“What?” she asked. Then she shook her head. “No!”
“Are you sure? Cohabiting is a big adjustment.”
“No, I’m happy, really,” she said. “I just—”
Lindsey’s voice trailed off. She wasn’t sure how to tell him that every time they were with Beth and Aidan and the wedding thing came up, she felt like it was hanging over them. Were they headed toward marriage, did she want to be, and more specifically, did he want to be?
“Just what?”
“You know what? You’re right,” she said. She turned and began to close down her computer, saving her Excel file before she logged out. “We promised to meet them, and we should go. Talking about the wedding isn’t that bad. I’m sure we’ll have a great time.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me everything?” he asked.
“Me?” She put her hands over her heart in a pose of innocence.
“Yes, you,” he said. “I’m onto you, Lindsey Norris. You’re keeping something from me, and I’m going to figure out what it is.”
“Is that so?” she asked.
“Count on it,” he said. “In the meantime, come here.”
He stepped around the desk and opened his arms. Lindsey moved toward him without hesitation. On a day that had been stressful and crazy, this felt right. She leaned against him and absorbed his strength and his warmth. When she stepped back to study his handsome face, he kissed her, and everything was right with her world.
“Hey, you two.” Beth appeared in the doorway. “No canoodling now. We’re late for dinner, and look what I brought—my wedding album. I just got it from the photographer.” She held up a navy blue leather album and did a jig. “This is going to be so great!”
Sully put his arm around Lindsey and leaned in close and asked, “Should I call ahead and tell Ian to have our drinks waiting for us?”
“He might want to make them doubles,” Lindsey replied out of the corner of her mouth. Then she forced a big smile and followed her friend out of the library to the restaurant across the street.
There were some perks to not having to talk during dinner. Lindsey was able to enjoy every bite of her broiled fillet of sole while Beth did a sort of story time with her wedding album. Each page was presented with the recounting of the events by both Beth and Aidan, while Sully and Lindsey smiled and nodded. A few times, Lindsey caught Sully’s speculative gaze on her, and she gave him a quick wink to let him know she was all right.
They were just finishing dessert when Sully’s sister, Mary, who owned the Blue Anchor with her husband, Ian, strode across the restaurant to their table. She held the baby out to Sully and said, “Uncle Sully, I need you. I’ve got an emergency in the kitchen. Can you hold Josie for a bit?”
“Absolutely,” he said.
Sully dropped his fork and reached for the baby. Lindsey watched as his big man hands gently cradled the wee one, bringing her right to his shoulder for a snuggle. It hit her, not for the first time, that he was really good with babies. He should be a father. How could she stay with him, knowing that she wasn’t really mom material but he’d be amazing dad material? How could she deny a child that?
“Thanks, bro,” Mary said. She adjusted a spit rag on his shoulder and ran her hand lovingly over Josie’s head. “I’ll be right back.”
Then she turned around and dashed toward the kitchen doors, looking like she was about to open a can of whoop ass.
“I feel sorry for whoever is on the other side of that door,” Aidan said.
Sully grinned. “Me, too—Mary is not one to tolerate nonsense.” He lifted the baby up so they were nose to nose. “Did you hear that? When you get into trouble with your mama, you come find me. Uncle Sully has your back, Josie-girl.”
Lindsey smiled and then glanced across the table. Beth looked like hearts were going to start pouring out of her eyes. Without taking her eyes off Josie, Beth reached out for Aidan’s hand and slid her fingers into his. Aidan cast his wife an indulgent look, and it hit Lindsey that they would likely be next. In fact, they were probably trying already. She reached for her wine and took a healthy swig.
Marriage. Babies. She had been engaged before. Why did it all seem as if it was coming at her so fast? She put her glass down. She had to get out of here. She needed to be somewhere quiet and contained, where she knew who she was and what she was doing. A place like the library, where everything was under her control and the emotional risk was minimal.
Lindsey pulled her phone out of her bag and glanced at the screen, willing anyone anywhere to need something from her at this moment. There was a message from Emma Plewicki. She had the barcodes. Excellent.
“Duty calls,” she said. She pushed back her chair and rose to her feet. “I am so sorry, but I have to go.”
“What? Why?” Beth asked.
“I have a request for information from Emma that can’t wait,” she said.
Sully rocked forward to rise to his feet, as did Aidan, but Lindsey waved her hand to indicate they should stay seated.
She leaned around the baby and kissed Sully on the cheek, taking in Josie’s fresh baby scent as she did. Okay, so she could see the appeal there. She leaned back and studied the tiny girl making time with her man. She put her hand on Josie’s head, marveling at the downy soft feel of her hair.
The baby squinched up her little face, turned bright red, and let out an ear-piercing wail. Lindsey dropped her hand as if the baby had suddenly sprouted fangs. Sully rose and began to rock the baby, gently patting her back.
Lindsey glanced at Beth and Aidan to see whether they’d registered how much the baby disliked her. Clearly, she was not kid friendly. She glanced at Sully and found his bright blue gaze watching her. He tipped his head to the side and gave her a small smile.
“It’s not personal, you know,” he said. “She’s probably just gassy.”
“I know,” she said. She returned his small smile with a rueful look. “I’m just more used to Heathcliff, who likes to share when he’s feeling air bloated.”
Sully laughed. “Go, but call me later.”
“I will,” she said. She glanced at Aidan and Beth, who were watching intently as Sully unleashed his baby magic and began to calm Josie down. She waved at them. “Bye!”
Lindsey was halfway across the restaurant when a toss of bright blond hair caught her eye. She turned, and there was Kayla Manning sitting at the bar. Although she had no idea what she was going to say, the opportunity to talk to the other woman was too good to pass up.
Lindsey maneuvered herself next to Kayla’s stool and leaned in so that it looked as if she were ordering a drink. Kayla gave her a cursory glance but then turned to the man on her other side. Lindsey pursed her lips. Since Kayla wasn’t a library user, Lindsey’s usual conversation opener of mentioning a favorite author was useless. She racked her brain. She had nothing.
Ian Murphy, Mary’s husband and owner of the Blue Anchor, saw her and hustled down the bar toward her.
“Lindsey, what can I get for you?” he asked.
“Um,” Lindsey stalled. She glanced at Kayla, hoping to get her attention. The woman was oblivious. “Did I tell you my car was stolen?”
“What?” Ian shook his head like a dog shaking off water. “But you don’t own—”
“I know!” Lindsey said. She raised her voice to drown him out. “I parked it in front of my place, and then it was gone. Can you imagine that? My car—stolen!”
Kayla swiveled on her stool toward Lindsey. “Excuse me, did you say your car had been stolen?”
“Yes,” Lindsey said. She glanced at Ian, who was looking at her as if he thought she was having a mental breakdown. “Water, please.”
“Sure,” Ian said. “Because clearly alcohol is not a good plan for you right now.”
Lindsey gave him a blank smile and made a shooing gesture with her hand.
“I can’t believe your car was stolen,” Kayla said.
“I couldn’t believe it either,” Lindsey said.
Okay, so technically her car had been stolen five years ago, when she lived in New Haven, so it wasn’t a total lie. Besides, how else could she get Kayla to talk to her?
“Hi, I’m Kayla.”
“Lindsey.”
“My car was stolen, too,” Kayla said.
“No way,” Lindsey said.
“Way, and the police found it with a dead guy in it. Can you believe that?”
“No. Oh, man, I don’t want my car back with a dead man in it.” Lindsey hoped she looked more surprised than she felt.
“Right?” Kayla said. She shook her head. “This has been one hell of a week.”
Lindsey noticed that the small pitcher of margaritas in front of Kayla was mostly empty and she was swaying on her seat. While Kayla wasn’t out-and-out slurring, she was definitely well lubricated by the tequila coursing through her system.
“And it gets worse. I had just made the final payment on it,” Kayla said. “Can you believe it? What are the odds?”
Lindsey blinked at her. So finding the dead guy in it wasn’t the worst part? Interesting.
“Yeah, that’s a tough break,” Lindsey said. “I had a pair of very expensive shoes in my car.” This was true. “Designer black patent pumps with bows on the toes. So cute, and they took those, too.”
“No!” Kayla said. “That’s just rude. I mean a car is one thing, but taking a girl’s kicks? That’s low.”
Even five years later, Lindsey still mourned the shoes. Kayla’s feminine outrage was a balm on the old hurt.
“How about you? Was anything stolen out of your car?” Lindsey asked.
“No,” Kayla said. “I don’t keep anything in my car.”
“That’s smart,” Lindsey said. “I had shoes, makeup, workout equipment.” She glanced at Kayla to see whether this was jogging anything in her memory. “Books, oh, and my favorite CDs.”
Kayla took a sip of her margarita and gave her a pitying look. “Maybe if they find your car, you’ll get it all back.”
“Especially the CDs,” Lindsey said. She studied the other woman. “They didn’t belong to me, you know—I checked them out from the library.”
Kayla blinked at her. Suddenly, Lindsey felt like she was on a one-woman mission to get this woman to check out her local library.
“You use the library, don’t you?” Lindsey asked.
“I can’t say that I do, no,” Kayla said. “I’m not much of a reader. I think books are a big yawn.”
It was like a knife to the chest, and Lindsey would have staggered, but she didn’t want to let Kayla know how much her feelings about the library hurt. Lindsey had met book-resistant people before, and she tried not to judge, but really, the library offered so much more.
“Well, how about movies?” she asked. “They have loads of movies.”
“I download movies,” Kayla said. “It’s so much easier than having to load a DVD into a player—know what I’m saying?”
Lindsey felt desperate to find something at the library for this woman to be excited about. “How about programs? Did you know there are all sorts of clubs that meet at the library?”
“No.”
“There’s a craft club, chess club, cooking club, a travel club.” Lindsey ticked off the different clubs on her fingers.
Kayla frowned. She looked Lindsey up and down and said, “No offense, but you’re boring me.”
She turned away, adjusting herself on her seat and tossing her blond hair in a clear dismissal of Lindsey and her advocacy of the library.
Ian pushed a glass of ice water at Lindsey. The look he gave her was one of pure pity.
“Well,” he said.
“Don’t say it,” she said.
“Say what?” he asked. His innocent look didn’t fool her one bit.
“Good boy,” she said. She downed the water and pushed the glass of ice back at him. The brain freeze when it hit almost took her out at the knees, but she refused to let it show. Instead, she turned and exited the restaurant, tucking what was left of her dignity into her purse as she went.
Lindsey hurried back to her office. The library was still open. Paula was manning the front desk while Ann Marie oversaw the reference area. They both glanced at Lindsey as she came dashing into the building.
“Silly me, forgot something,” she said.
Paula smiled and nodded, but Ann Marie gave Lindsey a speculative look. Having two young boys who were notorious mischief makers, Ann Marie had a sixth sense for malarkey. Lindsey didn’t linger for questioning but closed her office door and fired up her desktop.
She logged into the circulation module and then opened her phone to see the list of barcode numbers Emma had forwarded to her. Since each item in the library had its own barcode, this should be a simple matter of looking up the item by barcode and seeing who had it checked out. Then they would know who had left materials in Kayla Manning’s car. Of course, there was still the question of why their items were in her car, but that would have to wait until they had a name. The bigger concern was whether they had anything to do with the hit-and-run driver. Could they identify him? It was a big leap, but Lindsey was hopeful.
She yawned and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was seven o’clock, and the big meal she had just consumed was making her sleepy. She felt her head bob as the weight of sleep pulled it down while she waited for the circulation database to open. Her desktop computer was getting pretty old, and while the slowness usually didn’t bother her, right now she was feeling tired and impatient.
Coffee would help. Coffee always helped. She left her computer to continue its process and went to the break room to see whether there was any coffee in the community pot. There was but it was cold. Lindsey didn’t care. She didn’t care how old it was either. The only thing she cared about was that she could have some right now.
She found her I Like Big Books mug sitting rim-side down in the drying rack by the sink. She poured the remainder of the cold coffee in and popped it into the microwave. While she waited, she scrubbed out the coffee pot and left it to dry in the rack. Ann Marie had taped up a sign that read, Wash your own dishes. Your mom doesn’t work here. There were water spots on the sign and it had started to fade, but it was effective, as no dishes were ever left in the sink.
She was just leaving the break room with her reheated beverage when she heard an earsplitting squeal of tires coming from outside the library. Several patrons glanced toward the large windows that looked out onto the street, and Lindsey joined them. She saw a red muscle car, possibly a Camaro, roaring down the street.
She didn’t recognize the car and wondered whether a teen from a nearby town had gotten hold of their parents’ car keys and decided to rip up the pavement in a town where they wouldn’t be recognized. It was now fully dark, and the headlights of the car sliced through the night with a menace that made the hair on the back of Lindsey’s neck stand on end.
“What’s going on?” she asked her staff as she left the window and hurried to the front desk.
“No idea,” Paula said. “But it looks like someone decided to go for a joyride through the center of town.”
Pop pop pop.
Lindsey jumped, and hot coffee spilled over her fingers and dripped onto the carpet. She and Paula exchanged shocked expressions.
“Were those gunshots?” Paula asked.
“Everyone get down!” Sully ordered as he dashed into the building with his shoulders hunched as if bracing for a hit.