The library closed and he spent the rest of the weekend reading her diary.
Chapter Fifteen
Monday morning shone bright as ever and Laura couldn’t find her diary. She’d booked the shift for Monday. The whole weekend she’d looked everywhere for it. Shrugging, she had her breakfast and walked to work.
Her day went by slowly and half way through Dean phoned her at the library. He told her he got home safely and he’d see her soon. She felt better and was pleased she could get home by four. The library didn’t stay open late on a Monday. Peter didn’t show and she was pleased.
When it came to closing time, Laura rushed out of the library looking forward to meeting with Dean. He hadn’t told her he wanted to see her, but she wanted to see him. She spent most of her time thinking about him and wanted nothing more than to spend all of her spare time at his house. Over the weekend she hadn’t thought about anything but seeing him again. She wanted to understand why he’d backed off. She loved being with Dean.
Laura stopped as she saw Peter paused by his truck and staring back at her.
“What’s the matter?” she asked and went over to see him.
Peter didn’t do or say anything, just stared at her. The car park was full with shoppers. The noise was a distraction. Laura started to feel uneasy as he simply stared at her.
“You’re starting to scare me with the intense stare you’ve got going ...” Her words stopped when he pulled out her diary. In an instant she understood the look and she reached out to grab the book from his fingers.
“Where did you get this?”
“You dropped it in the library on Friday,” he replied.
Laura placed the book into her bag. Her heart pounded against her chest. She glanced up into his eyes and she knew her thoughts were no longer private.
“You’ve read my diary?”
Peter looked away and Laura, mortified and scared, glanced around the car park. No one looked their way. She stared at Peter and didn’t know what to say. Instead she stormed away, the accusation she saw in his eyes was more than she could bear. Her time with Dean was
hers. Everyone took her time. Her parents and Peter, even Dean took her time. The diary was hers and he’d read it.
Instead of getting the message to leave her alone he followed.
“What are you doing with him, Laura?”
“None of your business. Don’t forget you invaded my privacy, not the other way around.”
Laura didn’t want to think about what he’d do with her information. She was scared and wanted to go and see Dean first. Would he call it all off? After his time away and the withdrawal of the past few days, she didn’t know how he felt. She knew he still had feelings for his wife. He wore his wedding band even when they were together.
Peter reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her progress. They then walked for several minutes before stopping on the sidewalk in town. When a car passed them he took her behind one of the main buildings and pushed her against the hard wall.
The privacy for their conversation was welcome. Tears were close to the surface. She wanted to run home and weep. Going to see Dean after he’d told her not to would be a mistake. He hadn’t arranged for her to come to his place and had asked her to wait until he called her. Before he left she was free to go to his house at every chance. Dean was already placing restrictions and she didn’t have the time to think about it.
“How much did you read?”
“All of it.”
She felt a blush spread through her cheeks and she couldn’t stop the outrage. More than her privacy had been invaded, every part of her time with Dean had been shared with him.
“I hate you,” she growled and pushed against his hold.
Peter grabbed her hands and pinned them by her head. She couldn’t move and her frustration at being overpowered was evident as the tears she'd tried to hold back burst forth.
“According to that diary you don’t. You just don’t want me in the way you want, Dean,” Peter said.
She panicked when she saw him leaning down, intent on kissing her.
“I see you as a friend. I don’t want anything else to do with you. Why can’t you see that?” she cried.
Peter stopped and cursed at her. She preferred his curses to his kisses.