Free Autumn by Sierra Dean Page A

hair—freshly washed—was a tousled mess and still a little wet. He smelled like soap.
    “I don’t want to go home.”
    A small smile flickered, gone so abruptly she thought she might have imagined it, but the thrill it sent through her was like liquid fire, making her pulse quicken and causing something inside her belly to fizz like Mentos in Diet Coke.
    “Okay, you don’t want to go home.” He hiked his gym bag up on his shoulder. “What do you want to do?”
    “Show me all the glorious sights, Cooper Reynolds. Give me the grand tour.”
    “And what do you want to do after those five minutes are over?”
    Lou laughed, jumping off the bleachers to stand beside him, feeling small but safe next to his tall frame. “Do you have a car?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then we’ll find a way to kill some time.” She was impressed by her own boldness. But where Archer had made her nervous, Cooper brought out a fearlessness she hadn’t known she possessed. It made her silly and brave, and more willing to say things she never would have before.
    She liked it.
    Cooper made her feel like she could do anything.
     
     
    He hadn’t been kidding when he’d told her the tour of Poisonfoot would be a brief one. After leaving the high school parking lot in Cooper’s beat-up Ford pickup, they went down Mulberry—a quiet, idyllic residential street—and met up with Main. Lou hadn’t had much of a chance to see the shops on Main Street yet since her walking path home took her in the opposite direction.
    The storefronts looked straight out of a 1950s movie set, with white gables and shutters, all painted in cute shades of teal, cream, and barn red. Cooper pointed out the barbershop, the post office, a few small clothing stores, and the doctor’s office. As they continued down the street, the surroundings became more modern, with a squat brick apartment complex, a McDonald’s and then the Poisonfoot shopping center.
    The mall wasn’t much to look at, just a low concrete structure with a giant blue-and-white Walmart stuck on the end, but at least Lou knew she’d have a place to find five-dollar nail polish and trashy magazines. A Walmart meant she was still somewhat connected to the real world.
    A block past the Walmart the streets became more quaint and peaceful again, though the houses weren’t as classic as the ones nearer the school. These ones were seventies-style bungalows with large swaths of front lawn, all being watered in unison by sprinklers sending arches of water droplets into the air, which caught the afternoon light in a way that made them look like sequins.
    Lou had her window rolled down, and the wind smelled like fresh-cut grass and dust.
    After the houses was a long span of bare horizon, then before the woods picked up was a tall, ominous building with a wide, empty parking lot. Cooper pulled into the lot and stopped the car.
    “This is the paper mill,” he told her, glancing up at the building through the windshield. “Employs about seventy percent of the adult population in town. Behold the majesty of our economic overlord.” He leaned on the steering wheel, and Lou followed his gaze up, staring at the big emission stacks and seeing absolutely no beauty in the hulking structure.
    “It’s…great.”
    Cooper smiled. “It’s a hideous monstrosity. Uglier than the Walmart, even. But it keeps the town alive.” He started the truck again and backed out of the lot. Turning down the first side road they met, he went one block over until they were on Starling, and started back in the direction they’d come from. They passed the elementary school, where a few kids were making use of the outdoor play structure even on a Saturday, and beyond that was a red brick fire station, side by side with a brown brick building labeled Sheriff’s Department.
    “That’s where my mom works.” Cooper pointed to the row of patrol cars parked out front.
    Lou wasn’t sure if she was supposed to say anything, so she just nodded.