Page 43 of Between Now & Heartbreak

“No, Liz. The MacDonald is an old, drafty mausoleum. I’m assuming he rented besides James’ house, it’s the only other house for rent close by that has apiano.”

“Ohhhh, yeah,” I perk up, when I finally see what she’s suggesting.

“Youhave a piano. He needs one. This is your olive branch. Use it.”

10

AMBUSH

CARTER

In the days since our...whateverthat was in the library, I’ve seen her everywhere.

I’ve just been practicing what I call polite, but unmistakable, avoidance whenever I do. She comes into the drugstore, I leave. She’s in a restaurant I’m entering, I find somewhere else to eat.

I wasn’t sure if she’d noticed, but I figured she’d be glad for it after what happened in the library.

But for some reason, right now, Elisabeth Wolfe is walking toward me like a missile locked on a target.

“Oh shit,” I mumble and stop short.

“You are in the Lord’s House,” Jo says. I tracked her down at the drug store this week and she only agreed to talk to me if I would meet her at her church which is not in Winsome. I had to wait for her service to end and we just came outside to talk.

“Well, technically it’s a parking lot,” I say, distractedly and turn her so our backs are to the walking explosive device. Why don’t we go inside?” I say, and try to hustle her back towards the door of the church she just came out of.

She yanks her arm out of my hold.

“What in the world is going on? You’re acting really strange.”

“Carter?” Elisabeth’s voice rings out across the parking lot and I groan.

Jo peeks around my body and her eyebrows shoot up.

“Carter?” Her hand is on my shoulder and I’m fucked. I plaster a smile on my face and turn around.

“Hello, Elisabeth,” I say formally, and like my heart isn’t thundering just a few inches away from hers.

A flush washes over her cheeks, but otherwise, her expression remains pleasant.

“ I’m sorry to ambush you like this, but I’d really like to speak with you.”

Her manners are impeccable. Her contrition just the right shade of sincere. This is the Elisabeth that I know from her IG. Which is for the best. The other Elisabeth, the real one, turns my good sense to scrambled eggs. And makes me want to fuck her where she stands even if the whole world is watching.

“I’ll wait inside.” Neither one of us respond to Jo as she walks away.

“Well? What brings you to this part of the county?” I say in a deliberately unfriendly way.

She smiles like I just wished her a good day.

“You. I’ve been trying to talk to you and so I followed you—”

“You followed me? Why?” I ask in surprise. I went into the church an hour ago and sat in the back to wait for the chance to speak to Jo.

“Yes, I wanted to talk to you—”

“About what?”

The slight, barely perceptible narrowing of her eyes is the only sign that she’s annoyed by my cutting her off. She’s still smiling.

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