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Kobie beamed at me. “No one has ever paid this much attention when I’ve gone on one of my ramblings before.” Her eyes sparkled with the love she so obviously had for her hometown.
I gestured at the video playing on the computer screen. It looked like footage of one of the more recent festivals. “Anyone famous ever crop up at one of the festivals?”
“Oh yes.” Kobie’s expression grew serious as she leaned in. “In 2011, Justin Verlander and Kate Upton were at the festival for three whole hours.” She flipped through DVDs. “I haven’t gotten to that batch yet, but I’m sure Greg got plenty of footage of them.”
“That’s not necessary.” I waved her off. “I don’t want to interrupt your system here. I was just curious. To be honest, I heard some rumblings Axel Everett might show up at the festival.”
Kobie’s head shot up, and she let out a stilted laugh. “Where on earth did you hear a thing like that?”
Not a great sign. “Around…”
Her demeanor shifted from retro Disney princess to police interrogator. “Do you remember who, exactly, told you that?”
I shifted in my seat. “Sorry, no. I talked to so many shop owners yesterday, they all kind of blurred together.”
She let out a thoughtful noise and crossed her arms. “Regardless, that’s utter nonsense.”
“Right. Must have been idle gossip.” I’d struck a nerve. Axel Everett was in this town. I could almost taste it.
“I can tell you what you will find though: fun for the whole family.” She was obviously desperate to change focus. “If you want to get a real behind-the-scenes take on the festival, I’m heading up the planning committee this year. I could show you even more about what goes into making the festival happen, if that would help your article.” Her blue eyes glittered.
Even though she was stonewalling me when it came to Everett, her excitement was contagious. I didn’t have the heart to say no to her. Besides, how much time could it take? “I would love to.”
She clapped her hands. “Excellent. We’ve got lots of meetings coming up this week.” She switched out DVDs.
An image of a grinning Drew with his arm slung around a gorgeous redhead filled the screen. Seeing him happy in action took my breath away. The camera panned out to a larger crowd of people mingling around.
I crossed my arms while my stomach questioned whether I’d inadvertently eaten an entire jar of ghost peppers. Why did seeing him with her make me feel like this? “What’s this?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“That’s from the dedication of the new fire station. From six years ago.”
“Who’s the ginger?”
“Guinevere? She and Drew dated for years…before the accident.” Her eyes grew misty.
“What accident? What happened to him?”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t even be talking about him like this.” She shook her head. “He wouldn’t like it, and besides, that’s not why you’re here.”
Her words punched me in the gut. She was right. He wasn’t why I was here. These people in this town, they were his past and his future. I was not a part of his life.
Still, I couldn’t let go of that vision of him so relaxed and full of life. I’d misread him earlier in his garage. He hadn’t only been angry. There was more to it than that. He was wary. Like a wild animal that sized you up, deciding whether to run or attack.
He had that look you got when life flayed open your soul, burned away a chunk of it, and left it to scab over. The look you got when you were worried someone was about to discover how deep of a dark hole you were living in and pull you out of it before you were ready.
It had been so long since I’d seen that look in the mirror, I’d actually managed to forget what it looked like.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I stared at it for a moment before sending Josh’s mom to voicemail. Again.
“What happened to Drew? You mentioned an accident.”
Kobie pulled a tissue out of her dress pocket and wiped at her nose. “No.” She waved my question off. “That’s not my place. He prefers we don’t talk about it.”
“We?”
“The town. He had a bit of a public moment a few years ago and made it clear he didn’t want people talking about it. We had an emergency town meeting and collectively agreed not to discuss it anymore. We hoped if we respected his wishes, it would help him come around, eventually. Help him cope with things on his own terms, but…” She shrugged with a defeated look on her face.
“You had a town meeting to talk about a guy who didn’t want people all up in his business?” I shook my head. “This place is something else.”
Her eyes went wide. “We had good intentions. Please don’t think poorly of us. That’s how we operate here. We help one another out.”
The poor thing looked at me like I was about to write a smear piece on her town based on this one little tidbit. Kobie Scott obviously loved this town with all her heart. “I’m sure you meant well.” I patted her hand. “And you won’t tell me anything about his accident?”
She wore a grave expression. “I can’t. It’s his story to share, not mine.”
I wasn’t getting anywhere on the Axel Everett front or satisfying my curiosity about Drew. It was frustrating as hell. But I had to admit, a tiny sliver of me respected it.
For such a gossipy small town, Kelly Bay knew how to keep tight lips when it mattered most.
