1022 Evergreen Place - Debbie Macomber [85]
Thinking about him made her tense. Without being too obvious about it, she got out her cell phone to see if there was a text message from Shaw, desperately hoping he’d answered her while she was in the meeting at the library.
He hadn’t.
No surprise there. She hadn’t heard from him since the night before, when she’d practically begged him to reply. Then his answer had been short and had basically said he was studying and she should leave him alone. She’d tossed and turned half the night.
“What would you like?” Kristen asked, breaking into Tanni’s thoughts.
It took her a moment to respond. “I’ll have a chai tea.”
“Me, too,” Kristen said,
Tanni rummaged in her purse for money.
“It’s on the house,” Adam said.
Kristen thanked Adam and when they’d been served she led the way to a table by the window. It was the same one where Tanni often used to sit with Shaw.
“That must happen to you a lot,” Tanni said, unable to hide her sarcasm.
“You mean getting stuff for free?”
“Yeah.”
She shrugged. “Sometimes.”
Tanni’s cell dinged, indicating she had a text message. In her effort to reach her cell, she nearly tumbled off the chair. When she saw that the message was from her brother, Nick, who’d stayed in Seattle for the summer, she wanted to weep with frustration. She became aware of Kristen watching her and quickly shoved the phone back in her purse.
“I wanted to tell you something,” Kristen said. “I know you don’t like me. I’m not sure why, but I can guess.”
Tanni doubted Kristen would understand her feelings, but she wasn’t going to argue. “Let me ask you something, okay?”
“Sure.” Kristen sounded eager to clear the air.
“Why did you volunteer? Are you doing it because your GPA stinks and you figure having this on your college application is going to help?”
“No.” Her denial was instantaneous and vehement.
“Then why?”
Kristen’s hand tightened around her drink. “I had trouble learning to read, too. I’m dyslexic, but when I first started school we lived in this really small town and they didn’t test me for it. I struggled for a long time before I caught on to the concept of reading. I wanted to help another child learn because if a volunteer hadn’t stepped in to help me, I might’ve turned out to be one of those functional illiterates Grace talked about in the meeting this afternoon.”
“You’re dyslexic?” Tanni found it hard to believe.
“I know you think I’m an airhead. But I’m not stupid. It’s just that I have a different way of learning than most people.”
“Oh.” Tanni felt immediately guilty. “I assumed your heart wasn’t really in this.”
“It is,” Kristen said with such conviction that Tanni would never doubt her again.
“What about you?” Kristen asked, then sipped at her creamy chai tea.
Tanni hesitated. The other girl had been honest with her. The least she could do was repay her in kind. “I need to get my mind off Shaw.”
“Shaw used to work here, didn’t he?”
She answered with a nod. “He’s attending the San Francisco Art Institute now.”
“Wow, that’s great.”
“For him it is.” Tanni, on the other hand, was stuck in Cedar Cove and would be for another year, if not longer. Before Shaw left, they’d promised never to let anything or anyone come between them. He hadn’t even been away three months and he was giving her the brush-off.
When he’d first gone to San Francisco, they’d been in constant communication. Now she was lucky if she heard from him three times a week. Whenever she did she was so happy; her behavior was downright pitiful. She hated her own reaction to his lack of contact as much as she hated what had happened between them.
“Not so good for you, right?” Kristen asked.
“You could say that.” Tanni was unable to hide the pain in her voice. “We used to text every hour…. Now I hardly hear from him. I just wish he’d say he wants to break up, you know. Instead, he’s killing me with this silence.”
“Guys usually don’t.”
“Don’t what?”