Chapter 16
“Why do people think we’re a couple?” she asked.
“You sleep in my house and work at my cafe, ergo, we’re a couple. People in Lyntacky like things all tied up neat. Ryder is single, but he shouldn’t be. Therefore, he now isn’t. Also—and these are just my thoughts—I’m fairly sure they just enjoy annoying the shit out of me.”
“That’s just messed up.”
“And then some,” he added.
“Where are we going?” Libby asked, realizing they weren’t driving down the main street to his house.
“It’s dinner at Mom’s tonight,” Ryder said.
“What?” Libby never shrieked and was always calm. She wasn’t calm now. The RV, the kiss—it was all messing with her sanity. “I-I can’t go to your mother’s house. I’m not clean, and I don’t have anything with me to give her.” She could hear the panic in her voice.
“Clean?” He took his eyes briefly off the road to look her over. “You don’t smell, and I can’t see any dirt.”
“I am still wearing my working clothes, Ryder.”
“Okay.”
“Turn around. I need flowers and wine. In fact, you know what, just drop me at your place. I won’t leave, I promise.” Family dinner was not something she wanted to be part of.
“Mom invited you, and she’s an excellent cook.” Ryder sounded amused. “She won’t expect you to bring anything. That’s my Uncle Asher’s house,” he added, pointing out the window. “Brody, Phoebe, and Ally live further along, and Sawyer at the end of this road with Birdie. And this is the place I grew up in.”
Libby studied the big house. She’d grown up in the city where there was noise and exhaust fumes. What would it be like to grow up here surrounded by nature?
“Let’s go.”
“Ryder, can’t I just go back to your place? I promise I’ll stay there, at least until tomorrow.”
“I didn’t take the girl who walked out on her loser ex-fiancé and slept in her car and was game to stay in that moldy RV with a leaking roof and no insulation as a coward.”
“Ryder.” Libby sighed, and it came from the soles of her feet. “My life is out of control right now, and it’s never been like that. In fact, I usually have my day planned from the minute I open my eyes to the minute I shut them.”
“Not spontaneous, then?”
“I need control, and I don’t have that here, now.”
“Okay, so how about you get out, and then tell me to do the same, and then we’re going inside to eat my mom’s amazing honey-garlic chicken. It’s been cooking all day.” He got out, and she watched his long strides carry him around the hood to her door. He then opened it.
“I already owe you so much. I thought staying in the RV was the right thing to do, considering Sydney Jane.”
“Again, not my girlfriend,” he said. “Come on, Libby, hurry it along, or my brothers will eat everything, and you really don’t want to see me hangry.”
“What kind of martial arts do you do?” Why she needed to know that right then, Libby wasn’t sure, but she said the words anyway.
Ryder braced his hands on the roof and leaned in. “Judo.” How did you know I do martial arts?”
“I saw you. Delores told me where to find Dr. Hannah because maybe she had a room for me, and I saw you in that hall in your gi.”
He was so close now, and she felt that tension simmer between them again, but it was stronger because of the kiss they’d just shared. This man could be dangerous, Libby thought, if she were not running from her wedding and had vowed never to look at a man again until she had her head on straight.
“You didn’t want to stay?” He leaned in closer, smiling.
She shook her head.
“What kind of martial arts do you do, Libby Gulliver?”
“Not me, my brother, and I was forced to watch him perform.” Their faces were close, and she saw a small scar in the middle of his forehead. “Why did you think I did martial arts?”
“Because you asked me what kind I did. Most people just think it’s karate. Why were you forced to watch him perform?”
“It was a family thing. He had to watch me….” Her words fell away.
“Watch you…?”
No way was she answering that question.
“Come on, Libby, you owe me,” he said, leaning closer.
“Ballet,” she said reluctantly. “My brother hated watching it.”
“I bet. You any good?”
“Average.”
“I can see you don’t want to talk about it, so tell me, what belt is your brother?” he asked, running his eyes over her face.
“Black. I saw yours was too.”
He nodded, his eyes steady on her. She always felt like Ryder Duke really saw her, and perhaps more than she wanted him to see. Andrew, like her, had always been on the move. Rarely had they just sat and talked and looked at each other.
“So, Libby Gulliver, how come you have no money?”
“What?” The words gave her a jolt. “Why would you ask me something that personal?”
“Because you wear that watch and that huge rock on your finger, and according to JD, your sneakers, when your feet are not in those god-awful boots, are high-end and more than a month’s wages for most folks. Yet you’re working in my cafe.”
She thought about just saying nothing. Sitting there in silence and looking at his chest… which, granted, was a very nice chest that she’d had up close and personal experience with.
“Come on, Libby, tell me what’s going on.”
“No.”
“Did you commit a crime and are on the run?” he asked.
“No.”
“Is your family so famous, you’re in hiding so they can’t find you?”
That gave her a jolt, but she shook her head.
“So you’re just a runaway bride?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you have no money?” he asked. “It may help to talk about it.”
“Does that ever really happen?” She looked at him then. “A problem shared is a problem halved and all that BS,” Libby muttered.
When he didn’t speak, she looked at him and saw his eyes were still on her. She’d never been really good at silence. In her house there was always noise: someone arguing, music, the sound of electronic devices. The only place she had quiet was her room.
“Fine! My father blocked my accounts and credit cards. Happy now that you got that information out of me?”
“Not sure that would make me happy,” he said slowly. “Why was your father able to do that, Libby, when you’re an adult and an accountant, which suggests you have some intelligence? Well, at least enough to open and close her own accounts.”
“Don’t you dare mock me!” she snapped. “He… we all bank together.”
“But surely your accounts are in your name? You’re not a kid, Libby, so how has this happened?”
“I just never got around to changing things and didn’t realize he still had access to my accounts.”
He was looking confused. “You’d possibly know more about this kind of thing than me, but doesn’t he need to be a joint signatory on your account to do that?”
“It’s complex” was all Libby was willing to say.
“Well, call him and tell him you want your money and cards reinstated,” he said calmly, like she’d not thought about doing that at least ten times today already.
“It’s complicated, and I’m not ready to talk to him yet.” Which made her sound pathetic.
“So what? You’d rather live in Fox Gleeson’s flea pit than swallow your pride?” Ryder’s eyes were narrowed now.
“You don’t know my reasons, and I’m not getting into it with you, Ryder.”
“Seeing as I’m the one bailing you out of your bad decisions and your employer, seems to me I have some rights.”
“I will leave when Bob has my car fixed.” The words came out stiff and cold. He laughed. “Don’t laugh at me.”
“I want to help you, Libby, and this, the shit you’re doing, is going to end bad for a good girl like you who has no life experience. You’re like my niece when she took off her training wheels: really wobbly and clueless.”
“I am not! I have been surviving well on my own for three weeks,” she said stiffly.
“With money, but now that it’s run out, you’re not. So admit you need help and?—”
“No! I’m doing this myself,” Libby said. She had to for her own pride, if not to show her family she was strong enough to be away from them. Strong enough to walk away from Andrew and the life they would have shared.
“I understand pride better than most, but not stupidity. You’re not used to roughing it, Libby, and any fool could see that.”
“I don’t need your advice, Ryder. As soon as I get paid and my car back, I will leave and no longer be your problem.”
“Is that a hint for me to pay you? It’s payday tomorrow.”
“No!” She was horrified he’d think that.
“Just messing with you, and for the record, I’m worried about you, Libby.”
“Don’t be. Once I’m back on track, I’ll be fine. Then I’ll leave, and you can forget me.” The thought of leaving him… this town shouldn’t hurt as much as it did.
“And what? You’re just going to keep running from the mess you left behind?”
“I’m working through some things,” Libby said.
He didn’t add anything and eased back, allowing Libby to join him outside. She couldn’t remember a time when a man made her more aware of him than Ryder Duke, and that couldn’t be true considering she’d been engaged. It was just that her life was a bit like the spin cycle on a washer right now. She had no idea which direction it was heading.
“You can leave the Rollaway books in the car,” he said. “They’ll be safe there.”
“Are you sure? I mean, Dee entrusted me?—”
“Look around you, Libby.”
She did and saw nothing. No cars or people.
“So we’re good?”
She nodded.
“Right, in you go, then,” Ryder said, opening the front door. “It’s cold out here.”
“Ryder—”
“Now, Libby.” He pushed her gently inside and shut the door behind them.
“I’ve been making decisions for years—in fact, since I was at least four,” she said.
“Well, good for you,” he said. “Keep walking until you hear the noise, then go in that direction.”
She saw white walls and splashes of color in the frames hanging with pictures that looked like they’d been drawn by children. Thinking of her parents’ house, she knew there had been none of her drawings on display there.
Beside her, Ryder sniffed loudly.
“What?”
“Dinner,” he said, grinning.
Libby inhaled and caught the delicious scent in the air then.
“My mom is an awesome cook, Libby. Brace yourself for the meal of a lifetime.”
She’d eaten in some expensive places, but never in a house like this and sitting down with a family she didn’t know for a home-cooked meal.
“My family all talk over each other. Yours?” Ryder asked her as a loud shout reached them.
“Not at mealtimes.”
They walked into a large kitchen that seemed to be filled with noise. The long wooden table had people seated on either side of it, and most of them she’d met in the cafe. An older lady with gray hair, who Libby guessed was Ryder’s mother, was at the stove. She had an apron with flowers all over it wrapped around her.
The room seemed alive with noise and scents. It was a scene totally foreign to Libby, and nothing like the meals she’d eaten in her parents’ house.
For a start, the cooking in there was done by someone else and served by staff. This was like something she’d seen on TV—a sitcom or movie. Libby wasn’t sure why she felt an ache in the pit of her stomach right then, but she did.
Everyone’s lives had their own kind of normal, and she knew this was that to these people. There was a plate on the wall that looked like a kid had painted it and said, “Best Mom Ever.” Libby tried to imagine something like that hanging in her parents’ house and couldn’t.
One large glass-fronted cabinet held plates and mugs. A blue-and-white jug sat on the table with dried flowers in it. She saw a red and chrome coffee maker and other appliances dotted around the long bench tops.
All these people probably had their own issues and problems, Libby knew that, but she had a feeling they were always there for one another, and that many things had been discussed and worked through in this kitchen.
It was speculation, but she also knew Ryder was a good guy. That had to come from somewhere, and she was guessing it was being raised in this setting.
“Hey, Mom,” Ryder said as he walked to the woman wrapped in an apron. He then leaned in and kissed her cheek.
“This is my mom. Libby, Robyn,” Ryder said. “You know all the others because they were nosey and came into the cafe and met you.”
She shot them all looks, surprised at his words. They’d come to the Swing Through Cafe to meet her when she thought they were visiting Ryder.
“Just checking you weren’t an ax murderer,” Dan said, smiling.
“Or after our brother for his money,” Zoe said.
The look in her eyes told Libby she wasn’t sure how to take her yet and what her intentions toward her brother were. Libby wanted to reassure her that although her brother was hot and they’d kissed—nope, not going there again—he was safe from her.
“Hello, Libby, I’m so sorry you’re having such a tough time of things,” Robyn Duke said. She then stepped into Libby’s space and hugged her. There was a hint of lemon and lavender coming from the woman, and it was lovely, but while she was getting used to the need this town had for hugging and touching, it was still uncomfortable. Especially when you were raised in a family who was not big on personal contact.
“Now you go on and sit down. My youngest has made room for you.”
A hand nudged her to the seat.
“Coffee or mulled wine, dear?” Robyn Duke asked.
“Go with the wine, it’s good,” Brody Duke said from across the table.
“Thanks, that would be nice.” Libby’s eyes went to the picture of a man on the wall opposite where she sat.
“That’s our father. He died when we were young,” Brody said.
“I’m sorry, that must have been hard.”
“Very,” he added. “Uncle Asher dropped everything and moved home to help Mom raise us.”
“It was an honor,” the man said, looking at his niece and nephews.
“So, Libby,” Zoe Duke then said after clearing her throat. “Tell us all about you.”
Oh hell no.