Chapter Seventeen
Kaylee
The crowd in the square was thinning out when Kaylee let out a yawn, making Josie and Curtis laugh.
The rest of their friends had already taken off, but Curtis hung around because Kaylee suspected he liked Josie.
The three of them were standing on the edge of the grass, and there was an unspoken question hanging in the air.
The other two shuffled their feet until Kaylee wanted to shove them together and holler Get on with it!
“You mind if I walk you ladies home?” Curtis asked.
“If I can join you.”
Kaylee whirled around to find Rick behind her, both hands in his pockets, smirking. He’d been keeping his distance most of the night, but she’d continuously felt his gaze on her, watching her every move, and while she should have found it creepy, it actually made her feel safe.
“Sure,” Josie said, grinning. “Since we’re all going in the same direction, that would be nice.”
Curtis held out his hand to Rick. A burly man who worked at Butcher and Baker, he looked better suited for construction or Ultimate Wrestling than baking, but his sourdough was to die for. Best she’d had since she left California.
“I’m Curtis Hill.”
“Rick Diaz.
“Great,” Josie said, stepping onto the sidewalk and a few more steps backward toward the direction of their street, “you guys know each other now. Can we get moving before I freeze to death?”
Curtis caught up to her with a chuckle, tossing his arm around her shoulders. “I’ll keep you warm.”
Kaylee snorted, following behind them, and Rick fell into step with her.
“So, Curtis, what do you do?” Rick asked.
“I’m a baker. You?”
“I’m a—” A sharp, bony elbow connected with his ribs, and he coughed, covering a laugh. “Cop.”
“Really? What are you doing here?”
“I’m on vacation and visiting my old friend Kaylee. We went to the same college.”
“Oh yeah? Which one?” Curtis slowed down so they could all walk and talk together.
“University of Oregon,” Kaylee blurted out the lie, silently begging Rick to stay quiet.
Rick nodded and said, “Yeah, go Ducks.”
Kaylee breathed a sigh of relief as Curtis chuckled. “Nice. I attended Boise State, but nothing really appealed to me, so I returned here after college and discovered I love baking. I apprenticed at Butcher and Baker, and now they are talking about making me a manager.”
“That’s awesome,” Rick said.
There were no more lights on in the houses they passed, and the wind had picked up, dropping the temperature by at least ten degrees.
When Kaylee shivered, the thought crossed her mind that Rick might offer to keep her warm just to mess with her, but she’d tell him to fuck off.
When he didn’t, a sense of relief and disappointment washed over her.
These conflicting feelings were getting out of hand, and she wanted him gone so she could go back to the quiet, simple life she’d built here.
She’d pushed the woman she used to be so far away, leaving her family and everything she knew behind, but Kaylee didn’t want to spend her life running.
In high school, she’d never backed down from a fight, challenging teachers, other students, and even the vice principal.
Being this scared felt alien and consuming.
Like drowning in muddy water, her oxygen was cut off, and her ability to swim was curtailed by the sludge dragging her down to the bottom.
“Tonight was fun,” Rick said, breaking through her thoughts and pulling her up for air.
“Glad you liked it.”
“I can see why you picked this place. It’s welcoming and quirky. Most of the people I met tonight were friendly and chatty.”
Josie turned around, asking over her shoulder, “Who wasn’t friendly?”
“I don’t know, this guy who had a booth set up with books. I was flipping through one, and when I tried asking him questions, he gave me one-word answers.”
Josie laughed. “That’s Colin for you. He owns Book and See. He’s pretty introverted until he gets to know you. He really is a sweet guy, but he does prefer books to people.”
“I can tell,” Rick said, chuckling.
“If you ask him about certain authors, he lights up like a Christmas tree,” Josie gushed, her words running together the way they do when she is really passionate about something. “I love his store. The setup is almost OCD in its perfection, and his romance section keeps me stocked in smut.”
“You read that stuff?” Curtis asked, a judgmental tone in his voice that Kaylee bristled at.
“Yeah, I do. It gives me ideas,” Josie teased suggestively, and to Kaylee’s surprise, Rick burst out laughing.
“You don’t read dark romance, do you?” he asked.
Both Kaylee and Josie jerked their heads around, staring at Rick.
“How do you know about dark romance?” Kaylee asked.
He shrugged. “I like motorcycles, so I follow a lot of bikers. They’re always talking about the ‘BookTok girlies’ and posting ‘when she reads dark romance’ videos, where the guy is usually being dragged into a bedroom.”
Josie giggled gleefully. “That would be me, but let’s go back to motorcycles. You have one?”
“Yeah, I do. I rebuild them.”
Josie waggled her eyebrows at Kaylee, and she resisted the urge to strangle her.
“What do you do for a living, Josie?” Rick asked, waving a hand. “Curtis bakes, Kaylee makes coffee, and I’m a cop.”
“I’m a specialty counselor. I travel a lot for work, mostly to Sun Valley and Boise.”
“That’s really cool. Isn’t that a long way to go for work?”
“Yes, but I schedule my appointments so I don’t have to drive back and forth every day.”
Josie didn’t share her specialty, and Rick didn’t ask, which surprised Kaylee, considering what a buttinsky he’d been since the moment she met him.
Kaylee knew Josie had chosen to keep her work private because some people didn’t understand what a professional cuddler did.
She’d told Kaylee once over dinner that her family thought she was a prostitute and didn’t speak to her anymore, which she considered good riddance, since they were toxic anyway.
They’d moved to Utah before she came back from college and Josie lived under the rule that if someone didn’t like her job, they could shove it.
Being away from family was something the two of them had bonded over, but while Kaylee did it for safety, Josie’s decision was made for her.
They reached their respective houses, and Josie gave her a hug, whispering in her ear, “I think he likes you.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Kaylee murmured. “He just needed a place to crash. Believe me, I’m not his type.”
“Are you sure?” Josie pulled away, grinning, and adding loudly, “Maybe he’s into introverted sci-fi romance girlies with creepy pets? I mean, you can’t tell me he’s not hot.”
Kaylee reminded herself that choking one’s friends was illegal. Before she could fully contemplate her choices in revenge, Josie kissed Curtis’s cheek and said a hurried good night before rushing up the stairs.
Huh. Maybe she didn’t like Curtis after all.
Curtis stood awkwardly for a moment before putting on a cheerful expression. “Well, good night, you two. Rick, where are you staying?”
“With Kaylee,” he said at the same time she blurted, “At the inn!”
“Oh!” Curtis cleared his throat. “I’ll see you around, then.”
Curtis took off toward his house, which was around the corner on Labor Day Street.
Kaylee shook her head, climbing up the steps to her house to unlock the door, seething.
“How come you didn’t decorate your yard?” Rick asked, stopping her from going inside. She paused, her gaze traveling over her bare grass and dark entryway.
“I’m a lowly barista. I can’t afford the six-hundred-dollar electric bill.”
When she pushed open the door, he tried to follow her inside, but she blocked his way, facing him with her hands on her hips.
“You know, there is such a thing as discretion. I don’t need the town gossiping about me, wondering if we’re sleeping together.”
“Who cares if they are?” he asked, leaning against the iron railing that bordered each side of her concrete steps.
“You’re a grown, single woman.” His face split into a cocky grin.
“I guess if you came back with me to California, you wouldn’t have to worry about what the people of Holiday think about you and your friend from college. ”
Her temper snapped like a rubber band, and suddenly, Kaylee was jamming her finger into his chest.
“I am sick of your intimidation and bullying tactics.” He caught her finger in his hand, and she glared at him, wishing she had the muscles to pick him up and heave him into the grass.
“You think if you disrupt my life and push me enough, that I’ll give in, but I want to fucking live!
I am happy here, and I would kindly appreciate it if you would just leave me alone. ”
Rick gripped her hand, and Kaylee tried to pull away, to escape into the house and lock the door behind her, leaving him out here, but he wouldn’t release her, his dark eyes boring into hers.
“This isn’t living, Kaylee. You can’t live with this following you around like a storm.
You can’t have a friend, or a career, or a family, because the minute that you get comfortable, you’re going to have to move on.
The only way you will ever be free, be safe, is if you confront the people responsible and make them pay for what they did to Elasia. ”
Tears blurred her vision, and a sob escaped her before she could catch it.
He used his grip on her hand to pull her into his body, and she let him, the dam breaking as she cried into the front of his sweater.
Rick released her hand and wrapped both arms around her, the strength of his grip like steel against her lower back.
She curled her hands into his front, feeling his chest muscles under his clothes, and even though he was a problem, her problem, Kaylee took comfort in his embrace.
It had been so long since she’d been held, touched.
Being on guard all the time, keeping people at a distance, it was exhausting, and her body went slack as all the anxiety that had kept her on edge the last few years slipped from her body like the tears streaming down her face, absorbing into Rick’s sweater, into him. Like he was taking it all from her.
Kaylee suddenly jerked away from him, wiping her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t,” he said, bending down, and before she knew it, he was carrying her up the stairs.
She should be bucking and punching, anything to get away from him, but when he kicked the door shut behind them, Kaylee didn’t have the strength to fight anymore.
She rested her cheek against his chest, listening to the sound of his racing heart as he carried her to the couch and sat down with her in his lap.
“You don’t have to be sorry, Kaylee. You’ve been running so hard, you haven’t taken the time to grieve. To process. You’re still in flight mode.” His lips brushed her forehead in a brief kiss, and she closed her eyes. “Stop flying, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”