“Well, that’s a bad day if I ever saw one. Why don’t you take the coffee on the house as well? I won’t let you refuse, so don’t bother trying.” She grinned broadly at him, and he had to admit it did make him feel a little better.
Without much more chatter beyond a heartfelt thanks, he tacked his ad to the bulletin board, collected his coffee and pastries, and headed back to his truck. On his way back to the ranch, he thought about the café owner, deciding she was an excellent business person, especially considering he was already thinking about how he might stop back the next time he was in town.
CHAPTER 2
KYRA
If anyone had asked Kyra Powell, she’d have assured them she’d never met a baby shower she didn’t like. She loved social events, and any event that celebrated a new life was especially good. The more people there were in her life, the better. It was for that reason that she agreed to attend this specific shower. Though it wasn’t for someone she knew especially well, it was still a baby shower, and she was bound to have a good time.
Originally, Kyra hadn’t planned to attend this particular party, despite usually enjoying them. She had been feeling the weight of her age lately. Though her mother and many others told her twenty-eight was hardly too old to start a life, Kyra still felt so far behind everyone else that catching up seemed hopeless.
But how would it look if she refused to attend a baby shower for someone she went to high school with, when she had so enthusiastically attended showers for people she never even met? She was so often someone’s plus-one when their spouse or partner couldn’t attend or didn’t want to. And she’d gotten very good at finding the most adorable gifts. So, no one would believeshe was suddenly uncomfortable at baby showers. Surely, refusing this invitation would hurt more than one person’s feelings, and Kyra was certain it would at least destroy her reputation as the life of every party.
The mother-to-be was named Katie, and she was quite pregnant and obviously very happy about it. Kyra had gone to high school with her, along with several other people in attendance. She recognized many of them and was on friendly terms with all but one of them.
The outlier’s name was Lacey, and she’d always rubbed Kyra the wrong way. Lacey was one of those people who’d peaked in high school, and it had been all downhill for her since. The teenagers who’d once tolerated her cruelty in order to get close to the most popular girl in school were now adults with better things to do. Many of them had kids of their own and recognized childish behavior when they saw it. So, it was no surprise that Lacey’s antics, which had once made other girls laugh and draw closer, now made them groan to themselves.
Everything was going rather smoothly until they started playing the obligatory get-to-know-each-other games.
“OK. Time to play Two Truths and a Lie,” the announcement came from the organizer of the baby shower. She was Katie’s best friend since high school, as Kyra understood it. Her name was Tanya, and Kyra thought her a perfectly likable person. She had greeted everyone at the door and collected the gifts with a warm smile and lots of thanks. Kyra thought Katie was lucky to have a best friend like that.
For one reason or another, Kyra seemed to have lost most of her friends from high school. The obvious explanation was that most of them had either married and started families or moved awayfor their dream careers. The trajectory of Kyra’s life, on the other hand, seemed to be a stationary dot rather than a line of any kind.
They all gathered around in a circle to play the game. Kyra had heard of it before but never actually played it. Apparently, you were supposed to say three things about yourself, but one of them was a lie, and everyone was supposed to guess which one. It seemed easy enough, but then Tanya had to put a “fun” spin on it.
“The new rule is that everything you say about yourself has to be something that happened between graduation and now,” she said.
Kyra could already see the direction this would take. Create the equivalent of a high school reunion, and then ask everyone to talk about what they’ve done between then and now? It was bound to be more stressful than a job interview. The game began and immediately went in the precise direction Kyra had predicted it would. Everyone used this opportunity to humblebrag about all their recent accomplishments.
The lies were usually easy to suss out, making the game completely mindless — something like,I’ve been in prison since graduation and just made my escape today, orI’m a world-famous professional gambler who’s been banned from every casino because I never lose. And the truths were all believable but admirable accomplishments like starting a small business, marrying and having children, or graduating from a specific college. That sort of thing.
By the time it came around to Kyra, she still hadn’t decided what to say. She had to think in a hurry. So, she just blurted out, “I love Alder Creek more than anywhere else I’ve traveled to. I stillwork in my mother’s bakery. And I started a garage band that went on tour all over the country.” She added, “We even had groupies,” to make it funnier and more obvious which one was the lie.
Some people chuckled, but Lacey had other ideas. She was the first to guess, and she said, “The lie must be that you still work at your mother’s bakery. That’s the least believable of the three.”
Kyra just stared at her, unsure quite how she was expected to respond. She was pretty sure Lacey meant to be insulting, but not giving someone the benefit of the doubt was not in Kyra’s character. Even with a high school bully, Kyra felt uneasy calling her out. So, she just waited, hoping someone else at the party would say something in her defense. But no one ever did. In fact, they all seemed to be nodding in agreement, a few with cruel smiles on their faces and others dripping with sincerity. Kyra didn’t know which was worse.
Finally, everyone in the circle turned to her to get her answer. Which statement was the lie? Kyra had half a mind to say that the false statement was true, and the true statement was false. Starting a band seemed like a fun lie to tell anyway. At least it was in the spirit of the game. But she knew she had hesitated too long, and any answer she gave that wasn’t at least a little humiliating would be doubted. So, she said nothing, shrugged, and let people come to their own conclusions.
“Who else was in your band?” Katie asked. “Do we know them?” She was one of the sincere ones, and Kyra finally decided sincerity did hit harder, after all.
“There was no band,” Lacey said with a laugh. “That was the lie, wasn’t it, Kyra?”
Katie looked confused. “Then, why did you guess the bakery was the lie?”
Lacey shrugged with an infuriating smile on her face. “It was a joke.”
Someone else chimed in. “Not a funny one.”
“I thought it was funny.” Who said that? Kyra had lost track of who was talking. Her head was spinning, and she could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks.
Was it possible to be more embarrassed than this? She didn’t think so. She decided to roll with it, as was her instinct in almost every awkward situation. Pretend it doesn’t bother you, and maybe it won’t. “Well, I thought it was hilarious,” she said with a broad smile. “Good one, Lacey.” That seemed to do the trick when it came to shutting down Lacey’s little standup routine.
As much as Kyra preferred to give people the benefit of the doubt, she couldn’t deny that Lacey had been little more than a bully when they were in high school together. It seemed not much had changed since then. Kyra wondered who should feel worse — the high school bully who never really stopped bullying, or the girl with no ambition who still worked in her mother’s bakery. Both of them had failed to grow up in one way or another, but at least Kyra was doing something to benefit someone instead of tearing people down.
But bullies rarely learn from their mistakes, and Lacey seemed to be no exception. Now that her subtler attack had been exposed, she opted to be more blatant with her intentions. She reminded Kyra of someone who thought explaining a joke no one had laughed at would suddenly make it funny. “How old are you again?” Lacey asked Kyra. “You know what they say. Womenwho marry after thirty usually wind up settling. They hear that biological clock ticking and get desperate.”
“Oh, I doubt anyone really says that. And if they do, they’re wrong.” Kyra didn’t break eye contact with Lacey as she defended herself. She wanted to say something about people rushing into relationships and parenthood, but she thought it inappropriate for the occasion. Katie deserved to have a perfect baby shower; Kyra wasn’t about to ruin it by going too far. Instead, she said, “Personally, I’m glad that I’m free to help my mother out.”
