Chapter Thirty
Rick
Rick parked down the street from the Heart Stop Coffee Shop and got out of his car, bracing himself for the shit show he was about to face when he walked into Kaylee’s work.
It had only been two days since she kicked him out of her place, and while the inn was beautiful and comfortable, he missed waking up to her rattling in the kitchen and even missed Pumpkin’s chirps and chattering.
He opened the café door, thankful that the morning rush was over and the place was leaning more toward empty. The woman named Dana stood behind the iPad, watching him warily, while Gillian glared at him when she looked up from the table she’d been wiping down.
Kaylee was hidden behind the espresso machine, but when she placed a cup on the bar, she spotted him. Her expression flared into something he thought might be happiness before it snapped into a scowl.
“You should hit the coffee shop in Lava Hot Springs,” she said, setting two more cups on the counter. “You might get something extra if you order here.”
“I’ll take the risk.” Rick let a couple of patrons get their coffees, then leaned against the counter. “Can you please come outside so we can talk?”
“I don’t want to talk to you.” She aggressively shoved a metal scoop into the ice before dumping it into a cup to her right. “You should, in fact, stay far away from me.”
“Well, if you won’t come out here, I’ll come back there.” He headed for the area around the counter, searching for a way back there, but Dana’s voice stalled him.
“This is a private establishment, and I reserve the right not to serve you. Either leave the premises, or I’m calling the cops.”
Rick didn’t remind her he was a cop; he just gave her a nod and shot Kaylee an earnest glance before he pushed through the glass doors. Getting Kaylee alone to talk would be harder than he thought. This situation would require patience and a touch of mild stalking.
Several hours later, Rick stood across the street even though he couldn’t really see inside from this distance. He’d already gotten close enough to watch Kaylee smile and hand off coffee to the patrons inside, and he couldn’t believe how much it hurt not to be able to see her and talk to her.
He’d wanted to catch her as she was leaving, but she kept ducking out the back or having Gillian run interference, and he wasn’t too keen on getting tased again.
“Is there a reason why you’ve been standing out in front of my shop all day?” a voice behind him asked.
Rick turned around and found Colin, the bookstore owner, leaning against the front of his shop, watching Rick.
“I’m just waiting for a friend to get off work.”
“Are you talking about Kaylee?” Colin asked, pushing off the building to stand straight.
“Yeah, I am.”
Colin nodded. “You must be pretty desperate to talk to her if you’re loitering outside her work all day.”
“Technically, I’m not in front of her work. I’m across from it.”
“Regardless, you can stop. I saw her and Josie drive by about thirty minutes ago in Josie’s car.”
Rick wanted to bang his head against something. How had he missed that? Of course she planned to sneak out because she was avoiding him.
He must have audibly groaned because Colin said, “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.”
Rick released a bitter chuckle. “Well, I wanted to come see you anyway, so I guess this makes things easier.”
Colin quirked a brow. “You wanted to come see me?”
“Yeah, I need a book about people being snowed in or stuck in the snow.”
“Oh, what for?” Colin asked, opening the door to his shop and waiting for Rick to pass through.
“A book club,” Rick said, taking in the stocked shelves lining the walls and creating a half a dozen aisles on either side. “I’m going to the one they hold at the mayor’s house every week.”
Colin frowned from the doorway, the little bell above his head tinkling. “I thought they didn’t let guys in?”
“They made an exception for me.” Rick realized how cocky that sounded and added, “Because I’m not staying long.”
“Oh well.” Colin started walking farther into the bookshop while still talking, and Rick took that as a signal to follow him.
“Depending on what genre you’re looking for, I have a winter section that should be stocked.
” He stopped in front of a shelf, reading the spines until he finally pulled one and held it out to Rick. “This one’s good if you like YA.”
“What’s YA?” Rick asked, studying the white, snowy cover.
“Young adult. It’s about a girl who is stuck at the airport in a blizzard and catches a ride home with a couple of college-age strangers, and they end up getting chased by some bad guys. I liked it a lot.”
“Sounds interesting,” Rick said, flipping it over to scan the back. “I’ll hang on to it, but do you have anything spicier?”
Colin blinked at him from behind his glasses. “You want a spicy romance?”
Rick smirked at Colin’s skeptical tone. “Yeah, I think I’ll give it a try.”
Colin took off again for the other side of the store, with Rick on his heels.
“In that case, if you’re not too square for this, try Ice Planet Barbarians.
” Colin pulled a book off the shelf and handed it to him.
The book had a blue man with long hair in the background and a woman in the front with icicles in her hair.
“This is a book about being stuck in the snow?” Rick asked.
“Well, it’s actually a book about being stuck on a snow planet, but it’s the same concept.
It’s spicy, according to every woman who’s ever come in and bought it, including Kaylee.
” Rick’s gaze jerked up to meet Colin’s, and the other man smiled broadly.
“I think it’s exactly what you’re looking for. ”
“I’m gonna trust you. If it’s a bust, I’m gonna let them know who recommended it to me.”
Colin grimaced, heading back to the counter at the front of the store with an iPad stationed on the desk. “Oh, please don’t. I don’t need a bunch of women coming in here asking me for recommendations. I normally hide behind my own book and let them browse in peace.”
“What are you reading?” Rick asked, putting the books on the counter and taking his wallet out of his back pocket.
Colin held up a book, and Rick read the title aloud. “Clown in the Cornfield. That sounds ominous.”
“It’s about a small town and a teen who has to go up against a bunch of killer clowns.”
Rick handed over his card. “So you’re reading a horror book during the holidays, huh?”
“I don’t conform my reading taste based on the time of year, and I like to read books before I see the movies.”
“They made a movie about clowns in a cornfield?” Rick scoffed. “They really are running out of ideas.”
“It’s actually a halfway decent book for being a YA. It’s gory, has adult language, and no sexual content yet.”
“Unfortunately, my reading list isn’t very extensive,” Rick said, taking his card. “The last book I read was in college for my English class.”
“Well, if you want to impress Kaylee, you might want to get with the program because she has been in here every week since she moved here. She usually has me set aside some of the new releases for her, and she picks them up after work.”
Rick brightened. “Does she have anything waiting right now?”
Colin grinned before turning around and squatting behind the counter. He returned with two books. “She does indeed.”
Rick held out his card again. “I’ll buy both.” While Colin rang him up again, he looked around the store, an idea forming. “Do you happen to know what her favorite book is?”
Colin shook his head. “I couldn’t tell you that, but she does read a lot of romance, and the ones she grabs are not Hallmark. But she told me once she’d read the whole Ice Planet Barbarians series.”
“How long is the series?” Rick asked.
“It’s massive, like thirty books or something.”
“Geez.” Kaylee obviously had too much time on her hands and needed someone to keep her busy so she wouldn’t have to read alien smut to scratch an itch.
“Are you going to Holiday Fest?” Colin blurted, setting Rick’s bag of books on the counter.
“What’s Holiday Fest?”
“It’s a big event this Saturday with vendors from across Idaho who sell crafts and other items, and then they host a concert at night.
There’s an area that’s twenty-one and up where you can grab a beer or something else to drink.
Sometimes, they have huckleberry moonshine.
If I had to bet, I’m guessing that Josie will drag Kaylee there. ”
Rick remembered how fondly Josie spoke of Colin after the Potato Festival and wondered if there weren’t some hidden feelings there. “You and Josie are close, right?”
“Yes, but just as friends. We’ve been friends for a long time.” Colin went around the counter to straighten that were askew on the closest table. “We bonded because we’re both misunderstood by people.”
Rick could understand Colin, who came off a bit stinted, but Josie?
“Yeah, sorry, when I first met you, I thought you were kind of a dick.”
Colin stiffened for a minute, and Rick wanted to kick himself for being so tactless, but Colin suddenly chuckled. “Oh, I am a dick, but only when I haven’t decided if I like you yet.”
“So does that mean I’m growing on you? Maybe you’d wanna go to this Holiday Fest with me?”
Colin shot Rick a blank expression for several moments, making Rick squirm, and then he nodded. “Meet me here at six, and we’ll walk over together.”
“We’re not just gonna drive?”
Colin scoffed. “You can’t drive to Holiday Fest; they close down all the roads around it. You can only walk.”
“Oh, damn. You’re sure that she’ll be there?”
“I’ll plant a little bug in Josie’s ear,” Colin said with a sly smile. “Believe me, she’ll be there.”