The Magnolia Cafe(22)
“Do you think she would do that?”
“I don’t think so. Not with Kat on my side.” Keely stared at her wine glass, lost in thought.
What a fine mess that would be if Keely’s mom made her stop the construction of the patio. Or refused the purchase of the new furniture pieces for the cafe. Keely would be crushed. She was trying so hard to bring in new business to the cafe. Put her own spin on it. He couldn’t imagine someone else having that much control over his life and over his decisions.
The waitress came and delivered their meals, interrupting both of them from their thoughts.
~ * ~
“It’s really nice out tonight.” Keely stepped outside the door to Sylvia’s Place and looked down Main Street. A few other people walked down the sidewalks. The streetlights cast warm light along the street. “I think we can almost call it springtime.”
“It is a nice night.” Hunt stepped outside and stood next to Keely. She just reached up to about his chin. Her hair was down tonight, with curls drifting about her shoulders. He hadn’t seen her hair down like that since their high school days. “Your hair looks good like that.”
“Thanks. I usually just pull it back every day. Keeps it out of the way at work. But Kat… well, she insisted.” She reached up and touched the curls self-consciously.
“Well, it looks really nice.” Really nice. He cleared his throat. “We could look up and see what’s playing at the movie theater.”
“I don’t know. You want to just walk for a bit? Enjoy the weather and the quiet?”
“Sounds good to me.” He’d much rather take a walk and talk with Keely than sit in some movie theater. He crossed to the outside of the sidewalk and linked his arm through hers. “Let’s go walk to the park.”
They slowly strolled down Main Street to the town park, pausing occasionally to look in a store window and comment on something. Her eyes lit up at a teal dress in the dress shop window. “That would look great on you.”
“Oh, I don’t have a need for something like that. It is pretty, though.”
“I guess you don’t buy yourself many things that aren’t needs, huh?”
“Just my journals. I buy really nice journals to write in every day.”
“You do? What do you write about?”
She looked at him for a moment then took his arm and started walking again. “I write about my day. My frustrations. Things I’m grateful for. I try to list off three things I’m grateful for every night before I go to bed. Helps me with my attitude.”
“That sounds like a good way to end your day.”
“I use my journals more for my thoughts. Not like Kat and Bella use their notebooks. They are all about plans.” She looked up at him and smiled. “It’s my one indulgence. I have a stash of nice notebooks. Leather ones or cloth ones covered in pretty floral fabric. Rich, thick paper in them. And fountain pens. With really nice ink. Kind of a frivolous expenditure, I could just as well write my thoughts in a dime store spiral notebook.”
“Do you ever write articles or stories anymore?”
“Who would I write articles for? And I don’t have time to write stories. All my time goes into making sure the cafe stays afloat.”
“You’re a great writer. I bet you could write for some of the regional magazines. Or your stories you used to write. They were really good.”
Keely shook her head. “I just don’t see where I’d find the time.”
He figured he’d better drop the subject before he said the wrong thing. They crossed Main Street to the park and walked towards the gazebo. White twinkling lights illuminated the octagonal structure and spilled out into the park.
“It looks kind of magical, doesn’t it?” Keely stood in front of the white painted gazebo, lined with benches on the inside, and the outside lined with magnolia bushes.
“It does a bit.” He looked at it for a moment, thinking in his head how he could capture it with his camera. The lights. The peacefulness. The small-town park, a safe place to walk in at night. How many people had that in their lives?
He dropped to the steps and Keely sat beside him. He wrapped his arm around her lightly and she leaned against him. They waved at the occasional passerby.
Keely rested a hand on his knee. “Do you miss traveling?”
“What? Well, a bit. But I’m going to stay here for a while until Natalie gets her feet under her.” He was actually surprised he hadn’t begun to feel restless yet. He usually got the urge to move on after a week or so in one place.
“How long do you think you’ll stay?”