Page 1 of Keeping You
Chapter One
Callie
I’m late for work. Again. It’s becoming a habit, but I’m powerless to stop it.
My arms strain under the weight of the donation box from the monthly book drive that’s awkwardly balanced in my arms as I rush from my car toward the side entrance of Cupid’s Creek Public Library. The cardboard edges dig into my forearms, threatening to give out before I reach the door. Rachel, my assistant librarian, is going to give me hell. I guess it’s a good thing I’m the boss and she’s my new best friend.
Some days, I wonder if driving extra miles for breakfast and carrying other people’s discarded books into a building that sometimes feels more like home than my actual house is all there is. Life in Cupid’s Creek moves like molasses, slow and sweet on the surface, but underneath, it sticks to everything, making it hard to move forward or back.
Just as I reach for the door handle while performing an impressive juggling act with the box and my coveted bag of blueberry muffins, something across Main Street catches my eye, and I freeze, my cargo nearly slipping from my grip.
Harper Caldwell is standing outside her family’s bakery, giving the main window a thorough wash until it’s gleaming inthe early morning sunlight. She’s wearing that gorgeous yellow sundress I gave her for her birthday last year. She looks like she doesn’t have a care in the world.
As if she hadn’t completely destroyed mine eight months ago.
My throat tightens. At least tears no longer threaten whenever I see her. The stages of grief work for friendships, too, I suppose. Denial quickly turned into depression some time ago and stuck around for a while, but I’ve finally managed to shift into anger mode.
Friends since before we started kindergarten, we grew up doing everything together. Swimming lessons. Dance lessons. Homework. Hell, I spent more time at her house than I did at my own. Harper’s grandmother taught me to bake, or tried to. We shared our hopes, fears, and dreams during countless sleepovers, huddled under blankets while watching scary movies our parents had forbidden. We scrapbooked our wedding themes and imagined what our future husbands would look like.
We promised to always be friends.
Oh God, there’s Kirk, sneaking up behind her. How the hell did I miss him?
While I watch, unable to move or tear my eyes away, his hands find her waist in a playful tickle before pulling her into a hug. The familiarity of his actions twists something deep in my gut. For a long moment, all I can do is stare at them, my feet glued to the ground as she spins in his arms and beams up at him like he’s her sun.
The betrayal I thought I’d plowed through is apparently still as fresh as a dozen buttery croissants straight out of the bakery’s oven. Not far behind that reaction, however, come a few others. Pain. Hurt. Sadness. And finally, anger again. I can deal with anger.
Harper claimed they only got together after Kirk and I broke up. But I suspected he was cheating on me long before that. Never in a million years did I imagine it would be with my best friend. Since then, they’ve been flaunting it for the whole town to see.
It’s like watching someone burn your favorite books while smiling and telling you they’re just keeping you warm.
Dragging my gaze away, I push through the door and head straight to my office in the back, where I set my load down with more force than necessary on my desk. The thud echoes through the room.
“That you, Callie?” Rachel’s voice calls out, probably from behind a shelf of Young Adult books.
Thank God for Rachel. A New Yorker who moved to Cupid’s Creek and married a local rancher, she’s become my right hand at the library. After working at the Bluebonnet Cafe when she first arrived in town, she loves helping people, but wanted something less demanding while she finishes out her first pregnancy. Additionally, she shares my deep love of reading. Or perhaps she just had sore feet.
“Sorry, I’m late,” I yell back, taking a deep breath to compose myself before we come face to face. “Had to drive to Juniper for breakfast.”
Rachel appears in the doorway, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a pair of black-rimmed glasses perched on the end of her nose. Some days, I can’t tell if she truly needs them to see or if Travis goes for the sexy librarian look. With that baby bump starting to show, I bet the whole package drives him wild.
“You know, you could get your muffins at the bakery. Right across the street.” She eyes me knowingly.
“They’re not as good,” I lie. We both know that’s not the reason. The bakery, just like the Blue Bonnet, is a Cupid’s Creek staple and part of my childhood. As are the women who runthem. If the café hadn’t suffered a kitchen fire last week and they were still cleaning up, I would have stopped there for my breakfast. But since I couldn’t, and no way am I stepping foot inside the bakery, I had no choice but to drive to the next town over.
While I nibble on a muffin, Rachel and I discuss our plans for the day and set our priorities. By the time I make my way to the front desk, I’m not surprised to see Martha Jenkins and her sidekick Gloria Sheffield already hovering near the new releases section. They’re not here to check out books; they never are. They’re here to see who comes into the library today so they can decide where to station their eavesdropping ears. But we love them regardless of their tendency to gossip.
“Good morning, Callie, dear,” Martha coos, her eyes gleaming with that look that tells me she’s just bursting to say something. And given the gleam in her eye, it’s not going to make my day.
I glance up at the wall clock. It’s not even eight-thirty.
“Did you see what’s happening across the street? The nerve of those two, carrying on like that in broad daylight. It’s shameful, it is.”
I busy myself organizing the return cart that I didn’t get to yesterday, and force as much sunshine into my voice as I can muster. “I didn’t notice.”
“Well, I certainly won’t be buying my pies there anymore,” Gloria chimes in as she sidles up to me and pats my arm sympathetically. “Loyalty means something in Cupid’s Creek.”
Gloria’s speaking as though Harper is a newbie in town. The Caldwells have been here almost as long as my family.
