Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
TINSLEY
“Are you okay?”
“Who?” I put my phone screen down on the table. “What?” I glance around.
“I asked if you were okay.” Pierce pushes the plate of mozzarella sticks toward me. After we left City Hall, we popped over to the diner for dinner.
Pierce has made everyone he’s come into contact with become smitten with him today. The town is welcoming him with open arms. With the way he’s been getting along with everyone, you’d never know he was new. He doesn’t forget a face or name. If this is part of him wooing me, it’s working.
“I’m good.” I grab one of the cheesy fried sticks. “Great, actually.” I’m overselling. My on-the-spot acting is terrible. I didn’t have a chance to practice in the mirror. That’s what I usually do when I have to sell something.
“If you say so.” I know what that means when he says that. He’s not buying what I’m selling.
Only a few days into our marriage, I'm already able to read him just as he can read me. I do find it strangely endearing that he goes along with it, not trying to shut anything down, but I’m starting to see that he doesn’t have to because he’s always a few steps ahead.
My phone vibrates across the table, and I grab it, seeing that since I didn't answer Katherine's texts quickly enough, she did the old call-you-but-hang-up trick.
Katherine: We're a go.
Katherine: Yello?
Me: I'm here! Give me a second.
I still have to send off an alert, but I have to stall for a few minutes.
Katherine: One
I send an eye-rolling emoji before I fire off another text to put our plans into motion.
Katherine: Oh right, we have to wait on the girls.
She was the one who came up with most of this plan.
"Sorry, it's Katherine. We're connected at the hip, and she's getting jealous." I’m sure he’s noticing that I can’t stop checking my phone. I try to put it down but it only lasts so long.
"Text to your heart's content." He takes one of the yummy cheesy sticks. He’s so agreeable. So much so that now I think he's up to something.
"You're not jealous of my time? You're supposed to be obsessed with me, wanting all my attention." That’s the story I’ve been spreading far and wide.
"First of all, I'm jealous of the air you're breathing because it gets to be inside of you, and the seat you have your cute ass on. I'm always jealous when it comes to you." I shift in my seat, getting turned on.
"Good answer." I wait for him to tell me what the second is. You can't say "first of all" and not follow up with a second. Now the suspense is mounting.
"The second!" pops out of me, completely uncontrollable. This shouldn’t shock anyone.
"Oh, your attention. I have your attention." He winks at me. I ignore that response because he’s right. The man is always at the forefront of my thoughts. It can be consuming at times.
I spot Nelly and Mia enter the diner, still in their outfits from dance class. They're so adorable. I hope I have a couple of girls and they can be best friends.
My stomach gives a flutter because those kids would be with Pierce. It would have to be all girls. Not because I’m opposed to a boy, but Pierce is massive, and I don’t think I could carry a baby form of him.
"Well, the bathroom needs to see me, and I want to say hi to a friend." I slide out of my side of the booth. Pierce leans back, not a care in the world, or so he appears.
"I'll be waiting," he tells me as I walk past him. Nelly gives me a high five as I pass, my distraction landing in place right in front of our table just as Kylie puts down our burgers.
Mia talks animatedly to Pierce while Nelly nods along before she does a quick spin, and both burst into one of their choreographed dances. I slip out the back door of the diner.
"Finally!" Katherine hops off the air conditioner unit she was perched on. "I brought you an outfit." She hands over a bag. Katherine is rocking a long trench coat, fedora, and sunglasses. That’s not noticeable at all, but regardless, I’m down. She never does anything halfway, that’s for sure.
"You'll never believe what happened to me today. "
Oh, I'm sure I can, and I know it will be nutty. I don’t think there’s anything Katherine can tell me she’s done that would actually surprise me. I open the backpack and pull out my own fedora and coat and put them on.
"What happened? Didn't you go to Hollowville today?" There is a candy shop there she loves but rarely goes to, believing the town is haunted.
"Yes, and on the way I had to do real-life CPR."
"Oh shit.” It’s hard to picture her calm enough to do that in an intense moment, but she is quick on her toes. “You can't tell Coach Barker about this."
You had to pass CPR training as part of gym class. We all complained we'd never use it in real life and just to let us play dodgeball like the feral teens we were. We’re still feral, but now we’re just adults. Lame.
"It was freaking wild." She loops her arm into mine, and we start walking.
"Guess it was good that you were there."
"Meh, not really. Kind of pointless."
"Seriously?" A small laugh leaves me. "You saved a person's life." How is that pointless?
"I never said that."
"But you did CPR." I’m not following, and typically I’m pretty good at speaking Katherine.
"It didn't work." She shrugs. Is she saying the person died?
Katherine suddenly stops walking, an "oh shit" expression taking over her face.
I guess she's putting together that the person is dead.
"I should tell Coach Barker. That shit didn't work.
All that training for nothing." Katherine shakes her head disappointedly and starts walking again. “Your sunglasses.”
“I won’t be able to see with these on.”
“You once told me that fashion is a form of expression, and right now our expression is breaking and entering.” I did say that. I reach into the bag and pull the overly large sunglasses on.
“Shit,” I immediately trip over my own feet, my eyes trying to adjust to the darkness.
“I got you. I can lead the way.” Katherine starts walking faster, her arm hooked into mine, pulling me along with her. “Onward and upward.”
“Let’s stay onward and not do the upward part.” Katherine can take an expression far too literally at times.
“Yeah, one person already went upward today.” She snorts a laugh.
“Are you talking about the dead person?”
“Yeah, but I suppose he could have gone downward.”
I burst into laughter. I have to give it to her. Katherine can make the darkest of times funny. When I was younger, I could be rather emotional. Okay, I still am, but not as explosive. Katherine always had a way to pull me back and make me giggle.
Not sure we’re being that sneaky with these outfits and laughter, but we’ll be in and out.
The townspeople are used to shenanigans.
“I thought you unlocked it.” Katherine pushes on the back door, and it doesn’t open.
She can’t see for shit either. I grab the handle and pull the door open.
“Right.” Katherine hops inside, and I follow after her, taking off my sunglasses as I turn the flashlight on my phone on.
She reaches inside of her trench coat and pulls out the biggest flashlight I have ever seen, turning it on. It lights up everything like a giant spotlight.
“Oh my God.” I grab it from her and turn it off as I drop down to my knees. The back door leads right into the main hallway with one side covered in windows.
“Sorry, I didn’t know it was that bright.” I grab hold of her coat and yank her down with me. “I might have tested the flashlight with the sunglasses on. My bad.”
“Come on, dork.” I start to crawl down the hallway and past the front desk to the door behind it. It’s no easy task with these trench coats on, but we manage. I pull my rake pick out and pop the lock in no time. Once we’re inside the records room, we come to our feet.
There is a window in here that looks out into the main entry area, but you’d have to be inside the building to see us.
“Where do we start?” Katherine glances around all the rows of file cabinets. Looks like it’s going to be a long night unless we get lucky.
We’re here to find my marriage license. Once I get my hands on it, I’m not sure what I’ll do with it. Hell, after today I almost want to frame it, but I can’t trust my own decisions. I’ll get it and have it for safekeeping.
If all goes to hell, I can burn it and not have to worry about breaking any long-standing tradition. It would be like poof, it never happened. My chest aches at the very thought.
“We can leave if you want,” Katherine whispers, reading me easily.
“It’s fine. We get it and just keep it. That’s all.”
“Right.” She nods, and we both start pulling open drawers. “Holy crappers, there are records for everything.” Katherine isn’t wrong, and I can’t locate the marriage certificates either. “Score!!” Katherine shouts too loudly.
I rush over to see if she found them. “Let me.” I start tabbing through them and going back when I don’t see it. I just looked under both our names, and I didn't see it. Shit, what if it hasn't been filed yet?
“I can’t find it,” I tell Katherine, lifting my head to see her opening all the cabinets. “What are you doing?”
“This way if someone realizes we were in here, they won’t know what we were looking for.” I’m about to tell her they won’t either way, but an alarm starts to blare, making my stomach drop to the floor.
This place has an alarm? Since when?
“Oh noes, I have to poop,” Katherine says in a fear-filled panic. I shouldn’t laugh, but I can’t help myself as I shut the cabinet. Any time she gets super nervous, her stomach acts up. She’s really not made for a life of crime.
“Come on.” I grab her but come up short when I see the doorway is blocked.
Kindred pushes a button on her phone, making me realize the alarm was only blaring because she set it off on us.
“Kindred! I almost peed my pants.” Katherine puts her hand to her chest and falls back against one of the shelves. "Are we going to jail? Did they ever fix the cell? I don't think I can make it on the inside."
The police station has one holding cell, and I don't believe the lock works on it.
The only thing inside of it is a cat tree that Mittens uses, but she can slip through the bars.
Or she could at one point. In the last year, I think she's put on a little weight, but the holidays just passed. These things happen.
"I'm not sure you can make it out of this room," I tell her.
Kindred flips on the light, causing a blinding glare. Katherine puts her sunglasses back on.
"You knew."
"That you got married and had plans to sneak into here?"
"Yeah."
"I did."
"The hell? Why'd you let us do it then?" Katherine asks. "I could have saved these costumes."
"What would be the fun in that?" Kindred and I say it at the same time. It's often about the journey and not the destination.
"You're not going to give me the goods, are you?" I ask, getting the vibe.
"Do you want me to destroy it?" She asks her own question instead of answering mine.
"You don't know everything." At least I don't think she does. She might if I’m being honest. She keeps her finger on the pulse of this town. It’s been that way ever since I can remember.
"Know enough." She shrugs but is smirking. Kindred has always been like a big sister or aunt to me. I always looked up to her growing up. I might have participated in activities that could have led to my arrest in order to ensure that the sheriff and Kindred ended up together.
But I was young back then. I was banking on not being old enough to be tossed into a working jail cell.
“Ladies.”
“Ahh!” All three of us scream this time. Kindred spins around on her heels to face Pierce.
“Didn’t mean to scare you, but my wife’s food is getting cold.” He holds up a to-go box. “And don’t think I didn’t make copies of that marriage license.” Pierce smiles at me, his eyes softening around the edges. “Come on, spitfire, it’s time to get home.”
“Fine,” I huff. “Guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” I fold my arms over my chest and walk out of the records room like a child who got busted with the cookie jar by her parents.
Except it’s an act.
I’m highly impressed with my husband and really freaking turned on.