He'd shown up at quarter past nine on the nose and brought me a large chai from Witte's and a savory cheese pastry from the little bakery that had just opened at the corner of Quahog and Buttermilk.I'd put off tasting it till after the doctor appointment but now I wolfed it down in too few bites."I know.I just wish it was shorter.At least I don't need pins."That had been a very real concern at the ER but the swelling had been too bad to know for sure."Just an itchy cast and having to be really awkward getting dressed and grooming for the next month and a half."The tech at the doctor’s office had removed by pretty green cast and, after all the x-rays and poking and prodding, had replaced it with an even brighter green cast that didn’t feel as heavy and didn’t go all the way to my elbow like the last one had.
Heath eyed my outfit—a pair of soft-wash joggers in hot pink and a neon violet hoodie."Well, you're certainly eye catching."
"At least my shoes match my cast."
Heath smirked, driving us back towards Lester Cove.Replacing my phone had been easier this time than the last since I had my damaged one with me and the guy behind the counter could see it was not coming back from the dead without an expert medium and possibly a human sacrifice.The fact I'd also shelled out a ridiculous amount of money for insurance last time helped too, I'm sure.Heath had been amused by the fact I took almost an hour after replacing the actual phone to find the perfect case out of the options at the store, narrowing it down to a lime green one that went with my shoes or a sparkly black one that went with everything."At least there's that," he murmured, turning onto the slightly busy two-lane blacktop heading towards town, away from Malm's Corner.
"Can you drop me at the library?There's something I want to check out."
Heath darted a sideways glance at me before going around a moving van."Seriously?"
"Why are you acting surprised?I read."When he didn't say anything right away, I turned to stare at him, "Wait, are you trying to say you think I'm an airhead or something?Stereotyping me because I like fashion and I'm in entertainment and—"
"Calm down, Damien," he groaned."I just didn't know you were a library kind of guy.I just assumed you did e-books and ordered them online or something."He glanced at my phone."I mean, you've always got your phone on you.Half the time I've seen you around town, you've been making a video about something or taking pictures to post online."
Shit.That reminded me—it was content day, according to Rory's schedule for me.Another thing to pencil in after the library.Maybe I could do something about the pets?Or Bull's China Shop?I don't think I'd done anything on his shop yet.
"It's part of my job," I muttered."It's not like I don't have outside interests.Like..."The dark water of the cove came into view as we went around the curve on Coastline Road, a few sailboats and one of the wooden yachts dotting the gunmetal gray surface."Sailing.I've been thinking about learning."
Okay not really, but telling Heath that I was also very interested in who was smearing my name all over the place and why someone wants to frame me for arson probably wouldn't go well.
"Seriously?"he said again, this time more dubious than surprised."Sailing?"
"Oh my god, what now?Did you think I kept sailboats on my phone, too?"
"You just never really struck me as the type is all.Besides, didn't you mention you were afraid of deep water?"
I almost denied it before remembering a conversation we'd had one of the times we'd met for lunch over the summer.He'd brought up learning to SCUBA dive as a teenager and I said I'd tried it once but freaked out because of how deep I had to go.Which, in SCUBA terms, wasn't deep at all but for me, as a person?Yikes. "Well, maybe it's time I overcome it."
He hummed thoughtfully, slowing to take the turn into town via the old, rutted blacktop road everyone called Buster—as in kidney buster due to all the jouncing."I've got a little twenty-foot ketch I take out in the cove sometimes.I can show you the ropes."He snorted at his own joke."So to speak."
Crap, crap, crap.Now I have to actually do it?"When my arm's healed," I hedged.
He shrugged."Sounds good to me.Or we can wait till spring.Six weeks, it'll be wicked cold here and most out of towners don't like being out on the water when it's spittin' ice."He talked for a few more minutes about his ketch and how he'd always wanted a sloop before pulling to a stop in the semi-circular drive of the library."Here we go.Want me to wait around?I don't have to be at work for another hour."
He wanted me to say yes.I could tell—I'm not that oblivious.But I couldn't ask questions with Heath standing over my shoulder, so I politely demurred."I need to stretch my legs so I think I'll walk back to the house afterwards.But," I tempered my refusal, "if you'd like to come by on your break, you could share dinner with me."
Heath's disappointment flickered in his expression, but he nodded."Sure.You sure it won't be too late?My usual break's around seven."
"Hon, please.In LA time, seven is barely lunch."I winked, sliding from the car and giving him a small wave before heading to the front doors of Lester Cove Community Free Library.
#
ONE OF THE FIRST BIGscreen movies I ever did was one of those tear-jerker dog movies starring a golden retriever named Oodle.It was marketed as a coming-of-age flick but if you've been in the world for half a minute you know any movie starring a golden retriever and with the wordscoming of agein the promo means the dog dies and everyone cries a lot.I was Charlie, the younger brother of the main (human) character, Joey.The crux of my role was to be loud, demand Dad pay attention to me, and tell Charlie it wasn't fair he got a dog and I didn't.Oh, and to cry a lot while we all stood around Oodle.Fun fact: Most of the time you see a real dog in a movie, they have to CGI their tails and ears so they don’t look so damn happy.My most vivid memories of that movie were standing there, bawling my eyes out, while Oodle lay on his side and thumped his tail happily because he was the best boy ever and doing such a good job playing dead.With Nessie, the head librarian, giving me a stern glare over her glasses, I drew on every second of my role as Charlie and let my eyes fill with tears and my voice wobble as I said, "Well, honestly, I'm just trying to...to piece together Gerald Tubbs' last days.His death is such a shock and—" I paused, turning my face to dash my tears on my shoulder."I know we didn't get along but I feel sosadthat he died before we could make up, you know?It was one of my biggest hopes after running into him.I know he came by the library on Thursday morning and, well, I’d been meaning to meet him but just missed him.He sent a fax though and...”I sniffed extra hard.“I never got it.”
Nessie stared at me.I stared back, tears shining in my eyes, lower lip trembling.Think of Oodle.Think of Oodle.Wait, no, that dog was awesome.Okay, think of the gravitas of that big death scene where Joey discovers Oodle's lost his life trying to save them all from a rattlesnake that somehow ended up in suburban Rhode Island.
"That's a crock of—" she paused and glanced at her fellow librarian who was pretending not to listen at the other end of the intake desk."Well.It's malarkey is what it is.Now, I'm not gonna judge you for it but honestly, I really can't tell you anything other than he came in, sent a fax, and left."She shrugged."It’s none of my business who he sent it to.”
“There’s no way to find out?”
“Why?”
“I promised Ms.Sommers I’d try to find the last people he spoke with,” I extemporized, eyes smarting from all the fake tearing up.“She’s real torn up about everything too.Hardly able to leave the inn.”
Nessie’s glare was sharp enough to flay skin.“It’s not nice to lie.”
“She really is torn up about it!”
