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Chapter 14
Kennedy
The past slammed into me,overflowing the emotional well I’d been barely able to keep under control, while Laney looked at me like I’d ruined her night.
Tears sprang into my eyes, and I ducked back into the bathroom.I tried to slam the door, but Laney muscled her way in and kicked the door shut behind her.
“Good Lord, Kennedy.”She grabbed a couple of tissues out of the container on the sink and stuffed them into my hands.“Of course I lose my patience waiting for an open bathroom and it’s you.”Her voice softened.“Have you been crying in here the whole time?”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t answer.I leaned against the sink and sobbed, muffling the sound with my hands.Silent wailing.I’d perfected it in the first few months I’d gone back to work after the funeral before the final breakdown.
“Right.”She didn’t believe me.“Well, I’ve gotta pee.So hang on.”
My tears stalled when she dropped her white shorts and sat on the toilet.I hiccuped and sniffled and tried not to look.Was this really happening?
Still on the toilet, she sighed.“So, I’m not the only one having a shitty night?”
The shock of group bathroom time had shifted my mind from active grief to confusion.Recent events had zoomed out as soon as Laney dropped her drawers.“Why does your night suck?”
“Lots of reasons.You?”
“Everyone knows my reason,” I said bitterly, hoping it was enough of the truth that she wouldn’t question it.
“Gotta love small-town life.”She rose and pulled up her shorts.They showed off miles of tanned legs.Her teal top wasn’t as tight and revealing as Lyric’s, but it gave Laney a sophisticated, sexy vibe.“I could bawl too, and we could walk out together; really confuse everyone.”
This time her tone wasn’t catty.Laney cried?That was like picturing a marble statue having a meltdown.But when I looked into her ice-blue eyes, I didn’t see the frigidness that had been there when we were younger.She was guarded.She was protecting herself.I recognized the look.
Really confuse everyone.It would.That she would cry—in public—and that she would do it around me.And if I looked like I’d been crying?The stares alone would almost make it fun.I couldn’t believe that thought had even entered my mind.I moved in front of the door so she could wash her hands.
“Finally, a place that still kills a few trees.”She whipped out a couple of paper towels and dried off.“Those hand dryers do a number on my nerves.Like having a jet engine blow my entire body instead of drying my fingers.”She tossed her used paper towels.They landed perfectly in the basket.“Seriously, though.What’s going on?Normal grief, or did someone say something?”
“Normal grief,” I mumbled.Laney should be the last one I wanted to talk to about this.She was mean.But she’d also never let me hide away.She’d called out others when they’d done my work for me.Like how Derek had taken my car in for oil changes.How he had carried my backpack and helped me get my coat on after school.How Liam and Derek would stand up for me when she was being a bitch.Your girlfriend should speak for herself.
She hadn’t been wrong.
“Some guys ordered me, Aspen, and Lyric some drinks.”I tensed, waiting for Laney to snort and claim I was whining about men buying me drinks.For her to sarcastically sayhow awful.
“Not ready to date again?”
Liam was right.Laney wasn’t the same.But then, neither was I.
I stared at my tissues.I couldn’t shake my head.I’d done more than date with Liam.“Not ready to admit deeper feelings for another man.”
She peered at me.I met her intense blue gaze and looked away.
“You and Liam, huh?”She switched her attention to the mirror and adjusted her long ponytail.Not one strand of her glossy blonde hair was out of place.She’d probably been working in the dirt all day, but she shone like a diamond.I’d always been a little envious of her easy beauty.I used to take solace in thinking she was ugly on the inside.Was that true anymore?
Her question sank in.My awkward giggle amplified my nervousness until that was all I heard in the sound.“Why would you think me and Liam?”
She shot me aduhlook.“You had each of those boys wrapped around your dainty little finger.Bet the town’s going batshit.”
“No one knows.I meanno one.”I pressed my lips together.I hadn’t meant to admit it, but Laney had never faked cluelessness.She’d only call out the lying.But she could tell everyone.Liam was up against so much, and I was tired of my emotional roller coaster.
“Just me?”She faced me, her gaze direct.I used to dread having her focus on me.Tonight, it was refreshing.It was as easy as being around Liam.There was no sympathy, just blunt acceptance.Was that why I’d spilled everything?I needed a friend, and someone who reminded me of Liam would be a good fit.
“I care for him a lot, but being a widow makes it complicated.”Some other force must have been operating my mouth right then.I couldn’t stop.“Which sucks because he’s usually the one who makes it all crystal clear.He just lets me decide and stays with me for the ride.”
She lifted a pale brow as if she didn’t believe that Liam didn’t do everything for me like Derek had.
