for the first time in months. Then as I looked around, there he was. Staring at me from down Main Street. Jeans, gray t-shirt, boots, dark hair. Nothing special there, right?

Wrong. So, so wrong.

The way he walked first caught my eye. Like a caged animal pacing. You know, the way they take long, slow steps, shoulders high, eyes narrow?

I felt like he was stalking me, but when I smiled, he stopped dead. The flutter in my stomach nearly doubled me over. He was the biggest man I’d ever seen, and a flash of fear collided with a raw lust inside me that left me breathless.

But my smile must have woken him from some trance, because he dropped his eyes, quickened his steps, got into a giant red Ford Pickup and peeled away.

Since then, I’ve seen him a few other times, but every time I run into him, I can’t help getting this stupid huge smile on my face and he looks at me like a serial killer and bolts in the other direction.

“Love,” Josephine says crooking her neck at the couple she just waited on. “I see another wedding on the way. You better get your business up and running fast.”

“Yeah.” I give her a half-hearted agreement just as my phone tings and I look down at the screen as I sip my drink through the straw.