A Winter Wedding(63)
Or maybe he was making things up...
“I could’ve been wrong when I assumed word would spread that far,” Kyle argued. He’d been wrong about the people of Whiskey Creek, hadn’t he? Plenty of his fellow citizens had approached him when he was out and about, but no one had come banging on his door the way he’d feared. “It’s possible Ed’s article will go completely unnoticed, except by the people here. Who cares what’s printed in the Gold Country Gazette?”
“Interest may seem localized at the moment. But there are services that scour the smaller papers for anything that might be of interest to the bigger papers and gossip rags. They’ll find this.” She wiped some flour from her cheek. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t consider that when I was so flip with Ed. I thought I was doing us both a favor, since a ‘relationship’ with you allows me to save face, and you to get out from under the stigma of being hopelessly in love with your brother’s wife.”
“I’m still good with that plan.” He just hoped it wouldn’t make matters worse...
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.” He gestured at his profile. “Go ahead and pull this down. You can help me put it up again when you’re ready to leave.”
She slid the computer over. “It’s done,” she said a few seconds later. “Thank you. The last thing I need is for someone to recognize you and notify the media that you might be as much of a cheater as Derrick. They’d say that I couldn’t keep a man or something similar.” She made a face. “The gossip rags love that type of thing.”
“The Jennifer Aniston treatment.”
“Yes.”
He couldn’t leave her exposed to more scandal. Lourdes was just beginning to relax and feel safe here. He wanted to give her the time she needed to heal. “So when’s this cake going to be done? I’m ready to have a slice.”
She got up and gave him a hug. “Soon.”
Cursing the sudden awareness that flooded through him, he moved into the kitchen the moment she let him go. If he couldn’t date—couldn’t even distract himself by searching for someone he found attractive—he could be looking at the longest three months of his life. “I haven’t told you what I heard today.”
“What’d you hear?”
“Noelle got into a fight at work and was fired last night. I’ve been told it was because she was so upset about that article.”
“She asked for that article! She’s the one who told Ed I was in town!”
“True, but calling Ed is nothing compared to what she could do. Maybe I should go over there, see if I can defuse the situation.” Noelle was the last person he cared to see, but if it would stop her from doing something spiteful to Lourdes...
“Please don’t. I’m beginning to think she’s the kind of person who’d hurt herself and say you hit her. The more I learn about her, the less I trust her.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about,” he said. “I’m not a public figure, so I’m far less vulnerable than you are.”
“Don’t do it for me,” she said. “She has no reason to go after me.”
“Jealousy is...jealousy. It isn’t rational.”
“True, but there are no guarantees that going over there will help—especially since you can’t give her what she wants. I say we go on as if she doesn’t exist.” She gestured toward the living room, with the Christmas tree lit up in one corner. “It’s the holidays. Let’s forget anything and everything that’s upsetting and just enjoy the next few weeks.”
“What about that album you need to write?” he asked.
She gave him a hopeful smile. “I’ve started my first song, although progress is slow. I’ve lost so much confidence that nothing seems to be any good. But I’m hoping the process will get easier with time.”
“You just have to keep at it.”
“Exactly.”
He rested his hands on his hips. Maybe he’d be doing Noelle as much of a favor as he’d be doing himself if he quit trying to set a new standard for amicable exes and shut off all communication. Except that monthly check, of course, which he’d agreed to pay.
Actually, considering how much she’d borrowed, he didn’t owe her a check, not for six months or more. But if she’d mind her own business and leave him alone, he’d be happy to send it. Now that she’d lost one of her jobs, she was going to need that money more than ever—
Suddenly, he realized that he did have some leverage with Noelle.
“Don’t worry,” he told Lourdes. “Everything’ll be okay.”
*
It was after midnight when Kyle called Noelle. It had taken that long for Lourdes to go to bed. He didn’t want her overhearing the conversation, but he also didn’t want to let another night pass without trying to head off any future trouble. As much as Lourdes felt he shouldn’t do anything, Noelle wasn’t the type to back off on her own—not when she was as fixated as she’d been of late. Lourdes just happened to come to town at a bad time, during one of the many periods when Noelle wasn’t preoccupied with any other relationship and was making another run at him. She felt displaced and rejected, and Kyle guessed she’d make their lives miserable if she could.