Chapter Six
I told Kyla about Devin that afternoon. I didn’t exactly lie, but I didn’t tell her all the gory details either. No use mentioning that I thought Devin was weird the first time I met him. That would just make her feel like I was handing her my rejects. She didn’t need to know about the pastels, either. I didn’t want it getting back to Leo that other guys were buying me presents too.
I told her about Tom Orser and the recording deal and Devin’s interest in art. Kyla stopped doodling and looked at me.
“How ugly is he?” she said. She’d been set up before. She was suspicious.
“Not ugly at all,” I answered.
“Well, I’m interested then,” she said. “Not ugly at all means he’s cuter than 97 percent of the guys around here.”
My only problem now was going to be finding Devin. I didn’t have a number for him. In fact, I didn’t even know where he was staying.
It turned out I didn’t have to track him down at all. I saw him the very next day.
I was at the town library, sprawled across one of the chairs, reading, when he came up behind me.
“Frances? Hey, what are you doing here?” He looked at my book and shook his head in amazement. “You’re not going to believe this …” he said.
He was holding a scrap of paper. There was a file number written on it and a title for a book called Strange Houses: Odd Abodes Throughout the Ages. It was the book I was sitting there reading.
“Wow. Great minds think alike, huh?” he said.
I smiled. I had to admit it seemed like a pretty weird coincidence. I’d never even heard of the book before. I just picked it up because it sounded interesting—and here he was actually looking for it.
“So are you going to hog it?” he asked. “Or can we share?”
I said, “Share, I guess.” Why not? I wouldn’t have wanted Leo to see us together like that, poring over a book. It would have really bugged him. But since he never came into the library, I figured I didn’t have to worry. I also needed a few minutes alone with Devin so I could bring up the Kyla thing.
Devin pulled a chair up beside mine and we flipped through the book. He seemed to know quite a bit about construction and architects and people who build weird houses. It was interesting. I like learning about new things.
I lost track of time. Suddenly it was almost five. I jumped up.
“Yikes!” I said. “I gotta go!”
He grabbed my arm. “Don’t go yet! Stay until we get into the twentieth century at least.”
“I can’t,” I said and shook his hand loose. “I’ve got to go to Leo’s hockey tryouts.”
“That sounds like fun!” he said.
For a second I was worried he was going to ask if he could come with me.
“Just kidding,” he said and elbowed me. “Would you really rather sit in a freezing cold rink than a nice warm library?”
My answer of course was no, but I didn’t say that.
I just said, “I don’t have a choice. I promised.”
I threw my stuff in my knapsack and was about to take off. I had two minutes to make it to the rink, but I stopped anyway. I didn’t want to miss the chance to do my matchmaker thing.
I turned around and said, “Hey, do you want to have lunch tomorrow?”
I was going to tell him about Kyla, but I thought that might scare him off. In a weird way, he actually seemed kind of shy.
“Do you know where D’Eon’s Diner is?” I asked.
“That greasy spoon out by the fish plant? I love that place. It’s so 1962!”
“Great. See you there at 12:30 then.”
Devin was right. D’Eon’s Diner is so 1962. I’m sure most of the décor—and all of the coleslaw—is at least that old. But Kyla and I love it. No one from the high school ever bothers to go that far for lunch, and the seafood chowder is actually pretty good.
Kyla and I got there at about 12:15 so we could get a good booth. I sat facing the door. The seat backs are so high that I had to keep sticking my head out in the aisle to watch for Devin.
Kyla was nervous.
“Do I look all right?” she said.
She was wearing her usual mismatched Thrift Shop clothes. She had this thing tied around her head, but her hair still looked pretty wild. I mean that in a good way.
“You look fabulous, darling,” I said. “Why are you so worried?”
Kyla pulled at her curls so her hair wouldn’t be flat on top.
“I don’t know. This guy just sounds too good to be true. Rich. Artistic. Musical. Not ugly. When would I ever find another guy like that in Lockeport?”
I felt bad then. Maybe I should have been a little more honest about Devin. It wouldn’t help Kyla’s chances if she acted like he was too good for her.
I didn’t have time to do anything about it. Devin walked in the door carrying a big plastic bag. I called him over. He had this huge smile on his face—until he slipped into the booth and saw Kyla.
He looked at her like she was a rotting corpse or something. He actually jumped back out of the booth.
This was bad.
I tried to laugh as if it was a joke and said, “Kyla, this is Devin.”
“Hi,” she said. “Nice to meet you.” I could tell by the look on her face that it wasn’t nice at all.
“Hi,” he said. He didn’t look at either of us. He held his package against his chest and kind of glanced around the room. He was all fidgety. He said, “Ah, sorry. Look. I just came in to say I can’t stay. Sorry. Have a good lunch. See ya.” And he left.
I put this big smile on my face and turned back to Kyla.
“Well,” I said. “That didn’t go so well now, did it?”
“No, it was great!” Kyla said. “I think we really hit it off!” She grabbed her purse and slid out of the booth. I could tell she was going to cry.
“Kyla …” I said.
She got up and looked at me as if she hated me. “Do me a favor,” she said. “Don’t try setting me up again. Like, how desperate do you think I am?”
I tried to apologize, but she was really ranting by now. All the guys from the fish plant turned and stared.
“What were you thinking?” She practically spat at me. “Oh, I know. ‘He may be a psycho, but he’s a single psycho. He’d be perfect for Kyla!’ Thanks for your confidence in me, Frances.”
I couldn’t stop her. She stormed out of the diner. She didn’t even slow down to steal a handful of mints from the waitress station like she usually does.
Everyone went back to their meals. I sat in the booth and stared at the red leatherette seat. Kyla was right. What was I thinking? I should have gone with my first instinct. The one that told me Devin was not the type of guy to get mixed up with.