Page 25 of Keeping Secrets

"Maybe it’s an easy fix," Travis said weakly.

Scot shook his head and looked away.

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"Absolutely not." Scot gathered up his things and retreated to his office.

Travis was still sitting at the table, looking over his notes for trivia night, when Nick walked in the front door.

"What are you doing here, man? It’s barely lunchtime." Nick had never been more cheerful than he was now, living an idyllic life in Pelican Point with the woman he loved.

Travis felt another stab of annoyance. If it weren’t for Nick, Travis wouldn’t be waking up at three in the morning in a cold sweat, terrified about what might be coming. Meanwhile, Nick seemed to have forgotten Adam entirely. Just a few weeks ago, he’d been obsessed. Out of sight, out of mind, apparently.

He took a deep breath and reined in his anger. Nick was a good person. He had only ever wanted to protect people, to stop Adam from hurting more innocent girls the way that he had hurt Keely. And it wasn’t Nick’s fault that Travis had gotten involved. That was on him. Nick had even tried to hide his reason for coming to Pelican Point for a while, but Travis had weaseled his way into his plans.

So no, this wasn’t on Nick. And Travis wouldn’t do either of them the disservice of pretending like it was.

"You okay, man?" Nick was frowning at him. He had waited too long to answer, and it took another second to dredge up Nick’s question.

"I came in early to help Scot with the trivia questions." A half-truth, at best. "I’m going to run the next trivia night."

"Man, he must be in bad shape if he’s handing that off."

"His mind is still sharp as ever," Travis said defensively. "And he’s going to see a doctor next week."

"Good. That’s good."

"Why are you here?"

"Just picking up some lunch for me and the girls."

"The girls?" Travis repeated stupidly.

"Chloe and Keely are home cooking up a storm, recipe testing for that big CPR event this weekend. They worked right through lunch, and none of the food is actually ready yet, so I called in an order for some burgers."

"Keely’s going to the CPR thing?" Travis had bought a ticket already – Nat had badgered him into it – but now he reconsidered. It was exhausting to be in the same place as Keely and act indifferent, worse still to encourage her when she spoke to him. He didn’t know how to act around her anymore, and he didn’t need one more thing to worry about.

"Well, yeah," Nick was saying. "She and Chloe are catering."

"Right." Travis took in his friend’s smile, all joy and pride. He took a deep breath and shelved his own concerns. Nick had earned this peace and happiness. He wasn’t going to ruin it.

"That’s my order," Nick said as two bags came out of the kitchen. "I’m gonna go ahead and run it home while the food’s still warm. We’ll catch up soon, okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

"All right brother, see you later." Nick gave him a jaunty wave on his way out the door.

"Later," Travis repeated in a monotone as the door swung closed.

CHAPTER 8

For her first day on the job, Keely opted for a comfortable pair of jeans, soft leather shoes, and a simple blouse with ruffled sleeves. She tied her long hair back and didn’t bother with makeup. Professional yet comfortable, that was the goal.

She still had a surfeit of cupcakes from the recipes that she had tested out the past few days for the Community Property Renovations fundraiser. The final cakes were already in the fridge, ready to be layered with ice cream for the big event the next day. But the cupcakes needed to go; she had eaten more than enough already.

She whipped up the simple vanilla frosting that would go with the variety of cake flavors she had tested. The cupcakes turned out gorgeous, swirls of white dotted with vanilla beans. She loaded them into one of the cake containers that she had purchased for the event and set off for work at a high-speed walk.

It was a cool winter’s day with a clear blue sky and the seemingly omnipresent wind that traveled down the coast with such force. Keely’s new hat kept her ears warm and her hair in place; she took it off just before she stepped inside the library doors.

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