A Winter Wedding(59)

“What’s wrong with me, Pope?” she asked as the old bitterness welled up. “Why can’t I find a guy who’ll love me?”

“There are men out there who’d be happy to be with you.” He tapped the bar for emphasis. “But you only want the ones you can’t have.”

She reared back. “Why should I settle? I should be able to get someone as good as my sister has.”

“Your values aren’t exactly what they should be,” he said and walked away.

Because she was spoiling for a fight, she almost called after him. But her manager appeared from the back office, so she closed her mouth and tossed the paper at Pope instead. When it fluttered harmlessly to the floor, he barely cast her a sideways glance before stacking the glasses that’d been washed last night.

What did he know about values?

“What’d I tell you?”

Genevieve had come up behind her while she was glaring at Pope’s back and keeping an eye on her manager at the same time. There were hardly any patrons in the bar this early, but old Crabtree wouldn’t like the fact that she was “lounging around” while she was supposed to be working. He said there was always something she could do to make herself useful—as if it was her job to help clean the place.

“Shut up,” she growled to Genevieve.

“You’re all talk,” Genevieve goaded, “telling me how you were going to get Kyle back. He doesn’t want you. I bet he never wanted you. Who would?”

“You’d better shut up and leave me alone,” Noelle warned.

“Or what?”

“You heard me.”

“There’s nothing you can do, and I think it’s high time you accept the truth—Kyle is way out of your league.”

“He married me, didn’t he? It’s not like he’d ever touch a fat pig like you.”

“Because you trapped him!” she yelled. “And then you were too stupid to see that the baby was the only reason he stayed with you and you aborted it!”

“No, I didn’t! I’ve never said that!”

“You’ve made jokes about it. I’ve heard you!”

“Liar!” Noelle’s anger flared so hot it wasn’t until she’d charged Genevieve and knocked her to the floor, and Pope had pulled her off, that she realized she’d hurt her hands punching Genevieve anywhere she could land a blow.

“She attacked me!” Genevieve cried as blood ran from her nose. “She’s crazy!”

“You asked for it,” Noelle said.

But that wasn’t how Crabtree saw it. He stalked over, took one look at Genevieve holding her hands over her face and scowled at Noelle. “You’re fired,” he said. “Get out right now! And I don’t ever want to see you in here again.”

“You can’t fire me!” she yelled. “You have to give me my two weeks.”

“Would you rather I called Chief Bennett to report this assault?”

“Yes,” Genevieve cried, her voice so nasal she was difficult to understand. “Call the cops. She should be thrown in jail.”

She meant it. Noelle could see that in Genevieve’s hateful glare. Noelle recognized something almost as hostile in her manager’s expression. Even Pope was shaking his head as if she filled him with disgust.

“I don’t care about you,” she snarled at her former friend. “I don’t care about any of you!” she screamed to the room at large. Then she ripped the name badge from her chest, threw it at her ex-boss and stomped out.

*

On Thursday morning, when Morgan came to find him in the warehouse to tell him he had a visitor waiting in his office, Kyle was more than a little surprised to learn it was Olivia. He had no idea why she was there. Was it because of the newspaper article that’d come out yesterday? Did she have something to say about that?

If so, she wouldn’t be the only one he’d heard from. So many people had called him or brought it up if they happened to see him. He’d never been slapped on the back so many times. “Lucky son of a bitch,” Old Man Murphy had muttered and jabbed him in the ribs while he was waiting in line to buy a pack of gum at the Gas-N-Go this morning. He’d never gotten that kind of reaction from Old Man Murphy.

And no one had been more excited about his supposed new love interest than Morgan. She’d been positively pumping him for information. Lourdes is living with you? She’s not going back to the farmhouse? But it has heat... I paid the delivery charge for the part like you asked me to... Is that why you had the locks changed at your place on Monday? To protect her privacy against She Who Won’t Be Named?... So you’re finally moving on. That’s hard to believe. Can I meet Lourdes sometime?... I could drop some papers by your house. I wouldn’t make it obvious...

It’d taken him over an hour to get Morgan to give up on devising a way to see her.

Afraid he’d only get his assistant talking again, he kept his mouth shut and didn’t ask if she knew what Olivia wanted. Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with the article. Maybe Brandon hadn’t mentioned that he’d already told Kyle about the pregnancy and she’d come to tell him herself.

Or maybe she’d come to apologize. He still couldn’t believe she’d bought into Noelle’s claims that he was demanding sex as payment for the favors he did her. Yes, he’d allowed Noelle to seduce him the weekend that’d started everything, but that was years ago. He would’ve thought he’d managed to rebuild some of his credibility by now.