When she fell into silence again, Keith didn’t interrupt or try to make small talk that only would have accentuated the widening gulf between them.
* * * *
Despite the topic of conversation, Noel did feel a little better when they returned from lunch. She was able to throw herself into the work, since Saturdays were pretty busy at the marina, and focus on learning her new job. By the time she was finished for the day, she realized she’d spent most of it, other than lunch, focused on what she was doing and not what was going on in her personal life.
It was easier to dodge Maria’s nosy personal questions, too, like about how she knew Keith.
It wasn’t exactly easy to explain how she and Keith knew each other.
He lives with us, and he’s fucking and beating my husband.
Yeeaahhh…no.
And Noel didn’t want to lie and say she wasn’t married when she legally still was. It impacted what she put down on her tax forms when she filled out the new-hire paperwork.
Overall, a good day. She rode home in silence with Keith, glad when he retired to his room to take a shower without asking about dinner or making additional small talk she was sure he probably didn’t want to engage in, either.
He was, however, making an effort. Overall, at least.
And for that she felt grateful.
Chapter Fifteen
Over a month into working at the marina, Noel realized she enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than she had teaching. Yes, it was less pay, but it was far less stressful, even during the most “stressful” times.
Not to mention she could leave work at work, and once she got home her time was all hers instead of needing planning time, or grading papers. She actually had time for more hobbies, like reading for fun. She even went to a couple of dinners with some of her friends from the Suncoast Society group, trying to keep herself from disappearing into a black hole of isolation and self-pity. Not to mention she no longer had to shell out of pocket for school supplies to keep on hand.
Bonus.
She was also trying to decide on an online college to take courses from. If the men were going to insist on giving her time to get herself back on her feet, well, by god, she’d damn well take it.
It was the least they could do for her under the circumstances.
Most days she actually drove herself to work, preferring not to be stuck in such close contact with Keith all the time.
It was bad enough he was living in their house—although under other circumstances she would have considered him the perfect roommate—she didn’t need to subject herself to him all the time. He was a handsome man, and that he was also a nice man, ironically, made it that much harder on her.
Scott, bless his heart, probably thought he was helping by trying to be around and between them when he was home, as if trying to force a bridge to magically appear over the gap between her and Keith. If anything, it made the situation more tense.
Noel and Keith had settled into their own uneasy, distant dance, and she didn’t want to rock that boat.
But now they both had to stay home for two days, alone, as Hurricane Norris closed in on their neck of southwest Florida.
And because of his job, Scott would have to work an emergency forty-eight-hour shift during the storm. Noel and Keith had two hectic days at work of their own, helping prep the marina for the storm. Now all they could do was sit back and wait to see if there was any major damage in the aftermath.
Norris was predicted to hit south of Sarasota. So if they were lucky, they might not get much more than some breezy gusts and thunderstorms, and maybe some higher-than-normal tides.
Noel wasn’t sure if her edginess was due to the impending storm or the stormy days and nights that lay ahead of her without Scott there to buffer her and Keith.
Sure, she knew she could stay in her room and just watch TV and chill out, but dammit, it was her house.
And Scott was still her husband.
And why the fuck did Keith have to be so goddamned good-looking? He was fucking hot. If he was straight, and not fucking her husband, she’d fuck him silly.
She didn’t see hide nor hair of the hunk when she emerged from her bedroom and headed to the kitchen. What she wanted was her own private hurricane party.
Scratch that, she wanted a pity party. As the morning wore on into afternoon and the storm grew closer to land, she knew they were safe. Its projected path, nearly locked in at this point by the NHC, meant they’d be on the good side of the storm when it nearly duplicated Hurricane Charley’s path from ’04. Only it was a much larger storm than Charley, and moving more slowly. They’d get a lot more weather than Sarasota had during Charley, rain bands, wind, and while not as likely on that side of the storm, there was always the potential for a tornado spun off one of the bands.
But they weren’t in a flood zone, their roof was rated up to a Cat 3 storm, their shutters were tightly bolted, the genny would kick in if they lost power…
That meant she could drown her sorrows in a beer if she wanted.
She grabbed a bottle from the fridge and popped the cap off with the church key hanging on the fridge. Then her eyes fell on the cabinet next to the fridge.
Opening it, she found the bottle of tequila right where she’d last seen it.
Fuck it.
She pulled a frosted mug from the freezer, emptied the bottle of beer into it, and topped the mug to the brim with tequila. After stirring it with her finger, she drank a few long swallows and topped it off again with tequila.
That should do it.
She marched into her living room, grabbed her TV remote, plopped her ass down on the middle of her couch, and started channel surfing on her TV.
* * * *
Keith heard Noel moving around out in the kitchen, followed shortly after by the sound of the TV coming on.
He was determined to make this work for all of their sakes. He really liked Noel and didn’t blame her for her current mindset. He couldn’t blame her for it.
It also made him feel like shit that she was hurting because of him. If he couldn’t find a way to make this work for the three of them, he’d have to make the sacrifice and say good-bye to Scott.
Not what he wanted to do, of course, because he knew he was balls-deep in love with the guy.
But causing Noel pain wasn’t something he could live with. Scott had pie-in-the-sky hopes that the three of them could find some uneasy truce that would work in the long-term and he wouldn’t have to divorce Noel, but that likely wouldn’t be healthy for Noel. Yes, he could share Scott with Noel. Absolutely.
But if she couldn’t share Scott with him, that was another matter entirely.
He’d finished prepping the house’s exterior and yard for the storm that morning. After taking his shower, he decided to head out to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. He’d heard her channel surfing in the living room, changing it every few seconds it sounded like, and he knew she had to be feeling every bit as on edge as he was.
Maybe I need to try to get to know her better. Let her get to know me. Try to have a relationship of some sort with her.
Now was as good as time as any. Scott would be stuck at the EOC for the next forty-eight hours. If there was any more perfect time for Keith to try to work things out with Noel, now would be that time, without Scott trying to throw himself between them as a well-meaning, but ineffectual buffer.
When he emerged in the living room, he paused in the doorway. She had a mug of beer in her hand, nearly drained.
Oh. Great.
Walking on eggshells it would be.
“I was going to make myself a sandwich,” he said. “Would you like me to make you one, too?”