AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He needed to be alone with his thoughts for a bit, and there was only one place in Miller Springs to do that.
CHAPTER17
KATE
There had been something up with Emile all day, and Kate couldn’t put her finger on what it was. She didn’t know him all that well, of course, but he was usually cocky and flirtatious, gossiping with customers and giving her sly looks throughout the day. He’d done his job today, but there’d been none of his usual verve. It was unsettling.
Her suspicions were only confirmed when he stumbled in late that evening, when the sun had already set. Kate was curled up on the sofa with her latest book club read, but she’d barely been able to concentrate all evening.
“Where have you been?” She didn’t mean the words to sound accusatory.
“Just down to the Cactus.”
“Were you on your own?” The Cactus was the only proper bar in town. Kate didn’t like the idea of Emile sitting and drinking alone. Or worse, not alone.
“Yeah, just me. Don’t worry, I only had a couple of beers.”
“I’m not worried about that.”
If anything, she was relieved that he hadn’t been accosted by one of the many women in town who were champing at the bit to bag a date with him. She didn’t think she should say that out loud, however.
“Look, I know that we’ve not really talked all that much about anything serious,” she continued, “but I’m a pretty good listener and it seems like you’ve got something on your mind.”
Kate indicated that he should sit next to her on the sofa, swinging her legs around to make room for him next to her. Emile hesitated before sinking down onto the soft blue suede and kicking his legs out in front of him. For a moment they both just looked at their legs next to each other on the couch. His seemed to stretch out for double the length of hers. His thighs were clad in their usual black denim, finished off with a pair of sneakers. Kate was wearing an old T-shirt and a pair of pajama shorts, her go-to after-work attire, and her legs and feet were bare.
“I like your nail varnish,” Emile said after a pause.
“Thank you.” Kate wiggled her toes. They were painted in rainbow brights. She couldn’t have her fingernails done because of the cafe but she liked to have splashes of color on her body at all times, even if no one ever saw.
They lapsed into silence.
“I was kicked out,” Emile blurted out. “By my family.”
Kate kept quiet, waiting for him to say more. This was the most that she had learned about him in weeks and she didn’t want to ruin the moment, sensing that there was more to come.
“I fucked up, and they told me to leave. I just didn’t think they would cut me out entirely, you know? This isn’t the first time I fucked up. Not by a long stretch. But this was obviously too much for them to take. I thought that I’d give it a few weeks and they’d cool off, and I could go back, but I’ve not heard anything from them at all. I know it’s a bit pathetic, a grown man pining after his family, but I didn’t realize that I’d messed up that bad that they’d never want to see me again.”
“It’s not pathetic.”
“It’s a bit pathetic.” Emile dropped his head onto the back of the couch. Kate hated seeing him like this.
“Wanting your family to love and accept you isn’t pathetic,” she assured him. “It’s what we all want. It’s what I wanted.”
Emile gave her a quizzical look.
“I ran away. When I was a teenager. My family and I… we never really got along. They had a very set idea of who they wanted me to be, and I hated it. I was always acting out.”
“You?”
“I know, it’s hard to believe now. I’ve grown up a lot. But I was pretty wild as a teenager. I would do anything that I knew would piss them off because even when I was trying to be good, it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t be pure and quiet and obedient enough for them. So I left.”
“They didn’t kick you out?”
“No, not in so many words. But they made their feelings perfectly clear.”
“Did you regret it?”
“So many times. They’re my family, after all. My parents. But then I built this life for myself here in Miller Springs, and I was so much happier. There was a woman called Edna who ran the cafe before me. She gave me a job and a place to live when I first arrived and then she left me the cafe when she died. She was more of a mother to me than my own ever was. I couldn’t go back to what they wanted for me. To be a housewife with a bunch of children. Never wear pants, always dresses and skirts. Never swear. Never drink. It was too much.”
