When the bill arrived, she grabbed her purse. She felt she should pay, since Kyle had been covering the cost of groceries. But he wouldn’t hear of it. He picked up the tab, took that picture he’d promised the manager, even lifted her into his truck so her feet wouldn’t get wet.
As they drove back, the wind whipped at the truck and the nearby trees, causing icy crystals of snow to click against the windshield almost like hail. Lourdes enjoyed watching the flakes fly at them or tumble to the ground in the beam of their headlights. She wasn’t dressed for bad weather, but she was plenty warm inside the cab.
By the time they reached Whiskey Creek, it was only ten, but on a weekday that was late enough that they could go through the center of town without feeling conspicuous. Kyle braked here and there to point out his friend’s photography studio, his other friend’s auto shop, his favorite restaurant—a diner called Just Like Mom’s. Little Mary’s, the bed-and-breakfast he’d recommended to her, could’ve been the subject of a Thomas Kinkade painting. Evergreen garland adorned the porch and the black wrought-iron fence that surrounded the property. A battery-powered candle flickered in every window, and a giant, ornate wreath hung on the door. Even the cemetery next door looked festive, thanks to the lacy branches of the leafless trees and the church beyond the sentry-like grave markers.
“I can see why you wouldn’t want to leave this place,” she commented as they rounded the park at the far end of town so he could show her the giant Christmas tree. “It’s something special.”
“It’s home,” he said simply.
She pointed at a vinyl sign flapping from the stoplight. She hadn’t noticed it earlier. “I’d forgotten that Whiskey Creek is one of the towns that host Victorian Days. Look, it starts this weekend.”
“We can go, if you want.”
“Be seen in public?”
“Why not? It’ll shore up what you told the Gold Country Gazette. Show Derrick that you’re really not sitting in some farmhouse alone and feeling hurt by what he’s done.”
“I’ve told him as much. I finally texted him back, fired him and requested that he leave me alone. I haven’t put out any feelers for a new manager yet, but I’m not ready for that. I’ll do it in January, when I’m further along with the songs I’m writing. Then maybe I can send a few samples and get someone based on the quality of my work, despite the downward spiral of my career.”
“Sounds like a smart plan. How’d Derrick take the news?”
“He wasn’t happy. Said I was an ungrateful bitch.”
“That should win you back.”
“Yeah, definitely not. But since he’s already angry, do you think I should make it worse by allowing people to get pictures of us that they could easily post on the internet?”
“I don’t see why you should closet yourself away and miss Christmas just because he’s angry. He’s the one who cheated, not you.”
And, if she had her guess, he was seeing more of Crystal instead of less. “I wish I knew why I wasn’t enough.”
“Don’t talk like that. You didn’t deserve what he did. There’s something wrong with him, not you.”
But it was hard not to feel that she must’ve fallen short in some way. “I suppose everyone who’s ever been cheated on feels inadequate.”
“You need to shake that off. And you need to go to Victorian Days.”
“Seeing or hearing about us being together might also provoke Noelle,” she warned. “Have you considered that?”
“There’s no reason to consider it. I won’t let what Noelle may or may not do dictate my actions.”
“So you’re issuing a challenge?”
She saw a flash of white teeth as he smiled. “Are you up for it?”