Page 16 of The Broken Heart Playlist
“It’s okay if you are,” she says kindly. Janine might have a big mouth, but she also has one of the biggest hearts in Brown Oaks. I’ve never forgotten how she helped Lisset and me settle in, smoothing over a lot of the paperwork while we were both so shell-shocked.
“Lisset and I are just here to pick up some books,” I tell her.
“Books I don’t want,” Lisset mutters.
“Books are important, hon,” Janine says absently to Lisset. Then she leans a little closer to me. Not too close, since she’s aware of my feelings on personal space. “His name’s Gideon Walker and he’s even nicer in person.”
There’s only one way she could know that. “Did you sell him the Martinez house?” I ask.
“I did.” There are a number of estate agents in Brown Oaks, but Janine is one of the more popular ones. “I spent a great deal of time with Gideon Walker. And let me tell you, he’s a real charmer.”
Charmer. A ripple of nerves travels through me. If there’s one word that’ll raise a red flag with me, it’s that one.
“Mom, can we go?” Lisset pipes up, tugging on my shirt sleeve.
“Soon,” I answer distractedly.
She exhales dramatically. My daughter may have inherited her organizational skills from me, but the drama is all Tess.
“You know, there was something so interesting and a little strange about that sale,” Janine informs me in a hushed voice, looking like she’s ready to burst if she holds her secret in any longer.
“What was it?” I ask, my interest roused.
Before she can say anything further, however, the man in question appears in front of us, his greyhound at his side.
“Hi, Janine.” He greets her with a brief kiss on her cheek.
Her face reddens a little. “Gideon, hello!”
Up close, with his disheveled dark-blond hair and unexpectedly full mouth, he’s more attractive than I first thought.
A prickle of heat touches my face.
Janine gives his arm a playful swat. “Look at you, Gideon Walker, causing an uproar in the library.”
Smiling, Gideon gestures to his dog, who is wearing a working vest the same shade of red as Gideon’s T-shirt. “I think everyone is really here to see Uno.”
“He’s a cutie pie, all right,” she responds. “Have you met Kate yet?”
“I haven’t had the pleasure,” he says smoothly, turning to face me. The bright lights in the library bring out the green flecks in his hazel eyes, shades of intensity and playfulness in their depths. Eyes like that have no business being in a library. They feel irreverent, somehow.
“Gideon, this is Kate,” Janine announces, looking eager to make the introductions. “Kate, meet Gideon, the newest resident of Brown Oaks.”
He inclines his head, seeming to know instinctively not to offer his hand for me to shake. “Pleased to meet you, Kate.”
My name coming out of his mouth gives me a weird, fluttering sensation in the pit of my stomach.
His statement is my cue to respond with the usual social pleasantries.Pleased to meet you tooorWelcome to Brown Oaks. I can’t bring myself to voice either of those lies.
“Is Kate short for Katherine?” Gideon asks into the awkward silence.
I freeze. A wild guess that happened to hit home. “Just Kate,” I say shortly.
He gives a small nod of acceptance, but I can’t shrug away the unsettling feeling there’s an argument inside him, one he’s reserving for another time and place.
“Where are you from, Gideon?” I ask, only because I’m a collector of information that might prove useful at some point.
He smiles. “Nowhere interesting.”
