~
“Spiders. Definitely spiders.”
“Don’t forget snakes.”
“Trust me, it’s clowns.” Zoe Adams removed her waitress apron and added her two cents to the conversation the other waitresses of Cookie’s Cafe were having on their biggest fears. She plopped down on one of the stools lining the breakfast counter, and pulled out her tips to count. She hoped she had enough to pay the rent. Looking up at the other diner employees, she added, “And considering my regular gig is that of kindergarten teacher, I’ve had to face that fear more times than I care to admit.”
“I’d take a clown over a spider any day,” said Jamie. Like Zoe, she was in her mid-twenties.
“I can step on a spider,” Zoe said, looking at the other waitresses. “Clowns are too big for my size sixes.” She held up her foot. “I don’t know what it is, but I see one and it’s like I hear scary music and my mind starts flashing Friday the 13th images.” In truth, clowns weren’t her biggest fear. Small, dark places scared Zoe more than anything. Not that she’d share that with the ladies at Cookie’s, or anyone else for that matter.
Some things Zoe didn’t talk about. Especially the things she didn’t understand. And lately her life was filled with a lot of those things. Crazy how watching an episode of the TV series Unsolved Mystery Hunters had turned her life upside down, and brought her from Alabama to Texas in search of the truth.
“Flying roaches. I hate ‘em,” Dixie Talbot said, joining in on the conversation. In her sixties, Dixie was the matriarchal cook, waitress, and part-owner of Cookie’s Café. “Years ago, I stood right over there by Booth Two and one of those nasty creatures flew into my shirt.”
Zoe stopped counting her money and laughed. “Yeah, Fred told me about the striptease you pulled, too.”
“Honey, he’d better be glad that roach flew off my right boob once the top came off or I swear to everything holy I’d have been standing there naked as a jay bird.”
“Was that the day he proposed to you?” Zoe asked.
They laughed. It was the laughter, the camaraderie of Dixie and the other diner employees that kept Zoe from looking for a higher paying gig while she was here. God knew she could use the money. Kindergarten teachers didn’t rake in the big bucks.
Oh, it was enough to get by, but not enough to fund this research trip to Miller, Texas when she had to pay for two apartments. Not to mention the entire month off from work—a month she only got because the principal had been friends with her mom. But more than money, Zoe needed companionship. Since her mama died two years ago, and especially for the last year since her live-in boyfriend had decided he’d rather date a stripper than a kindergarten teacher, Zoe had spent too much time alone.
And lonely.
Hey, maybe she should get Dixie to teach her a few moves. Not that Zoe wanted Chris back. Nope. For four years, she’d given her heart and soul to that man. She’d already had names picked out for the two kids they’d give life to, thinking any day he’d pop the question. And he had popped one. It just wasn’t the question she’d expected. “Do you mind if I bring home my stripper girlfriend to live here until you can find another place?”
Okay, he hadn’t actually worded it like that, but he might as well have. He’d taken Zoe’s heart, and returned it, along with her self-esteem, in a big mangled mess. Not so much of a mess that she hadn’t reminded him that she’d been the one to rent the apartment, and he could just grab his stuff and get the hell out. Oh, he’d accused her being so unfair. Didn’t she realize it wasn’t his fault he’d fallen in love with someone else?
What she understood was that she’d been played for a fool—paying most of the bills, being his personal housecleaner, trying to be the perfect housewife. Even a year later, it still stung like a paper cut right across her heart.
Zoe’s cell rang. Considering she’d gotten all of two calls in the four weeks she’d been in Texas—one from her principal back in Alabama confirming she’d be at work on September 25th, and the other a wrong number—a call was a big thing. Zoe checked the number. Unknown Caller.
“Hello?” Zoe answered. While she hated it, there was a part of her that hoped it would be Chris, wanting her back, telling her he’d screwed up. Not that she’d take him back, but it would be nice to know he missed her.
She heard someone breathing, but nothing else. “Hello?”
“Leave,” the whispery voice said.
Turn the page to read the first three chapters from Born at Midnight, the bestseller from Christie Craig (writing as C.C. Hunter), available in trade paperback and ebook wherever books are sold.
Step into the world of Shadow Falls,
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Once you visit, you’ll never forget it and you’ll never, ever be the same.