Home to Whiskey Creek (Whiskey Creek #4)(58)
Author: Brenda Novak

She assumed Noah would be there, which meant she had to decline. “I’m having a little trouble keeping the restaurant staffed right now. Darlene needed to take today off, and I’m not sure she’ll be back tomorrow.” Or ever, if they couldn’t come to some accord. “You’d better not plan on me.”

“It’ll be going until one or so. Maybe you can drop by for a few minutes on your way home.”

“I’ll try,” she promised. “Are you sure I can’t get you a cup of coffee or something?”

He slid into the booth she’d indicated earlier. “Will you come talk to me while I drink it?”

* * *

Although Addy knew there were people who’d argue with her, she didn’t find Ted nearly as handsome as Noah. He didn’t seem as good-natured, either. Addy could tell it in the stiffness of his bearing. While Noah was open and trusting and eager to sample all the world had to offer—as if he believed he could never get hurt—Ted showed more restraint. He knew life had some sharp corners. And although he kept himself on a tight leash, she sensed that he had a temper.

Still, she liked him. And she admired his many talents. While he’d been student body president, Eureka High had done more to help local charities than the Rotary Club and Sisters for a Better Whiskey Creek combined. Ted was a natural leader. After he’d been voted Most Likely to Become a Politician in high school, Addy had always imagined he’d be mayor someday. Maybe he’d run when Noah’s father retired….

He laughed when she told him what she saw in his future. “I doubt I’ll ever get into politics,” he said.

“But it’s not really politics. Not here. It’s more like a popularity contest. And you’re one of the most popular people I know.”

“It’d be a lot of work. I’d have to save the rest of the historic buildings, figure out a way to clean up the leftover tailings from the mines, expand the park downtown, create a new source of revenue for the museum. The list goes on.”

She grinned. “In other words, you’d make it a lot of work.” Just like he’d done with the position of student body president. What high school senior expected to accomplish the goals he’d set for himself? “You’re a chronic high-achiever.”

From there the conversation segued into what had been going on in Whiskey Creek while she was away. He caught her up on everything Gran might’ve missed, especially among his friends. There were more details on the renovation and name change of the B and B owned by Eve Harmon and her family. The discovery of Cheyenne’s true identity. The scare Callie Vanetta had given them when her liver stopped working last summer. They even discussed Kyle and Noelle’s brief marriage and the rumor that she’d aborted Kyle’s baby without asking him. Then Ted wanted to know all about her and what she’d been doing for the past thirteen years.

Pretty soon Addy was enjoying herself so much she almost forgot there were certain things she couldn’t mention—like the name of her ex-husband or the restaurant where she used to work. Noah had shown interest in acquiring both pieces of information, and while she didn’t think he’d go to any great amount of work to ferret out the details of her past, she didn’t want to drop them in his lap. She couldn’t allow her life here and the life she’d known in Davis to overlap. She hadn’t told many people about the rape. But she had told the man she’d eventually married. She’d visited the therapist who’d helped her get past the rape for a “refresher” before saying “I do” and Clyde had joined her for a few sessions.

Even if someone confronted him, Addy doubted he’d give her away. But their relationship hadn’t ended particularly well. She wasn’t convinced she could count on his discretion, especially if he were to encounter Noah. When she’d found out about Clyde and his waitress girlfriend, she’d told him she’d never really loved him, anyway, that Noah was the only man she’d ever wanted with her whole heart. Considering how hard he’d taken that, she wasn’t completely sure Clyde would forgo the opportunity to exact revenge.

“Have you ever been married?” she asked.

Steam rose from his cup as he poured himself more coffee. “No.”

“Engaged?”

“Not yet.”

“Would you like to get married?”

“Isn’t it a bit soon for you to propose?”

She laughed. “That did sound like a proposal.”

“I’d like a family, with the right person,” he said. “You?”

“I’ve always wanted two or three kids. But…I can’t see that happening.”

“Because…”

“I don’t plan on marrying again.” She’d never felt more helpless and cornered—more vulnerable—than when she’d been Mrs. Clyde Kingsdale. Why put herself in a similar position?

“Considering how your ex behaved, I can understand why,” he said.

She’d told him about the cheating. But tonight she realized that wasn’t all that had split them up. With Clyde, she’d never felt the kind of excitement she’d experienced last Sunday with Noah. But accepting her lack of emotional commitment meant she also had to accept partial responsibility for the failed marriage. “It might have been different, better, if I’d been in love.”

His cup clicked on its saucer. “Why’d you marry him if you didn’t love him?”

“I guess if you don’t really love someone, you sort of…limit your liability.”

“You were protecting yourself?”

“To a point. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I wasn’t willing to go all in, if that makes sense.”

“Sometimes that’s not something you can control.”

“It sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”

“I am.”

“What happened?”

“She got away.”

Did he mean Sophia? The girl he’d dated in high school? Or someone else? She doubted he’d tell her, so she didn’t ask.

He took a sip of coffee. “Didn’t you used to have a thing for Noah?”

She rolled her eyes. “How’d you guess? Was it that I drooled whenever he walked by? That I went red as a tomato and began to stammer if he deigned to talk to me? Or was it that I just ‘happened’ to be wherever I might run into him?”

Chuckling, Ted slid lower in his seat. “I wouldn’t be too embarrassed if I were you. You weren’t the only one.”