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He looked pained. “That’s right. I was thinking 1:00 p.m.”
“Only on Sundays.” She began to knead her hands in front of her, noticing her palms were growing damp.
He sighed and leaned back against the counter. “Well, this bites the big one, that’s for sure.”
To Kate, it felt as if the walls were closing in. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
“We can’t,” he said absently. “God, you have always been such a bundle of nerves.”
“I have not!”
He met her eyes. “Sure you have. Always.”
Anger rose in her, temporarily obscuring her growing claustrophobia. “How dare you say something like that to me. You, of all people, who did everything you could to make me a bundle of nerves.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t do anything any kid my age wouldn’t have done.”
“You did everything that no other kid your age was doing. We all watched, amazed, as you put glue on the teachers’ chairs and gum on the chalkboard and—”
“Nothing scary about that.”
“Well, no, not about that—”
“So what’re you blaming me for?”
She gave a humorless spike of a laugh. “Plenty. Believe me.”
He waved the notion away with his hand. “That’s bull. But it’s totally consistent bull. You always made a bigger deal of things than you had to.”
“So I was nervous and hysterical, is that what you’re saying?”
He looked her up and down. “That’s about the size of it.”
“Meanwhile, you were perfect.”
“Not perfect.” He cocked his head fractionally and very obviously tried to keep from smiling. “Just normal.”
She made a sound of disgust and threw her hands into the air. “You are amazing.” She walked back to the door to try to figure out some way to work it open. “Absolutely amazing.”
“Thanks,” he said behind her. “I’ve heard that, but I never thought I’d hear it from you.”
She glanced back at him. “It wasn’t a compliment.”
This time he did smile. “I know.”
She gave him the evil eye as best she could. “Please tell me you’re not staying long.”
He shook his head. “Just until about seven tonight.”
“Wha—” She frowned. “You know I mean in town, not in this shop.”
“Ah, in town. Well, now. That depends how quickly I can get the farm back into shape.”
“Oh, good Lord, that could take forever,” she said before she realized what she was saying. She quickly added, “You’ve been in the business long enough to know that every time you think you’ve got it figured out, fate throws you another curve ball.”
He studied her for a moment before giving a single nod. “I’m not looking to hit the ball out of the park.”
He didn’t offer any more information and even though Kate wanted to know more about what he’d done in the ten years he’d been away, she got the distinct impression that she shouldn’t ask for more.
In fact, she decided her time would probably be much better spent praying vehemently that someone would come to let them out of here, so she didn’t have to spend any more time at all making awkward small talk with Ben.
But at least he’d distracted her from her feeling of claustrophobia. There was something to be said for that, because for a moment there she’d actually thought she might totally lose it.
Why, she couldn’t say. She’d never been claustrophobic before. Those close to her might say she was a little high-strung at times, but never irrational.
Looking at Ben now, she almost wondered if he’d picked up on her panic and tried to help her by purposely getting her mad instead of scared.
For the briefest moment, her heart softened toward him. But then she remembered that Ben Devere didn’t make selfless gestures for anyone, least of all for Kate Gregory.
Chapter Three
Three hours later they were still stuck in the shop and they had exhausted absolutely every possibility, and more than a few long shots, to free themselves.
“I saw this TV show once,” Kate said, “where they held a lit match up to the smoke detectors to set off the alarm.”
“I saw that one. The sprinklers went off and they got soaked.”
“But they got saved.”
“We’re not in danger, Kate. We don’t actually need to go to extraordinary lengths to get out of here before we run out of air, or die of dehydration or anything.” He went to the fridge and took out a cola and held it up in offer.
Kate shook her head, so he closed the door and opened the cola for himself, before sitting back down to drink it along with the bag of cheese snacks he’d pilfered from the register stand.
“That stuff’ll kill you,” Kate commented, watching him eat the junk food. “That’s probably more dangerous than being stuck in here.”
He laughed out loud. “Doing laundry is more dangerous than being stuck in here.”
She shrugged and returned her attention to the gossip magazine she’d found on the stand with the racing forms.
“What about you? Reading that garbage probably isn’t good for you.”
She set the magazine down and looked at him patiently. “It’s better than listening to you.”
“Maybe.”
She returned her attention to the magazine.
“Then again, at least I tell the truth.”
She set the magazine down again. “As opposed to who? Me or this magazine?”
He popped a cheese snack in his mouth and raised his eyebrows. “Guilty conscience?”
“Not at all. It just sounded as if you were accusing me of something and I was wondering what it was.”
“Hmm.”
“Don’t hmm me, what were you getting at? I never lie!”
“Never?”
She shook her head. “Absolutely never.”
“So if your sister asks if she looks fat in a certain pair of jeans—and you think she does—you tell her the truth, even if you think she does.”
Jeez, that situation had come up just last week. How did he know? “My sister isn’t fat.”
“I didn’t say she was. I only asked if you would tell her the truth if she wanted to know something like that.”
Kate sighed. “I said I was honest, I didn’t say I was mean.”
“Which is it? Are you honest all the time or not? If you’re honest all the time, then it’s inevitable that sometimes you’re going to have to be mean.”
“I think a person can be honest and tactful.”
He took a swig of his cola. “Most people aren’t.”
She wasn’t sure what to say. She couldn’t honestly say she’d never told a little white lie. Who could? But if she admitted that to him, he’d pounce on her.
So instead she decided to put the heat on him. “What about you? Do you lie?”
“Me?” He wasn’t biting. “Sure. All the time.”
She couldn’t believe he was admitting it. “Are you serious?”
“Absolutely.” He gave a nod. “Ask me if you look fat in those jeans.”
She felt the blood rush to her face. “No, thanks,” she said, then had to wonder if she could believe an admitted liar when he said he was telling the truth.
He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
“I will.”
“But you don’t.”
“What?”
“You don’t look fat. You look amazing in those jeans. I noticed it as soon as I saw you this morning.”
Her face flushed again, only this time with foolish pride. Then she remembered the context of their conversation. “Oh, I see, this is one of your lies, right? You got me.”
“No, that was the truth. But even if you looked like an elephant in spandex, I wouldn’t say that to you.”
“Thanks.” She frowned. “I think.”
He popped the last cheese snack into his mouth and crumpled the plastic bag. “You’re welcome.” He tossed the bag neatly into the trash can from a distance of about ten feet.
She watched him for a minute. “I don’t get you, Ben.”
He looked surprised. “What’s to get?”
She looked into his warm brown eyes and tried to figure out who he was underneath it all. She couldn’t even guess.
Before she could answer him, there was a key at the door and they both sprang to their feet, Ben wiping crumbs from his shirt and Kate folding the magazine neatly into its original shape.
They waited for what seemed like ages until the door finally creaked open and the familiar face of old Mr. Warner peered in.
He shrieked upon seeing Ben and Kate, then held his hand to his chest and asked, “What in tarnation are you two doing in here?”
“We got locked in,” Kate explained. “I’m so sorry if we startled you.”
“You didn’t startle me,” the old man said, but his pink cheeks told another story. “I just…that is…what in blazes were you doing here in the first place?”
“Someone told us we had phone messages up here,” Ben said.
Mr. Warner looked skeptical. “Since when do the Deveres and the Gregorys get their phone calls in the track shop?”
It did sound foolish, Kate had to concede. “Someone told us that was the case,” she said. “Of course it didn’t sound right, but we came to check in case there was an emergency at home. Turns out someone was just playing some sort of prank on us so they could lock us in.” She would kill Bianca. She would kill her gladly.
Mr. Warner tightened his lips into a thin line and looked from Ben to Kate and back again, before saying, “Get on out of here, you two. Before I take inventory and charge you for all the junk food you’ve been eating.” He looked at Ben. “I’m talking to you, Mr. Devere.”
Ben smiled. “Put it on my tab.”
“Indeed I will.”
Kate watched the exchange with something like admiration. Ben had always had the gift of being at ease with people, no matter how much older or crankier they were. He was a charmer, no doubt about it.
Fortunately she was long over falling for his brand of charm.
“You doing all right?” he asked her seriously when at last they emerged into the main building.
“I’m fine,” she said, humiliated beyond words that she had made the mistake of showing her weakness to him. But that was the definition of weakness, at least of her particular brand of claustrophobia; there was no hiding it. “Thanks.
“So I guess…” Their ordeal over, she wasn’t sure how to leave things. “I’ll see you later.”
He nodded. “By the way, Kate?”
“Hmm?”
