Chapter 25
Kayla left Sunday afternoon with a car full of leftover soup and a promise to call about the table favors by Wednesday. Beth spent the next few hours in the strange, restless quiet that always followed her daughter going home.
Kayla lived in Missoula. It wasn’t too far away, but sometimes it felt like the other side of the country. Her daughter was returning next weekend for a dress fitting. It would be just as much fun as this weekend, but it would also be a reminder of how close the wedding was.
With a sigh, Beth took her recipe book out of a drawer. The church always needed extra cookies for their food boxes, and Beth was happy to provide them.
Thankfully, she’d agreed to meet Dave at the arts center that evening.
The gallery wall was nearly finished, and one more night’s work should see it done.
Usually, at least two of the construction crew would have joined them, but after all the extra hours they’d worked, Dave had given everyone the night off.
Beth was looking forward to finishing the wall. At least, that was what she told herself. It was a good use of their time. Two people finishing a project on schedule. Nothing more complicated than an ordinary evening at the center.
But by seven, she’d changed her sweater twice. “It’s a wall,” she told her reflection. “Not a date.” The woman in the mirror didn’t look especially convinced.
Beth sighed and reached for her coat. She’d never been a particularly good liar, least of all to herself. The truth was simpler and considerably more frightening.
She wanted to see Dave. Not because of the gallery wall or the arts center or because there was work to do. She wanted to be with him. Beth hadn’t let herself want anything that plainly in years.
She drove to the center with the radio off, thinking about Dave without finding any answers.
The building’s lights were already on when she pulled up. Through the front window she saw Dave, sleeves rolled to his elbows as he laid a panel across two sawhorses. A portable speaker sat on an a table, playing music she couldn’t hear from inside the truck.
Dave hadn’t seen her yet, so Beth sat for a moment, watching him.
She thought of Susan’s kitchen and the conversation they’d had weeks ago. And she thought about what she’d admitted to herself after the council meeting.
She wanted more than a careful life.
Whatever was waiting for her inside that building, she was tired of pretending she didn’t want to find out what it was.
Beth opened the truck door.
The cold hit her face, bracing and clean, and she walked toward the light before she could change her mind.