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“Anything you like. Help yourself. Plates and cups over there, hon.”
The room was full, which did not surprise me, considering the delicious breakfast buffet. Shane was sitting with Ethan and the other guys I met last night, the Drakes. They were conversing in low voices. I had no way of knowing if he looked at me, because our gazes were never, ever going to cross again in this lifetime.
I got Reggie set up with silverware and a glass of milk, and dished up some food, which made my stomach rumble. There was a delicious looking ham and veggie omelet, some sliced fruit, fresh toasted bread, fresh squeezed orange juice. I got a cup of coffee, and I sat with Reggie, who was nibbling her waffle with grim resolve.
I had seated us as far away from Shane as it was possible to sit. Which would be my strategy from now until the sun expanded and consumed the entire solar system.
Kat poured herself a fresh cup of coffee and ambled over to sit with us after a few minutes. “Did you guys sleep well?”
“Great,” Reggie announced. “No bad dreams! And I woke up and Cass was there. Best night ever.”
Kat reached out to ruffle her hair. I sensed a hint of sadness in her smile. “Glad to hear it, honey. Look at you go. That waffle is history. Where did you even put it?”
“Well, I only ate half the waffle, but I ate all the berries and cream,” she said.
“If you went to the kitchen and asked Angela to pile on more berries and cream, I bet she’d do it.”
“You think?”
“I’m sure of it,” Kat assured her. “Angela has a weakness for cute little girls. She’s like putty in their hands. Go on, try it.”
Reggie jumped up and took her plate. She scampered toward the kitchen.
Slick move, on Kat’s part. I could just tell that she was gearing up to have some kind of ‘talk’ with me. I hid in my coffee cup and avoided eye contact.
Kat was undaunted. “Um. I couldn’t help but notice a certain chill in the air.”
“Not from me,” I said crisply. “Far as I’m concerned, there is absolutely nothing in the air.”
“Yikes,” she murmured. “Interesting night, huh?”
“Not the word I’d choose.”
She opened her mouth, then shut it, frowning for a few minutes. “Trauma is tricky,” she said. “It shuts you down at the worst possible times. Always when it’s positioned to do the absolute maximum damage. Make the biggest, ugliest mess.”
I set down my coffee and met her eyes. “We’re not having this conversation.”
“Don’t tell me, let me guess. It was all totally awesome, untilbam, his trauma popped up and kicked you both right in the teeth. Am I right?”
I stared at her, unnerved. “Ahhh…”
“Been there, done that, don’t love the memory. But we got through it.”
I tried to resist, tried really hard, but my curiosity got the better of me. “Whose trauma?” I demanded. “His? Or yours?”
“Mine. My sisters were shot to death in front of me when I was fourteen.”
I gazed at her, mouth agape. “I… ah…”
“I spent the next fourteen years on the run from the guy who did it.”
“Oh, my God,” I murmured. “So, um… where is he now?”
She smiled. “Ethan took care of him for me. Very poetically, I might add. I’ll tell you the story sometime. I would have handled it myself, but Ethan just had to be the big hero. These Masters dudes are super macho. As you will come to know.”
“I’ve noticed already,” I said.
“It’s hard to miss. They need a very strong hand.” She gave me a thoughtful onceover. “Which you clearly possess.”
