16. Katrina

CHAPTER 16

KATRINA

T here was no denying the fact that I wanted to make a good impression on Rory. After tracking him down at the pool, seducing him in the men’s locker room, and then inviting him over tonight to my apartment, there was no reason for me to pretend like I didn’t have feelings for the guy. He was something else, and I couldn’t get him out of my mind.

That’s why when I got back home, I started tidying up both my space and myself. I cleaned with what few supplies I found underneath Al’s kitchen sink, then took some time to wash my hair, shave my legs, and light a few candles so that the place would smell less like cleaning solution.

About an hour before Rory said he would arrive, my phone made a sound I wasn’t used to hearing. I had a notification from one of my old email addresses. I didn’t even know I was still logged into that account, but thankfully, it didn’t ask me for a password when I went to see what was in my inbox. I figured it would just be some outdated junk mail, but it turned out to be something far more interesting. It was a notification from a search engine reporting website.

My heart skipped a beat.

Holy shit.

I read through the email, scanning the text for anything important or relevant. The email included text from an article about a bookstore on the West Coast, the owner of which made an effort to deliver books all over town to make sure everyone had access to the gift of reading. It wasn’t until I got to the bottom of the email that I saw why this had been sent to me.

A few years ago, before I decided that I was going to come back to the States and start over, I created an account on a website that would track online data and inform me if anyone going by my younger sister’s name ever appeared in the news. At that point in time, I wasn’t sure I would ever see my sister again, and this was the only way I thought I could safely keep track of what was going on in her life without putting us in danger.

Over the years, I never received any correspondence from the website and completely forgot about setting up the account in the first place.

Until now.

I re-read the name that was both highlighted and bolded in the last sentence of the article just to make sure that I wasn’t seeing things.

Along with her coworker and best friend, Diana Pearl, store owner Georgie has been able to expand her delivery range, allowing customers in neighboring counties to receive books from her charming little shop.

I took a screenshot of the email but didn’t need to do any further research. The article had been published on the tourism website for Silverleaf, meaning I knew exactly where Diana was living. Or at least where she had been living.

When I checked the date for the post, it was over a year ago. I didn’t realize the website would be operating on such a lag, and I had no way of knowing whether or not Diana was still even on the West Coast. Without any way to contact her, along with not even knowing whether or not I wanted to contact her, there wasn’t much that I could do with this information at the moment.

By the time I put my phone down, I realized just how quickly my heart rate had sped up. I needed to get some fresh air and calm myself down before Rory arrived. I stepped outside and was surprised to see Missy sitting on the steps leading up to Al’s back porch by herself.

When Missy noticed me walking over, she didn’t return my smile.

“Hey,” I said, adding a wave for extra politeness. “Nice night, huh?”

“Sure,” she said noncommittal.

“Where’s Al?”

“He’s inside showering,” Missy said. “I had to make a phone call, so I stepped out.”

“Ah. Do you need some privacy?” I stopped a few paces from the patio stairs, thinking this must be the reason she wasn’t happy to see me. I must’ve interrupted something important. “I can go back inside.”

“That’s okay. I just hung up.”

“... Okay. Well, I don’t want to bother you anyway. I just wanted to let Al know that I’m having a friend over tonight.”

“A friend?”

“Yeah, Rory. You might’ve met him one night at the bar. He was there with a group of friends. Tall, dark hair.”

She shook her head. “Doesn’t ring any bells. But I’ll let Al know.”

“Okay, thanks.” I tried smiling at her once again, and this time, she smiled back, but it was noticeably strained. “Er—uh—have a good night.”

“Hang on a second.” She pushed herself up from the step and walked over to me. “I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

“What’s up?” My voice cracked a little, and I realized Missy, although small in stature, could be kind of intimidating when she wanted to.

“Well, I was talking to Al earlier today,” she said. “And he was telling me a little more about how you showed up in town out of the blue and how he doesn’t know much about your past.”

“What can I say? I’m a bit of a private person.”

“Which I understand—trust me. It’s just that the more he talked about you, the more I got the impression that you’re keeping secrets. Big ones. Is that true?”

I wasn’t sure what shocked me more—her bluntness or the fact that she was right. I cleared my throat and tried to laugh through the tension. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just because I don’t tell every stranger my life story right after meeting them, that doesn’t mean I’m hiding anything big. I could also point out that you haven’t been very upfront about your past as well, but you don’t hear me accusing you of hiding something.”

Missy cocked her head to the side. “Yes, but you see, that’s exactly why I don’t believe you. Because I’ve known a lot of secret keepers in my day, a lot of shady characters. And because I also play things close to the chest, so I know when someone is being evasive. And look—” She put her hands up in the air— “as long as you don’t do anything that might hurt Al, I really don’t care. Whatever the real reason you chose to come to Solara Bay of all places, that’s your business. I’m not here to blow up your new life. I’m only bringing this up because I wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”

I took a step back, noticing that she had advanced on me a little while talking. “And what page would that be?”

She looked me dead in the eye. “I want you to stay away from Al.”

“Stay away from him?” I laughed. “How could I do that? He’s my boss. I live on his property.”

“Don’t remind me,” she said bitterly. “He’s already given you enough charity, and it’s obvious to everyone except Al himself that you’re using him.”

“I’m not using anyone!”

“Ha, yeah, right.” She lowered her voice. “I’m sure Al probably told you about his daughter, and you knew that he would take pity on a young girl in need of a supportive male presence in her life. I not only know the game you’re playing, but I’m better at it.”

“What—” I balked. “What game? What daughter? Al doesn’t have any kids.”

She furrowed her brow. “You’re really going to play dumb? Act like you don’t know that his daughter passed away when she was a teenager?” Missy scoffed. “Shameless. That’s what you are. And I’m onto you. You better watch your back.”

So much new information had just been thrown at me in a short period, and while I struggled to process even a piece of it, Al came out of the sliding patio door and called out to us. “You ladies hungry?” he asked. “I was thinking about firing up the grill and making burgers.”

“Honey, I made reservations at that restaurant in town, remember?” Missy called back. She then gave me one last warning look before turning around and running up the steps, acting like nothing out of the ordinary had happened between us. “Plus, Katrina just came by to tell us she’s having company over tonight, so we should let her have fun with her friend.”

“Alright then,” said Al. I took a few steps back so that I could see him standing on the porch. He smiled down at me, and I resisted the urge to tell him what a psycho his girlfriend was. As uncomfortable as Missy had just made me, I couldn’t blame her for being suspicious. She was wrong about me taking advantage of Al’s kindness, but I could see where she got the idea from. Not to mention, she was right that I’d been keeping secrets—just not ones that had anything to do with Al.

I figured I would just have to show her that she could trust me over time and meanwhile let her play the role of the overprotective girlfriend.

“Have a good time at dinner,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t sound too strained.

“Thanks,” Al said with a big smile on his face. “We will!”