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Chapter Seventeen - Kevin

The ride to Dr. Selinski’s office was a short one. Of course, a ride from one end of town to the other only took five minutes; seven if you hit the one stoplight. I got out of the car and followed Addy to the front door. She slid inside and returned with tape. As she was taping the sign to the door, a woman with two young girls stopped and looked our way.

"Addy!” she said happily. Addy turned around, a look of surprise on her face.

“Hello Tina,” Addy said.

“Congratulations,” Tina said. “I had no idea.”

Addy looked confused.

“An idea about what?”

“You getting married!”

If Addy had looked confused before, it was nothing compared to that moment. I pretended to be really interested in the sign she had just posted.

“Married?”

“I ran into Toby Davidson at the diner. He said he met your husband this morning. This must be him? Everyone said it was the guy who was staying in that crummy cabin a few weeks ago.”

I glanced over at her slowly. Abby’s mouth made me think of a goldfish out of water. I weighed my options. I couldn’t decide whether the whole town thinking we were married or Toby finding out we weren’t was the lesser of two evils. I made a split second decision.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kevin,” I said, holding out my hand. She shook it, studying me intently.

“Tina Wilcox,” she said. “Gee, you look so familiar…”

I laughed. “Well, you know what they say. Everyone has an evil twin.”

She gave a high pitched laugh and held onto my hand a few seconds longer than necessary.

“So is that why the Farris place sold so quickly?” she teased. “I’m assuming you two lovebirds are staying in town?”

I nodded. Addy stood there speechless.

“Well,” Tina said, looking at the both of us. “I better get going. Congratulations!”

She walked off down the street, her two girls bouncing behind her. When she was far enough out of earshot, Tornado Addy came back to life.

“What was that?”

She took several angry steps and closed the space between us. I held up my hands and backed away.

“Now, listen…”

“Trouble in paradise?”

My back stiffened. In unison, Addy and I turned around. Toby Davidson was standing behind us, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

Addy’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. I shook my head.

“No trouble at all. We were just leaving.”

Toby looked at the note Addy had placed on the door. “Dad’s out of town?”

I heard a soft scared groan come from her throat.

“He’s a busy doctor,” I said. “I didn’t think doctors got much time off, Dr. Davidson.”

“They let me off for good behavior,” he said wryly. His eyes went back to Addy. “Did your husband give you my message?”

Addy’s eyes darted to me and then to the ground.

“I was hoping we could have a few moments to talk.”

I moved over so that I was standing in front of Addy. “Now’s not a good time,” I said.

“When would be a good time?”

“We’ll let you know,” I said. I spun around and took Addy’s arm. Her whole body tensed up like a brick, but this time she didn’t shout. I opened the car door for her and she quickly darted inside. As I walked around to the driver’s side, I heard the passenger side door open a crack.

“You can run, but you can’t hide Adelaide,” Toby said. He slammed the door closed and stood back as I quickly started the car and took off.

I heard her teeth chatter as I drove away from the office. I glanced over at her; even though she was in the passenger seat, her mind was a million miles away. I drove back to her dad’s and parked as close to the front door as I possibly could.

“Go inside and get an overnight bag,” I said, pointing to the door. Her eyes turned to mine slowly.

“What?”

“Go inside and get an overnight bag,” I repeated. “You’re not staying here alone tonight.”

“This is my house.”

I tried not to smile. “Well since we’re “married,” I think everyone would assume you would stay at my, er our house.”

Her hands flew up in the air. “Why the hell did you tell him we were married?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. He asked me who I was and you were on the ground scrambling to get away and it just came out.”

“This is just perfect,” she groaned, slumping down in the seat. “The whole town’s going to think that by tomorrow morning.”

“Listen,” I said. “Let them think that until your dad comes back. I don’t know what happened between you and this Toby guy but I know I don’t like him. So why don’t you go pack an overnight bag?”

“I can’t stay at your house,” she argued.

“Yes you can. You can have the whole upstairs of the house. You’re not the only one that can pretend they’re invisible.”

It was her turn to weigh her options. I saw her study the house and then look at me. She unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car.

“I won’t be long,” she said quietly.

As I watched her go in the house, I rested my arms on the steering wheel.

What was a thirty two year old woman doing in a small town, never married? She certainly wasn’t ugly. In a way, she was the anti-Kristin. Addy was brunette, a little on the short side, definitely more curvy, and had way more attitude. That was why I had always liked Kristin; we were the quiet couple that I could imagine sitting in recliners when we were older, just…being.

Now I couldn’t help but wonder; is that all I wanted? Just to be? It used to bring a smile to my face; now that just seemed so boring. I was almost forty; maybe I was having a mid-life crisis. Maybe I didn’t want boring. It was weird, but in a way I secretly enjoyed blurting out for no reason whatsoever that Addy and I were married. It was just a little white lie, after all. It would never happen in real life, but what was the harm?

I was broken out of my thoughts as I heard the door slam. Addy walked down the stairs with a tattered duffel bag slung over her shoulder…

And a shot gun.