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Outsiders? Ouch.
He was right of course. She didn’t belong in Camden. Maybe she didn’t belong anywhere. Her eyes welled up, so she nodded quickly and got out of there.
~ * ~
Derek sat at his desk in the station staring at his computer trying to read through some inter-jurisdictional memos. He couldn’t focus or stop bouncing his pencil off the desk.
Did he make Kylie Martin cry? What had he been thinking? Well, to be fair, he’d been thinking that she was showing her true snobbish colours again.
But he couldn’t keep going at her like that. She was helping him in a big way, and he’d been giving her nothing but grief. If he wasn’t careful, she would up and leave him with everything, and he would have it coming. He should probably apologize.
His mood only got abruptly worse when the station door opened, and Bette McDonald swept into his office.
“Hello, Officer Carson.” She sat in the chair across from his desk with an expression that could sour milk.
“Councilwoman.” He nodded. “What can I do for you today? Don’t tell me Leroy’s goats have been in your garden again.”
“No, thankfully,” she said. “The old penny-pincher finally fixed his gate properly.”
“That’s good to hear,” Derek said. “What brings you to the station today?”
“Derek, I wanted to have a word,” she said, and his urge to fidget grew stronger. “Now, I heard about this fair you’re planning. And while it sounds like a lovely idea, I don’t remember seeing a petition to the council for the noise and traffic permits.”
He tried to maintain a calm appearance, but his stomach plummeted at her words. How on earth could he have forgotten about the permits? Of course they would need them to run the fair. Bette would never allow it. The fair, and their plans for public education, were completely dashed. He had to remain calm and get this woman out of his office so he could formulate a plan. Or tear his hair out. Whichever came first.
“We’re still working on funding.” He tried his best to sound like none of this was a surprise. “I was going to petition the council at Tuesday’s meeting.”
“That’s cutting it awfully close,” Bette said with atsk-tsk.
“Yes, I know. It was a very last-minute plan to do something nice for the community,” he lied.
“Well, I wanted to be sure you were doing everything by the book.” She slowly stood.
He wasn’t sure why, but he stood as well.
“Not to worry, Councilwoman,” he said. “It’s all in hand. And thank you for the asparagus. Cate made it into a lovely casserole that even Charlie liked.”
She nodded curtly and left.
He sank back into his chair and ran his hands through his hair. He was about to pick up his phone to call Pete when he heard the station door opening again. Afraid it was Bette returning to say more, he stood and braced himself, but Kylie’s face came around the corner, and Derek winced.
“Hey.” She took the seat Bette had vacated. “Can we talk?”
“I’m sorry—”
“We both need—”
“Sorry.” He sat. “You go first.”
Kylie took a deep breath. “You want me out of town, I get it. The best way to make it happen is to let me do my job with the fair. I can’t focus on that if I’m walking on eggshells around you. Do you think you could possibly forget that you hate me for a couple of weeks, and we can get this thing done?”
His stomach dropped. Did he hate her? No. But she thought he did, and that was worse. He leaned forward in his chair and rubbed his hands through his hair. He might, in fact, go bald by the time the fair was over.
“I don’t hate you,” he started then paused for a moment before saying, “I’m sorry I’ve been so hard on you.”
“Why?”
“Why am I sorry?”
