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Her jaw dipped in a curt nod and she went to work as fast as she could to blend his drink and send him on his way. She grabbed the bag of prepped frozen bananas and strawberries out of the freezer and dumped two cups into the blender. Then she added the Greek yogurt and milk.
“How have you been?” he asked as she set the milk carton down.
Instead of answering, she pressed the start button and ignored him as the loud hum of the blender filled the silence. Once it turned off, she had the cup ready to go and began pouring the contents into it.
“I asked how you’ve been,” he tried again.
“Fine,” she answered curtly.
“Listen, I know that you don’t want anything to do with me. And you have every right to feel that way. But if you would just give me five minutes—"
“That will be four eighty-two,” she cut him off.
He pulled a ten-dollar bill out of his wallet and handed it to her. She saw that her hand was shaking as she took it. She wished so badly that he didn’t affect her at all. That she could be in his presence and not be angry at him for what he’d put her mother through. For abandoning both of them. For being a selfish, arrogant, cheating, lying, asshole.
Maybe one day that would be the case, but today was not that day.
She handed him back his change and he dropped it in the tip jar. If he thought that five dollars and eighteen cents was going to buy her, he was gravely mistaken.
“I know that I don’t deserve a second of your time, but I am going to keep checking in to see if you’re ready to speak to me.” The sad grin that appeared on his face was so convincing she really thought he’d missed his calling as an actor. “Sorry to bother you. Have a good day, Kenny.”
Kenny.He was the only person who ever called her that. When she was little, it used to make her feel special. It used to make her feel like they had an actual connection. Whenever he called her that, she felt like hesawher. Now, it just made her feel manipulated.
He picked up his smoothie and turned to leave. She stared at his broad shoulders as he walked away from her and out of the store. That was the view she was used to. Him leaving. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d watched him walk out the door after he and her mom had a huge fight.
His M.O. was different this time around. She had to give him that. He’d been in town for over a year now. Before then, his longest streak was five weeks.
So why was he here? It was fucking with her head.
It had to have something to do with Nana. There had to be money or something that he knew about that she didn’t. But Kennedy knew that wasn’t the case. She’d been the one to take over her grandma’s finances when she went into the hospital. Kennedy was just happy that her Medicaid was covering the bill for Well Brook. If it weren’t for her insurance, Kennedy would have had to come up with thousands of dollars a month for her care.
So, again, why was he in Whisper Lake?
Part of her wanted to speak to him and tell him if there was money somewhere that he wanted, he could have it. He didn’t need to put on the big act. The only problem was, if she did that, he might leave. And, for better or worse, it did make Nana happy when he was around.
Which is why Kennedy knew she was going to keep her mouth shut.
Her phone vibrated. She looked down and saw it was Maura, the producer from Fairytale Love. She ignored the sting of disappointment that it wasn’t Seb calling her. He had no reason to call her. After seeing him twice yesterday, once at Well Brook and once at Mercy General, she’d hoped that she was on a roll and would catch a sighting of him today since he was staying up above the shop, but she hadn’t.
“Hello,” Kennedy answered.
“Hi, is this Kennedy?”
“Yep.”
“Hi, Kennedy, this is Jack, Maura’s assistant. I was calling to let you know that you have progressed to the next round. We’d like to schedule a Zoom call with you and some of our producers this week. Are there any days or times that work better for you?”
“My schedule is fairly flexible.” One of the things she loved most about her job was the flexibility. Like now, she was able to cover the shop for Laura. If she worked a nine-to-five, she wouldn’t be able to do that. She wouldn’t be able to visit Nana nearly every day.
Jack gave Kennedy three options, and she chose the one at the end of the week. She was hoping she’d feel better by then and wouldn’t have to blow her nose on the Zoom call. She hung up the phone and knew that she should be excited that she’d made it to the next stage of casting, but she didn’t feel anything. Maybe that was better. Maybe if she was giving off “pick me girl” vibes then she wouldn’t have gone as far.
Between her date with Dan, who had already contacted her to go out again, the show, McSteamy aka Aiden, and Seb her personal life had never been so active. Unfortunately, even though bachelor number one and bachelor number two were incredible men, who on paper, seemed to be everything she was looking for, the only man she could think about was Seb.
And the thought of going on national television and meeting more men sounded about as exciting as getting a root canal without anesthesia.
The worst part was, she only had herself to blame. She knew that she liked him too much to have sex with him, which sounded like an oxymoron but was actually congruent.
He was all she could think about. It had been bad before they’d spent the night together, but now that she knew how amazing, how magical his touch was, how incredible his body felt inside of her, how right it felt to be with him, she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to be with anyone else.
