Tight Knit

  Genie’s chortle was masked by the beeping of the scanner.

  “Yo, Lara!”

  It took Lara a moment to realize that the voice behind her was calling out to her. She had no plans to talk to anyone this afternoon that wasn’t Genie or Betty, and she really wasn’t mentally prepared to come face to face with Paige as she turned around.

  Paige was smiling. Lara definitely was not. “What are you doing here?” Paige asked, as if they exchanged polite pleasantries on a daily basis.

  “It’s a library. What are you doing here? Are you stalking me?”

  “No.”

  “The surveillance equipment says otherwise.” Lara pointed towards the camera in Paige’s hand.

  “Oh.” Paige raised the equipment to give Lara a better look. “I’m interviewing Rita Sanchez. She’s one of the finalists for Hometown Heroes.”

  Rita Sanchez? The same Rita Sanchez Lara knew? “How exactly did you decide that?”

  “People voted for her.”

  “Uh, I think you mean she voted for herself using a bunch of pseudonyms. Paige, she’s awful. You know how awful she is. I complained about her to you for years. Or were you not listening to me?”

  “I know, I know,” Paige said defensively. “But it’s not my choice. The people want to see her interviewed.”

  Lara didn’t want to win, but the idea of Sanchez winning over her boiled her blood. She didn’t want to think about it. She wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. If Paige was here to interview Sanchez, that meant Sanchez was here, and the last thing Lara wanted was a run-in.

  She started to pick up her books, but Paige didn’t get the hint that she wasn’t in the mood to talk longer.

  “Wow,” she said, eyeing the number of books on the counter. “I didn’t know people were allowed to check out that many things at once. Or are you getting your library buddies to bend the rules for you?”

  Library buddies? The library was nice, and it maintained a generally friendly environment with the exception of Sanchez, but Lara’s relationship with her coworkers had been far from office camaraderie. Lara had spent most of her time working by herself. The only person she could maybe say she was friends with was Genie. Anyone else was a loose acquaintance at best.

  “I don’t have library buddies,” Lara said. “I have ex-coworkers who wouldn’t bend the rules for me even if I asked them to because they want to keep their jobs. I doubt any of them want to get fired like I did.”

  Paige stopped in her tracks. They were only halfway to the door. “Wait. You got fired? You told me you quit.” An odd mix of disbelief and amusement flickered across her pupils. Her voice had lowered, and she leaned in close, thoroughly entranced.

  Lara shouldn’t have brought it up. Of course Paige would want to know more. “Yes, I got fired. No, I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Paige’s feet shuffled forward, but her smile never faltered and her eyes remained fixed on Lara. “You have to tell me more. I didn’t think you had it in you, Spellmeyer. How does a good girl like you get fired? Did you shelf Chekhov under Dostoyevsky? Did you spill your morning coffee all over the return cart? Wait—” She put on an overdone expression of shock. “Did you put a Bible in the fiction section?”

  “Drop it, Paige.”

  “So you did drop your morning coffee all over the return cart. Was it by accident or on purpose?”

  Lara glared at her. “You know what I meant.”

  “If you don’t tell me, I’m going to turn the camera on.”

  “Please.” Lara rolled her eyes. Paige followed through on the threat.

  She took a step back and surveyed the lounge area, where a few other people were stationed. A group of students was studying at a large table, and a man Betty’s age sipped out of a Starbucks cup and stared down at the book in his lap. Paige fit as much of the scene into the backdrop as she could, then turned the camera on Lara.

  “If you won’t answer that question, then tell me about the library,” Paige said.

  “Well, it’s a big building with a lot of books.” Lara smiled at her own joke, not for the sake of the camera.

  Genie had gone back to her magazine. Subtly, she tore her eyes away from the pages to watch them, but she snooped with fascination, not an intention to intervene.

  “Come on,” Paige coaxed. “Be serious. What was your role here?”

  Instantly, everything came back. Once upon a time she had really loved this job, before Sanchez had ruined it for her. She’d been passionate about the programs she’d helped start. She loved the quiet environment. She loved helping people who were genuinely appreciative of her assistance. It was almost as special to her as knitting had been. Remembering the good parts of her job almost made her forget how shitty Sanchez had made it seem sometimes. She could talk about it all day. It was only a matter of where to start or if she should. Did she risk indulging Paige? Maybe. But only because it would be fun to relive the memories.

  She opened her mouth to speak, but something glued the words to the inside of her throat.

  Sanchez’s distinctive top bun appeared over Paige’s shoulder.

  Lara’s jaw went slack. Every positive thought in her mind disappeared, and the more Sanchez’s figure came into view, the more Lara’s brain turned to mush. She was a phantom, a devil over Paige’s shoulder, but she was real, and she was coming closer. Her brown eyes were almost black as they locked onto Lara’s. Her outfit was as dark as her eyes, and her posture was as unwelcoming as her stare. Arms crossed and foot forward, she kept just enough distance between herself and Lara that Lara was forced to look slightly up at her. Sanchez always knew how to make her feel small.

  Sanchez paid Paige and the filming equipment no mind. There was no hesitance in her interruption.

  “For someone so eager to get kicked out of the library, you sure spend a lot of time here, Spellmeyer.” Her tone was whimsical, but her words were dipped in a coating of malice. She nursed a snake’s smile, deceiving and venomous.

  Lara’s heart dropped. Somehow she found the words to speak because she had no choice but to say something. “Hi, Rita. It’s nice to see you again.” Lara tried to stop her voice from shaking, but she could feel it wavering with each syllable. Her heart pounded in her throat.

  “Is it?” Sanchez’s arms lay trapped across her chest. “Kind of seems like you’ve been avoiding me.” Sanchez raised an accusatory eyebrow. “Not that I can blame you. I’d be too embarrassed to show my face around here too.”

  Paige pulled her face away from the camera. She looked back and forth between Sanchez and Lara, hesitating a moment before she held the camera back up and angled it in Sanchez’s direction.

  Lara sighed. “Look, I’m sorry, Rita. The way I behaved was out of line, and I know that. I don’t know how to apologize to you any more than I already have. I’m not here to start trouble.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Sanchez said. “It’s hard to know sometimes since I’m—what did you call it—‘unobservant and out of touch.’ I thought you might be here to blow up at me again. Maybe you forgot something you wanted to say the first time?” She glanced around the library, eyeing the shelves and the entryway and the checkout counter. “There’s a few people around. I’m sure our patrons would love to hear about how much of a bitch I am again.”

  Paige’s eyes widened. She glanced toward Lara quickly, as if Lara’s face would give her context. Lara regretted not telling Paige why she’d gotten fired now. Sanchez’s side of the story didn’t paint her in a positive light. Not that it should. Lara had blown up at her in the middle of the library in the middle of the day. She’d made an ass of herself and Sanchez, getting all of her grievances off of her chest in the hopes of cutting all ties with the woman. It had worked. A few days later, Lara had escaped to Oklahoma City, never to see Sanchez again or face the repercussions of her actions. Or so she’d thought.

  Pissing off Sanchez had seemed like a good idea at the time, when she’d thought she woul
d never see anyone at the library ever again, but now that she was stuck back in Perry, she didn’t need to make any more enemies than she already had. She felt childish, and she was just as scared of Sanchez as she’d always been, even if her former boss no longer had any power over her.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Lara said again. “I shouldn’t have said those things about you, and I shouldn’t have done it in front of the patrons. I regret being so crude, and I’m not going to do it again, Rita. I was under a lot of stress, I was frustrated, and I didn’t handle it well. That’s my fault.”

  “Yes, it is,” Rita said. “But don’t blame yourself. It was partially my fault for hiring a Spellmeyer in the first place.”

  Lara’s heart stopped. It was a phrase she’d heard a million times before in a million different variations. For the past thirty years, Lara had been searching for a response. She’d never found one.

  “Hey! Don’t talk to her like that.” Paige’s voice was booming, way too loud for the library, but Lara wasn’t sure if the volume shocked her or if it was the very existence of the words.

  Paige backing her up? Unexpected.

  Paige’s eyes darted back and forth between Lara and Sanchez, and she tried to calm down a little. She seemed to recognize she was crossing a line. Her shoulders shifted from arched to tense, and her height seemed to drop as she visibly released a breath and let her chest deflate.

  “I don’t know the whole story here,” Paige started, choosing her words deliberately and trying to regain some semblance of civility. “But there’s no reason for you to talk to her that way. I don’t know exactly what Lara did, but you don’t need to drag her family into it like that. If you have a problem with Lara, then you have a problem with Lara.”

  Sanchez sized Paige up before replying. “I didn’t realize you’d gotten back together with your girlfriend, Lara.” Her gaze shifted back to Paige. “You should have heard the stuff she told us about you.” She grimaced and tsked in an unpleasant, exaggerated way. “Yikes. I wouldn’t have taken her back after that.”

  Paige didn’t stand down, but Lara could see the way her eyes flickered with something vulnerable.

  “You said it best yourself,” Sanchez said. She stepped forward just slightly, bringing herself closer to Paige. “You don’t know what happened, so you should be minding your own business.”

  Sanchez was tall enough to intimidate Lara by getting in her personal bubble, but Paige was much taller than Lara, and whatever moment of hurt she’d felt had passed. While Sanchez was still doing an impressive job being threatening by Lara’s standards, Paige towered over her, staring her down.

  “I know that this isn’t the place for this.” Paige’s head tilted, pointing toward the other side of the main lobby where a small boy and his mother approached Genie at the checkout. She scanned their books, but did so more quickly than usual, keeping one eye on Lara and Sanchez. “You have no right to yell at Lara for making a scene in front of patrons if you’re willing to do the same thing.”

  Sanchez’s eyes followed Paige’s. In silence, she watched the boy and his mother thank Genie and walk past the three of them on their way to the front doors. She gave them a small, tight smile.

  Not so subtly, Paige stuck the camera in Sanchez’s face. This couldn’t be the kind of interview Paige was expecting, but the camera wasn’t the audience Sanchez was expecting either.

  “Point taken,” Sanchez hissed and uncrossed her arms. She took a step back. “At least your girlfriend has a sense of decorum, Spellmeyer. Looks like you spread a bunch of lies about her as well.”

  Paige stepped closer to Lara, practically standing between her and Sanchez. Lara could see the tension in her jaw. She was biting her tongue.

  Sanchez took another step back. “Get that thing out of my face.” She turned around completely and stalked away, disappearing into a back room. Behind the camera, Lara could see Paige’s jaw relax. Her own heart started to slow down.

  “Thank you,” Lara said. The words were hard for her to say, especially to Paige, but Paige deserved to hear them. “You stood up for me.”

  Paige’s eyes widened. Her gaze shifted to the ground, then to the wall, basically everywhere but directly at Lara’s face. She finally settled on her feet.

  “Hey.” Paige hesitated, clearly thinking her words over before speaking. “Don’t worry about it. I know how you hate people bringing up your family like that.”

  “Yeah.”

  Lara was staring at her own feet now. It was easier than looking at Paige or Genie or the door where Sanchez had disappeared. It was easier than looking at the library that had given her so many good memories, but so many bad ones too. She could feel herself breaking down, and she wanted desperately to get back in control of herself. She stared at the creamy beige tile and took a few deep breaths.

  Paige’s hand slipped into Lara’s view, then hovered there hesitatingly. She was reaching for Lara’s arm, but stopped herself. Lara had pushed her away before, and she couldn’t blame Paige if she thought the same thing would happen if she tried to comfort her now.

  “It’s okay,” Paige said. “She’s gone now.”

  Lara kept her arms tense at her sides.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here.” Paige hit the stop button, popped the lens cap on her camera, and let the machine hang loose around her neck.

  Lara frowned. “‘We’? You didn’t even get your interview.”

  Paige shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Sanchez clearly isn’t going to talk to me today. It’s not worth staying here.”

  “Right,” Lara said. “Sorry I ruined your video.”

  Paige’s eyes searched Lara’s, quizzical. “I don’t care about that.” Lara could hear the concern in her voice. “I just don’t want you to have to stay here when that’s clearly not something you want to do.”

  The words were exactly what Lara had needed to hear, and she didn’t even know it until they were out there in the open. Her shoulders relaxed. “Thanks,” she said again, and she meant it just as much the second time.

  “Do you need help with those books?”

  Lara had forgotten she was carrying the stack.

  “I can help you carry them to your car if you want.” Paige tucked her camera under her arm, hands clearly as full as Lara’s, but still somehow willing to help. She grabbed a couple of books from the top of the pile before Lara could answer. “Just get the doors for me.”

  Lara obliged, backing out the door and holding it open for Paige as they walked out together. Paige followed her to her car and gave the books back only after she’d opened the passenger’s side door. Lara restacked the books into two even piles in the seat, then shut the door. She expected Paige to walk away, but as Lara made her way to the driver’s side of the car, Paige stayed in place. Her arm rested against the hood of the car, and Lara knew she couldn’t drive off with Paige standing in her way.

  “Did you forget something?” she asked.

  “This is probably going to sound weird,” Paige said, “but there’s a new ice cream parlor around the block. I’ve driven past it a couple times. It looks nice.”

  Ice cream? What did that have to do with anything? “Ok? What’s your angle here?”

  “There is no angle. I just want ice cream, and I figured you could use some too since you’ve had a bad day.”

  “You want me to get ice cream with you?” Lara was torn. Paige was a woman of ulterior motives. But Lara also knew Paige well enough to know that sometimes she was simple to a fault. Sometimes she got her sights set on little things like ice cream, and she did what she had to do to get what she wanted.

  Also, ice cream did sound pretty good. And she had had a shitty day.

  “Is that okay?” Paige asked. For someone who was blocking her ability to drive off, Paige seemed genuinely concerned about Lara’s consent to the trip. “I figured you could use some company.”

  She wasn’t wrong. If Lara went home now, all she’d do was replay th
e conversation she’d had with Sanchez in her head over and over again. That did not sound like Lara’s idea of a good time, and it probably wasn’t healthy for her to spend so much time alone with her thoughts. In comparison, ice cream didn’t sound so bad.

  “I guess that’s fine,” Lara said. “But you’re driving us there, and you’re paying.”

  Paige’s eyes lit up. “Deal.” She smiled in Lara’s direction, and it was so genuine that it was almost contagious. “Come on, my car’s over here.” She tossed Lara her keyring as she led them to the other side of the parking lot. “Unlock the backseat for me.”

  Holding Paige’s keys in her hand was eerily familiar. Paige still had the same beat-up SUV. Blindly, Lara chose the car key on the ring and unlocked the doors.

  Paige tucked her equipment into the backseat like it was a toddler, and Lara resisted the urge to climb into the driver’s seat as she waited for Paige to finish. Paige was as frantic with her driving as she was with everything else in her life. She was capable, but when the two of them had been together, Lara had almost always driven, if only because she trusted herself to keep a cooler head and therefore keep them alive.

  It was tempting now to do the same, but that didn’t feel right. This was Paige’s car now, not her and Paige’s car. When the keys exchanged hands, Paige’s fingers brushed Lara’s—a brief connection, but noticeable. It reminded her of helping Kerry with her stitches.

  Kerry. They had another date, of sorts, tonight. That thought alone forced all of her anxieties about Sanchez to the back of her mind. Well, almost.

  When she rounded the car to slip into the passenger’s seat, Lara was happy to put distance between her and Paige again. The car roared to life, and Lara kept her hands clasped in her lap, far away from Paige’s hand on the gear shift between them.

  Lara wondered if Paige had learned to drive more carefully in the four years they hadn’t talked or if she was driving more safely because Lara was in the car with her again.

  Even going the designated speed limit, it wasn’t long before they pulled up to a quaint shop. Lara recognized the building. It used to be a franchise in a fast-food chain, but it had been so many years since Lara had driven through this part of town that she couldn’t recall which one.