Page 122 of Not Exactly a Small-Town Romance

No, no. Surely not.

But the doubts have crept in.

This is a fine time to be without Zachery. Who can I talk to about this?

I hear the truck rumbling up the drive and practically sprint out of the room, racing past the packed dining table and into the kitchen.

I close the door carefully, trying to make sure I leave it exactly as I found it, firmly closed but unlocked.

Then I barrel out of the kitchen, as if that matters, and slow my breathing to appear calm and pleasant as I head for the porch.

Because I am. Chill. Happy. I’ve learned nothing that matters.

But I’ll pay more attention.

Randy seems the same, other than there’s more ease when he leans in for a quick kiss before opening my door. But when I sit in the tall green truck that the whole family seems to share, I look longingly at the spot where Zachery’s Jaguar used to sit.

I’m in this on my own.

Everyone’s at the tree farm when we arrive. Carrie and Jed. Jack and his wife, Mary, who is done with her teaching duties for the summer. Gina. Even Grandmama sits in a lawn chair, watching them take down the tents.

“Time to undo everything we did,” Randy says.

But today, there’s no added “And we sure appreciate your help.” Not even a hint that maybe a paying customer at the homestead who has a regular job is going out of her way to be here.

It feels expected.

I’m being taken for granted.

Like family, I guess, but it isn’t sitting well with all the other discoveries.

Grandmama holds out her hand to me as I pass. “It’s Kelsey,” she says with a smile, and that warm feeling comes over me again. Of course they’re going to treat me like family. I got the matriarch stamp of approval.

“Good to see you, Grandmama,” I say.

“Why don’t you and Randy come to the cottage later for lunch,” she says. “I haven’t seen the two of you together, and I would like a chat.”

Okay, so the cottage exists.

Carrie rolls a long length of rope across her arm. “We were going to have them over to our house, but I suppose that can be tomorrow.” She stacks the coil onto a stack of the others that were holding down the tent flaps. “We have all the time in the world now, right?” She laughs as she shakes her head. “This was a lot!”

So their house exists, too. And she’s explained why everything seems topsy-turvy.

I overreacted.

“Of course,” I say to Carrie. “I’ll have to make a few calls at some point today, but I’m mostly free.” It might be time to set some boundaries.

Carrie dusts her hands off. “Grandmama tells us you’re a big-shot Hollywood moviemaker.”

This makes everyone pause, even Randy. I realize he and I have never talked about my job. Grandmama was the first person I told.

I guess I had secrets, too. Kettle, meet pot.

Jed slings a rolled-up floor tarp over his shoulder. “I thought you were from Alabama.”

“I am,” I say quickly, feeling the pierce of all the family’s gazes on me. “I grew up on a dairy farm outside Birmingham. Then I went to college in theater arts and became an assistant to a casting director.”

Gina seems excited by this. “What movies have you worked on? TheBarbiemovie? Did you cast Margot Robbie? Because I loved her in that.”

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