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Chapter 7
Kennedy
The creakof the front door got my attention.I hadn’t been able to sleep.It was just after midnight.I sat up and waited for Liam to tiptoe down the hall.
“Liam,” I whispered.
A big shadow stopped in front of my door.I’d left it open so I could hear the kids if they called for me or stumbled to the bathroom.
“You awake?”he asked quietly.
“Yes.The boys are in your bed.”
Liam eased the door farther open.“Mind if I come in?”
I nodded, but it was too dark for him to see.“Not at all.”
I was in only a T-shirt and underwear, but Liam had seen me when I hadn’t showered for a week.I was clean, and it was dark.
He stepped in and closed the door behind him.“There, we don’t have to whisper,” he said quietly and perched on the end of the bed, twisting toward me.
I took a deep breath but couldn’t smell clingy perfume.“How was tonight?”My heart hammered waiting for the answer.
“It was different.”
I wished I could see his face.What was his expression?
“Nothing happened, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Oh, no.It’s none of my business.”Not sleeping together on the first date didn’t mean they weren’t going to in the future.Would I offer to babysit for those too?I didn’t want to.
“My business is your business.But no, it wasn’t like that.Get this, she said I was her only friend.”
“What?”Laney had been the alpha of the girls in her class, the hot girl that others were a little bit in fear of.Kids tried to be her friend, desperate to not be her enemy.
“Yeah, and maybe keep this to yourself, but she’s divorced.”
“What?”
I could see him nod in the dark.The old blinds on the window didn’t let in much of the yard light.He was a big, comforting shadow.“Tan line where a wedding ring used to be.She’s different, Kenny.Still Laney, but I could talk to her.I don’t know if she regrets any of her behavior in high school, so maybe not that different.But she admitted to being young and pissed and jealous.”
“That was obvious,” I said dryly.“No one knows she was married?”
“I don’t know.We all say Laney Granger’s back home, unless she didn’t change her name.She doesn’t wear her ring.I barely noticed the tan line, but we were sitting next to each other at the bar at Rattler’s.”
“She didn’t come to the funeral.”I’d had the wherewithal to notice, if only to be hurt on Derek’s behalf.
“She didn’t say why.Just said it was complicated.”He fell quiet for a moment, and I soaked up the company.A big, dark house with two kids hadn’t been scary.This was nice.Really nice.Talking in the dark like I had a partner again.“How’d the boys do tonight?”
“The change in routine upset them, I think.I finally suggested your bed.I didn’t think they’d go willingly to theirs.Eli wouldn’t go past the first step.”
“Shit,” Liam said softly.“I shouldn’t have gone out.I’m sorry.”
“You’re allowed to have a life, Liam.”
“Mm.”
That little sound was more powerful in person.“I’m serious.”
