His mother blinked. “I don’t understand.”
His patience was wearing thin. “I’m on vacation.”
“I know—”
“Do you? Do you understand that this is my sabbatical? That I need a break?”
“A break from what?”
“Work. All this.” He spread out his arms. “Remember we were only going to do one dance lesson? And now you’ve got me doing all these things. Things I don’t want to do.”
Her chin lifted as she closed her calendar. “Then why don’t you tell me what you want to do?”
Escape.It was the first word that came to mind. He wanted to be free of obligations and expectations. He’d spent most of his life doing everything he could not to disappoint anyone. Now that was all he seemed to do lately. “Go to Fiji,” he said.
“You want to go to Fiji.” Disapproval crept into her eyes. “With Olivia?”
It suddenly dawned on him that his mother was also in the dark about their breakup, like everyone else. “No. I’m going by myself.”
“Do you think that’s wise, considering you just started a relationship?”
He should tell her the relationship was over. But not rightnow. He wanted to give Olivia the time she needed to break it to Bea and her friends. “She’s fine with me leaving for a while.”
“How long will you be gone?”
He shrugged. “Until I get back.”
“Kingston, this isn’t like you.” Irritation laced his mother’s tone. “You have responsibilities here.”
“Responsibilities I didn’t ask for. Or want. You just assumed I would say yes. This time I’m saying no. To all of it.” He stood.
“Kingston! Come back here!”
He ignored her and walked out the door. Eventually he’d have to apologize for walking out on her, but right nowhe never felt freer.
Chapter18
“He’s a handsome one, isn’t he? How do you know him?”
Olivia ignored Flo’s question and began checking in the large stack of children’s books that always showed up right before Tuesday’s youth class. There weren’t as many books as there were for toddler story time, since those parents usually checked out their limit of books and finished them in a week. But she had plenty to go through and little patience for Flo’s commentary, which had started the minute Kingston walked into the library.
Flo sighed as she watched him with the kids in the young-adult section. There were eight children between the ages of nine and twelve, split evenly between boys and girls, and they were seated at two round tables while Kingston stood in front of them and read a book about hurricanes and tornadoes, complete with sound effects and added weather trivia that most adults knew but kids didn’t.
Olivia continued checking in the books, trying to close herears to his resonant voice and engaging demeanor. This was the first time she’d witnessed the excellent rapport he had with children. Naturally he was good with them. He was good at everything. And it was starting to dawn on her that the only time she’d seen him stumble was when she was personally involved.
“Is he single?” Flo asked.
“Go shelve these.” Olivia pushed a stack of books in her direction.
Flo frowned at her sharp tone. “You’ve been grouchy for the past two days. What’s got your underwear in a clump?”
She shot Flo a hard look that had the older woman holding up her hands, then lifting her chin and grabbing the books. “Good thing RaeAnne’s on vacation,” she muttered as she walked away. “She doesn’t have to deal withthis.”
Olivia slumped, guilt gathering in her chest. She shouldn’t have snapped at Flo, and while the woman sometimes got on her nerves, it was usually only when she was trying to set Olivia up with her nephew, whom she’d found out yesterday had not only moved out of his parents’ house but also started a new job in IT management and was engaged to be married. “She’s a darling girl,” Flo had said the minute she’d arrived at work.“The wedding is in December.”
She got the distinct impression that Flo wanted to say, “You missed your chance.” Or maybe Olivia was projecting her own disillusionment. It didn’t matter, and good for Beau for starting a new chapter in his life.
The kids erupted in laughter, and Olivia fought to stay focused on her task. Unless she was in a meeting or on the phone, she always checked in the books that were returnedbefore story time. But it took everything in her not to look at or listen to Kingston. Even some of the mothers, who usually perused the stacks during the hour-long class, were sitting at the adjoining table. Probably drooling over him, just like Flo was. She didn’t dare look.
