Page 73 of The Maverick's Homecoming

When he got there, he put on his jacket and hat. Then, taking care to shut the door quietly behind him, he left. A minute later, she heard his crew cab start up and drive away.

Chapter Ten

It was so quiet once he was gone.

Kenzie sat there on the sofa for the longest time. Already, she missed him desperately. More than once, she grabbed her phone, started to call him, to beg him come back, to…

To what?There was nothing to come back for. She was not going to marry him. She’d learned the hardest lesson twice and she just couldn’t take the chance of finding out if the third time might actually be the charm.

Yes, she’d hoped to keep his friendship. But who was she kidding? She cared for him deeply and he cared for her.

And yet, she couldn’t say yes to him. There was nowhere for the two of them to go from here.

She got up, went to the kitchen and took a few tissues from the box on the counter. Back in the living room, she dried her eyes.

And when she looked down, Tom and Ed were sitting there at her feet, tails curled neatly around their front paws, staring up at her as though they weren’t sure what to do.

She swiped away another tear before it could fall. And then, she dropped to the sofa again and patted her lap with both hands. “Come on, guys.”

They jumped to the sofa, climbed into her lap and started purring for all they were worth. She cuddled them, swallowed down the tears and longed for the man she couldn’t let herself have.

* * *

Monday at lunch in the teacher’s lounge, both Lauren and Sandy wanted to know what in the world had happened to Kenzie. Apparently, the breakup with Finn was written all over her face.

Lauren leaned close to her and whispered, “You’ve been crying. What happened?”

Kenzie straightened her shoulders. “I’m fine.”

Sandy made a pouty face. “It’s hurtful when you lie to us. What’s going on?”

Kenzie pressed her lips together and shot a quick glance around the lounge. All the tables were taken. The last thing she needed was to share her heartbreak with the majority of her colleagues at Tenacity High.

Lauren suggested, “It’s a nice day. Let’s take our lunch outside.”

Kenzie resisted, but her friends were relentless. The three of them ended up taking their bag lunches out to the athletic field, where they sat on the bleachers, Sandy and Lauren on either side of her. On the field, a girl’s PE class practiced soccer drills.

“Talk,” commanded Sandy as she took a bite of her ham on rye.

Kenzie had planned to keep her mouth shut, to stonewall her friends until they finally gave up. She really didn’t want to talk about it—especially not at work.

But she looked in Sandy’s worried eyes as Lauren leaned close and whispered, “Just tell us. You’ll feel better.”

“Finn and I broke up.”

Dead silence. Both of her friends were shaking their heads.

Finally, Sandy asked the big question. “Why?”

Kenzie dropped her chicken-salad sandwich back onto the plastic wrap in her lap. “He asked me to marry him.”

“And…” prompted Lauren.

“It’s simple. I’m never getting married again.”

“You turned him down?” said Sandy with a moan.

“That’s right. I turned him down. He left. That was Saturday. I haven’t talked to him since.”