Part 3
“You what?!”
Kathryn winced. “I invited Nick here for coffee. Tomorrow night.”
Andi watched her best friend wipe down the last of the tables, scrubbing as if her life depended on it. “Was that wise?”
“Wise?” Kathryn snorted. “No, it wasn’t ‘wise’. It was quite probably the most incredibly stupid thing I’ve ever done in my life.” She sank into the bistro chair, leaning her chin in her hands and sighing. Again.
“So don’t show up,” Andi shrugged. “Blow him off, and when he gets here I’ll play dumb and that’s the end of that.”
“I can’t do that, Andi.”
“And why not?”
“Because,” she whispered. “I want to see him.”
“Kate-”
“Kathryn.”
“Whatever.” Andi tugged on Kathryn’s sweater until she turned around, the look in her eyes betraying the confidence she was trying desperately to cling to. “Come here,” she said, opening her arms and folding Kathryn to her chest.
“It’s just coffee, Andi,” she insisted. “A nice visit and then he’ll be out of my life.”
“Sweetheart, Nick will never be out of your life and you know it. One of these days-”
“One of these days I’ll figure out why I ever hired you,” she sniffed. Pulling away from Andi’s embrace she grabbed a napkin to wipe away traces of moisture that had gathered in her eyes.
“You really should see a doctor about your allergies, you know,” Andi said with a knowing grin.
“The fog always makes it worse. Go on, you need to be getting home before Mike gets worried.”
“Kathryn-”
“See you tomorrow,” Kathryn said, slipping behind the counter and flipping the main light switch. The only remaining light was cast from a street lamp that shone through the main window, eerily haloed by the rolling fog that covered the coastline.
Andi sighed one last time, pulling her coat up under her chin and shoving a stocking cap over her short blonde hair. “Night Katy.”
“Katy. Katy…”
The voice resounded in her head as Kathryn turned the heavy brass key in the lock and pulled the shade over the nine-paned window in the oak door. Closed. The shop was officially closed, and the next time it opened – the next time it opened, he would be there.
Oh dear god in heaven, what had she done?
“Katy? Katy May?” Nick laughed at the indignant look on the auburn-haired pixie’s face as she pulled herself up to her full regal height of five-foot-nothing.
“That’s KATHRYN to you,” she insisted, turning up her nose and rearranging the egg salad sandwiches for the umpteenth time.
“Aww, come on Katy May, ‘Kathryn’ is so stuffy. And you’re NOT so stuffy.” Nick reached out and tucked an errant strand of curls behind her ear, taking mental note of the way she shivered when his fingers brushed her ear.
Kathryn ignored the last comment and tried one last time to reason with the current bane of her existence. “Katy sounds like a little girl’s name.”
“Aww, I dunno,” he grinned. “You kinda ‘look’ like a little girl,” he began, quickly changing his tune as she bristled. “You’re petite,” he tried quickly. “I like my girls petite.”
“Nice try, Carter, but no dice. Best head on back to make up, your nose is getting shiny.” With her head held high she’d spun around and huffed away, leaving Nick chuckling in her wake.
“Katy May Halloway,” he’d whispered. “Big name for a little girl.” Laughing, he’d indeed headed for the make up trailer, never knowing that Kathryn had heard every word, heard every word and locked them away in her heart.
Taking one last look around the shop, Kathryn opened the door to the private stairwell and wearily climbed to the top dreading what the morning would bring.