Chapter 10 #4
Dean waved him off. “You two go back to whatever you were doing.”
Kell could have done without the wink his dad added.
“That’s it?” Rachel asked, wide-eyed and excited. “Don’t we need to stay?”
“Dad said he’d wrap up. Jimmy’s got to handle any medical issues, but he brought Roy to help, and it’s their responsibility anyhow. Dad was just helping them out.” Kell cut a glare toward the red truck.
“You look mad.”
“Let’s get going and I’ll tell you all about it.”
This time she did as told, and by the time Cally jumped in through Kell’s open door and he’d settled in the seat, cranking the engine, he was calmer.
“What’s wrong?”
He sighed. “It’s hard to explain, but it comes down to people like Love You Skies operating a business that uses the town’s name but doesn’t serve the town. They won’t keep an office here to handle emergencies like this. They’re based out in Conway. We end up cleaning up their messes.”
“I assume you and your dad get paid for that?”
“Dad’ll figure out something, but that’s not the point.
Poor Joey. When you contract with a company, they should take care of you.
Shouldn’t rely on the goodness of locals like us to bail them out.
Don’t get me wrong–I’m always happy to help people.
But it’s Jimmy and Roy’s responsibility to keep track of their skydivers.
We’ve told them over and over again to figure this out. ”
“Why not stop helping?”
He turned onto the road back to town.
“Because that would hurt people.”
“You and your dad are softies.”
“I don’t think it’s soft to want to help a guy dangling from a tree with a crotch harness turning his junk into hamburger.”
“Kell!”
“That hurts. I have a ton of sympathy.”
“I think you have a kind heart and hate to see people in a bind.”
“I am also acutely aware of what it feels like to dangle like that from a tree branch in a harness, so there’s an element of PTSD in there, too.”
“That was riveting to watch. You must be really good at physics.”
“I don’t know about that. I’m good at climbing trees.”
“Same thing, from what I saw.”
He beamed at her. “Thanks. Look at you, full of compliments.”
“You deserve them.”
“How do I follow up on that? We got our coffees. You watched us cut a heart out of a tree. What can I show you next?”
“It’s your town. You decide. Just… stay away from poison ivy and the hot springs, please.”
“No problem. Now, do your magic on me.”
“Excuse me?”
“Your parking spot magic. Go for it. Find a good one.”
Rachel closed her eyes really hard, bit her lower lip, and groaned.
She opened her eyes and looked around. “No luck.”
They laughed, Kell making a last-minute decision to park farther out of town so they could walk along the whole stretch.
As he waited to make a right turn into the larger municipal lot down near the hot springs, Luke’s pink cruiser drove by, a friendly double tap on the horn making them both wave.
“You run into people you know all day long, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t it exhausting? Smiling and waving and chatting all the time?”
“You mean, being a person?”
“I mean, everyone needs your attention.”
“Just a little. It’s how it is.”
“Not in L.A. Not in D.C.”
“I remember how weird that was. Learning not to make eye contact and not to say hi to everyone.” He parked and fished around in the console for quarters.
Stuck in a cupholder was a heart-shaped plastic cup full of coins; at the end of the day, most guys dumped their spare change out of their pockets into a dish or jar on their bureau.
Kell threw it all in here.
“Felt like home to me,” Rachel said with a smile.
“Guess you’ll have to adapt while you’re here.”
“No one knows me here.”
“I beg to differ. Everyone knows you.”
He plunked the maximum number of quarters into the meter.
“Shall we?”
“Where are we going first?”
“Center of town to the festival setup. The gazebo’s being organized. The big day is February 14th, obviously, but that’s on a Wednesday this year, so the 10th and 11th will have big crowds, too–the weekend before.”
As they started down the sidewalk, Kell tried to imagine the town through her eyes. Yes, she disparaged it, but she was also new to it. What could he show her to make her fall in love with Love You, Maine, as much as he was?
“That’s my phone,” she said as it buzzed. “Finally have a signal.”
“Internet’s out at Kenny’s?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you need to work?”
“I do,” she said, double thumbing it on her phone.
“If you need to stop hanging out with me, it’s fine. I can–”
Her hand went to his forearm, interrupting his words. “Kell. I’m here because I want to be. I just needed to send a quick answer. Work can wait.”
“Words rarely spoken back at EEC.”
“I’m a lot more jaded and way more burned out now than I was then. Plus, this is research.”
“Spending time with me is research?”
“Fun research,” she amended.
Picking up her signals was easy, but interpreting them was hard. Was this flirting? Or was she drawing a professional boundary?
And which was he hoping for?
“There,” she said definitively. “Dani has what she needs. Now, show me all the town secrets so I’ll magically lose my sour opinion of this place and fall in love with it.” She snapped her fingers twice.
“That’s a tall order.”
“If anyone can do it, you can.”
The challenge was delivered in a joking tone, but it was still a call to arms, so to speak.
“You’ve seen the coffee shop and the chocolate shop. That about it so far?”
“Yes, unless you count the takeout that I had delivered from Love You India.”
“Right. Their aloo gobi is awesome.”
“I had chicken tandoori.”
“What else have you been eating in that trailer?”
“I went to the grocery store–I was shocked it isn’t called Love You Food.”
“Kendrill’s Market. One of the few holdouts.”
“Red heart-shaped baskets, though? Really?”
“We’re good at sticking to a theme.”
Her smile made him smile. “I’ll give you that. When the receipt came out of the machine, I half expected it to be on red paper.”
“We have a Love Committee that reports to town meeting. Maybe you should join.”
“Love Committee?”
“Ideas like yours get submitted. It’s why the fireworks in July are only red, white, or pink. Zoning codes require red, white, and pink buildings within a certain area in town. That kind of thing. Kendrill’s won’t change their name, but they have the heart-shaped baskets.”
“Maybe they could get custom-designed heart-shaped carts.”
“See? You’re a natural.”
As they walked, Kell stopped in front of Love You Books. “Let’s pop in here.”
Smothering a grin, he said nothing as Rachel walked in ahead of him, then stopped and looked around.
It usually took visitors a few minutes to figure it all out, an uneasy feeling coming over them as they realized something about the bookstore was different but they couldn’t quite put their finger on it.
“I’ve been meaning to read that new book by Max Seeck,” she said, moving to the wall on the right, where hardcovers dominated. Illustrated depictions of couples, flowers, high heels, and wedding cakes reigned.
Rachel moved between displays, going all the way to the back. The store only had three or four other customers, a mother with her twenty-something daughter and a couple, the guy looking very bored.
The single register desk was empty. Mo Ceela, the owner, must be in the back, grabbing more books or merchandise.
“Where’s the mystery section?” Rachel asked, heading back toward the front of the store. “Or crime? Maybe it’s shelved under crime.”
“Keep looking.”
Overstuffed chairs in different hues of red sat in a row at the front of the store, facing the picture window, with white side tables between all four. Mo even had folded blankets for patrons who really wanted to cuddle up.
“Oh!” Rachel exclaimed as Tilly, Mo’s cat, gave her ankles some love. The tabby was named after Roald Dahl’s character, Matilda. “Who’s this?”
“That’s the house cat!” a cheery voice called out as Mo appeared, holding a heavy box and breathing hard before heaving it up onto the counter next to the cash register. “And you must be Rachel. Hey, Kell.”
“Hi,” Rachel said, clearly still nonplussed by having everyone know her.
“Hi. I’m Mo. Nice to meet you, even if Kell has no manners and forgot how to introduce people.”
“I don’t need to introduce her when everyone already knows who she is,” he replied, earning twin looks of joking reproach from both of them.
Mo wore a red and white flannel shirt, had half their head shaved, and the remaining hair was dyed red. A heart-shaped tattoo on their wrist followed the theme.
“Nice to meet you, too, Mo.”
“What’s your favorite trope?” Mo asked.
“Trope?”
“You know. Second chances. Best friend’s little sister. The billionaire who needs a fake girlfriend. Or are you more into historical? Romantic suspense?”
“I’m actually looking for Max Seeck’s new book.”
Mo cringed and looked at Kell, who pretended not to understand that Rachel didn’t know that Love You Books only sold romance-related books.
“You didn’t tell her?”
“I thought she’d figure it out.”
“Figure out what?” Rachel asked. As the words came out of her mouth, she looked around her, a panoramic view that made it all click. “Oh! You only sell books about love?”
“Quick study! Yes. Romance novels, non-fiction related to love, history with a love story involved, and fiction with romance in it that has a happy ending, even if it’s not strictly considered romance.”
“That’s a very narrow niche.”
“It works here.”
“I’ll bet.”
“Got any favorites?”
“Favorite romance authors? No. I don’t read romance.”
“Non-fiction?”
“I don’t read non-fiction about love. Business books, some self-improvement, but not love.”
“You’re a person who is all business?”
“Not all business, but…”
“When was the last time you read fiction, Rachel?” Kell asked, leaning against a small but heavy oak display table, careful not to tip the books.
“I don’t know. A few months ago?”
Mo let out a low whistle. “That’s a deprived life you’re living.”