May decided the next morning that even if she'd accidentally ruined her life by moving to Oak Ridge, even if this was all some ill-fated mistake that would send her back to her hometown, head hung and feet dragging, then at least she'd gotten to experience the wonders of Delia's cooking before it all went to hell. For that alone, it had been worth it, at least then and there.

The rest of her day up to that point had also been pleasant, even if it couldn't rival breakfast itself. The walk to the restaurant hadn't been too bad (though her feet did hurt after the walk across hard, uneven cobblestone and packed dirt). Everyone else had already been there when she'd arrived- Gary, Dawn, and Drew, plus a few other people who mingled quietly at seats and in booths- and the four of them had put their breakfast orders in and engaged in a bit of small talk. Gary had told May some about the town's history and the Oak family's namesake legacy within, Dawn had told her about some of the other townsfolk that May would likely soon come to meet, and Drew had mostly just sipped on his coffee in a pensive manner. Despite Dawn and Gary's conversational attempts, most of the conversation had gone in one of May's ears and out the other.

It was hard to focus on much of anything else when before her, on the edge of the table, sat some sort of heavenly breakfast stir-fry. Potatoes, eggs, cheese, tomatoes, peppers, all cooked to crispy perfection. Maybe it was just because she hadn't eaten since the evening before around five PM, and that had just been a granola bar and a gas station sandwich in her car, but May swore that Delia's cooking was the best she'd ever had. It was incredibly filling, though, especially for breakfast, not that May minded much.

She thought back to the tractors and stables that she'd passed on her walk to the restaurant that morning- if those were any indication, people in town probably needed hearty breakfasts for the day of what looked like lots to do ahead of them.

Briefly, May wondered what her role would be in town if she did decide to stay, but her thoughts were interrupted before she could dwell.

"So!" Gary brought their group to attention, taking advantage of a small lull in conversation. "How about we get down to business, the reason we're all here? I hope everyone slept well last night, because we've got some work ahead of us."

"Yay, work," Dawn remarked with bland disinterest, cutting into her pancakes with the side of her fork. She'd carefully arranged the strawberries on her pancakes so that each forkful would have one.

Beside May, in the corner of the breakfast nook, Drew just idly took another sip of his coffee, and his left arm lightly brushed against her with the motion. A quickly-breathed 'sorry' accompanied the touch of human form against hers, along with a glance that broke as quickly as it had met.

Gary just looked around at his failure to rally the troops. Dawn, more focused on her strawberries, May, trying to fit more potatoes on her fork than really belonged on a single fork, and Drew, now passively watching as a fly crept up towards the rim of Gary's glass of water.

"I take it none of you are excited for the work ahead of us?"

"Might help if you tell us what it is," Drew remarked.

"I was just about to. Alright. May, yesterday we'd mentioned housing, and I said that I'd make a few calls, right?"

At that, May's head perked up, all (or most) interest now lost for the precarious act of balancing egg, potato, and tomato on one fork. She was barely even disappointed when it fell off and back down to her plate. "Hm? Oh! Right. Were you able to find anything?"

He nodded. "Yep. A couple things, actually, and that's what we're here to discuss. There's the easy way and there's the hard way."

There it was.

May had been wondering what Gary would come up with, especially since when she'd entered the restaurant earlier, she'd seen the other three in deep conversation with two other people- a woman with auburn hair and an apron, and a younger guy with messy black hair under a cap. Delia and Ash, Gary had introduced her. 'And here she is now', he'd said, and then something about finalizing some plans and getting back to them. May had guessed that it had something to do with getting her moved in, though she couldn't imagine what.

Only one way to find out.

"Alright. What's the easy way?" she asked.

"The easy way is to rent a room from someone in town," Gary started. "I made a few calls. Zoey, Clemont, Tracey, a few others, you've got options. Personally? I'd go with Tracey. Super nice guy, waterfront property out by the south river. All you have to worry about are the chickens and the paint fumes."

"I'm sorry?"

"He's a painter," Dawn piped up.

May had been a bit more concerned about what the chickens entailed, but she left well enough alone. "Okay. Chickens. Waterfront property. Great. Is there anything I should know about the other candidates?"

Dawn nodded. "Zoey helps out with the horses, and her house backs up to some pastures where we keep some horses. She'll even feed them on her front porch sometimes and she lets the goats in-" So that was a no on Zoey. "-And Clemont does a lot of home repair stuff."

"Home repair? That sounds pretty handy."

Drew cast her a sideways glance with a hint of amusement. "Yeah, if you like DIY oven upgrades. He lives right next to one of the town's main water access points. It's not a coincidental choice."

Okay, so that was a no on Clemont, too.

"And this is the easy way?" she clarified, though 'easy' and 'hard' were difficult words to mistake for each other.

"Yep." Gary took a sip of his water, shooing away the fly that had perched on the rim.

"That's… great." She almost dreaded the answer to the next question as it left her mouth, but it had to happen at some point. "If that's the easy way, then what's the hard way?"

At that, Gary gave a smile. "I was beginning to think that you'd never ask." He leaned forward conspiratorially, elbow on the table, a marketer on his podium. "The hard way is that you move into a shack down a little southwest of here. It's abandoned but functional, and you'd get to stay there for free for the foreseeable future until terms and conditions are worked out."

Now that was an interesting offer. May glanced at the other two's reaction to the offer- Drew's expression was hard to decipher. His brow furrowed slightly, but he felt to May to have a neutral, contemplative air about him and not one of outright concern or hesitation. He seemed more thoughtful than anything else, as if running through the possibility in his mind.

May briefly wondered when she'd become the kind of person who could read the air about a stranger.

She realized, sharply, that she'd been studying Drew's face in a less-than-subtle manner, and he'd caught her eye with the slightest upturn of the corner of his lips. He just barely raised an eyebrow at her, almost imperceivable, knowing that she was looking closely enough to catch it. That thoughtful energy had given way to something lightly playful in an instant.

May had thought that whatever the night before had held between them dissipated in the morning light, no lingering spats or sparks of any plausibly deniable manner. Nothing she could blame on exhaustion and nothing he could blame on alcohol. Morning small-talk had been just short of professional between them, to be expected with people she'd just met.

And yet, in that moment, little wisps of last night were reemerging. They'd lingered like the smell of smoke hanging on clothes and in hair. Slight and subtle, but there if you went looking for it.

She looked away.

Her eyes instead landed on Dawn, who had frowned at Gary's little announcement, strawberry-laden fork freezing halfway in its track to her mouth. It felt like time sped back up to its normal pace as she focused back on Dawn, ripping herself out of the gauzy haze that Drew seemed to lull her into.

"Wait, Gary, you don't mean that rancid old thing that we weren't allowed to play in as kids because there were rattlesnakes in it, do you?"

"What?" May looked at Gary for clarification, eyes wide. She'd take the chickens and paint fumes if her other option was rattlesnakes.

Gary just rolled his eyes. "There's no snakes in it, Dawn. You still believe that? I think Reggie just told us that so that we wouldn't go in there and step on a rusty nail and get tetanus. There's no snakes."

"How can you be sure? I heard from Jessie that there were at least three different types of rattlesnake nests in there as recently as six months ago-"

"And you believed her? She was probably trying to sell you some magical antivenom snake oil-"

"Are there or are there not any snakes?" May interrupted, raising her voice a bit.

"No snakes," Gary assured her. "I mean, probably. There might be a rat snake or two, but there's no writhing hordes of rattlers out to kill you, I promise. The house is almost definitely snake-free. It's still got running water, and tomorrow morning, Ash is willing to hook you back up to the electrical grid if you agree."

Drew cleared his throat a bit, startling May slightly- she'd forgotten that he was right next to her, he'd fallen so quiet. "Gary, you're absolutely positive that the house is safe? I don't want one of the roof beams to fall on anyone or for the floorboards to splinter underfoot."

Gary nodded. "I've got that covered. I had Brock do a preliminary run-through earlier this morning and he said that it should be structurally sound. I was also thinking that we could reconvene at the house a bit later if you want and, May, you could take a look at what you'd be getting yourself into." He turned his attention back to the rest of the table. "Drew, Dawn, you guys wanna come with and check it out?"

"I'm good, thanks. You guys have fun with your snakes." Dawn stood up to refill her lemonade at the cozy little side table nestled against the wall, complete with a coffee machine and a few various drink pitchers. Above it hung colorful pictures and newspaper article clippings.

Gary shrugged. "Alright, that's one down. Drew?"

"Sure, I'll come with. If it's okay that I tag along. May?" He met her eyes again as he asked, and May found that she liked the way he said her name just as much the second time as she had the first.

"That's fine with me," she confirmed.

Drew nodded. "Alright. I take it that you're seriously considering the second option, then?"

Was she? May hadn't really decided, not in any official manner, but the concept of her own house was appealing even if it came with more work. She guessed that she'd just have to make a more full judgment once she actually saw the state of the building, but… This was what she'd wanted, right? A change of pace? A challenge?

Gary had said that there was the easy way and the hard way.

"I can do things the hard way," she confirmed.

That prompted a little smirk from Drew. "You know, I'm starting to be able to tell."

And there it was again. The spark, each of their words to the other like the strike of flint to steel.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, people who do things the easy way don't usually move across the country with no plan." He raised an eyebrow. "Or no map."

"I had a map-"

"Barely functional."

"Well, yes, but then you were so kind and gentlemanly as to draw me a better one on the back of it," she countered, feeling a smirk of her own take its place on her lips.

That seemed to disarm him; if only for a second. "Anyone would have. Drawing a map is hardly-"

"Alright! I'm back, and I spoke to Delia, and- sorry, am I interrupting?" Dawn slid back into her seat, a full glass of lemonade in hand.

May shook her head quickly, cursing herself for not even noticing Dawn approaching the table. "No! Not interrupting at all." She felt the prickle of Drew's gaze still on her, but ignored it as best she could. "Um, what was Delia saying?"

"Just that she's sorry that she couldn't hang around and chat more, but she needs to prep for the lunch rush. She gets so busy during the weekdays." Dawn glanced up at the clock on the wall. "I should probably get back to my shop soon- I told Paul that I'd have his jacket mended soon, and I should see to that. May, you should stop by whenever you get a minute, it's on the left side of the town square!"

May nodded, trying to remember the layout of the town square. "I'll be sure to stop by soon!" she promised.

Gary looked over the empty plates in front of them and nodded. "Cool. It looks like we're all finishing up; are we good to meet again in a couple hours?"

May nodded and helped gather the dishes, leaving her money on the table. As the group said their temporary goodbyes, she felt that surge of excitement once more- progress was being made already. Hopefully the hard way wouldn't be too hard.

The next hour or so was uneventful. May had dropped off the letter she'd written to her mother the night before at the post office, buying an envelope and stamps while she was there. After that, she'd decided to sightsee a little bit while biding time until meeting Gary and Drew at the house (which Drew had, once more, marked down on her map for her. Notably with a different pen, as she'd 'borrowed' his from yesterday).

May found herself looking around at the town for the first time in broad daylight. It was a pretty cozy place, actually. Strings of lights ran between the roofs of buildings, criss-crossing over the cobblestones underfoot. In the not-too-far distance off to the northwest, beyond the earth-tone buildings and comfortable chatter of the sunny town square, jutting red mesas and carved out canyons loomed on the horizon.

It wasn't at all as decrepit as it had looked at nighttime. As she walked through the town, May caught glimpses of the townsfolk. At one stall on the side of the town square, an athletic redhead advertised various fishing lures and rods alongside buckets of chilled, iced fish and crustaceans that she'd presumably caught. A few paces away from her, a young blonde girl fed an appaloosa horse an apple, with someone who looked like her brother beside her, fiddling with an old radio. On a porch swing in front of a colorful storefront displaying fresh produce, a tall, tanned man with spiky hair spoke to another man. May vaguely recognized him as a bartender from the night before. They appeared to be in deep discussion about something, laughing every so often.

It reminded her of when she'd visit the city, of people-watching from a high-up window, except people seemed to actually like each other here. Interactions were voluntary and hearty, and not briskly avoided at all costs.

As she passed through aimlessly, looking at colorful storefronts and hardy flowerbeds, a few people waved or nodded to her, and she returned the gesture with a smile each time. Nobody came up to her to talk, as if there was still some uncertainty at the prospect of a stranger in their town, but the atmosphere remained friendly nonetheless.

Before too long, it had been time to circle around to the outskirts of the town square and down a little dirt road to the abandoned house. The town was still in view of the house, but it sat a comfortable, private distance away. Over some low hills, she could see Delia's to the north, and another few houses sat due south and west.

She was unsurprised to see Drew and Gary already there, poking around at the exterior with what looked like a pile of debris out on the grass from where they'd started clearing off the porch. What did surprise her, though, was the two horses parked out front.

Parked? Did horses 'park'?

One of them looked up at her as she cautiously neared it. It was beautiful and lithe, but tall. Very tall. Or maybe just normally tall for a horse, but that was still too tall. She could see its compact muscles under its shining coat, the same color as a blonde roast cappuccino. The horse flicked its ears as May nervously approached, trying to give it a wide berth on her route to the house. The other horse seemed entirely disinterested in her, which she welcomed, seeing as the other horse was even bigger- a dark brown one heartily chewing on some grass.

To her dismay, Drew and Gary spotted her from the porch and waved. May steeled herself, clenched her jaw, and walked past the horses, trying to not let her shoulders show the nervous tension.

She wasn't sure what she was proving, or to who; but she was going to prove it.

She wasn't scared of the horses, not really- just… wary. Wary of what if it decided that it didn't like her and kicked her, what if it headbutted her, what if it decided that it had a vendetta of some sort and wanted to trample her with no warning?

Hastily, May walked up the front porch's wooden steps, taking refuge from the horses. Probably. She was somewhat sure that horses couldn't climb steps- at least, sure enough that she relaxed a bit once behind the porch railing and standing with two experienced horse owners.

"Glad you made it," Gary remarked, tossing a stray piece of wood to the pile in the grass a few yards out. May didn't bother wondering what possibly-important object the wood had broken off from. "And you've met our horses?"

"Uh-huh." She sent another glance out towards them- the bigger brown one still munched on grass happily, but the more delicately built cream one looked back at her. May broke eye contact immediately. Was direct eye contact a sign of aggression with horses?"

"Quarter horse is mine, Palomino is Drew's." he continued. "You ride?"

May paused. "You mean, do I ride-? Like, horses?"

Drew breathed out a little laugh from where he stood on the porch, leaning against the railing and enjoying the nice weather. "What else is there to ride around here?" he asked, hair gently tousled by the breeze as he spoke. She caught his gaze just as he looked away from her and back at the horizon, a carefully blank look on his face. But she'd seen otherwise just a moment before.

Wisps of last night. The smell of smoke lingering all over them, if they dared to look for it.

May remembered his question and snapped back to the moment. "Um… You could ride the tractors," she answered lamely in an attempt to not let the pause in conversation stretch out awkwardly, earning a barked laugh from Gary.

"And from your tone, I assume that you aren't too keen on riding either of those things?"

"There's not a lot of horses just milling about the suburbs back home, you know," she defended. "I can't say I'm very comfortable with them."

"Well, you're in luck," Gary responded. "You see, Drew here just so happens to be a riding instructor. For horses, if you were going to ask."

"I was not going to ask," May snipped, perhaps a bit too quickly. "Besides, I'm not sure that I'm really in the market for horse lessons right now."

At that, Drew frowned a bit. "Look, I respect your dedication to walking around on foot, but there's some really rough terrain around here, and your shoes look like they're already wearing out a bit. Learning to ride a horse is a really useful skill out here, I'd be happy to help you out. Sometimes some of us go on rides out to the canyons, and I can't imagine going on foot. You're kind of stuck in town without a horse."

The last part echoed around in her mind. She'd found the town to be really charming, but was being stuck there really all that she wanted? Would that give her the same satisfaction that she'd felt when driving with the windows down past shimmering sunsets and starlit expanses of night sky? Was a new town alone truly enough? Would being trapped in this town be any better than being trapped in her hometown had been?

Would the back of a horse give her a rush, that feeling of the wind in her hair and her worries left in the breeze?

"I don't know," she answered simply.

Drew looked at her head-on this time, eyes pensive, but he just nodded. "Alright. I'll be at the stables from noon to five tomorrow if you decide to give it a shot. I can give you lessons, and we can start slow."

Would it hurt to try? Maybe. Probably. Definitely, if she fell.

"Consider it," he added gently, as if reading her mind.

She just nodded, accepting that she had a feeling that she knew where she'd end up tomorrow, somewhere between noon and five.

She shifted her attention to the porch and the house. "So, this is it, huh?"

It wasn't in too bad shape. The porch felt stable and well-built, and while the wooden siding looked absolutely decrepit, it was nothing that some paint wouldn't help. The landscaping was lacking- dry brush swept across the landscape and there was no lush green grass like there was in the pastures north or south, closer to the two rivers that ran parallel on either side of town, but there was still promise. Some pretty desert wildflowers dotted the land.

Drew, taking note of her contemplative gaze scanning the front, shook his head. "Don't get too optimistic yet."

And with that, Gary opened the front door with a horrid creak. He flourished his hand, welcoming her in. "Behold. Home sweet home," he said drily.

The first thing that caught May's attention was the dust and spiderwebs, illuminated by the light coming in from the large windows above the kitchen across from the entry. Cabinet doors loosely hung from their hinges, the fridge was half-open and empty, a table with a broken leg laid in the center of the large open space, and May didn't even want to touch the lone yellowed couch that served as sparse furnishing.

"Oh," was the only word she could find as she stepped in, smelling the dank air and looking around.

"I'm taking it that you see why it's free?" Gary asked, waving his cattleman's hat around in an attempt to disperse some of the dust, only to upset it even more. Drew sneezed and moved to open one of the windows over the wooden kitchen counters.

May slowly walked in a loose circle around the floor, taking in everything around her. "Yeah, I can kind of see why now."

May hoped that her mother's love of HGTV and Southern Living magazines would somehow help out here. Surely May had picked up on some useful info over her formative years of growing up listening to and reading home improvement stuff, right? Maybe enough that this was an endeavor worth undertaking?

As she looked around more, past the dust and clutter, she started to see what laid underneath.

It had a nice open layout and a lot of natural light, and Drew had managed to get most of the windows open. That was promising. She liked the exposed roof beams, and the flooring was actually in pretty decent shape. The lack of furniture was a problem, as was the trash and various debris piled everywhere, but nothing that couldn't be cleaned up and replaced. The biggest concern so far was the decrepit siding and the broken cabinets- those would be annoying to fix up.

"You know, I think this is salvageable, actually," she remarked, picking up a broom in the corner and gathering spiderwebs with the end of it. "Why didn't anyone already fix this place up? It's got potential."

Gary shrugged. "We don't need the space. This isn't a growing town- we've got a few growing families, but by the time they need more space, it's pretty guaranteed that someone else will have left a different house in search of something more out in the city."

"I still can't take this for free."

"We can talk long-term plans if you stay a couple weeks and decide you want to live here. Until then, don't worry about it." He paused. "I mean, you could slide me a couple hundred bucks if it would make you feel better-"

"Gary." Drew lightly tossed an old, balled-up piece of newspaper at Gary's head.

"Joking!" Gary unraveled the old newspaper. May caught a glimpse of the date on it- 1967. Abandoned, indeed. He re-crumpled it and put it in the trash. "I'll keep clearing stuff up down here- how about you guys go investigate upstairs?"

Upstairs, as it turned out, was less salvageable.

The landing was okay enough- May actually quite liked it, the way that the hall at the top of the stairs looked down on the floor below, rather than being fully walled in. It felt nice and open. It was what laid beyond the doors at the top of the stairs that was a problem.

Room one had been used as a small storage area. It was full of boxes of… stuff. She and Drew didn't bother poking around- clearing all of that out could wait. It was a large job.
Room two was the problem. It was the bedroom- her bedroom, if she chose to do things the hard way.

The bed itself was broken, likely due to the rotting wood on the legs and frame. The box spring was just a bunch of folded up cardboard boxes that flooded out either side of the bed, and the mattress reeked of mildew and had no coverings of any sort.

Drew frowned at the sight ahead of them. "Well. This makes the rest of the house look rather welcoming, doesn't it?"

May hummed in agreement, gently brushing past him in the doorway to poke around a bit more. He followed behind her.

"I think the roof's got a leak," he remarked, head tilted upwards as he looked at the slanted wooden beams of the ceiling. May followed his gaze, but saw nothing.

"How can you tell? It looks dry to me."

"The mattress has mildew and mold on it, and that has to come from some sort of moisture source." He frowned at the bed again and walked around the room a bit more. He took a bit of a deep breath, exhaling through his nose. "Look. That thing's absolutely disgusting, and the couch downstairs isn't much better. Do you need a guest bedroom to stay in while we clean up in here?"

Startled, she looked back at him, down from the ceiling. Was he offering his own guest bedroom to her?

Immediately, his eyebrows knit together in concern as he saw the surprise on her face. "I'm sorry," he said, uncharacteristically quickly. "I wasn't trying to be forward-"

"No, no! I just don't want to intrude-"

"You wouldn't be, I don't want to overstep-"

"Not at all, I would hate to- hm?"

They both broke off from the awkward, hasty exchange as Gary peeked his head into the room and looked at the bed. "Oh, gross. If we can bring the stuff in here down and dump it out front, then I'll run over and get that spare air mattress from Misty so that you've got somewhere to sleep tonight."

May shot a dubious glance at the mattress. She wanted it out of the house, but the act of picking it up to bring it out brought her very little joy. She then turned her gaze to Drew and Gary. They both looked strong enough- Gary a little bit more so, but Drew's lean, narrow frame held compact muscle of its own. Between the three of them, getting the king-size mattress out wouldn't be too daunting of a task. If Gary could get the air mattress from whoever Misty was, then May could use that in the meantime and plan a day trip back out to the nearest modern city to get a smaller queen-size mattress and a bed frame. She could tie the mattress to the top of her car and fit a box of frame parts in the back or the trunk, probably.

"Alright," she said after a moment of thought, mentally picturing the room a few different ways in her head. She pointed to the mattress. "Someone gets that end, someone gets that one, and I get this one?"

With the mattress moved and haphazardly tossed out in the front, it was time to focus on clearing the remaining junk from the room. May was clearing out some of the lighter clutter, Gary was gathering broken pieces of the bed frame, and Drew was stacking some of the cardboard boxes up.

Drew wrinkled his nose as he touched the cardboard boxes. The dust was bad enough, he didn't need the mold setting off his allergies as well.

May left the room and brought the lamp down, footsteps echoing on the stairs with the jangling of the lamp cord following down each step behind her. Gary immediately shot an incredulous look at Drew. "You offered her your guest bedroom?" Gary asked in a hushed voice, referring to the moment from earlier. Evidently, he'd filed it away for later, when he could get Drew alone. "Dude, when's the last time you let me in your house? You hate having company."

"Eavesdropping's rude, Gary. I thought you were supposed to be cleaning up downstairs and not standing outside listening." He folded another box up and slid it to the side. "And I don't hate having company over, I just don't see the point when there's plenty of other places to hang out in town."

Gary shrugged off Drew's dry tone, responding quietly. "It's not eavesdropping if this house echoes like hell. Keep your voice down, unless you want her to hear everything you say." A quiet moment passed before Gary spoke up again. "I just think it's nice that you're trying to help her out, that's all. Didn't know that you were so generous to strangers."

"You realize that you're right here elbow-deep in dust and mold with me, too, right?"

"Yeah, but I have my reasons." Gary kicked some of the boxes out towards the cleared out part of the floor.

Drew caught his friend's eye, and Gary looked away immediately. Drew frowned, exasperation seeping into his voice. "Don't tell me that you're still trying to prove to your grandpa that-"

"I'm not trying to prove anything," Gary snipped. "He'll give it up when he's ready, I know. But it won't hurt if he can see that I'm capable of running unexpected situations like this. Besides, this is about you, not me. You're bending over backwards just as much as I am, and your motives are up for question in ways that mine aren't."

Ignoring the obvious deflect and deciding that Gary's interpersonal issues weren't a hill to die on, not yet anyways, Drew just shrugged. "I don't have any motives."

It earned him an eye-roll. "Right. The same lack of motive behind you chatting her up at the bar last night?"

"That would be the same lack of motive, yes."

Evidently, Gary had decided that this wasn't a hill for him to die on, either. A stalemate, then. Or rather, an understanding. A treaty. Don't ask me about my problems and I won't ask you about yours.

Gary left well enough alone and went back to sorting through junk, and the conversation fizzled. Which Drew appreciated, because even if Gary had tried to pry more, Drew didn't have any good answers.

There had been no rhyme or reason to why he'd gravitated towards May the night before. She'd sat next to him, and usually Drew would have stayed in his own lane and minded his own business, but… maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the curiosity, maybe it was the way that it was so impossibly easy to coax a spark from her. Something kept him hanging on to every word she said.

He had found himself wondering what it took to draw each reaction from her. What did he have to do to get her to smile at him again? To snap at him? To roll her eyes? To laugh? Okay, so maybe she'd been right. Maybe he had been trying to get a reaction from her on purpose, but she rose to the bait so beautifully each and every time, so who could blame him?

Drew smiled to himself as he finished stacking the cardboard boxes, face turned away from Gary. It was like coaxing a spark, indeed. Like playing with fire, warmth right at his fingertips, smoke settling on his skin from proximity to the warmth.

In return for coaxed sparks, she brought something out of him: Curiosity, intrigue, questions about the kind of person who made life decisions with a dart and took an abandoned shack over a comfortable rented room with waterfront property.

Drew found May to be compelling, like a book he couldn't bring himself to put down. Every next sentence had him on the edge of his seat, ready to uncover the next enigmatic way about her. Less than a full day in, and he felt fully hooked on a stranger.

Maybe it was normal. It was probably normal. There was surely nothing abnormal about the way she'd hijacked his thoughts on such short notice. The entire town was quietly abuzz with curiosity about her, not just him, surely everyone must have felt it- he'd heard it on the way to Delia's that morning. Ash had even caught him outside the bar the night before to pry for details. Everyone had questions for their new neighbor, and word spread fast. He just hoped that everyone had the sense to not crowd her or overwhelm her, but Drew got a feeling that it would take a lot to scare May off.

Though, if her tense stature when approaching the porch earlier was any indication, then the horses just might.

With a sigh, he went back to clearing out the room so she'd have a decent place to sleep. He'd deal with the horse problem tomorrow, hopefully.

As Gary went off to get the air mattress and May came back up from tossing the old lamp and poking around downstairs more, Drew and May worked on clearing out the house in comfortable small talk about a little bit of everything- the weather, the townsfolk, the drive up. Questions about her still swirled around his mind, but hopefully he'd have all the time in the world to ask them when she was less busy.

He hoped he could get a couple questions in tomorrow between noon and five, if she showed up. Something told him that it was a challenge she was up for.

After all, she could do things the hard way.