Love in a Nutshell - Janet Evanovich [45]
“I’ve brought you some stuff I thought you might be able to use,” he called.
She opened the bathroom door enough to reach out her arm and grab a plastic sack. “Thanks. That was really nice of you.”
Though, again, it still could have been self-preservation. Keene’s Harbor remained over an hour away, and her stomach still sounded demonically possessed. Kate riffled through the bag. Antihistamines, as promised, plus antacids.
So much for Matt Culhane ever being tempted by her again, she thought. She was gross—inside and outside. Arms wrapped around her bloated midsection, she regarded her spotty reflection in the bathroom mirror. This was what she wanted, right? Not to have to worry about any hot and messy sexual entanglement that took place outside the privacy of her imagination. Now that she faced that reality, the answer came back an edgy maybe not.
“Can I bring you anything else?” Matt called.
“No, thanks.”
After antacids, what was left?
* * *
MATT BELIEVED in choosing his moments and in letting others choose theirs. When Kate decided to stick on her bug glasses and pretend to sleep most of the way back to Keene’s Harbor, he’d respected that choice.
“Hey,” he said when she finally stirred.
“Hi.”
“Feeling any better?”
“Yes.”
“Are you up to having a conversation longer than one syllable?”
“No,” Kate said.
“All the same, can I ask you something? Did that happen to you the last time you drank beer?”
She didn’t answer immediately. “Kind of, I think. I mean, I sort of recalled discomfort, but it wasn’t this bad.”
“In that case, I’m sorry. I never would have asked you to try it if I’d known this was what happened to you.”
“My fault. Even with that vague memory, I shouldn’t have risked it, except…”
“Except what?”
“Except I also did it because I wanted to, and because it seemed important to you. I mean, this is what you do. You’ve got great reason to be proud of all you’ve accomplished. Then, here I come and turn up my nose. I wanted to be … I don’t know…”
“Nice?”
She sighed. “Yes, nice. You deserve that.”
“So do you, Kate.”
“I know, but it’s been so long. It’s like I can hardly recognize it. That long without nice in your life … and I don’t mean that I was abused or anything … it was just the absence of nice. But, anyway, you forget how it feels.”
He didn’t know where she’d been, other than geographically, before she’d landed in Keene’s Harbor. All he knew was that he liked it when she was happy.
“Okay,” he said. “So, nice it is. And I’m moving you to the taproom on Monday. I need to have you someplace where you can keep an eye on Jerry when I’m not there. You were right. He takes off, and I don’t know what he’s up to. And Laila’s going to be out a minimum of this next week with her ankle sprain.”
“I can do that,” she said.
TEN
Early Monday morning, Kate pulled into Depot Brewing’s parking lot. She was exactly on time for the training session Matt wanted to get in before the rest of the staff arrived. Matt, however, was not. With not a heck of a lot else to do, Kate exited her Jeep and meandered toward the building’s front entry. She smiled down at the mosaic of Chuck and allowed herself a moment of yearning for Stella. She missed her dog every single day.
Pushing doggie thoughts from her mind, she glanced into the Depot’s interior through the narrow window to the right of the front door. The large potted tree in the entry lay on its side. Kate moved closer and peered into the lobby. Opposite the tree, the low table that usually held brochures had been upended. She could have bought one tipped thing as an accident, but not both.
Running on sheer instinct, she pulled on the door’s large bronze handle. The door swung outward. And because she was terminally curious, she stepped inside.
“Hello?” She paused to bring the tree upright. “Anyone here?”
Apparently not. She set the table on its feet, scooped up the brochures and replaced them. She also picked up a