Chapter 29
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
“A fucking grill.” Shana shook her head. “That’s why he split up with you? The mother fucker. And that’s the last you heard from him?”
“He hasn’t messaged me today.” Kate and Shana were behind the desk at the library. Ethan was in Kate’s office, behind the closed door, watching a movie on his iPad. And Addy was rearranging the cardboard books in the baby section. The library was due to open in ten minutes. And because it was summer vacation they had a full program running.
“Have you messaged him?” Shana said, her brows furrowed as she leaned on the counter. “I don’t get this. That man has it hot for you. Like boiling hot. Why is he acting like such an idiot?”
“I haven’t messaged him,” Kate told her. “And I’m not planning to. He’s the one who walked away. I have some damn pride.” And of course she went and spoiled it by letting her voice waver like she was on the edge of tears.
“And to think I actually told him I loved him when we were at the cabin.”
“You what?” Shana asked. “What did he say?”
“It doesn’t matter. Because it doesn’t mean anything. He picked a fight with me, did exactly what I asked him not to, then he walked away from me. I’m not going to go running after him.”
“Of course you’re not.” Shana reached for Kate’s hand, squeezing it tightly. “You’re worth so much more than that.”
Yes, she was. Even if it hurt like nothing else had in a long, long time. She took a deep breath, checking the clock. Two more minutes then she’d have to be ready to face the public. It was baby and toddler reading hour first – something she’d created after having to juggle three kids during the summer herself, knowing how desperate she would be for something to entertain them.
She’d tell the stories to them as they played on the cushions, along with the puppets the fire station had donated after their last fundraiser.
That Marley had donated. Ugh, there was no getting away from the man.
At ten they had two law enforcement officers coming in to demonstrate how they protected Hartson’s Creek. This was aimed at six-to-ten-year-olds. Ethan was already excited about that one.
Then at eleven they had research hour for the high schoolers. The ones who were trying to get ahead for the upcoming school year. One of the teachers from the high school would come in and along with Kate they’d help the kids with their searches on both the internet and in the non-fiction section to find the answers they were looking for.
And of course this afternoon they had the Stitch and Snitch Club. She was already dreading it. Even if they didn’t know the latest update on her non-relationship with Marley, they’d still know that they gone away together for the night. And that she and her parents had joined his family for lunch the other Sunday.
Nothing got past the gossips of Hartson’s Creek.
“Can you come over tonight?” Kate asked Shana. “If I promise absolutely no smores but lots of wine?”
She didn’t want to be alone tonight. She needed her friend.
“Of course I can.” Shana hugged her. “You say wine, I say when. You know this.”
Flashing her a smile that didn’t quite make it up to her eyes, Kate walked over to unlock the sliding glass doors at the front of the library. There were already a few moms waiting out there. Beyond the library was the town park, along with swings and slides, and a few more families that were making the most of the cooler morning before the temperature got too hot to be outside.
Because when the West Virginia sun shone, it shone humid. Unless it involved being in a swimming pool, everything that needed to be done outside was done in the early mornings or late evenings throughout the summer.
“Thank God,” one of the moms said as the doors swooshed open. She was holding a baby, with a toddler by her side, whose face was red from screaming.
Kate smiled and took the little one’s hand. “What’s up, sweetie?”
“I’m hot.” The girl’s words were stuttered with sobs. “And I want ice cream.”
“It is warm,” Kate agreed. “But if you come inside you’ll cool down. We don’t have ice cream, but we do have stories. And if you take a seat over there, you can help me choose the first one.” She pointed over at Addy, who at six probably seemed grown up to this three-year-old. “You see that girl over there?”
“Yes.” The little one sniffed.
“That’s my daughter. Addy. She’ll find you somewhere cool to sit.”
Mollified, the little girl ambled over to Addy, who looked pleased as punch to be given a task to do. Kate turned to look at the mom. “Why don’t you and your baby go to the recliners?” she suggested, pointing at the chairs on the far side of the children’s library. “I’ve set headphones at each chair. You can choose an audio book to listen to or just zone out, up to you.”
“You have headphones?” the mom asked, her eyes wide with interest.
“Noise blocking ones.” Kate winked. “I’ll come get you when the reading hour is over.”
More parents and caregivers started to pour into the library. Over the past few years she really tried to make it a hub of the community during the summer. Not everybody had pools or access to one, and being stuck in the house for two months was nobody’s idea of fun.
“Okay,” she said, forcing a smile onto her face as she walked over to where all the parents and little ones had gathered. Addy was with the little girl she sent over. Her daughter looked proud as punch to be a quasi-big sister for once.
Maybe she should encourage that more. As the youngest of the family, Addy always got babied. But she looked like she was glowing right now.
She’d think more about that later. The same way she’d sort out her life later. And then she wanted to laugh because nothing was sortable.
Thank God she was busy.
“Who’s ready for an adventure?” Kate shouted out, forcing a smile onto her face. “Because I don’t know about you, but I think we should go on a bear hunt.”
Thirty little kids started cheering. And that’s how her morning went.
As exhausting as it was, her busy morning meant she didn’t have to think about Marley, their argument, or the fact that he sent her a message at ten o’clock that morning, with the same words as yesterday.
How’s Ethan doing? – Marley.
Again, no mention of the grill or the middle of the night attempt at snatching it away. Or their heated discussion and his sudden declaration that he couldn’t be in a relationship with her anymore.
And dammit, she wasn’t going to answer him this time. If he didn’t want a relationship with her, then he needed to stop messaging her. And she needed to stop caring.
By the afternoon her energy was waning. The Stitch and Snitch gang were firmly ensconced in the activities room, though she couldn’t hear a lot of stitching going on. And yes, she’d put her ear to the wall to listen to them, because of course they’d heard about her argument with Marley in the middle of the night. Mary Cooper was telling them that the same neighbor who’d told her this story had seen Marley climbing Kate’s wall at night.
So much for being discreet.
She’d been the topic of conversation for exactly two minutes before another stitcher started telling everybody about the hot new bearded man at the hardware store and suddenly they were all exchanging stories about leaking pipes and rusty door handles, agreeing that a trip to the hardware store was needed very fast.
“Okay, you two,” Shana said to Addy and Ethan who were lying on the cushions in the toddler area, both on their iPads. “What do you say we go for an ice cream run?”
“Ice cream?” Addy said, pulling her eyes away from the cartoon she was watching. “Mom?”
Shana shrugged at Kate in a kind of ‘sorry, not sorry’ way.
“Sure, ice cream would be fine. If you both promise to be good.” She knew Shana was trying to rebuild the easy friendship between her and Ethan again. And she knew that Ethan wanted that. “Why don’t you go for sundaes at the diner,” Kate suggested. “My treat.”
“No, it’s my treat.” Shana rolled her eyes at Kate. “But sundaes do sound good. Want us to bring you back anything?”
“I’m fine.” Kate flashed her a smile. It was almost three. When Stitch and Snitch was over, she’d clean up from the activities and get everything ready for tomorrow before locking up.
Not that she was working tomorrow – it was her day off. And Kate had promised Ethan and Addy a trip to the pool, which was going to be an experience in itself.
“You haven’t eaten your lunch,” Addy piped up. “It’s still in the frigrator.”
“Refrigerator,” Kate corrected her. “And I’ll eat it later.”
Shana shot her a look. “Go eat now.”
“No. I’m fine.” She’d made herself some salad, but she wasn’t exactly in a salad kind of mood. She wasn’t in any kind of a mood. She just wasn’t hungry.
“You have to eat, Kate,” Shana whispered in her ear.
“I’ll eat later,” she promised her friend. “Now you guys go have some fun.”
Ten minutes later the door to the activity room opened and one by one the stitchers filed out. A few of them hurried out of the library with breathy farewells, late to pick up their grandchildren or meet their husbands or whatever else they had planned.
A couple of others started to peruse the shelves, and the rest stood in the lobby next to the desk, carrying on their discussion about the new hardware assistant.
“I hear he’s single,” Gloria, one of the older stitchers, said. “Think he’d like a cougar?”
“The car or the cat?” one of the other ladies asked.
“Me, you dumbass.”
Kate shook her head and looked down at her computer screen, trying to work out how many toddlers were booked in for reading hour tomorrow. Maybe that’s why she didn’t notice the sound of the doors opening. Or the fact that every single person in the library had stopped talking until she heard his voice.
“Kate.”
Just one word in his deep voice was enough to send a shiver down her spine. And she hated that. She didn’t have to look up from the computer to know who it was. Even if he hadn’t said a word her body would have reacted to him being so close.
“Marley.” She willed herself to look at him.
But she didn’t smile.
Three of the stitchers who were about to walk out of the library changed their minds and walked back to join the audience watching them.
“I sent you a message,” he said, his eyes catching hers. “Did you get it?”
Dammit, she felt like she was on the set of a soap opera. And then Mary grabbed her phone from her purse and actually started recording them.
“No recording in the library,” Kate said to her.
“Spoilsport,” Mary grumbled, putting her phone back in her bag.
Marley’s brows knitted as he turned to see the gaggle of older women watching them. “Can we talk in your office?” he asked Kate.
“No,” Gloria said, clearly wanting to hear what he had to say. “You argued last night in the middle of the road and I missed it. I’m not missing it again.”
If this wasn’t so excruciating it would be funny right now. Maybe it would be, one day, when she was old and single and consoling Addy after some heartache.
“Follow me,” Kate said to Marley, lifting the countertop so he could walk through.
And dammit, she was so aware of his presence as he walked into her office. He was in a pair of work jeans and those brown scuffed boots that did things to her body when she saw them. There was dust in his dark hair, like he’d just come from the construction site.
“Sit down,” she said, pointing at the chair by the window. “I’ll get rid of the crowd.”
When she got back to the desk they were all huddled around it.
“Okay, the show’s over,” Kate told them. “You can leave.”
“Are you two going to have sex in there?” Mary asked.
Kate rolled her eyes. “Of course not.”
“Then why can’t we listen?” Mary didn’t look embarrassed at all at the prospect of being a peeping tom.
“Because my life isn’t your entertainment.” Kate took a deep breath. “I’m asking you as a friend, Mary. Please make everybody leave. I’ve had a horrible week.” She shook her head, deciding to appeal to the woman’s fairer nature, if she had one. “To be honest, a horrible few years. And I need to talk to that man without it going viral in the community. Help me.”
Mary’s face softened. She reached for Kate’s hand and patted it with her own. “Leave it to me,” Mary told her, a smile pulling at her face.
“I just got a message,” Mary shouted loud enough for everybody to hear. “The sexy guy in the hardware store is so hot he’s took his top off. Why are we all still standing here?”
And to Kate’s amazement, Mary’s lie worked, and everybody rushed out.