“I went to law school and then got my master’s in tax law. So . . . where’d you get your degree from?”
“What is this? The inquisition?”
“No. What’s so terrible about me asking where you got your education?”
“What are you sniffing around for?” Monty snapped.
Air popped out of her lungs. “I just asked a question. There’s no need to be rude.” When he didn’t speak for several seconds, and she sensed his frank suspicion, she sighed.
“I was thinking about going back to school. I’d like to do something where you can . . . you know. Help people.”
Then it came, the snort of derisive laughter she dreaded hearing. Well, she’d just have to get used to being ridiculed. One day, people wouldn’t laugh.
“You. Want to be a social worker?”
Katie straightened her spine and glared up at him in the chair, even though she knew he couldn’t make out her defiance in the dim light. “I want to do something where I make a difference. And yeah . . . social work was one of the fields I was considering,” she said defensively.
“You’d never last,” Monty said bluntly. She heard a metallic sound and knew he’d opened the tackle box she’d seen earlier next to his chair.
“How do you know?” she asked. “You don’t even know me.”
He made a scoffing sound that told Katie loud and clear he thought he knew enough. The cricket’s solo chirps seemed to intensify to a screech in the silent seconds that followed.
“You really want to make a difference?” Monty asked after a moment.
“I really do.”
“Meet me Sunday morning at the diner. Eight o’clock.”
“Okay,” Katie agreed. She waited expectantly, but Monty didn’t appear to plan on telling her anything else. She stood and started to carefully make her way back on the dock when Monty called out to her. A small flashlight blinked on.
“Here. Take this,” the older man said.
Katie accepted the flashlight with a word of thanks. She could tell by his tone that Monty didn’t take much stock in her proposed career plans, but she had to start somewhere, didn’t she? If she was thwarted every time someone gave her an incredulous look or laughed at her, she’d never get anywhere.
Before returning to Rill’s house—something she was definitely dragging her feet about doing—she found the entrance to the co-op. Olive had told her the store would be open for another hour or so. She was amazed at the variety and quantity of food offered on the farm. She stocked up on cartons of fresh vegetables, fruit, rice and freshly baked bread.
Everything was dark and quiet when she pulled up to Rill’s at a little past eight in the evening. Rill’s car was still parked out
front, but the house felt empty to her. Where had he gone? He seemed to make a habit out of disappearing into thin air.
She flipped on the light in the kitchen. The warm glow seemed to chase away some of her feelings of alienation and uncertainty. She put away the groceries she’d bought and removed some meat from the freezer. She’d prepared a salad, including some juicy tomatoes from the co-op, and was broiling two large steaks when she heard the back door open and close.
Leave it to the scent of cooking beef to call a man home, she thought wryly.
She was a little nervous by the time she spied Rill’s large shadow moving toward her from the darkened living room, but she was determined not to show it. She put two plates on the counter.
“Hey,” she said, her gaze flickering over him. His dark hair looked windblown. “You been walking?”
“Yeah.”
She had a vivid impression of them both studiously ignoring the chartreuse bull elephant in the room and resisted a hysterical urge to laugh. “I made you a steak. You hungry?”
He shifted uneasily on his booted feet. His expression was guarded, but also . . . pained somehow.
“You okay, Rill?” she asked softly.
“I’m fine.” He came into the kitchen and made himself useful, getting silverware, glasses and napkins while Katie removed the fragrant steaks from the broiler. Feeling awkward but determined, she asked Rill where he wanted to eat. They usually ate separately, but Katie wanted to halt that routine before it became a habit. He shrugged and nodded at the small table situated near the front windows.