Tansy pulled into a parking spot right around the corner from the post office.

Burton sat quietly beside her, looking out the window.

“Ready?” she asked.

He nodded.

She couldn’t help but notice that his energy was subdued compared with last night.

Tansy wondered if the swim had worn him out or if something was wrong. She tried not to think about whether he was having second thoughts about choosing her.

The most obvious answer was that he was just nervous about coming into town. She chose to believe that, rather than dwelling on doubts.

Burton was definitely attractive enough to get some attention, but one at a time the aliens seemed to be able to pass for farm hands. He was wearing a pair of Grandpa Max’s jeans, which hung low on his hips, and a tight white t-shirt that showed off way more of his muscular frame than Tansy wanted to share with the local talent.

“It’s nice out,” Burton said.

“Yes, it’s mild,” Tansy agreed.

A light breeze sent the village trees shimmying. The cafe tables of all the local restaurants lined the sidewalks, making Stargazer look temporarily European.

“Where do we go first?” Burton asked.

“I thought we’d go to Astro Apothecary on Jupiter Street,” Tansy said. “They sell vape supplies. And if they don’t have what we’re looking for, they might know where else to find it.”

“Okay,” Burton agreed.

They wound their way down the street, past the little shops with their space-themed decor and names.

The whole town had renamed itself Stargazer back in the fifties when the observatory’s first owner had built his enormous radio transmitter to send messages looking for life beyond Earth, and thought he received a return message.

Unfortunately for him, no one had arrived to prove him right until just this year. He’d been the town laughing stock for over half a century. Too bad he wasn’t still around to see just how right he’d been.

“Excuse me,” Burton said, sounding horrified.

He had bumped into one of the diners in a chair on the sidewalk.

Burton was truly enormous and the impromptu seating areas narrowed the sidewalk, even as the good weather had lots of residents out walking.

“That’s okay, sweetie,” the jostled lady said, smiling up at him with an expression that said jostle me anytime.

Tansy choked down a surprising flash of jealousy just in time to see an entire summer camp full of children heading their way down the sidewalk.

Each child held a paper cone of colorful water ice.

The counselor who led the way gave Burton a wide berth, but the little boy following crashed straight into him, staining his white t-shirt with neon blue razzle-berry.

“I’m sorry, mister,” the kid yelled, smacking at Burton’s front in a vain attempt to remove the sticky ice.

“It is quite alright,” Burton assured him politely.

The rest of the children trotted past quickly as Tansy tried to hide her smile. She figured it must be hard for the poor enormous alien in the crowded village. He would be happier back at the farm where everything was more on his scale.

“It is good to be around so many humans at once,” Burton said loudly. “It is so much more cheerful here in the city.”

Tansy was stunned.

“Yes,” she agreed without thinking, as she furiously wondered if he could mean what he said.

“Do you miss life in the city when you are at the farm?” he asked.

“Uh, not really,” Tansy said. “I mean the village is right here if we need anything.”

“And look at the lazy city lifestyle,” Burton said, indicating a cafe across the street where people in sunglasses nursed their iced coffees. “It’s almost lunchtime and these people have just woken up to have their coffee. That must be nice.”

Tansy couldn’t help thinking about the fact that Burton had been up at the crack of dawn each day since he had arrived on the farm. She had thought he was excited to start his day. But maybe he was only doing it to please her.

They had reached the drug store, so she tabled the thought until after their mission.

“Here we go,” she said, pushing open the door to Astro’s Apothecary.

“Can I help you?” asked a bored clerk through an enormous mouthful of chewing gum. She was too busy staring at her phone to look up at them.

“We are looking for Cali-vanilla Dreaming,” Burton said in his deepest, sexiest voice.

The clerk looked up and nearly dropped her phone.

“Wh-what’s that?” she asked.

“It’s a type of vape,” Tansy said. “Do you carry it?”

“What brand?” the girl asked, still staring at Burton.

Tansy pulled the ziplock bag with the little canister out of her bag and cleared her throat.

The clerk tore her eyes from Burton and shook her head.

“Nope, sorry, we don’t have it,” she told Tansy.

“Anything else I can do for you?” she asked Burton.

“No, thank you,” he told her politely and turned to Tansy. “Where should we try next?”

“Have you tried Planet of the Vapes?” the clerk offered.

Burton looked stunned and Tansy realized he might think it was an actual planet.

“Thanks,” Tansy said quickly. “We’ll check it out.”

“It’s part of that new open air market,” the clerk said, treating Burton to a wide smile. “I’m taking my break in a minute. Want me to show you?”

“No, thanks,” Tansy said, grabbing Burton by the hand and marching toward the door.

“Did she say there was an entire planet of vapes?” Burton asked as they emerged into the sunlight again.

“It’s just a cute name for a store,” Tansy explained.

“Ah,” Burton said. He looked a little disappointed.

Tansy smiled and they continued their walk.

“Ah, a hotel,” Burton said as they passed the town motel, Ground Control. “If I follow in the career of ambassador, like my brothers Bond, Rocky and Magnum, I could travel this planet, staying in fine hotels, like this one.”

Tansy observed Ground Control. There were many ways she could have described the squat brick edifice and its faded sign, but fancy was not one of them.

In fairness, Burton was currently living in a barn.

“I guess it must seem unfair to travel so far only to have to live in a lab and then a barn,” she said sympathetically.

“Oh, not at all,” he said kindly. His expression went suddenly blank and then icy cold. “It’s worse than unfair, it’s… monstrous.”

“I’m so sorry,” Tansy said, horrified. “I guess we’ve been terrible hosts. I’ll talk to Sage tonight. We should make better arrangements since you’ll be with us a while.”

Burton’s jaw flexed and he turned away from her, focusing his attention on the sidewalk ahead of them.

Tansy fought back the tears that prickled against her eyelids.

The open-air market was only a few blocks away. It had started up when the aliens were revealed in Stargazer. Suddenly the town was filled with reporters and visitors. And some of the visitors were there with food carts and souvenir stands.

Just get through this trip to the village, find out whose vape canister this is, and go home, she told herself. You can figure out what’s going on with Burton back at the farm.

It was always easier to think at the farm, Tansy was comforted slightly by the knowledge that they would be there soon.

They passed a familiar vehicle on their way.

“Is that…?” Burton asked, indicating the souped-up pickup with the wide rear end.

“Gretchen Peterson’s truck,” Tansy said. The one that had led them on the wild goose chase to the Peterson farm. “She works at one of the restaurants around here.”

She continued to walk, trying not to think about what else had happened after their adventure and escape from the neighboring farm. A few minutes later, they reached the market.

Planet of the Vapes was a small booth in the far corner. Tansy marched up to it swiftly.

The young man at the counter looked almost surprised to see someone approach.

“Hey, man,” he said appreciatively to Tansy. “Oh,” he added, as Burton joined them.

“I’m looking for this flavor,” Tansy said, whipping the baggie out of her purse and presenting it to the longhaired proprietor.

“Found your juice flavor, huh?” he asked sympathetically, nodding his head up and down as if to some music Tansy couldn’t hear.

“Uh, yes, something like that,” Tansy said.

“Righteous,” the guy said. “But we don’t have that brand here, it’s kind of high end. Did you get it online?”

“No,” Tansy said. “Someone gave it to me.”

“Well, Darth Vaper is the only other specialty in Stargazer,” he said. “But they only sell their proprietary brand. You could try Holy Smokes over in Mount Joy.”

“Thanks,” Tansy said. “I really appreciate your time.”

“My pleasure, little lady,” the man said, stroking his blond goatee. “Can I offer you a sample? Maybe I’ve got something you would like just as much as what you have there.”

“We’re all set,” Burton said roughly.

Tansy blinked up at him, but Burton only grabbed her by the hand and started walking.

She went along with him, fuming inside. Burton had seemed like such a nice guy. Now all of a sudden he was blowing hot and cold and acting crazy jealous, especially for a guy who apparently couldn’t wait to leave her and the farm behind.

When they were nearly back at the car she wrenched her hand away from his.

“Tansy,” Burton said. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked. “Last night you’re telling me you want to be my mate. Today you can’t wait to leave. What’s going on?”

“Oh, Tansy,” he said, his eyes wide with sorrow. “I didn’t mean that I wanted to leave you behind.”

“Then what did you mean?” she asked.

“I want you to come with me,” he said.

Tansy buttoned her lip, afraid of what she might say next.

“Tansy, look,” Burton said in a soft, encouraging voice. “Look at the dress in that window.”

She looked up. In the window a mannequin wore a filmy white dress that would have looked at home on a fifties starlet.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if you could wear pretty dresses like this and be interviewed on TV instead of wearing dirty old overalls and working so hard on the farm all the time?”

This time Tansy made no attempt to quell the hot tears that sprang to her eyes. But she wasn’t going to sob in front of him.

Instead she marched to the car silently, tears sliding off her cheeks.

“Tansy,” Burton called after her.

She ignored him and got into the driver’s seat.

He jogged up and got in the passenger’s side.

“Tansy, I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said. “I only wanted to offer you a different life.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Tansy said. “I don’t want to talk at all right now. I just want to go home.”

Burton opened his mouth and then closed it again.

She started the engine and prayed she could keep herself in check enough to drive home.