Chapter 20
Well-Kept Secret Meetings
TRE
The bell above the door jingles, and I glance over.
Hell yes! She’s here today, I realize, struggling to suppress a smile.
I close the register as Kevin leaves with his morning coffee, walking past Fiona out to his squad car, and turn to face her.
I catch myself staring and raise my gaze to her eyes.
She sets her to-go mug on the counter without a word, so I ask, “Just the coffee today?”
“Yup.”
I hate having to play out this farce of being enemies, never able to have a genuine conversation.
Even though we wouldn’t have deep discussions in the diner, these visits have been my only interactions with Fiona over the past week and a half—nine days, but who’s counting?
—and everything between us is confusing. She hasn’t even come in every morning.
On a few of the days, her nurse has come in with several orders. I’ve tried talking to Nurse Machado, but I’d have better rapport with a doorknob. I’ve never met someone so aloof. She did nod once, though, the first day she tasted her coffee fresh. I guess that’s something.
When I pass back the filled mug, Fiona has already placed three singles on the counter. “Here you go.” I leave my fingers lingering a few moments too long, hoping for any response. No such luck. She collects her mug and heads back outside to start her day.
The whole camping experience left me beyond confused.
I don’t know if she’s avoiding me because she doesn’t want to be around me, because she’s equally confused about our situation, or if she’s interested but disciplined enough not to show it in public.
I’d love for the latter to be true, but if it were, she’s clever enough to have secretly contacted me.
While I work through the breakfast crowd, I try to figure out how to talk to Fiona in private, in a way that won’t piss her off further or make our situation more confusing.
Since it would only be about us, personally, and not our sabotage, I could use Ewan as an intermediary.
His interference set up this mess, so she’d probably be angry about including him, but she seems angry now.
I’m not sure if that would make things worse for me, and if it makes her angrier at him, well, that’s his problem.
Where should we meet? I ponder when Jeremy comes over from a four-top of his coworkers and puts in an order of burger meals to go. “You guys got a new construction project lined up?” I inquire.
“Actually, we’re back at Bridal Mountain. They repaired the damage and we’re prepping to lay the foundation for the gondola buildings.”
“Wow, that’s fast. To tell you the truth, I was hoping with all this trouble, they’d decide to cut their losses and leave Kalomish alone.”
“Yeah, Tre. But you know how it is. We gotta take work where we can get it,” Jeremy replies.
“Oh, I don’t have a problem with you guys, J. You know that. You’re trying to make a living, like the rest of us. I just wish Henley and Montank would leave the town alone.”
“Eh, I wouldn’t bet on that. They brought in some bigwigs last week. If anything, they’re doubling down.”
“Bigwigs?”
“Yeah, some high-up corporate bosses from New York. I heard they flew them out over the Fourth of July and set them up in those big empty houses in your dad’s Highland Estates. The foreman and project manager aren’t making a move without those two new people telling them to.”
“Wow.” I shake my head. “Well, I’d better get your lunches ready. You don’t need me making you late with all that management around.”
Shit, shit, shit! My mind is racing. After the breakfast rush clears out and I’m left with time to focus, I settle on the fact that Fiona needs to know about this. If there is anything to be done, we should handle it together.
I check the movie theater’s schedule and lock in my plan to meet with Fiona.
I’ll pass her a note with her coffee tomorrow saying, ‘Problem w/H&M, movie theater 8 PM, sit in back.’ It’s not the shortest message, but without a good reason she’ll never show.
I can’t go to her dad’s house, and as strained as things have been between us, I doubt she’d want to come to my place.
But I can quietly fill her in on what I’ve learned at the late show on a weekday.
It’ll be dark, and most likely we’ll be the only people there.
If she doesn’t get coffee tomorrow, I’ll try for the next day—it would be Thursday, so it would still work. A Friday or Saturday night would be too busy, though, and I’d have to come up with a new approach. But I bet she’ll come in at least once before then.
“Here you go, little guy,” I say, tossing a pinched-off piece of my burger bun toward the squirrel watching me. It lands in the grass halfway between us, but that’s enough to scare him. His tail flicks up as he spins around, sprinting to the tree he climbed down a minute ago.
Wow, those grey squirrels are fast, I think as I watch, trying to hold still enough for him to risk coming back for the bread.
I’ve been sitting at the picnic table in Humboldt Park for the past half hour.
I finished my shift at two and brought a burger and fries with me for lunch.
Since it’s midafternoon on a Wednesday, I don’t have too many options for getting out into nature—starting a hike this late means making the return descent in the dark, which is always a bad idea.
So I settled for walking over to the park.
Afterward, I’ll probably ride my bike along some of the back roads.
I’ve been working on my stamina since Hay Creek.
Letting people see me ride it regularly could help alleviate suspicion if anyone connects me to the morning Fiona and I took out the condo building.
“You’re okay, buddy.” I try tossing him a fry.
After about thirty seconds of tail twitching from the side of the tree, he sprints down but stops in the grass partway to the fry. The squirrel pauses and looks around—checking that nothing is rushing in to eat him—then sprints to the relative safety of the base of his tree.
“Yeah, I feel you, buddy. I have no idea what to do either. I know what I want, and she’s right there, but I can’t go after her.
She doesn’t want me to, even though she wants me.
She doesn’t even come to Betty’s as much, but I don’t know how to interpret that.
Now there’s this new situation with Henley and Montank.
Hopefully she’ll want to be involved, at least.”
The grey tail twitches, and the squirrel chitters at me.
“I’m not going anywhere, little guy. If you want the food, you’ll just have to risk it.”
We stare at each other in silence for a few moments.
“What should I do? Keep trying to connect with her through all of this…” I wave my hand, “chaos? Or do I leave it alone?”
A furry grey blur streaks to the fry and back to the base of the tree. He pauses to look around again, then disappears up the trunk.
“Hmm. Go for it, huh? Thanks, little buddy. You know, you’re a lot better at advice than the Douglas ones,” I say.
It’s Thursday night, a quarter to eight, and I’m seated in a corner of the back row of the movie theater. I’ve been here for the past ten minutes, eating popcorn and watching the same dumb ads cycle across the screen while waiting for Fiona.
The theater goes dark at exactly eight, and some trailer plays. My stomach sinks. She’s not coming. Does she think this is too risky? Is she so mad that she doesn’t consider a problem with Henley and Montank worth meeting me? I wonder as the seconds tick by.
Oh, there she is.
She pauses at the bottom of the stairs, looking around the dark room, then walks up to the opposite corner of the back row.
Careful as always. I’ve been keeping watch for nearly thirty minutes, which makes me certain there are no other moviegoers, but I scan the theater again anyway before moving to the seat next to Fiona.
When she says nothing, I lean close enough to be heard in a whisper over the booming audio. “Thank you for coming. I wasn’t sure you would.”
I’m facing forward as if I’m watching the screen, but I feel the warmth of her arm pressed against mine from leaning in so closely. This is the first time I’ve touched Fiona since we kissed in the woods on the Fourth of July. A tingle begins at the base of my neck, then runs up and down my spine.
“I don’t want to be seen together here. You said there was a problem?” she replies, also speaking low.
“We’re alone. I’ve kept watch. I didn’t have any other way to contact you, and I assumed you wouldn’t want to come to my place again.”
She sighs. I appreciate the sight of her deep breathing in silhouette, but she repeats, “The problem, Tre?”
“Yeah, I found out they’ve restarted construction up at Bridal Mountain, which isn’t surprising.
We always knew that was likely. But they’re doing things differently now because they’ve sent some corporate execs to oversee and micromanage the developments out here.
We were hoping to drive them away, but they’re more invested than ever. ”
“Do you know how many people they sent?”
“Two senior people, as far as I know. I haven’t heard of additional staff either way, but those two are the ones running the show. They’ve supposedly taken over every part of the developments.”
“Do you know how long they’ll be here?”
“No, no idea. I’d guess they’re planning on staying a while, because they’re staying in some of the empty houses in that gated country club my dad built.”
Fiona doesn’t ask follow-up questions, and I settle back into my seat. I’ve had two days to think this over, so I’ll wait and give her as much time as she needs.
“We have two options.”
I turn my head to stare at her. What was that, five seconds? And she already has plans? Incredible.
“One is we stop and settle for what we’ve done.
Henley and Montank are sending a message about their commitment to the projects.
They’re reinvesting, changing their procedures, and they have to be increasing security as part of that.
There’s no way they haven’t already done so.
We won’t have the same access we had, and the risk has gone up,” she continues, looking forward and leaning into my shoulder this time.
My skin warms at the contact—and how effortlessly intimate it feels—while my chest tightens from the dread of losing my link to Fiona.
“And what’s the other?”
She finally turns to look me in the eye. “We send a message back and make them understand they’re not welcome here.”
I grin in the darkness, and the pressure in my chest eases. “You know I’m in.”
Fiona slightly waves her hand. “This was decent for meeting without raising suspicion, but we can’t plan here. Can we use your apartment tonight?”
My place? She wants to come to my place? “Yeah, of course.” Oh shit, I didn’t clean up.
“Fine, let’s meet back there. We need to leave separately and maintain distance, just like Hay Creek.
You go first. Pretend to use the bathroom, then go to your car and head home.
I’ll sit here for a few more minutes and follow.
When I buzz the door, be ready to let me in right away.
The longer I stand outside, the more likely it is someone will notice. ”
“Yeah, sure. Okay, I’ll see you there in a few,” I tell her, my thoughts swirling. Holy shit, she’s coming to my apartment. I was worried she wouldn’t even show, and now we’re going to spend all night planning together at my place.