Page 43 of Paging Dr. Breakup
Damn it.
She mentally shook herself.Deal with it. He had something else to do, and it didn’t involve you. Things come up. Or he didn’t want to go out tonight.
There was no actual relationship.
No way was she going to explore why the situation bugged her, beyond the fact that she missed having the halibut special tonight.You weren’t actually dating. There was never anything to get over.
Deirdre and Calvin knew that, but the other folks in this small town didn’t, which was why they had set up tonight’s very public dinner to take away the need for friends and family to meddle. The plan was something along the lines ofsee all of this dating, folks? Good. Now go bug someone else.
As she closed the car door to head into the grocery store, a man in slacks and a puffy jacket strode quickly from an SUV into the diner. Something about that man seemed familiar. His jacket strained over a generous midsection, and he ran a hand through his dark hair that was thinning at the temples. When he glanced in her direction, she bent and pretended to search in her pockets for her key.
Who was that guy? She racked her memory.
Then Deirdre froze. The hairs on the back of her neck rose.
No.
No way.
She’d only met him once, in the lodge in early February. She hadn’t seen him in a jacket then, but the hairline and stature fit. He sported a light beard now, but the man sure looked like the jerk, Randy, who had tried to sue Deirdre and Mav’s lodge into foreclosure so that he could buy it out from under them and exploit the mineral rights on the property. Rubbing her eyes, she looked again, but he had entered the diner.
Couldn’t be him. Here? She thought he had run out of town scared after the incident.
What about the guy who stopped by Bruce and Aggie’s house and pressured them recently?
What if those two people were connected?
Her blood iced.
Calvin was in the diner shortly after canceling their date. Randy was in there. It had to be a coincidence that they were both in the same place at the same time.
How many coincidences were too many?
Doubt stopped her cold in her tracks. She had to know for certain.
Easing out of the car and closing the door softly behind her—as if someone would specifically hearherin the parking lot versus any other patron—she slowly strolled toward the diner. A family of four exited, chattering and juggling to-go boxes as they piled into a vehicle. Once they had pulled out of the parking lot, she slunk toward the nearest window and peeked in. Twilight meant that someone inside might see her. It also meant that she could see inside, though not as clearly as she would have liked.
She squinted. In the back of the diner sat Calvin and Randy in a booth, both visible in profile as they faced each other across the table. They appeared deep in discussion, and Calvin waved off the waitress so that he could continue talking.
Trying not to act like a complete stalker—who was she kidding, she was totally acting like a stalker—Deirdre pulled up her hood over her head and walked past the diner to the gas station, ducked inside, and made small talk with the cashier who, of course, knew her. She bought a few overpriced items and put them in a bag. Exiting after a few more minutes of idle conversation, she once more ambled by the diner.
Calvin and Randy were still there, only Calvin had stood. He stuck out his hand and after a two-second beat, the other man shook it with a curt nod. Calvin’s face in profile seemed hard. Clenched.
What was she seeing?
Her mind whirled.
Did it matter? Deirdre had already assumed the worst. Even if Calvin was having an innocent chat with the man who had tried to ruin her family’s business and steal their property, the act still seemed pretty underhanded.
Calvin had lied straight to my face so that he could meet with Randy.
She stumbled on a rough patch of slush and rock.
Yet, he hadn’t lied. That was the worst part.
Hurrying to reach her car in front of the adjacent grocery store, she fumbled for the keys.
Behind her, a bell clanged against metal. The front door.
