Chapter Three

 

* KELSEY *

 

It was six p.m., and I was back at the library even though I technically hadn’t been scheduled to return after leaving two hours earlier. I’d been planning to spend my evening running a few errands and then relaxing at home, but I couldn’t bear to go home alone right now. I definitely wasn’t going to be relaxing any time soon. I was hoping that doing some more work on the library shelving would take my mind off of whom I’d just met.

 No such luck. I felt like a complete mess of conflicting emotions.

Luke Foster was here on Driftwood Island. Luke Foster. He was one of my favorite authors, and one of the most famous authors in the world. So what was he doing renting a beach house on Driftwood Island? Sure, Driftwood Island’s resort was quickly becoming a go-to resort for wealthy vacationers. But Luke wasn’t staying at the resort. And he was mixing with the locals an awful lot, which almost none of the tourists did. None of this made sense.

And what really didn’t make sense was the way my feelings for him were completely out of control. Ever since I’d stormed out of the bar last night, I’d been trying and failing to think about anything other than him. I’d been angry at Ruby all day for no real reason. It wasn’t her fault that she was better-looking than me, and that all the guys liked her better. And it’s not like she had deliberately tried to steal his attention away. All she’d done was sit down at the table.

Still, it stung that for the first time in ages I’d actually been interested in a guy—and he’d actually seemed interested in me—and Ruby had changed all of that just by showing up.

Not that it mattered now. Now that I knew who the mystery guy actually was, I knew that I didn’t actually have a chance with him. Luke might have been flirting with me at the bar for a bit, but a rich, famous author like him was never going to fall for a small-town librarian like me. I took a small amount of satisfaction from the fact that I had liked him even before I knew who he was. At least I hadn’t been swayed by his name or money. But that was small comfort when I realized that I had fallen head over heels for a man who was never going to look at me seriously.

Especially not after he’d seen me attempting to parallel park today. My face burned at just the memory. Why had he shown up at exactly the moment that I was making a complete idiot of myself? Any chance of pretending to him that I was a competent, cool adult had gone completely out the window.

My internal pity party was interrupted just then by a familiar voice calling out my name. I looked up to see Ruby walking across the front lobby of the library, her four-year-old daughter Chloe in tow.

“Ruby? You didn’t tell me you were coming by today.” I looked down at Chloe, who had blonde hair and green eyes—completely different from her mother’s brown hair and blue eyes. “Hi, Chloe.”

Chloe grinned up at me, but didn’t say anything. She was usually a chatterbox, but right now she was too busy sucking on a brightly colored lollipop to talk to me. I usually didn’t allow sweets in the library either, but I made a lot of exceptions for Chloe. She was the kind of kid that it was hard to say no to.

“I’ve tried calling or texting you a bazillion times,” Ruby said, crossing her arms. “You’ve been ignoring me all day. I figured the only reason that was possible was that you were so busy at work that you hadn’t had time to answer your phone.”

Ruby narrowed her eyes at me, and something told me she knew that there was more to my silence than just being too busy to answer my phone.

“Uh, tell you what,” I said, rising from my seat and walking around the counter. “We just got in a whole new shipment of pony books. Why don’t I show them to Chloe and we can chat while she looks through them.”

“Pony books!” Chloe squealed around her mouthful of lollipop. A few minutes later, Chloe was happily spread out on the floor of the children’s section of the library, looking at an assortment of books on her favorite animal.

“So,” Ruby said. “What was up with storming out of the bar last night and not coming back? You were pissed when you left.”

I debated for a moment what to say. I knew I should be calm and not make a big deal out of what happened last night, but when I opened my mouth to say it was no big deal, something else came out entirely. It was like all the pent up frustration came pouring out in one long, angry tirade. An angry tirade delivered in a hissing whisper, of course. We were, after all, in the library.

“You just don’t get it, do you? You’re so beautiful, and so perfect. We go to the bar and every single man in the room is looking at you—and even many of the men who aren’t single. But normally that’s fine. I know that I don’t fit well with any of the local guys. I’ve accepted that. But the one time a man comes along that I’m actually interested in, and he seems actually interested in me, you butt in just when things are getting warmed up between us. Can’t I ever just have one moment of happiness with a man without someone prettier coming along and stealing the show?”

Ruby stared at me for a moment, flabbergasted. I looked guiltily down at Chloe, worried that she’d overheard my rant and had inadvertently been dragged into my argument with her mother. But Chloe was happily absorbed in her new pony book. I looked back up at Ruby to see her shaking her head at me.

“You think I butted in, just because I sat down at the table? And even more unbelievable, you think Luke would have chosen me over you?”

“Um…yes. He couldn’t stop staring at you from the moment you sat down.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s because he was trying a little too hard not to look at you.”

I frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“After you left, I tried to introduce him to a bunch of other locals, but it wasn’t easy because he was so distracted. He kept looking back at the table where you two had been sitting, and at the front door. My gut feeling is that he is hopelessly attracted to you but is trying to fight it for some reason.”

“Why would he try to fight it?”

Ruby shrugged. “Beats me. There’s a lot that’s weird about this whole thing. I asked around a bit today and found out that he rented a beach cottage from Jimmy for a month, and at quite a hefty price. It might actually have been cheaper for him to just get a room at the resort, but he didn’t bat an eyelash at the price.”

“Of course he didn’t! Do you have any idea how rich this man is? He’s famous for currently being the only man in the world to have a net worth of over a billion dollars just from being an author.”

Ruby stared at me for a moment, then shrugged again. “I don’t know much about his work or net worth. All I know is that it’s weird for someone rich and famous to come to Driftwood Island and not stay at the resort. It’s like he wants to be left alone, but he still can’t resist coming out to the local bar on a Friday night. For some reason, he must have been feeling guilty for being there, and for having an interest in you. So he tried to fight it. Trust me, it wasn’t me he wanted. Not even close. He left not long after it became clear that you weren’t coming back.”

I chewed my lower lip and contemplated Ruby’s words. Could it be true? Luke had been trying to ask me to dinner when I ran out of my car and away from him.

But even if it was true, what difference did it make. He was here for a month. Did I want to wrap my heart up in some sort of affair with Luke for a month, only to be heartbroken when he left? A famous billionaire author wasn’t likely to stay here on the island. Honestly, at this point I wasn’t opposed to leaving Driftwood Island. I loved the place, but I didn’t want to spend my whole life alone, and it was looking more and more like that was my only option if I stayed here.

Even if I was willing to leave, though, it wasn’t likely that someone like Luke would be willing to take me with him. He no doubt had a glitzy, established life back at his permanent home, and he would know that I wouldn’t fit in anywhere that required me to be glamorous. I was a mousy librarian, after all. I could talk books all day, but I couldn’t dress up in an evening gown or sip champagne all night with society’s finest.

No, anything between Luke and me would be for the month he was here, and that was it.

“That’s quite a big frown,” Ruby observed.

I sighed. I didn’t often confide deeply in Ruby. Usually, I kept my fears and worries to myself, and if I was going to talk to someone, I talked to my best friend Abby. But Abby was busy with a newborn, and I didn’t want to bog her down with my childish romantic woes. Besides, Ruby had been quite a good friend to me over the last few months, and she did know a thing or two about broken hearts. I took a deep breath, and decided to just be honest with her.

“I really like him, Ruby. I liked him before I even knew he was a famous author. But nothing permanent can ever happen between us, and it’s just crap, you know? I’m so lonely, but I have no real options for love on this island. I can’t help thinking that maybe it’s time for me to move on.”

“Move on? You mean leave the island?” Ruby’s jaw hung open in shock. None of the locals ever left.

“I mean leave the island.” When I said the words out loud, they somehow didn’t seem as scary. “I love this place dearly, don’t get me wrong. But even you have to admit that there doesn’t seem to be much of a romantic future here for me. I don’t just want to live out my days as an old spinster librarian.”

To my surprise, Ruby reached over and gave me a hug. “Don’t give up on romance just yet. Trust me. I know this island can feel like it’s closing in on you sometimes. But if you’d seen the look in Luke’s eyes when he was searching for you at the bar the other night, you wouldn’t be so quick to write him off.”

I gave Ruby a sad smile. “I wish I could share your confidence. But I’ve been burned by love too many times to think that someone like Luke could ever be interested in me.”

Ruby grinned at me and shook her head. “Sometimes, the fire burns you. And sometimes, it makes someone else burn for you. And I have a pretty good feeling that Luke Foster is burning for you right now.”

I rolled my eyes. “You sound almost like an overly-emotional poet.”

Ruby laughed. “Perhaps I should write a book of poetry. Then you can put my book up on the shelves here and tell people you knew me before I was rich and famous. Of course, you’ll be rich and famous by then yourself, for being married to Luke Foster.”

I punched her in the arm. “Oh, stop it!”

Chloe looked up from her books. “Is someone getting married, Mama?”

“No!” I answered before Ruby could say anything.

Ruby laughed. “Come on, Chloe. Let’s take some of these books to the front counter and check them out for you. I think Auntie Kelsey’s had enough of us for one day.”

I rolled my eyes, but truth be told, I’d had enough of everyone for one day. I was ready to go home, cover my head with my pillow, and try to shut out the world. I was ready to forget about the fact that I’d ever met Luke Foster, but I knew I’d never be able to completely forget the way those golden brown eyes twinkled at me.

Some moments in life were too special to ever truly forget.