Elise Merritt scrubbed the countertop vigorously, running her dishrag in circles to scrub away imaginary dirt. The countertop was so clean at this point that you could have eaten straight off of it, with no need for a plate. But Elise kept cleaning, anyway. It gave her an outlet for all her pent up, nervous energy.

Her mind wandered to the verbal lashing she’d endured in her boss’s office just a few hours earlier.

“This is the last time I’m warning you, Elise!” he’d yelled. “You keep your brawls out of my diner or you go find a new job.”

Elise cringed at the memory of how he’d jabbed his pointer finger right into her chest. She’d tried to protest that she couldn’t keep grown men from fighting, and that if it wasn’t her son they’d be fighting over something else. That was true enough. Blackstone’s locals loved nothing more than an excuse for a fistfight. She’d been shocked by it when she’d first ended up here three years ago, but she was used to it now.

Her boss insisted on blaming her for the fights, anyway. He needed someone to blame, and lately most of the fights had revolved around Nick somehow, so naturally they were all Elise’s fault. Elise stopped scrubbing the counter and bit back tears as she thought of her little Nicky, who wasn’t so little anymore. She was at a loss on how to help him. He was a good boy deep down, she knew that. She wasn’t just being a biased mother when she said that. He truly had a kind, soft heart. But something seemed to torment him, and she didn’t know what it was. It had gotten worse lately, and Elise lived every day in fear that he was going to piss off one of the men in town bad enough for them to truly hurt him.

Elise bit her lip in an attempt to hold back the tears that wanted to spill over her eyelids. It wouldn’t do to cry while on the clock. The diner was empty now, except for her and the one cook in the back, but you never knew when someone might come walking in the front door. There was still a little over an hour until closing time, after all. If someone caught her crying and told her boss, she’d have to endure a fresh round of yelling from him. To distract herself from her emotions, Elise decided to make a fresh pot of coffee. The one sitting on the burner behind the counter had probably been there for a few hours, and, even though it wasn’t likely that someone would come in requesting coffee at this hour, it wasn’t a complete impossibility. Making a fresh pot gave Elise something to do, at least, and she threw herself into the task as though her life’s purpose was to make the best diner coffee in the world.

She dumped out the old coffee and grounds, then rinsed the pot and filter before putting in a new filter, new beans, and fresh water. She had just pressed the bright orange “Brew” button when she heard the bells above the front door jingling.

Ah ha! she thought smugly. A customer. I bet they’re going to be just desperate for a cup of coffee.

But the smug smile froze on her face when she turned around and saw who it was. Standing just inside the doorway, and looking straight at her with eyes even greener than her own, was the man who had rescued Nick this morning.

“You!” she said. It was the only word that she could manage to get out in her surprised state, and it seemed to amuse him.

“Me,” he replied, a hint of a smile playing at his lips. He walked up to the counter and sat down at one of the barstools. “This place is a lot less busy now than it was at breakfast.”

“Uh, yeah. Breakfast is our busiest time. And it’s too late for dinner for most people right now. I don’t even know why the boss keeps the place open so late. We don’t do much business after nine p.m., unless there happens to be a home game during football season. But it’s not football season now. But of course you know that. Or maybe you don’t, I guess. I shouldn’t assume you know about sports just because you’re a guy.”

Elise forced herself to stop talking. She was rambling on about nonsense to the man who had saved her son from serious harm. What a blubbering idiot she was. But something about his eyes unnerved her. She felt open and exposed, like he somehow knew something about her that she didn’t even know about herself. She had overcompensated by opening her mouth and letting whatever words popped into her head come tumbling out. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to smile calmly.

“Anyway,” she said. “Did you want something to eat?”

He shook his head. “I’ll just take some coffee, if you don’t mind.”

Elise grinned, feeling triumphant. “Of course. I’ve just made a fresh pot. Cream or sugar?”

“Just black, thanks,” he said.

Elise turned to grab a mug. She had to wait another minute still for the coffee to finish up, but she did so with her back to the man. She needed a minute to recover her composure. For one thing, she hadn’t noticed this morning how handsome he was. She’d been so distraught about Nick that she’d missed details—like how tall the man was, and how muscular. Like how perfectly his green eyes sat in his chiseled, handsome face, or how his dark hair set off the deep tan of his skin. She took a deep breath as she poured his coffee, then smiled as confidently as she could as she set the mug in front of him.

“I owe you a big debt of gratitude,” she said. “Thank you for what you did this morning, for my son.”

The man took a sip of his coffee before answering. “You don’t owe me anything,” he said. “I only did what any decent human being would have done.”

Elise raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, I suppose this town is a bit lacking in decent human beings, then, because you’re the only one who attempted to help.”

The man laughed and shrugged, then held out his hand. “I’m Holden, by the way.”

Elise took his hand and shook it. “Elise. But you probably already know that.” She glanced meaningfully down at her nametag, and he laughed again. God, that sound was so wonderful. She wanted him to laugh again and again and again, but she couldn’t think of anything else funny to say at the moment, so she settled for small talk instead.

“What brings you to Blackstone?” she asked. “We don’t get too many outsiders around here. Most of them go to Sandview instead. It’s a bit bigger, and closer to the national park.”

She thought she saw a worried expression cross his face when she mentioned Sandview, but he smoothed it away so quickly that she thought perhaps she had just imagined it.

“I’m working on some research,” he said.

Elise frowned. “Research? What could you possibly be researching that would require a trip to Blackstone?”

Holden paused for a moment, tilting his head to one side as though assessing her. She wasn’t entirely sure he’d seen whatever it was he was looking for, but finally, he shrugged.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I’m working on a documentary about small towns?”

Elise rolled her eyes at him. “No.”

He laughed. “I thought as much. Well, then, all I can tell you is that if I tell you I’d have to kill you.”

She laughed, too, then. “You hardly seem like the killing type.”

He shrugged, and took another sip from his coffee. He looked at her over the rim of his mug with a mischievous glint in his eye. It occurred to Elise that perhaps she should be frightened. After all, here was a man she didn’t know, who wouldn’t tell her what he was doing in town and was making jokes about killing her. That sounded awfully creepy when you thought it through, but somehow Elise just knew that he was harmless. At least, he was harmless to her, she thought, taking a peek at his bulging bicep muscles. She had a feeling that he could do some pretty serious damage in a fight, if he wanted to.

“Well, Mr. Mystery Researcher,” Elise said, putting her hands on her hips. “Can you at least tell me how long you’re planning to be in town?”

He shrugged again. “However long it takes,” he said.

“To finish your research on small towns?” Elise said with an accusing raise of her eyebrow.

“To finish my research on small towns,” he agreed with a wink.

Elise laughed. She liked this guy. He had an easy way about him that made you feel instantly comfortable, like you’d been friends for years. “Well, just be careful. You might end up intending to be here a few months and then staying for years. Don’t ask me how I know.”

Elise couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice when she said this, even though she’d been intending the comment to be something of a joke. She should know by now that there was nothing funny about being stuck in Blackstone, going nowhere.

“Oh?” Holden prompted. He wanted to know more, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to divulge her life history to this stranger. He was a handsome, funny stranger, sure. But she’d only known his name for a few minutes. No need to confess all her secrets right away. So she tried to turn the moment back into a joke.

“Yeah, well, I got stuck here for a while, but I think it might be just about time to move again. I’m wearing out my welcome at this point, I think.”

“Because of your son?” Holden asked. Elise froze as her eyes met his. Was that why he was here? To ask questions about her son? She suddenly didn’t feel so friendly anymore.

“It’s just time, I think,” she said in a neutral tone. “And, anyway, I’m quite rudely taking up your time with idle chitchat. Are you sure you don’t want to order some food?”

The hint was clear: this conversation is over. But he ignored it and pressed on regardless.

“Moving somewhere else isn’t going to solve the problem, Elise,” he said. But despite his gentle tone, Elise’s anger flashed.

“You have no idea what kind of problems I have or don’t have,” she said. “Now, did you want to order something or not? I have work to do.”

Holden sighed and leaned back in his barstool. For a moment, Elise thought he was going to end the conversation there. But then, he leaned forward again and looked at her earnestly.

“I think you’d be surprised at how much of an idea I have of your problems,” he said.

Elise crossed her arms protectively over her chest. “Look, Holden, I appreciate what you did for my son today, I really do. But I don’t want to discuss my problems, okay? Can we please just drop this?”

But he wasn’t going to drop it. He had a look of determination in his eyes that looked strangely familiar. Elise was startled when she realized why. It was almost the same way Nick looked when he’d set his mind to something.

“Let me guess,” Holden said. “Nick has always been a good kid, but has always been a little bit different, too. You’ve noticed he seems to have abnormally exceptional senses of hearing, smell, and sight. He’s also strong, freakishly strong for a boy his age. Not only that, but he’s restless. He paces, and seems agitated for no reason. This agitation started when he was a young boy, but it’s gotten worse as he grows older. That’s why he’s always getting into trouble with the men in town, isn’t it? When he’s restless, he seems almost out of control, and he lashes out destructively, ruining property and harming people. You’re worried that the townspeople aren’t going to put up with him much longer. And he’s probably been on the receiving end of quite a few disciplinary measures at school, I would guess. Oh, and, let’s not forget his eyes. The way they glow and churn sometimes? You’ve noticed that, too, I presume?”

Elise took a step back, looking at Holden in horror. He had just described Nick perfectly, but how? She’d hidden Nick’s strange abilities and restlessness from everyone, and, until this moment, she thought she’d done a decent job of that. Sure, people thought he was a little terror and a menace to the town, but no one knew how strong he was, or how restless. Or about his freakishly good senses.

“Who are you?” she whispered to Holden. “Why are you really here in Blackstone?”

Holden must have realized that he was frightening her, because the expression on his face softened somewhat. “I’m a friend, I promise. I can help you, and Nick. Let me ask you something. How well did you know Nick’s father?”

Elise frowned at Holden. The question was somewhat rude, and a part of Elise wanted to tell Holden to mind his own business. But another part of her wanted to believe that he might somehow be telling the truth when he said he could help Nick. She took a deep breath, and decided to take a chance on trusting this man. After all, what could he do? Tell everyone in town that her son was a freak? Elise was on the verge of having to move away, anyway. What did it really matter what people thought of her anymore.

“I…I didn’t know him very well. In fact, he was just a summer fling,” she admitted, then rushed to add. “I know that Nick needs a better male role model. He needs a daddy to help show him right from wrong, and how to behave like an honorable man. I’m doing the best I can myself, but it’s not enough. But what can I do? There aren’t many good men in town for Nick to look up to. And I thought I was doing the right thing by keeping Nick a secret from his dad. I thought he’d be better off raised by me alone. Now it’s too late.”

Elise realized she was rambling again, and she forced herself to stop talking. Holden tilted his head to one side, looking at her curiously. No doubt, he was trying to make sense of everything she’d just said, and was having a hard time of it.

“Why is it too late?” he asked. “And why did you think Nick was better off being raised without his dad?”

There was no judgment in Holden’s tone. Just a gentle, prodding curiosity. Elise started talking again, attempting to explain in a clearer manner, and hating the way her voice shook as she spoke.

“Nick’s father was…a bit wild, for lack of a better term,” Elise said. “I met him when I was waitressing at another diner in another small town. That was about thirteen years ago, but it feels like a different lifetime.”

“So Nick is thirteen?” Holden asked, sounding surprised. “I had pegged him more as an eleven-year-old.”

“He’s twelve,” Elise said. “Don’t forget it takes nearly a year to make a baby.”

“Oh, right,” Holden said, a sheepish blush crossing his face. “I always forget about that part.”

Elise laughed. “Typical. Why would a man concern himself with the minor detail of nine months of uncomfortable, painful pregnancy?”

“Sorry,” Holden said, looking even more sheepish. But Elise waved her hand in a manner that said not to worry about it. She didn’t want to get distracted by a silly discussion on pregnancy, no matter how amusing Holden’s contrite face might be. She would lose her nerve to talk about Nick’s father if she didn’t keep going.

“I was a bit younger then, and my head was full of the kind of dreams you have when you’ve just become an adult and tasted your first little bit of freedom. You think anything is possible, and that the world is literally yours for the taking. You think it’s just a matter of time until you hit your big break and everyone realizes how amazing you are. You think you’re going to be someone and do great things.”

Holden was smiling at her with recognition. “Yeah,” he said softly. “Those were the days, weren’t they? And then real life comes and hits you smack in the face.”

Elise laughed, somewhat bitterly. “Exactly. And real life hit me in the face not long after I met Nick’s father. His name was Joey, and he was something else. He blew into that sleepy diner one morning and swept me off my feet before I’d even had a chance to ask if he wanted coffee. He was a charmer, and about as wild as they come. He told me I was far too pretty to be wasting all my time shuffling eggs and coffee around every morning, and convinced me to take the next morning off to come see his favorite, secret hiking spot.”

Holden laughed. “He sounds like he was kind of a cheese ball.”

Elise shrugged, but smiled at the memory. “He was, I suppose. But he was a daring cheese ball, who turned every day that summer into an adventure. He was always pushing the envelope, and I was just young enough to follow him on every crazy scheme he came up with. It was a good summer, and when I think about some of the adventures we had, I’m amazed I made it out alive. But I did. I made it out alive, and pregnant.”

“But you never told him,” Holden said, prompting.

“No,” Elise said. “When I realized I was pregnant, I had horrible visions of him taking our child on the kind of adventures he’d been taking me on, and I realized that perhaps there was a bit too much recklessness in him. I didn’t think he was ready to settle.”

“He must have left, though, before you were too far along?”

“Right. He decided, in a fit of patriotism, to sign up for the army toward the end of the summer. I was surprised. The army, with all its discipline and rules, seemed like a terrible fit for someone like him. But the fact that he was leaving gave me a good excuse to break up with him. I told him I didn’t want a long distance relationship. He begged me to give him a chance to make it work but I stood my ground.”

“That sounds like more than a summer fling. It sounds like he really loved you,” Holden said.

Elise averted her eyes from Holden’s, and hung her head a bit. “I suppose you’re right. And I’m ashamed of the fact that I never told him about Nick, or the pregnancy. I was young, and stupid, and I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought Joey was too wild to be around a child. But now I realize it wasn’t fair of me to keep his son a secret from him. And, god, how I wish Joey was around to help with his boy. Despite my efforts to keep his father away from him, Nick is turning out to be just as wild, it seems. I don’t know how to deal with him. But his dad died in combat out in Iraq, never even knowing he had a son. Nick was barely three years old at the time.”

Elise tried to hold back the tears, but a few of them managed to spill out anyway. Holden said nothing. He just looked at her kindly and waited for her to continue. Elise struggled to regain her composure, and wiped away the little trail of water the tears had left on her face.

“After he died, I tried to find a family to contact. But he didn’t seem to have any living relatives, not even distant ones. The man was strange. Like he’d come from another world and never quite settled into ours. He had no one here but me, I guess. And I let him down. And now I’m letting his son down. Nicky is a good boy, but—”

Elise stopped speaking abruptly when the door to the diner opened. The bell jingled noisily in the otherwise silent restaurant, and a big, burly man walked in. Elise took a shaky breath and blinked quickly, willing the rest of her tears to dry off without spilling. When her vision cleared, she saw that it was Ben, one of the local guys who had been involved in the fist fight this morning. Ben eyed Holden, and Elise would have been willing to bet a month’s wages on the fact that Ben was contemplating whether he could start another fistfight right then and beat Holden down. Elise also would have bet a month’s wages on the fact that Holden would win in a fight with Ben. Ben might be big and strong, but Holden was bigger, and stronger. Ben seemed to recognize this fact, too, because he finally walked across the room and sat down a few barstools away from Holden.

“This man bothering you, Elise?” Ben asked, looking with concern at Elise’s face, which was no doubt red right now from the effort of suppressing her tears. Elise felt Holden tense up across the counter from her.

“No, Benny, not at all,” Elise said, forcing a bright smile. “We were just chatting, small talk and such. Can I get you anything?”

Ben looked doubtfully over at Holden, but finally shrugged and nodded. “Coffee would be great,” he said.

“Coming right up,” Elise said, turning to grab a mug and thinking that she really was glad she’d made this fresh pot, after all. She kept her back to both men as she slowly poured the coffee, giving herself an extra moment to compose herself even more. After stalling as long as she dared, she turned around with a bright smile and went to set the mug in front of Ben.

“Here you go,” she said. “You take it black, right?”

Ben nodded, and picked up the mug to take a long sip. Elise allowed herself a quick glance back at Holden, but she did a double take when she found herself staring at an empty barstool. Where Holden had been just moments before, there was only an empty mug, under which he’d tucked a ten dollar bill. Far too much for a mug of coffee and a tip, but he hadn’t stayed around for his change. In fact, she hadn’t even heard the bells above the door jangle. She wondered if perhaps he’d just slipped off to the bathroom, but as the minutes ticked by, and Elise listened to Ben’s mindless chattering without really hearing it, she finally had to admit to herself that he was gone.

She wrapped her arms around her waist and shivered, wondering why she suddenly felt so cold and alone. She’d see him again though, wouldn’t she? After all, he’d promised to help her. To help Nicky.

Holden seemed like a man of his word. Then again, if there’s one lesson life had taught Elise all too well, it was that things weren’t always what they seemed.