“I can’t blame the guy for being upset, especially after Kyle pulled such a dick move, but if you got to him, too, he’ll see through it for what it was. Right?” She twisted her lips. “On the other hand, you’ve known each other less than a week. Should be easier to move on.” She raised her eyebrows, but her attempt to console me wasn’t working.
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to ward off the sense of abandonment. “I felt more with him in less than a week than I’ve ever felt with Kyle.”
Cassandra shook her head. “Damn.” She patted my arm. “Like I said, if he feels the same way, he’ll get back to you.”
I sniffled and nodded.
“I assume you haven’t talked to Lisa about this,” she went on.
“No. She’ll tell Dylan, who will tell Kyle. Things are different between her and me these days.” I met her gaze. “I’m trusting you won’t mention this to anyone else.”
She twisted her fingers in front of her lips. “Nobody’s business. I think you know you can trust me. Otherwise you wouldn’t have told me.”
I felt better telling someone, and yet helpless to do anything. “What am I going to do?”
“One day at a time.” She hugged me. “And when you’re feeling hopeless, I’m a phone call away. Not sure I can fix anything, but I can give you a sympathetic ear.”
I shook myself out of my funk. “We have wind-down business to take care of in the meantime.”
We spent the day making lists and organizing the stock we had. A few stray customers wandered in, the odd weekday tourists, and we offered them going-out-of-business discounts.
When I headed home, I wandered off the path to stand before the enchanted beech tree.
Ian couldn’t believe I’d be so faithless, could he? And yet, if a woman had answered his phone and mentioned taking him to bed, I doubt I’d have taken the news any better than he had.
I continued home, fed the cat, and walked into my workroom, the space I’d personally designed after the fire. I touched the worktable, Nora’s cabinet that had survived the fire, the books seated firmly on the shelves. I returned to the living room and plopped into Nora’s leather sofa, rearranged from the middle of the room to against one paneled wall after she’d moved out. Plants no longer hung from the wooden ceiling beams. Aside from the looped rug that used to hang on the wall, most of Nora’s furnishings remained. She’d only taken those things she didn’t want to be parted from. I gazed at the dining table beside the bay window, recalling the first night she’d invited me to dinner.
I’d bought the ancestral home from her as a manner of expedience. I had no ties here other than those I’d forged with Nora. Barry had asked if I might move to be closer to her.
Should I sell the house?
Chapter 30
When I went outside Tuesday morning, Kyle was sitting on his front steps. Waiting for me? I chose to ignore him and knelt beside the vegetable garden to check for cucumbers and tomatoes. A patch of peppermint shot up outside the chicken wire, growing like weeds. I yanked some and held it to my nose, thinking about the mints Ian was always popping. I had spearmint in the garden, too, but wintergreen didn’t grow in this part of the country.
Kyle cleared his throat as he hovered behind me, shaking me from random thoughts. I shot him a glance over my shoulder.
“I wanted to let you know I have the situation with Daria covered.” His tone was businesslike.
“I’m not sure you do,” I replied, keeping my voice low, “but I don’t suppose there’s much I can do about it.”
He touched my shoulder and I jumped to my feet.
“You don’t have your usual glow about you,” he said.
I took that to mean my eyes weren’t shining with my hidden talents, and chose not to reply.
“Look,” Kyle said. “While I was trailing Daria, I stumbled onto something I can’t talk about, so I’m going to ask you not to try to contact her, in case you still think you can reverse whatever it is you think happened.”
I glared at him, and then noticed the discoloration on his forehead. I reached to touch it and he backed away. “What happened?” I asked.
“Bumps and bruises,” he said. “It happens sometimes.”
“More often since Daria visited,” I pointed out. “How’s your shoulder healing?”
“Accidents happen.” He squeezed his eyes closed. “If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t had any so-called accidents for a full twenty-four hours now.” He met my gaze once more.
I brushed the dirt from my hands and picked up my basket of vegetables. “You didn’t tell me I had a call Saturday night.”
“Must have slipped my mind, not that you were in any shape to have remembered.”
“And you answered my phone why?”
“I thought Nora might be checking on you. Reflex.”
I studied him, weighing the value of an argument. There was no point. “Since you don’t want my help with Daria, let me be clear. I don’t want help from you. That includes answering my phone or doing things you believe to be in my best interests.”
He opened his mouth to speak, then seemed to think better of it. We stood there in a standoff for several moments before he looked away.
“I didn’t expect you to move on so quickly,” he said.
“Quickly? You distanced yourself from me four months ago. I stood by you all that time, while you continued to push me away.”
“I’m going through stuff,” he said. “And for what it’s worth, the department might be hiring me back on. Once things get back to normal...”
“Normal for you.” I pointed between us. “This isn’t what I want for the rest of my life. Being shut out of your problems and having you try to fix mine for me. I have appreciated your friendship, Kyle, but I need someone who isn’t going to check out when
