One Moment (The Little Hollow Series Book 1) (16 page)

She looked down at herself. “You don’t think it’s too ‘hey look at the emo’?” Chuckling, I looked her over.

“It’s not emo, Kee, it’s urban punk and you look just fine.” Seeing her visibly relax, I turned and started pulling off the boots. “I hope tomorrow goes smoothly.”

“So what if it doesn’t? Our job is to decorate the place, that’s it. What you’ve planned is going to look awesome so there’s nothing to worry about.” Yeah, I guessed so.

“But what if Nora doesn’t like it?” She turned to me with a ‘what the hell’ look on her face.

“Then she can find someone else to rope into doing it next year. Stop worrying, everyone will love it, it’ll be great.”

She had a smile on her face and I just had to ask. “Is Lewis going do you know?” Scoffing incredulously, she picked at the hem of her shirt.

“How would I know? It’s not as if I care.”

A chuckle escaped my mouth. “Yeah, and I don’t care about coffee.”

She feigned being offended. “Did you just compare Lewis to coffee? How dare you, he isn’t all that. Anyway, I’m not planning on sticking around long enough to find out. The people here don’t like me, Sam, I’m an outsider to them even after all this time so I’d rather just show my face then leave.”

Peeling off the outfit and sticking my pajamas on, I gave myself a little time to think of a reply.

“You’re not an outsider, Kee. They just haven’t gotten a chance to get to know your sarcastic self yet.” To prove my point, she gave me the finger and a sarcastic smile. “See! That’s the Kee we all know and love.” I pinched her cheek and she swatted my hand away.

“Yeah and if they keep staring at me like I have a third arm, they won’t get to know me. I have all the friendship I need, right in this little apartment.”

“Ah, don’t tell me you’re going soft on me,” I said with a wink. She slid off my bed before throwing another middle finger over her shoulder on the way out the door. “That’s my girl!” I couldn’t help but laugh at myself.

Well this is not how I had planned to wake up this morning. What is that noise? It sounded like someone was blending screws. I teetered across my bedroom and stuck my head out. “What in the-”

“Good morning, sleepy head!” I peered at the clock; it was barely seven. Where was I? Had I woken up in some alternative universe where Keeley was up before me, making a breakfast smoothie?

“Coffee is nearly ready and I was just whisking up some shakes for extra energy.” She pressed the button on the blender making that horrendous noise again.

“Seriously, Kee? Urgh.” I flopped down at the breakfast counter and took the cup she handed me.

“What time is Mr Gracefield and his merry men bringing those tables over?” Pouring her weird concoction into two glasses, she handed one to me.

“Not until nine, what’s in this?” I smelt it and it didn’t smell too bad so I took a sip.

“Oh you know, berries, protein powder, eggs, all that good stuff.”

I heaved. “There’s raw eggs in this?” She smirked.

“Oh don’t be like that, it’s good for you and it tastes good.” She took a sip of her own before spitting it out in the sink. “Okay, maybe not. Toast?”

I chuckled and held up my mug. “Coffee is the only friend I need this morning.” Scowling over at me, I gave her a sarcastic smile. “This one isn’t trying to poison me.”

Taking another sip of the ‘life force’ I’d need for today, my mind drifted off. By the time I’d joined the present, Kee had gone to shower. I had so much to do today, I just wanted to lock myself in the apartment and forget about the world but I had people relying on me to get things done.

Not only did I have to use the whole morning to decorate the community hall and make sure everything was in place, I also had two clients in after lunchtime. After an afternoon of paperwork, I needed to get ready for tonight. It was going to be a long day.

After a quick shower, I took my time getting dressed into my old jeans and a tank, shoved my hair up into a bun and called for Kee to hurry up so we could get going. As we were closing up the salon, my cell rang with an unknown number.

“Hello, Samantha Reynolds speaking.”

A gruff voice came over the other end. “I’ve got tables for you, Samantha Reynolds, where d’you want ‘em?”

“I’m on my way over right now, I’ll be five minutes. If you could just start unloading them into the hall that’d be a huge help. I really appreciate this, Mr Gracefield.” He mumbled something unintelligible before hanging up without so much as a goodbye.

“Really happy guy that one.” Kee snorted at my remark as she started to put everything in the trunk and backseats of the car.

“That’s okay, you just stand and watch, little miss princess,” she said sarcastically. I chuckled and picked up a box to pass to her. “This better be quick and painless, Sam,” she warned, getting in the car. I didn’t say anything. If Nora was there watching our every move, it wasn’t going to be quick or painless.

On arrival, she was there, standing with a clipboard in the middle of the room directing people. Or some would call it shouting and pointing erratically at things.

“Oh thank goodness you’re both here! I thought this place was going to be a bare hall. Nice touch with the tables, I’ve told the men where they should go if that’s okay with you two.” She looked between us both with a look that challenged us to dare argue with her before flying through the middle of us. “No! Not there, Dustin. I said make it in line with the rest of them. Gosh, you all really must learn to listen more.”

Kee pointed at the tables. “You know they would look better where that guy put the tables just then, right?” I chewed on my lip and nodded. “But no one’s going to say anything? Maybe it’s time someone gave her a dose of her own.” She moved forward. “Hey, Nora, I was thinking that the tables would look really good at that angle, then it would leave this room here-” She pointed through the middle. “-for people to dance and talk in. What do you think?” Nora pursed her lips before assessing the situation.

“Do you not like my table layouts, Kayleigh?” She moved towards us with calculated steps. “Is it not to your taste?” Oh no, she’d poked the bear and I wasn’t talking about Nora.

“Look, Nora, you’ve been coming to our salon for over three years now and I’ve corrected you every single time. It’s Keeley, you know that by now, let’s not be facetious. I think your table layouts are too formal, they aren’t in the right places for people to mingle and actually get to enjoy themselves without feeling ridged and regimented. So no, it’s not to my taste.”

Way to knock one out the park, Kee,
my mind chanted. She stood unnerved, looking Nora in the eye. “And since you put me and Sam here in charge of decorating, I think that should include the tables and bales that we organized, don’t you?”

She gave her a sickly sweet smile before walking off in the direction of the guys to tell them to start moving the tables back to the way they were. With Nora left speechless, I slipped around her and back out to start unloading all the finer details from the car. I picked up one box too many and it started to topple as I hooked my foot to open the door, but it didn’t fall.

“Woah! Careful there, a man might get the wrong idea if you go throwing stuff at him.” I giggled and looked up into the dark brown eyes of the man standing in front of me.

“Thanks! I don’t know what I was thinking trying to carry all that at once. I guess I was just being lazy.” I really looked at him then, he had longish hair and was sporting a scar running the length of his cheek. The way he was looking at me gave me the creeps so I asked him to leave the box there to prop open the door, thanked him again and scuttled inside.

“You okay, Sam?” I shook my head and looked up to smile at my best friend.

“Of course, everything’s fine. Just a character I’ve never seen before saved me from a broken toe, no biggie, but he was kind of creepy looking.” She visibly stiffened but then tried to hide it seconds later.

“What do you mean creepy looking? You can’t just describe people like that.” She forced a laugh but was clearly waiting for my reply.

“You know the way some guys look at women, like they’re pieces of meat. It weirds me out, like I said, no biggie.” But apparently it was a biggie because Kee questioned me again about what he looked like. “You okay, Kee? Why are you so interested in this guy?”

She shrugged. “I’m not, I just want to know who to look out for in case he comes creeping around here again. Can’t be too careful these days, Sam.”

Yeah right, in a town like Little Hollow?

“We’re safe around here, Kee, but if you really must know, he was just one of those typical biker types.” If I thought she was tense before, it was nothing compared to this version of her. I’d never seen her like this. Her breaths started coming in rapid bursts and she looked at me with wild eyes.

“Kee?” She shook her head. “What? What’s wrong? I can’t do anything unless you tell me what’s wrong.”

She started taking deep breaths until she’d calmed down.

“Woo! I don’t know what happened to me there. Sorry, Sam, I didn’t mean to scare you. I think I’ve had too much coffee, I feel a bit jittery.”

She was hiding something and it had everything to do with that biker guy. We walked back outside.

“Why don’t you go home, Kee, I’ve got this” I gestured to the boxes we’d took out from the car. She looked around.

“No, I’m fine, honestly. Let’s do this! It’s only nine and I’m already looking forward to the day ending, let’s not draw this out any longer.” With that she piled two boxes on top of each other before walking into the community hall. I guess she wasn’t ready to tell me but I couldn’t help feel a little bit of an outsider in her life these last few days.

Picking up another box, I put it to the back of my mind to be revisited later on, it was time to go hang some bunting.

“I must say, you’ve done a fine job here. And I really must apologize to you, kay… Keeley. I’ve been a bitter old boot. I guess you could say that I’m very set in my ways and a little jealous of all you young folk. Now if I was asked if that was ever said, I’d deny it.” She winked and walked away with a wave over her shoulder. “See you tonight girls.”

“Well, well, well, the old boot does have a sense of humor.” I chuckled and followed Kee to the car. “Now let’s go get some food, there’s no way I’m doing paperwork on an empty stomach.”

I nodded my agreement and we headed towards the diner.

Today was going at a snail’s pace. I’d been out for a run early this morning after I couldn’t sleep again, I thought it would make time go quicker but, all in all, it only took up an hour. I then had breakfast and caught up with Betty and Lyle, they were such good people and I really enjoyed talking to them.