“What the hell are you doing here?” Frank Cannon yelled.
Nate turned in the chair and looked at the angry man. “Having lunch. Can I get you anything?”
“No. This is not your house and you have no right to treat it like it is.”
Nate got up, lunch things in hand and started back to the house, Frank close behind him.
“You know what Terri did this morning?” Frank asked.
Nate was throwing away his trash and straightening the kitchen he knew so well. He didn’t answer because it was a rhetorical question.
“She defended your ass, that’s what. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re all PO’d at you.”
“I noticed,” Nate said. Brody had walked past him three times with no greeting. Elaine had waved but it wasn’t friendly.
“Terri told us to stop it. She said we were angry at you for being an honorable man. She said we were hating you for what we liked about you.”
Nate paused, his hand on the counter. He could imagine Terri saying those things. She took friendship to its highest level. “Terri and I never did anything inappropriate.”
Frank looked like he might explode. “Inappropriate?” He said the word as though it were filthy. “You kids today make me sick. You think that if you say it in a PC way then it’s okay. Do you really think what you did to Terri was ‘appropriate’? Just because you didn’t pay her the courtesy of showing her the lust I saw on your face, you think it’s all right? You should have left when you saw that she liked you so much. You knew you were engaged! But your ego liked having a pretty girl look at you like she did. What I want to know is what you’re playing at.” He stared at Nate, waiting for an answer.
“I don’t know,” Nate said, and the honesty he felt came out in his words. “I’ll leave.”
“Yeah. I think you should. And stay away.”
“I have to help...” He motioned toward the lake.
“Of course you do. You worked hard to put yourself in the lives of the Rayburn family. You made them need you. But they were just something to entertain you, weren’t they? Something to occupy yourself while you waited for the mayor’s daughter to return.”
Nate could think of nothing to say. Turning, he left the house.
Chapter 12
It was Wednesday and Terri was ready for the whole festival to be over. It seemed to be worse this year. Four years ago they’d put a limit on the number of booths and that had caused a war. Brody had lost his temper after about three hours and said everyone could apply and he’d let them know who got in. The hint was that there would be a random draw. But he and Frank and three retirees had sat down with beers and chosen people they liked.
Elaine had stopped that favoritism and made the process more fair. So now they had a cross section of sellers, all of whom wanted the best spots.
Terri ran from one place to another, repairing things and trying to solve arguments. But she wasn’t very good at diplomacy. She found herself muttering, “Where is Nate?”
She’d seen him often, but every time she got near him, he said he had to go somewhere else. Behind him trailed the usual chorus.
“Nate fixed it”
“Nate solved it.”
But she knew that today something was different.
“Are you all right?” she asked when she caught him running from one disaster to another.
“Fine. I need to...” He waved his hand in a vague way.
“I know. You have to go solve some problems.” Yesterday she’d had to miss lunch with him. “Want to try for lunch today?”
“No!” he nearly shouted. “I mean, I have too much to do. I’ll see you... Whenever.”
As Terri watched him leave, she was frowning. What was wrong with him?! She was the one who was being left behind. Last night she’d stayed in her dad’s office until after ten. Anything rather than go back to her empty house. The night before she’d found one of Nate’s socks stuck in the dryer and she’d almost started crying. Again.
She’d angrily wiped at her eyes and told herself to get a grip.