“But I can’t. I still have so much to do.” She looked around the laundry room as if all of the tasks she needed to accomplish were there. “Next week is spring—”
“—break,” Kade finished. “I know. And I also know that after the season starts, you’re not going to be able to take a day like this off. You deserve a break, Ali. And unless you want to be wearing a Garfield shirt and cutoff sweat shorts for your girls’ day, you better hustle, woman.”
Her left cheek hollowed as she bit the inside of her lip. It was a decision-making tick she had. He knew that she wanted to take him up on his offer but she was fighting herself. Weighing the pros and cons.
“You know what, let’s do this the Walsh way.” Kade made a fist with his hand and hovered it over his palm.
Her lips pursed for a moment and then in true Walsh form, she got into rock-paper-scissors formation. Something Ali didn’t know was that Kade had studied Ali’s game over the years. He’d witnessed she didn’t have a poker, or in this case, a Roshambo face.
If she was going paper, her eyes squinted. When she went rock her nose flared. For scissors, she would blink. It wasn’t an exact science but they were fairly reliable tells.
They hit their hands to their palms three times and he saw her nose flare so he laid his hand flat. His paper beat her rock.
“Best two out of three,” she instantly challenged.
“You do realize that you’re betting against taking a day off?”
“Best two out of three,” she reiterated without a moment’s hesitation.
“Fine.”
He knew he was taking a gamble, but he decided to throw the second round anyway. Her nose flared again but he went scissors. Her rock beat his scissors. She let out a victory “whoop” and he knew he’d done the right thing. If she lost by a landslide, it would’ve put a damper on her excitement for the day. She was that competitive.
In round three, Ali blinked and he went with rock. His rock beat her scissors.
The tip of her nose twitched as she scrunched it in defeat. It was damn adorable and Kade wanted to tell her but he refrained.
“Alright, loser—”
“Hey!” She slapped his arm playfully.
“Sorry, defeated party,” he rephrased as he clapped his hands. “Chop chop, Jess is going to be here soon and I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little scared of her.”
Ali’s head fell back as she laughed and it sounded even more melodic than the oldies he’d been listening to.
“I’m serious,” he teased. “I spent a good fifteen minutes writing and rewriting my text before I sent it to her to ask if she was free today.”
“Shut up.”
He was joking about being scared of Jess, but he hadn’t been kidding about the text part. He knew that Jess would do anything for Ali so it wasn’t that he was scared to ask her to take Ali out on a girl’s day. He was worried that in this case she’d be all too happy to kill the messenger.
“I’m surprised that you didn’t have one of the twins ask her.”
“You don’t send a boy to do a man’s job.” He puffed out his chest and pounded on it once with his fist closed.
“That’s right, I forgot, you’re the Bad Man of MMA.” Her smile was a mile wide as she spun on her heel and practically skipped up the stairs.
Even though she’d protested, he could see that she was excited at the prospect of having a whole day off. It might’ve taken him longer than he’d wanted to make it back home, but now that he was here, his only goal was to keep her smiling. He wanted her and the twins to look forward to life again. It’s what Patrick would’ve wanted and Kade was going to do everything he could to take care of his best friend’s family and honor his memory. One rock-paper-scissors at a time.
CHAPTER 7
“I still can’t believe McDreamy is dead.” A wistful sigh fell from Ali’s lips. “Even all these years later.”
“Damn you, Shonda Rhimes!” Jess said as she dramatically shook her fist in the air.
Ali chuckled as she stabbed her spoon into her carton of Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked and snuggled into the large cushions on Jess’s sofa and watched Meredith Grey ‘dance it out.’
Today had been a day of indulgence. They’d brunched on the newly renovated patio at the haunted Stone Castle. They’d feasted on waffles and biscuits and gravy while drinking mimosas at a table that overlooked the lake. Then they’d set up camp at Jess’s house, where they’d done facials, painted their nails, and were now four episodes deep into a Grey’s Anatomy binge-watch session as the credits rolled.
It was one of the best days she’d had in a long time.
Jess shifted on the couch so she was facing her. “I still can’t believe McKnight-in-Shining-Armor rode back into town.”
“He’s not McKnight-in-Shining-Armor.”
Jess had called him that since her twenty-first birthday weekend. A weekend full of extravagance: from the hotel to the elaborate dinners to the full-VIP treatment they enjoyed wherever they went, all on his dime.
If Ali’s heart hadn’t already belonged to him, he would’ve stolen it that weekend. Not because of how much money he’d spent, but because of how special he’d made her feel.
Because of the way his shoulder had felt when she’d fallen asleep on it while her friends partied in the club.
And the way his smile sent her heart fluttering at one hundred miles per hour.
And the way he listened so intently to her, and the way his laugh warmed her more than any shots she’d taken.
It was because of the way he made her feel like she was the only person on the planet when they were surrounded by hundreds of other people.
“I’m not saying he deserves his armor just yet, but the man did risk life and limb texting me for help,” Jess not-so-helpfully pointed out.
The last thing Ali needed was another reason to melt the ice that she was stockpiling around her heart. Cold. Detached. That was what she was going for.
Ali dipped her spoon in the ice cream for another bite. “He said that it took him fifteen minutes of writing and rewriting the text before he sent it to you.”
“Good. I want him to fear me. I want them all to fear me. Mwah-ha-ha,” Jess evil laughed.
“Do you think Ethan fears you?”
Ali loved bringing the sheriff up with her friend. The man was clearly in love with Jess and had been since they were all in high school. Jess had always denied that she had any feelings for him, but Ali recognized sexual tension when she saw it. Those two put off so many sparks she needed a welder’s mask to look directly at them.
“Pshh.” Jess made a dismissive sound. “If he had any brains he’d be terrified. He thinks just because has a gun and the law on his side he’s safe…silly, boy.”
Jess talked a big game, but her bark was much worse than her bite. It wasn’t always that way. There was a time when the exact opposite was true.
She’d spent most of her childhood in and out of hospitals due to a heart condition she’d been born with. Perhaps due to her scrawny stature, she learned to stand up for herself at a very young age. Starting in elementary school when kids picked on her, she was known for taking things to the extreme in the name of payback. Years of fighting for everything, including her life, had made her angry.
Ali’s grandad, who passed away when she was eight, used to say, “Hurting people, hurt people.”
That was Jess in a nut shell. She’d lash out at anyone she perceived was making fun of her or feeling sorry for her. By the time they reached middle school everyone was scared of her, everyone except Ali.
The second week of first grade, Ali had followed Jess into the bathroom after a group of girls had made fun of the scar she had on her chest on the playground. She hadn’t known it at the time, but in that moment she’d witnessed a side of Jess that most people never had and never would. The vulnerable side.
She’d watched helplessly as Jess sobbed, not sure how to support the girl that sat in front of he
r. When Jess noticed Ali standing there, she’d lashed out and yelled at her to go away, but little seven-year-old Ali stubbornly refused. She’d said, “No.” It was that simple. She stayed with her in the bathroom until Jess stopped crying and then the two of them walked back out onto the playground together. They’d been inseparable ever since.
She’d spent more nights than she could count in the hospital with Jess. And watched Dirty Dancing, Jess’s favorite movie, at least a thousand times when she was bedridden. There was a time in their mid-twenties when Ali prepared herself to lose her best friend, but then, two years ago, a miracle happened. Jess received a heart transplant after being on the list for over a decade. There’d been a few complications but now she had a clean bill of health. Ali believed her best friend was still settling into her new life, her new identity. She wasn’t the sick girl, or the mean girl anymore, or the girl who was living on borrowed time.
Ali had simultaneously been going through her own identity crisis. She’d lost her brother, became guardian of the twins and had to figure out how to be the head of a household and run a business. And through it all, her constant had been Jess.
In Grey’s Anatomy Cristina Yang and Meredith Grey called each other “my person.” That’s what Jess and Ali were. They were the other ones’ “person.”
“So, in other news,” Jess wagged her eyebrows, “I think I know who the next victim of the Needlepoint Mafia is.”
“Who?! Wait.” Ali sat up straighter. “Let me guess…”
Mrs. D and her cohorts considered themselves the town matchmakers. Most of the time they didn’t succeed in making matches, just in making the chosen one’s life miserable. They’d secretly select a “young person” always over the age of thirty—which luckily kept Ali and Jess out of the running for at least two more years. The misguided cupids would arrange extravagant setups that sometimes included the entire town, whether it be a carwash, a parade, or even once, a Christmas carnival. The meddling threesome had the means, extra time, and a false sense of entitlement toward messing with people’s lives.
Jess would get the inside scoop because she owned and operated the only beauty salon in town. All three ladies had standing Wednesday afternoon appointments for sets and blowouts. They used code names for their targets, but Ali and Jess had Sherlock Holmesed the last four pawns in their game of love chess.
Ali quickly did a mental search of possible candidates. “Dr. Hanover?”
Chris Hanover was a veterinarian that had recently taken over Doc Yanuck’s practice. He was in his early thirties, divorced, gainfully employed, and ripe for the picking.
“No, but good guess.”
“Wait. Not Brynn?”
Brynn Daniels had only turned thirty the prior month and was the mom of the twin’s best friend Ryder. After getting pregnant at sixteen she married her high school sweetheart who decided that being married shouldn’t slow down his dating life. She ended up being a divorced single mom by the time she was old enough to vote. But she hadn’t let that slow her down. She’d put herself through school and received her master’s in social work. She was the counselor at the high school and did volunteer work for the county’s foster system.
“No, thank God.” Jess sighed dramatically. “But when they do, we should be ready.”
“Good point,” Ali agreed wholeheartedly.
Brynn was a couple years ahead of Jess and Ali in school, so they hadn’t been close growing up. But as they’d all gotten older she’d become their third musketeer and the trio’s motto was definitely all for one and one for all. They didn’t leave a woman behind.
So if it wasn’t Dr. Hanover, and it wasn’t Brynn, then who could it…
“Not Kade.” Ali could hear the horror in her voice. “He just got here.”
The thought of him being setup with various women was enough to make Ali’s stomach turn.
“No. But I think it’s interesting that you sounded more upset about that possibility than you did about one of our own. Remember hoes before bros. Uteruses before duderuses. Chicks before dicks.”
Ali ignored Jess’s colorful comments. Her best friend knew how she’d once felt about Kade and she knew that any feelings that she’d had for him had been shredded when he’d vanished without a trace at the time she’d needed him the most.
That thought took the steam out of the impromptu guessing game.
“Fine. I give up. Who?”
“One Mr. Keaton Mills.”
“Keaton?” Ali felt sorry for the guy. He’d been a great influence on KJ this past year. His classes were the only leverage Ali had to get KJ to do his homework. “Why do you think it’s him?”
“I’m glad you asked. I saw Mrs. D Googling him when I went to check on her curlers. When she saw me looking over her shoulder, she hid her phone. And I distinctly heard the name Karate Man when they were sitting beneath the dryers.”
“That’s it?”
Jess shrugged. “I said I think, not I know. But I mean, come on, Karate Man?”
“He coaches jiu-jitsu.”
Tilting her head to the side, Jess’s eyes narrowed as her dark hair fell over one shoulder. “Do you honestly think they know the difference?”
“No,” Ali conceded. “They probably don’t.”
“The reason I’m bringing it up is because I think Coach Mills might already have a love interest in mind.”
“Really? Who?”
Ali dug her spoon in for another bite and was thrilled when she managed to scoop both a chunk of brownie and chocolate chip cookie dough and lifted it to her mouth.
When Jess didn’t answer, she looked up and saw that her friend was giving her a look that was supposed to be significant.
Ali stopped mid-bite, speaking with a mouth full of ice-cream and spoon. “Who? Me?”
“Yes, you. That man couldn’t take his eyes off of you the other night. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied with McKnight-in-Shining-Armor’s sudden reappearance I would have pointed it out at the time. As it was, it barely registered.”
“No way. He barely knows me! KJ never lets me go to class.”
“So? What does that have to do with anything?”
“I don’t think he dates his students’ family members.”
“Doll, we live in a town the size of a postage stamp. If he excludes people related to his students, then he’s going to be a single man for a very long time.”
Ali turned her attention back to Grey’s in an effort to deflect attention off of her. Coach Mills liked her? Did that matter?
Ali hadn’t even considered dating since they lost Patrick. Her life was a zoo and she didn’t want to invite another animal to the party.
But she had been lonely for a long time. Suddenly, Kade’s face popped up in her mind. She tried her best to erase it. Kade had always seen her as Patrick’s little sister. He loved her, but not the way she wanted him to love her. She hated him but she loved him equally as much. And she had a sneaking suspicion that by the time he left that ratio would be weighted in favor of love.
A flash of the naughty dream she’d had that morning went through her head and her body responded with a tingle that erupted deep in her belly. Maybe dating again wasn’t such a bad idea.
Yep. That settled it. If she was getting hot and bothered from the mere memory of a dream that at best was R-rated while sitting on her best friend’s couch, eating Ben & Jerry’s, watching Grey’s, it was time to fill up her masturbation rotation with some new material. ASAP.
CHAPTER 8
The tires ate up the gravel as Kade turned onto the unmarked road that was all but hidden off the highway. An uneasy feeling settled low in his stomach as he drove down the narrow path lined on both sides by weeping willow trees. As a kid, it reminded him of a horror movie. As an adult though, he could see the beauty in the drooping branches and lush green leaves. Maybe his early impression had more to do with what awaited him at the end of the drive than the ominous vegetation.
Heat from the sun
beating down through his windshield warmed his hands as he rolled into the desolate clearing. A lone double-wide sat in the middle of a dirt area against a backdrop of trees and junk. The piles of debris had doubled since the last time he’d been there. He stared at the landscape of his childhood. The rusted broken-down truck sat off to the left. Beside it was a picnic table that was tipped on its side. A tire pyramid covered in spider webs lined the right side of the property and in front of it sat the faded, plaid couch that had never managed to make it in the trailer.
Ah. Home sweet home.
As much as he was dreading this visit, Kade knew it was a necessary evil. It had been a good ten years since he’d seen the man that had given him fifty percent of his DNA. It had been easy to avoid him when he only came to town for a few days at a time, but now that he was going to be living here it wouldn’t be so easy. The last thing he’d want to happen was to run into George when he was with the twins or Ali.
Depending on the day and level of inebriation, his old man could make a scene like no other.
His heart pounded hard in his chest as he got out of the truck. Adrenaline raced through his veins. He reminded himself that he wasn’t his dad’s punching bag anymore. He was a grown-ass man and the last fight that George McKnight had picked with his son had landed the old man in the hospital. Kade had been sixteen at the time and his father had wanted to press charges against him. The only problem with that was in his statement George admitted to hitting Kade first and the police officer informed him that Kade’s actions were self-defense.
While his father had lain in that hospital bed, Kade promised him that if he ever hit him again, he would either end up in a grave or in jail. George must’ve believed him because they never had another altercation.
It hadn’t always been as bad as it got. George had always been a firm believer that sparing the rod spoiled the child. Kade had always been scared of his dad, the man was built like a brick wall and was intimidating. As a kid Kade got spanked when his dad thought he stepped out of line. But as he got older his punishments stopped being about his behavior and started being more about his dad’s violent outbursts.
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