Dakota.
I helped raise that little girl. Loved her like she was my own. Probably always will.
“She’s a special girl,” I say, my throat tight.
“It breaks Tucker’s heart that she still acts like you’re her daddy andhe’sthe fill-in,” Serena says in a soft voice. But it carries over the buzz of conversation and hum of music like a snake’s hiss.
How dare she say that?
“The ‘fill-in,’” I repeat.
“That ain’t what I meant.”
“Sure it is, Serena. I was the guy keeping Tucker’s seat warm for both of you.”
Serena’s eyes tighten, as if she’s in pain. “It wasn’t like that.”
“‘Course it was. He’s the guy you chose. He’s her dad. End of story.”
“Did you ever think maybeyouwere the one half-out the whole time? You acted like you were waiting for me to run, so I did.”
I shake my head, done with this garbage. “Right. Every night I was home making Dakota dinner and reading her bedtime stories, you were out. Waiting for me to run.”
She looks mad enough to spit. “Whatever you have to tell yourself.”
The bar door rings, and habit pulls my attention to where Kayla Carville walks in wearing a silky top tucked into high-waisted dark jeans, her hair tumbling over one shoulder like it forgot how to behave and that undaunted spirit shining in her eyes.
She’s arresting.
“So that’s why you’re ignoring Dakota,” Serena says.
A retort springs to my lips and dies just as fast, because Kayla’s eyes have found mine, and her big, gorgeous, Julia Roberts grin only widens.
I slide Serena’s beer toward her but don’t even notice if it gets there.
Kayla sits down in the open seat next to Serena. “Well, well,” she says to me. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“He owns the bar,” Serena says in a voice that screams,duh.
Kayla’s eyes drop to Serena, who’s only a hair taller than Eunice. Something in her body language shifts, and she hunchesever so slightly, like she’s … like she’s afraid she’s taking up too much space.
“She knows, Serena,” I say. Kayla’s eyes snap to mine, though I can’t imagine why. “Kayla, this is Serena Kent. Serena, Kayla Carville.”
Kayla is a thinker. In the handful of times we’ve spoken, I’ve gotten the sense of gears winding when she looks at something. And right now, those gears are spinning in overdrive. “Serena … what was it?”
“Kent,” Serena says, offering her dainty hand to Kayla, who shakes it. “Wow. You have such big hands.”
Outrage flares up in me, hot as lava.
But Kayla rolls her lips together, like she’s holding back something much more cutting. “Yes, that’s a common side effect of being tall. Yours, on the other hand, are really cute. That must be so fun for you.”
I duck my head to hide my smile. I shouldn’t have worried about Kayla. She can clearly hold her own.
“I have to say, I didn’t expect the two of you,” Serena says.
“The two of us to what?” Kayla asks, looking at me innocently. I blink innocently back. And it’s that show of innocence that makes us both seem guilty as sin.
Serena purses her lips, her gaze narrowing. “You’re trying to tell me you two ain’t a thing?” She laughs with all the sweetness of a viper. “I shouldn’t be surprised, though. Seany’s always had a desperate need to be loved. He just can’t stay single for long.”
