Chapter 12
Keely was wrapping up another successful day as an assistant librarian when Ingrid cornered her with a mad gleam in her eye.
For a moment, she thought that she had done something terribly wrong. She felt certain that she was about to get chewed out or quite possibly fired. Instead, Ingrid started talking about ice cream cake, of all things.
”I never thought that ice cream cake could be elevated to haute cuisine, but you proved me wrong.”
”Thank you,” she stammered, still half expecting to get fired. It was an old habit, she supposed. A guilty conscience from the years spent sneaking around, lying to her parents, even stealing. She was on the straight and narrow now, but she still carried a nervous sense of wrongdoing, like she didn’t quite deserve this new life of hers.
”Ali‘s birthday is coming up, and I was going to buy her a cake from the bakery like I usually do with employee birthdays. But after seeing what you can do, that just feels like a waste.”
”Do you mean that you want me to make an ice cream cake for Ali‘s birthday?”
”If you think that’s what she would like best. But it doesn’t have to be ice cream cake. You have mutual friends, yes? Why don’t you do some investigating and find out what dessert she likes best? Then we can surprise her on her birthday.”
”Of course. I would be happy to.”
”I’ll pay, of course. Decide what you’re making, and let me know what it will cost.”
”You don’t have to—”
”It’s tradition. It’s not as if we have a whole host of employees here. One treat per quarter is a good morale booster, don’t you think? And Ali certainly deserves the recognition. A hometown hero, that one. The miracles that she is working in that disastrous storage area down in the basement, I can’t even tell you.”
”Yeah, she’s great.” She smiled weakly. Her new boss seemed nice enough, but she was an intimidating presence. Keely tried to act normal around her, but she always felt ill at ease. Not because of anything that Ingrid had done, simply because she was such an imposing force.
”You’ve emptied the book drop? All of the returned books have been checked in and shelved?”
”Yes ma’am,” she chirped, happy to be able to answer in the affirmative. Making sure that the books were checked in and out and returned to their proper places was the bulk of her job.
”Very good. You can head home at closing, if you’d like. How about you clock in an hour before opening tomorrow and do your dusting and sweeping then?”
”Sounds good to me, thank you.”
She shelved the last book that she was holding and returned to the front desk to wait out the last few minutes until closing. One customer hurried up to check out a stack of books before closing time, and she scanned them one at a time, taking in the titles. The young mother had collected a wide range of parenting books; her toddler was screaming and fighting the straps of his stroller while she waited for Keely to scan each of the books.
”Good luck,” Keely said brightly as she pushed the stack back across the counter.
”Thanks.” The woman’s tone was sarcastic, and she gave Keely a dark look as she scooped up the pile of books and carried it over to dump it in the storage area beneath the stroller.
”I didn’t mean—” she stuttered, but the woman was already walking away. ”Have a nice day!”
She grimaced at the fumbled interaction and made a mental note to be extra nice to the woman the next time she came in. The weather was still cold, and a handful of local moms came to the library nearly every day – just to get out of the house, she imagined. With a few minutes left on the clock and no patrons on site, she pulled her phone out and texted her sponsor.
Still up for half moon bay tomorrow?
Of course, she texted back a moment later. Are you okay?
All good. Normal life stuff, some bumps here and there. But yeah. I’m good.
Glad to hear it. We’ll catch up properly tomorrow.She signed off with a string of pink hearts.
Keely took the long way home, cutting over a few blocks so that she could walk along the cliffs. The wind was whipping down the coast, but she had Travis‘s hat to keep her ears warm. She kept meaning to return it, but she hadn’t seen him since he had lent it to her.
It was a gorgeous day, clear blue sky. Pelican Point was so often overcast, with a bright white sky or dark gray clouds, that on blue-sky days it felt as if the whole world had opened up. The ocean shone a brilliant sapphire dotted with whitecaps and crashing waves down below. She loved the dramatic California coastline.
When her nose started to turn numb, she turned away from the coast and cut back to the street that she left on. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and called her brother.
”Hey, what’s up?” Nick answered.
”I just got off work. Are you busy?”
”No, we’re just hanging. Travis is over, and Chloe made cookies.”
”You had me at cookies. I’ll be there in three minutes.”
She felt a shimmering anxiety at the thought of seeing Travis, something between anticipation and apprehension. Whatever it was, she wasn’t going to let it keep her away from her brother. And anyway, she needed to return his hat.
She walked into the house without knocking and was greeted by the warm scent of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. She veered away from the living room and headed into the kitchen first.
”Hello!” Chloe exclaimed. ”Perfect timing. These have cooled just enough to eat.”
”I know, I could smell them from my house.”
Chloe’s always wide blue eyes widened even farther. ”Really?”
”No,” she laughed. ”Nick told me.”
”Oh.” She smiled, abashed. ”That makes more sense.”
”They do smell amazing, though.”
”Do you want some milk?” Chloe asked as she walked to the fridge.
”For sure.”
Chloe pulled out one of the half gallon glass bottles that came from a local farm. “I go through one of these a day. No kidding. Pregnancy cravings.”
”At least it’s not, like, peanut butter and pickles.”
”No,” Chloe said with a laugh, ”mostly just ice cream and milk.”
”That baby’s going to have some strong bones.”
”You said it.” She picked up the tray of cookies and walked toward the living room. ”Would you grab four glasses?”
”Sure thing.” There was another flutter of nervousness in her stomach at the thought of seeing Travis again, but she smothered it. She took the hat off her head – it was much too warm in there - and shoved it in her pocket so that she could grab two empty glasses in each hand. She followed Chloe into the living room and heard the low rumble of Nick and Travis’s voices before she saw them.
”He kicked me out about five minutes after I got him home.” Travis looked up and stopped talking when they walked in.
”Thank you.” Nick hurried to take the tray out of Chloe‘s hands and set it on the coffee table. ”These look phenomenal.”
”Were you talking about Scot?” Chloe asked.
”Yeah, Travis drove him home from the hospital last night.”
”How is he?”
”Hobbling around on a half-healed ankle and waiting to hear back about a dozen different tests but still insisting on coming to the bar tonight.” Travis shook his head and took a huge bite of chocolate chip cookie.
Nick’s laugh was a little rumble. ”Sounds like Scot.”
”Is he still running trivia night?” Chloe asked. ”After all that?”
”No,” Travis said. ”I’m running it again this week. But he wants to be there.”
”I get that. Maybe getting back into his usual routine will help him feel better.”
”Watching me stumble my way through trivia night isn’t exactly his usual routine, but sure.”
”You know what I mean. His usual environment. Anyway, you did a great job last week.” Chloe turned to Keely with a smile, inviting her into the conversation in that effortless way she had. ”Do you want to join us for trivia night? We’re on Ali‘s team, and Willa can’t make it this week. She and Mac are out of town.”
”Sure.” Not wanting to look at Travis but not knowing where else to look, she moved toward the tray of cookies and grabbed one that had an extra lot of chocolate chunks. ”Sounds fun.”
”Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Nick asked.
She gave him a level, irritated look. ”Why? Because it’s a bar?”
”Well, yeah.” He rubbed a hand up the back of his neck, looking embarrassed.
”Have I not proven to you several times over that I am fine in a bar? I’m not gonna start pounding shots and snorting lines. It’s not even that kind of bar. It’s trivia night, for Pete’s sake.”
”I know. I’m sorry. I’m just…”
”Protective,” Chloe said.
”Overprotective,” Keely added.
”All right, all right, I get it.”
”There was tons of alcohol at the CPR event, and I didn’t drink then.”
”I said I get it,” He snatched another cookie up off the tray.
”I hear your food stole the show,” Travis said, trying to lighten the mood. Keely looked at him in surprise. ”I’m sorry that I didn’t get to try any.”
”Scot picked a bad time to bash his head in,” Nick said.
Travis’ expression soured, and he opened his mouth to reply, but Nick cut him off with a raised hand.
”Sorry, I don’t know what’s up with me.” He emptied the last of the milk into Chloe‘s glass and stood. ”I’m going to get more milk.” He walked off into the kitchen, looking dejected.
”He’s just a little out of sorts,” Chloe said. She smiled softly. ”He’s a worrier.”
”Don’t I know it,” Keely said.
Chloe followed Nick into the kitchen.
”And then there were two,” Travis said, sounding a bit nervous.
She pulled the beanie from her coat pocket and offered it to him. ”Here. Thanks for lending it to me.”
”Keep it,” he said. ”I have others. Anyway, it looks better on you.”
She felt her cheeks color. ”Thanks.”
”Trivia night will be fun. I can make you a mocktail.”
She looked up at him, surprised. ”Okay. Thanks.”
”I’m sorry that I’ve been so weird and distant lately. It was never about you. I just had a lot on my mind.”
”With Scot’s health troubles?”
He nodded slowly. ”Yeah. That’s been rough.”
”I get that. I can’t imagine my dad going through something like that. He’s like Scot. Such a rock.”
”I know.” Travis met her eyes and smiled. She thought of all of the sleepovers when they were young, the times that Nick would begrudgingly let her join them in a board game or a movie and popcorn. Travis had been in her life as long as she could remember, and it was a relief not to feel like things between them were strained.
”We should probably leave soon,” Chloe said as she walked back in.
Travis looked at the time and flinched. ”Shoot, yeah. I’m due to pick Scot up.” He looked at Chloe. ”Meet you guys there?”
She felt her cheeks turn pink again, which only made her blush harder. She looked down to grab another cookie. ”Yeah. See you there.”
He left, and when Keely looked up, Chloe was grinning at her with a knowing glint in her eyes.
”What?” Keely said.
”Oh, nothing.” Chloe grinned. ”Let’s get ready for trivia night!”