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Weird as fuck to be both the cause of Kinleigh’s problems—in her mind—and her solution to yet another one. Where for me, she was just the answer. The meaning that made everything else make sense.
I went into Robbie’s and ordered a large, sad pie for one with extra cheese and pepperoni and green peppers. Kinleigh hated them but she wasn’t around.
Might never be around in any way that didn’t include her legs in the air. Hard to complain about that but here I was, complaining in my own head.
While I waited at the counter, a text came in from my brother.
Why didn’t you just admit you want her?
Such a loaded question.
Banging the sister’s best friend is on half the movies of the week. You know, it’s just enough taboo to juice the panties but not taboo enough to get you thrown out of church.
I shouldn’t have laughed, but I couldn’t help it as I replied.
Don’t tell Ivy your theories, all right? I have enough problems.
If Ivy went to Kinleigh with suspicions about us, Kinleigh would probably not only decide she didn’t want a baby any longer, she was also done with me and men in general. She was so afraid of losing Ivy, when anyone who knew my sister would understand she would never begrudge someone’s happiness. She only wanted all of us to find what she had with Lucky Charms.
So why was Kinleigh so spooked about the Ivy thing? Did it have to do with valet guy somehow? She’d lost someone important to her, and her family didn’t seem to be a factor in her life, so maybe she was convinced deep down she’d end up alone.
She refuses to see you’d never leave her. Maybe she just doesn’t feel the same.
Caleb responded but I didn’t take time to read it since my pizza was finally ready. I snagged the box and headed out to my truck, head still down in case anyone felt chatty. But it was the Cove, so of course I was stopped a couple of times just on my short walk to where I was parked.
I slipped into my truck with a slip of paper with a phone number for a potential new customer. Jude Keller was a recent transplant to the Cove. In fact, he hadn’t even landed yet. He was still scoping out the area as far as potential places to live. I gave him a tip on the apartments over the café—and not because I wanted to make sure that Kinleigh and I had time to break it in first—and he mentioned he needed furniture. And voila, I had a line on a new piece to fill my nights.
Pathetic, Beck.
I’d no sooner pulled into the duplex’s parking lot when Kinleigh’s name flashed across my in-dash screen. I intended to let the call go to voicemail, as rare as it was. Maybe it was petty, but I had no intention of giving her any more inches when she’d seen fit to not make use of a mile.
And for once, I wasn’t thinking of my penis.
Then I heard her breathless, frantic voice and I forgot about anything but making sure she was okay.
Aug, if you’re there, pick up, please. I know you’re mad at me, and you probably have a right to be, but I need you.
Those three words were always my undoing when it came to Kinleigh. She probably fucking knew it too.
I snagged the call. “What is it? Where are you?”
“At Ivy’s. It’s the baby. I didn’t know who else to call—”
I left my pizza in the truck and shut off the engine before jumping down and running inside. I didn’t disconnect the call. Nor did I keep talking to Kinleigh. I had no idea if she was still there. All I could focus on was getting inside to my niece.
As soon as I opened the door to Ivy’s side of the duplex, Kinleigh rushed forward with a sobbing Rhiannon in her arms. My girl’s eyes were stark and frightened. “Ivy had to run to the store because she was out of Rhi’s baby food. She warned me she was super fussy today and wouldn’t sleep, but I figured I’d sing to her and try to put her down anyway. But she just won’t stop wailing. And then I saw this.” Carefully, she peeled the pale yellow blanket wrapped around Rhi away from her head. There was blood on the material.
My chest seized. “From what? Her mouth? Where?”
“I think her ear. Oh, God, what’s wrong with her? Did I do something? All I’ve been doing is rocking her.”
“Come here, sweetheart. Come to uncle August.”
Instead of reaching her arms out to me as she always did, she just flailed in Kinleigh’s embrace, swatting her hand against her head again and again. More blood trickled from her ear.
“We need to go to the hospital.”
Kinleigh stared down at the baby, her mouth trembling.
