Toward the end of our meal, Braithway walked over to our table. I stood up and shook his hand. He gave a nod to Meredith and Addison.
“Good evening, sir,” I said.
Meredith added, “Thank you for the wine, sir.”
“Oh, you both deserve it. I’ve seen all the work you’ve put into your projects. Speaking of, William, I’d like for you to join me at the board meeting in a few weeks. Did Marla already tell you?”
“Yes, sir,” I said. “I plan to be there.”
“Yes, I’d like to hear an update about your work.” Braithway pushed his lips forward.
“Of course, sir,” I said. Braithway excused himself and Meredith gave me a wide-eyed look that screamed,See? I told you. I nodded.
When I returned home to Creekstone from Atlanta that Monday afternoon, Rita asked for my help. Kit’s birthday was later that week. Rita and Kit’s best friend Veronica were planning a surprise birthday party for her on Thursday, the day before her actual birthday. Rita knew that we were usually together on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, so she wanted me to be in charge of bringing Kit to The Pub at eight p.m. on the day of the surprise party.
The night of the party, I waited around for Kit by the front of the library like I usually did. When she came out to lock the door, she smiled warmly at me.
“Ready to go?” she asked. I felt myself smile a smile far too goofy for the moment. I shoved a hand in my pocket nervously. The weather was starting to warm up, so Kit was wearing one of her cute, short librarian dresses. It was black with small white flowers and a little lace around the collar. It had delicate pearl white buttons down the front, and it was flowy and tight in all the right places. She had her hair pulled back in her regular braid. I wanted to tell her how beautiful she looked, but I didn’t.
“Want to go to the pub? Get a bite to eat? Play some pool?” I asked, as nonchalantly as possible.
“Um, yeah.” Kit agreed and added, “But I found the best Christmas episodes ofThe Officefor us to watch later.”
I texted Rita to let her know we were walking toward The Pub. I wanted to give Rita as much time as possible, so as we walked, I said, “Hey, want to see something I’ve been working on?”
Kit looked up with wide eyes. “Sure, you never talk about work with me.”
I chuckled. “You come to the weekly Chamber lunch. Everything I’m doing gets talked about there.”
“Oh, well, at a high non-personal level.” Kit scoffed. “I just meant, you’ve never, like, shown me anything one-on-one, or you know…confided in me about work.”
“You’re right,” I admitted tilting my head to the side. “I thought you hated my job, so I just never mention it.” The truth was I wanted to tell Kit everything, but it felt too risky. First, she thought my job was annoying and that the work I was doing was fundamentally going to ruin Creekstone. And second, I didn’t want to lose any edge the company might have in negotiating a land sale with her family.
“I don’t hate your job,” Kit said, pushing her lips forward in a little pout. She added softly. “In fact, I don’t hate anything about you.”
“Are you sure?” I shoved my hands in my pockets as we walked. “You’ve been pretty clear that you don’t like my work.”
“Yeah,” Kit shrugged. She looked up at the sky as we walked, as if she was trying to think of the right way to explain it. “I’m just protective of Creekstone…and my family…and I guess of myself.”
“Well, now that I’ve spent a lot of time with you in Creekstone, I see that all those things are really special and worth protecting,” I said. I couldn’t quite tell because it was already dark outside, but I thought I saw Kit blush.
I stopped. “Okay, this is it.”
Kit stopped next to me and turned to look at the empty storefront we were standing in front of. “The old shoe repair place? I think it closed down last year.”
“That’s right,” I nodded. “We acquired the building, and we partnered with the local college and the chamber to start an entrepreneurship center and business incubator.”
Kit looked unimpressed. “That’s cool.”
“Well, you told me before that no one sticks around because there isn’t anything for a young person to do, and, well, we crunched the numbers and confirmed that it just doesn’t make sense for a business to stay here. So, we developed this program that will help new businesses form and give them tax incentives if they stay here in Creekstone, specifically if they base their businesses on the east side of Creekstone to help redevelop that area. I’m working with a few professors at the business school to offer night classes here at the entrepreneurship center for folks who want to learn more about running their own businesses.”
I could tell I was getting into the weeds, and maybe I was losing her. “Anyway, we reached a milestone with the planning of the programs this morning, and I felt kind of pumped and just wanted to tell someone, I guess.” I looked down at the ground and took a deep breath.
Kit kept her eyes on the dark storefront, then nodded slowly as if she understood. Without looking at me, she reached out and took my hand. My heart started to pound. Kit hadn’t let me get close enough to touch her since New Year’s Eve. I licked my lips nervously. I laced my fingers into hers. Her hands were soft and smooth. I was instantly transported to the night we kissed. I remembered how amazing it felt to have her hands on my face and neck as I kissed her soft lips.
Her voice brought me back. She turned to me and said, “I’m so proud of you, William. Thanks for sharing this with me. Could I promote it at the library?”
My heart pounded, and I took a deep breath. I ran my free hand through my hair. “Yeah, definitely.”
