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It helped when I moved from my father’s three-floor Jeffersonian where I’d once lived with my wife. Jane and I had spent the honeymoon period of our marriage in this adorable cottage before my dad insisted we take over the care of the Walcott family home. He’d semi-retired then, spending a few months here in Oak Valley and a few months in Florida.
I still maintained the responsibility of the big house, as Landon and I referred to it, but proceeded to buy a two-story Colonial within the city limits. Changing my residence has had the benefit of a much shorter commute to work as well as not being totally saturated in my memories of Jane.
Win-win.
Rather than answering my brother, I decide to turn the tables on him. The whole touchy-feely thing isn’t in our DNA, anyway.
“What about you? You getting back out there since Cindy or Wendy or Lindy got sick of your shit?” His old girlfriend’s name is Mindy, which I full well remember. And Landon knows I remember. But I can give as good as I get. And truth be told, we both like it this way.
“Yes, as a matter of fact. I go out on the regular. Now, it’s your turn, whether with Trina or someone else.” He traipses toward the door, peeks over to make sure the other two men present aren’t looking and flips me off. I hide my hand behind the register as I return the crude gesture.
Then, we mouth simultaneously. “Later, loser.”
The irritating part of our exchange is that now I can’t stop thinking about dating Trina. Those feelings I couldn’t really identify are screaming loud and clear now.
Three
Trina
I kick my sewing machine into gear, following the pattern I drew out myself. This sort of work clears my head, which I’m in desperate need of at the moment. Because despite skipping lunch and dodging his calls and texts for the past four days, I can’t quit thinking about Harrison. It’s true I’ve been in love with him for a while, but I’ve been able to live with the feeling of emptiness because we’re friends. But lately, everything feels intense and much harder to push aside.
I hear the bell on the door and am happy to push my thoughts of Harrison aside. When I get to the front, I groan and hope I’d managed to keep the sound low enough that Ms. McManus didn’t hear me. Truthfully, I had no idea why she was even here. She never bought a thing from my shop.
“Ms. McManus, hello there. How are you today?”
“Oh, I’m doing fine, I suppose.” She looks around and I can tell she’s a little uneasy. This is not normal for the bossy child care center owner, who just happened to also be one of the town gossips.
So what’s going on here, I wonder. “What brings you in this afternoon? Can I help you find something?”
“Well, to be honest, Trina, I’m not really here to shop,” she replies and puts on a confident smile.
Oh shit. What’s coming now?“Is that so? Well, what can I help with? I don’t really have time to get involved in the school activities with how busy things are here, you know. And well, since I don’t have kids…”
She waves her hand dismissively. “It’s not that, though we can always use the help, you know.” She chuckles and then quickly regains her composure. “I was just wondering if you might possibly be free tonight.”
She sounds so matter-of-fact that I’m not sure I’ve heard her correctly. “Today? I mean, tonight?” I need a distraction so I go open the shop front door to let the spring breeze in. I need some fresh air in the worse way. I stand by the door and hope Madeleine McManus will join me so I can get her to hurry on her way. I don’t know where this is going, but I’m pretty certain I won’t like where it ends up.
Thankfully, she comes to stand next to me. “Yes, tonight. My nephew is in town and I thought it might be nice for him to have someone to spend time with closer to his own age. He’s from down on the coast. Panhandle area.”
“Well, um…”
“His name’s Jim. Has a house almost on the beach. Nice place.” She looks pleased to share about her nephew’s success. “Owns his own business, just like you. There would be so much for you to talk about!”
Oh, no. I have no desire to go on a date with anyone’s nephew and Ms. McManus’ nephew in particular. I have to think fast. Any excuse will do.
“Oh darn, I can’t,” I finally say out loud. “I already have plans.”
She looks confused, but definitely not thwarted. “Really? Plans? I didn’t expect that. I thought your Saturday nights were mostly reserved for sewing and the like.”
I’m shocked at the shade she’s throwing on me. Assuming I wouldn’t have plans is so rude. But then again, she’s a main cog in the rumor mill, so maybe she knows the truth better than I realize.
“Actually, I do have plans. W-with my boyfriend.” Oops. Where did that last part come from? And then I make it worse. “I’m cooking dinner for him at my place.”
“Boyfriend?” she says, sounding stunned. I can’t really blame her. I’m stunned, too. “I haven’t heard you’re seeing someone.”
“Um, well, we’ve tried to keep things a little quiet. It’s a bit of a new relationship.” I hope I sound convincing.
And I know what I’ve just done. Madeleine McManus has one of the loudest mouths in town. Soon everyone will know I’m seeing someone, even though it’s a lie. Annoyed I couldn’t think of a better excuse, I smile brightly to hopefully support my story.
