Then they honed in.
And they honed in on a woman I knew. She was the librarian in town. She went to see Dominic and Dominic declared that her hair was the third best head of hair in Carnal behind Lauren Jackson’s and my own (though, I wondered if he was being nice, still, he said it like he meant it). It was a thick, shining sheet of real auburn, dark, hints and highlights of red and rust, it was gorgeous. And with her pale skin, bright blue eyes, fantastic cheekbones and that hair, she was extremely pretty.
But she was a total librarian. To my recollection, I’d seen her four times, twice at the salon, once at La-La Land and once at the grocery store and each time she was in a dress, nice, stylish, hinting at her figure which was curvy and sweet but by no means showing off or doing anything to get even a little attention. And this was because she was shy, super shy. When you were talking to her, she often didn’t meet your eyes, she smiled in a way you could swear it was an allusion (which, incidentally, I thought was cool) and she had a melodic voice that was nevertheless very quiet, like a librarian’s voice should be.
And her name was Faye. Faye Goodknight.
Really, that was her name. Faye Goodknight.
Totally awesome name.
And just then, as my eyes honed in on her, she was staring at Chace Keaton.
No, not staring at him, she was gazing at him longingly.
Hmm. I liked that.
Then I watched her body jerk, her eyes cut to me, feeling mine on her. But before I could smile, her face flamed and she looked away.
Totally shy.
I chanced a glance at Chace. He had an open file folder on the table beside him, head bent to it, pen scribbling on it, plate set aside, finished eating but not done with what he was doing.
A very pretty woman who was into him had been staring at him and he didn’t know she existed.
I didn’t like that.
His wife had recently died but still, he didn’t like her and eventually he had to get back up on that horse.
The waitress came, took my order and when I was done, movement caught my eye and I watched Faye carrying her bag of takeaway coming my way to pass me to go to the door.
“Hey, Faye,” I called when she got close, her eyes tipped up, skimmed through me and she lifted her hand to tuck a shining, sheath of hair behind her ear.
“Uh, hey, Lexie,” she murmured then hurried by me.
I lost sight of her and was going to turn to watch her go but for some reason my eyes went to Chace and my body went still.
He was staring after Faye. I knew it. And he not only knew she existed, he really knew she existed.
And the expression on his face hurt to witness.
I’d never seen anything like that before but I figured it would be what a starving man looked like when he saw a plate of bread in front of him but he was too weak and it was too far for him to get to, he’d never make it so he was going to waste away without trying.
He wasn’t even going to reach.
Yes, that was what his expression looked like.
I knew it because I’d never seen that expression on my face but I felt that feeling for weeks when Ty and I were apart.
I tore my eyes from him, caught the eyes of the waitress, she tipped up her chin, finished refilling the coffee cup she was filling and came to me.
“Somethin’ else you need?” she asked.
“Yes, um… do you know Faye Goodknight?”
“Uh, yeah. Known her since she was about three. Lived here all her life, same’s me.”
“Is she married?”
The waitress, whose nameplate said Poppy, burst out laughing.
I waited for her to be done but I did it with a smile so she wouldn’t think I was rude.
Then she quit laughing and said, “No, hon, Faye ain’t married. Reason she’s a librarian, she lives in a book… all the time. Life goes on around her, she has no clue. Head in the clouds, rest a’ her wrapped in a cocoon. Don’t know if she’s ever even dated.”
That was just plain weird.
Therefore I pointed out this weirdness. “But, that’s weird. She’s very pretty.”
“Yup,” Poppy agreed.
“So, you would think…” I started to deduce then quit and asked quietly, “Did something happen to her?”
Poppy’s brows went up. “To Faye?”
I nodded.
She shook her head. “Nope. No way. Nothin’ ever happens to Faye. Not one thing. Some folks are just that way. She’s always been quiet. She’s always liked fantasy worlds better’n real ones. Just her way. She’s a sweet little thing. Comes from a good family she’s close to, she’s just…” Poppy shrugged, “Faye.”