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Chapter Ten
Darlin’?
The word sent a sharp knife slicing through Kaylee’s gut.
Her earlier assumptions must have been correct. That kiss and the familiarity between Luke and Marnie certainly suggested why the woman might have intimate knowledge of the man’s favorite breakfast cereal.
He turned to her, his arm still around the other woman. “Kaylee, you remember Marnie? I think you all met at the grocery store the other day.”
Kaylee nodded, unable to find her voice. Her throat felt thick, and she swallowed at the bile rising there.
“Nice to see you again,” Marnie said, her friendly smile turning to one of concern. “Here, let me take that for you.” She reached for the box she was holding, but Kaylee took a step back, her hands gripping the corners so tightly the cardboard was crinkling.
“Hey, are you okay?” Luke took a step toward her. “You look a little pale.”
She shook her head. “Um…yes…no…I’m…is there a bathroom?”
Luke pointed to a door behind her.
She pushed the box onto the empty counter and fled through the door. A hallway lay on the other side, and she hurried down it, Gladys trotting along at her heels. Her cheeks were burning, and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. She needed to splash her face with water. Or maybe dunk her whole head. She’d made a fool of herself, standing there stammering like an idiot when Luke introduced her to the woman who must be his girlfriend.
She racked her brain trying to remember what he’d said when she’d asked him about Marnie. It seemed like his answers were vague. All she remembered was him saying they’d known each other a long time. But she hadn’t specifically asked him if he was involved with anyone.
A water fountain stood against the wall. She stopped to take a drink and greedily gulped at the cool liquid. It felt wonderful on her parched throat. Wetting her hand, she pressed it to her heated forehead as she pushed through the door at the end of the hall.
Except it wasn’t a bathroom. It was some sort of pantry or stockroom. The walls on one side were filled with shelves of canned and dry goods and the shelves on the other side held paper products like plates and paper towels.
Oh geez. She couldn’t even do that right. How hard was it to find the bathroom? She balled her hands into fists and pressed them to her mouth. Squeezing her eyes against the tears that threatened, she held back a scream of frustration.
What was wrong with her? She felt like such an idiot. Had it been so long since she’d been out among people that she completely mistook Luke’s attention and somehow turned it into something romantic? Just because shewroteromance didn’t mean that it was in the cards for her.
And just because a handsome guy was nice to her didn’t mean he had romantic feelings for her. What was she thinking? Of course Luke had a girlfriend. Why wouldn’t he? Look at the guy. He was so dang good-looking it almost hurt to look at him.
Sure, he was kind of broody, but he was also funny and sweet and nice to old ladies. There had to be a long line of women scrambling for Luke’s attention.
Why would a guy like that ever be interested in someone like her? She may have been pretending to be more outgoing than she really was the past few days, but no amount of cheerful conversation could disguise the awkward nerdy woman with frizzy hair and the evidence of too many M&M’s and too many hours sitting at a desk on her ample hips.
How had she let herself get caught up in the idea that helikedher? Even desired her? She was so angry with herself, she wanted to stomp her feet and kick and scream and throw things. The shelf next to her held several rows of paper towels, and she grabbed a roll and hurled it at the wall behind her. It hit a patch of wall next to the door and fell harmlessly to the ground, but the act of throwing it had felt amazing.
She grabbed another roll and chucked it at the wall. Gladys let out a little yip and raced to the fallen roll to retrieve it. The dog ran around it, opening and closing her mouth as she tried to get her jaw around the large roll.
Kaylee wasn’t finished. She grabbed two more rolls, one in each hand and heaved them toward the wall.
Just as the rolls left her hands, the door swung open, and Luke walked in. He deftly caught the first roll, but the second hit him square in the chest, and he let out anoofas the roll dropped to the floor.
Kaylee’s hands fluttered to her mouth. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.” Luke must have followed her in. Her chin dropped to her chest. Could this night get any more embarrassing?
“No worries,” he said, rubbing his chest where the launched paper goods had nailed him. “I’m okay, but I wasn’t sure if you were. I thought I’d better check on you. But you weren’t in the bathroom. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she snapped, her harsh tone more out of embarrassment than anger.
“You sure?” He peered around at the paper towels on the floor. “Because from the looks of things, it seems you’re either upset about something or you came in here and had to fend off an attack from the Brawny man or the quicker picker-upper.” He leaned down to pick up a few of the scattered rolls then crossed to where she stood and placed them back on the shelves.
Warmth spread up her neck and heated her cheeks. Why did he have to follow her?
“I told you, I’m fine. Really.” She stared down at her hands where she had them clasped together in front of her stomach. “You don’t have to worry about me. You can go back to yourgirlfriend.”
“Mygirlfriend?” He furrowed his brow then shook his head. “You meanMarnie? She’s not my girlfriend.”
