She was older, maybe in her forties, wearing leopard print. A lot of leopard print. And a bright red hat. Just looking at her hurt my eyes.
“Kerry.” Theo’s voice was tight. “You’re here late in the evening.”
“Oh yes, I got tired of trying on new outfits over at Grace’s shop, so I decided a little caffeine would do me well. I have a meeting for the town’s beautification tonight and I need all the energy I can get to convince Henry to let me add geraniums to the flower lineup.”
Theo kept his eyes on the woman in front of him, not me. I knew this was my chance to head back to my table.
Unfortunately, I was too late.
“And who are you?” Kerry turned to me, eyes wide as if I were an interesting story. “I haven’t seen you in town before. Might you be the famous Piper that I’ve been waiting to meet?”
“Oh no,” Theo muttered under his breath.
I racked my brain for any information on Kerry and remembered that she was the town gossip that Theo had blackmailed.
“Yes, I am. Your name’s Kerry, right?”
Her eyes lit up. “So you’ve heard of me.”
“You commented on my Facebook post,” I reminded her. “I think you said something about being excited to meet me.”
“That’s right, you’ve already joined the Facebook group! You’re ahead of the game.”
“I heard the Facebook group was really interesting, so I wanted to make sure I knew all of the gossip.”
“Finally, someone who wants to know all of what’s going on in this town.” She laughed. “Everyone else is so worried about feelings. I mean, who needs those, right?”
“I’m more of a bystander. I do care about people’s feelings.”
She sighed. “Well, I suppose you couldn’t be perfect, but I can work with this. You’re gorgeous, by the way. Where did you get that top?”
I looked down. I was in one of my tighter fitting T-shirts withtiny flowers printed on it. On bad days, I would go for something long sleeved to protect my skin from being touched. But this was one of the days where I felt like I could do something a little braver.
I had a lot of items in my closet that I never wore because I was afraid of people touching me if I showed any skin. It was time to change that.
“I think this is from some online retailer. That’s where I get most of my clothes.”
“It’s so cute. And what kind of material is it?”
That was a question that I could answer easily, but the words never made it out of my mouth because Kerry was reaching over to me. My entire body tensed, but before I completely froze up, I knew I had to move.
I was stuck between letting Kerry touch me and Theo, who was standing behind me.
And I chose Theo.
Jolting back, my shoulder hit his, and he reacted immediately. In seconds, I had the space that I needed, and his eyes went wide as if he knew what that meant to me.
But Kerry was still staring at me expectantly. Her arm was still outstretched and her expression was slowly morphing into curiosity.
“You know, I have a new syrup for you to try. It’s peppermint, but it’s a different brand.” Theo’s voice broke her concentration.
“You better have the old one still. I like that one far more than anything new.”
“This one’s higher quality. It’s French, I think. You might like it.”
Kerry’s eyes went wide and she followed Theo over to the counter. They talked about coffee for a good minute, but her gaze cut to me a few times, and I knew she hadn’t forgottenabout me. Still, I ran to my table, hoping she wouldn’t bother me anymore.
The second I sat, though, I was distracted.
