Just a Kiss

by Jerry Cole

  He got out and was shown into the building. The house was nice. It was a small reception. The wedding had barely ten people in attendance. He was lucky to be one of them.

  The groom greeted him with a smile. It was nice that the newly married man had made the time to greet him, but Kenton wondered why the other man wasn’t hanging out with his new wife. That seemed like a better place for the man to be. “How was the drive?”

  “It wasn’t that long.” Kenton shook his head. “You know that if you had wanted a nicer wedding, I would have helped pay for it right?”

  “I know. But we didn’t want anything like that. We just wanted simple and inexpensive.” The groom shrugged.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.” The man shrugged at his friend. His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked it. It was a number that he didn’t recognize so he didn’t answer it. “How’s your first hour of being a married man?”

  Brandon laughed. “Vanessa is acting all nervous and fussing over her brother.”

  “What’s that about?” Kenton inquired.

  Brandon shrugged. The man didn’t seem to see anything wrong with it. “He’s got an issue with weddings.”

  Kenton frowned. “What’s wrong with weddings?”

  Brandon’s voice grew solemn, the man didn’t want to say the words too loud. “His fiancé crashed his car right outside of his wedding. Died in the parking lot.”

  Kenton sighed. He lowered his voice to the same level his friend’s voice was. This wasn’t exactly a conversation you had right out in the open in front of a large group of people. “That’s why he’s upset, isn’t it? It’s hard to face a wedding after something like that.”

  “We honestly weren’t sure he was going to be able to stand it. We thought that he was going to end up canceling.”

  “But he didn’t?”

  “No, he made it.” Brandon nodded like he had been expecting the man to show up. “He’s a good man. He wouldn’t miss his sister’s wedding. I tried to tell her that, but she wanted to make sure he would be fine.”

  Kenton nodded. “Want me to distract him so you can spend some time with your new bride?”

  “Nah, it’s fine. This is all just for tax purposes anyway.”

  Kenton laughed. “Come on. You have to admit that it’s different now. You’re a married man. Officially you two belong together. It’s all legal now.”

  “It does feel kinda different.” Brandon shook his head with a smile. “But it’s not more important than her brother.”

  “Are you sure? I can try to get his attention off of it.”

  Brandon shook his head. “It’s probably better to just leave him alone for a while. Give him some space.”

  “Are you sure? I can try to help him a little bit. Make him feel better.” Kenton offered with a smile.

  “Do you have a little bit of a crush on him?” Brandon teased the other man.

  Kenton shrugged. “I mean, he’s good looking and all, but he’s not really my type.”

  “You don’t have a type.”

  The best man laughed. “What makes you think that?”

  Brandon grinned back at his friend. “You never date someone long enough to get to know their type.”

  “There’s a reason for that.”

  The groom nodded. “Yeah, I know there is.”

  Kenton didn’t elaborate further. He didn’t have to. His best friend knew why he didn’t trust anyone to get too close, not after everything that had happened to him in the past. He was a man that dated casually, but never let it go beyond that. He didn’t want anyone in his world. Well, Brandon was an exception to that, but that was because Brandon was one of the only people that he could trust.

  He glanced across the room at the man again. Something about his best friend’s brother-in-law was catching his eye. The man was handsome, but Kenton had seen handsome men before. There was something different about him.

  The best man sighed heavily and glanced over at his friend. “Are you sure he’s going to be alright?”

  Brandon gave a heavy shrug followed by a sigh. “Don’t get all worried about him. Vanessa will know if he can’t handle it.”

  “She will?”

  “They’re twins. And they still work together. Hell, he spends a few nights a month in our guest room.” Brandon laughed. “They’re really close.”

  “I guess that’s just twins or something, right?” Kenton shrugged. “They look so much alike.”

  “They do, yeah. It’s just the way they are, I guess. They’ve always been close. They sometimes refer to themselves as wombmates.”

  Kenton burst out laughing. “That’s hilarious. I’ve never heard anything like that before.”

  “I know, right? It’s the best thing I’ve ever heard twins referred to ever.”

  “Who even comes up with that stuff?”

  “No idea, but whoever it is, they’re so much more creative than me.”

  The best man straightened up, then took a second to pull down the wrinkles that had formed in his suit jacket. “So, he comes by your house often?”

  “Yeah, he does. He’s really awesome. A trained chef, so when he cooks, it’s some of the best food you’ve ever eaten. I swear that’s why their restaurant has such good business.”

  “He’s a chef?” Kenton raised an eyebrow. “He looks like he’s more the front of the house.”

  “He’s a chef. A really good one too. He’s won a few awards for it.” Brandon nodded. “He made the food they’re heating up for the reception.”

  Kenton tried to act like he wasn’t as interested in the question as he was. And he didn’t know why he wanted to know about this guy. But there was something about the guy with the sadness behind his eyes that touched him deep in his soul. It wasn’t even that he wanted to pick this guy up. He just had the urge to get to know him better. “He does catering?”

  “Yeah, through their restaurant, but this is something special. His sister’s wedding, you know.”

  Kenton laughed. “Yeah, I know. Anyway, on to the whole being married thing. Does this mean I can’t get you to wingman for me anymore?”

  Brandon grinned at the man that was standing with him. “I haven’t been playing your wingman for a while now. I don’t think I’ll be going back to it though.”

  Vanessa broke off from the quiet conversation with her brother and made her way over to the man she had married and his best friend. “How are you boys doing over here?”

  The best man reached out to the new bride. “Just visiting with the newly married man.”

  She laughed, moving in to hug her husband’s best friend. “And how is the newly minted groom?”

  “He’s doing pretty good. I guess he hasn’t felt the doom weighing down on him yet.” Kenton gave his patented grin. It was one of his most redeeming features he found. “But I’m sure that’ll happen soon.”

  Vanessa chuckled. “I guess he will. And if he doesn’t feel it on his own, I’ll do my best to make sure it happens.”

  Brandon held up his hands and audibly gulped behind the smirk that showed he was in on the joke. “Hey now, I can’t have you two plotting against me. That would end badly for me.”

  “You bet it will.” Vanessa poked her husband in the chest.

  “I know.” The groom laughed. “But I can’t help worry about what all that’s going to mean in my life.”

  “It means that you’re lucky enough to be married to me now.” She put her hands on her hips and cocked an eyebrow at him. Her demeanor was pure attitude. The best man had a lot of respect for that.

  “She’s got your number.” Kenton grinned. It was fun to watch those two joke around. Brandon and Vanessa were wonderful people. They were a happy couple; they had always been such a happy couple. It had taken years for them to finally get around to getting married, but everyone already treated them like they were already married. They were often considered the perfect couple. And Kenton couldn’t say that opinio
n was wrong.

  It was hard to remember a time that the pair wasn’t together.

  Kenton smiled again. “Where are you two going for your honeymoon again?”

  “We’re just hitting a bed and breakfast up in the mountains.”

  “How long?”

  Vanessa grinned. “Just a couple of days. Neither of us wants to leave work for that long.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, we’ve been together for ages, a honeymoon is nice, but it isn’t going to make me love him anymore.”

  Brandon gave a warm grin. “Look at you, knowing exactly what to say to make a man swoon.”

  “Swoon?” She cocked an eyebrow.

  “I read that word of the day toilet paper you got me.” He teased her, gently poking at her shoulder.

  She stuck her tongue out at him. It was almost disgustingly cute. Everyone around them was smiling about the couple pulling out this cute debate going on in their midst.

  “Worried about your restaurant?” Kenton poked a bit of fun at her, bringing the conversation back around to where it had been.

  “It’s in good hands while I’m gone.” She laughed, putting her hands on her hips. It showed her natural sassiness. “But I don’t like leaving it alone for that long. I’m always worried that it might cause some trouble if I do.”

  “Don’t go treating your business like a kid, now. It’s a bad idea. You get too attached to it.”

  “Believe me. I love that place as much as I would love my kid.”

  Kenton nodded. “Well, I look forward to eating his food again. Brandon tells me that your brother is the one that cooked for the reception?” Kenton tilted his head her direction.

  “He did. And we’ve got some beer and whiskey. Or someone can mix you a drink if you want one.” Vanessa took Kenton’s arm and started to show him around to the food and drink stations that they had in the large house the reception was being hosted in.

  “This is a pretty nice set up you have here.”

  “Yeah, it’s a great house. I’m glad they volunteered for it.”

  “Well, it’s good that you didn’t want to start married life with any sort of debt, just getting married with what you two had saved up.”

  “And not even all of our savings.” She grinned. “We saved a good bit of money by cooking and cleaning up after ourselves and using public places that we could rent for like fifty or a hundred bucks.” Vanessa seemed like she was so proud of herself.

  Kenton got why she was proud of herself. He couldn’t blame her for it. He didn’t have to worry much about savings. He never really had to do that, but it was nice when people took care of themselves, making sure they took care of their finances. His friends were sensible people with an amazing sense of humor that they seemed to share between them. And it meant the world to him to see them so happy.

  They were happy. That day they were happy. Kenton watched them dance their way into wedded bliss and Kenton couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable with so many happy people. He made his way off to the side, staying out of the way, and watching the activities that everyone seemed to enjoy.

  He wasn’t the only one sitting and watching the joyous moments and watching from the sidelines. A man was standing there near him. Vance. The man that was Vanessa’s twin brother. The man that had made the amazing food. Kenton thought about approaching the sad-looking man but decided against it. This probably wasn’t a good time to do that.

  Kenton left the event a little early. He didn’t want to stay out too late to the party. He wanted to get back home, someplace where he could be himself.

  He was happy for his friends, but he could only take so much of that sort of celebration when he knew that it was never anything that he could have. It just wasn’t in the cards for him. Not after the life that he had lived.

  Chapter Three

  Vance looked over the kitchen. Even after one day off he missed the place. This had become his home and he was more than ready to get back to work. He dusted his hands off on his pant legs then walked over to the sink to wash and scrub his hands. After he was done, he walked to the back of the restaurant and entered the kitchen.

  The kitchen was working hard at preparing for the dinner rush. He smiled as he ran his hand over the steel counter space and glanced at the large stove and ovens that they had for the various dishes that they offered. The soup of the night was already being started, meaty broth bubbling before the veggies were added to it.

  The sous chef turned to him with a grin. “How was the wedding?”

  “Small. Quiet.” Vance shrugged. Kevin was someone that he trusted with his kitchen when he wasn’t around. The man had worked there for years and was steady and trustworthy.

  “I know. That’s why they didn’t invite any of us.” The other man was smiling. He got why they didn’t want the entire staff there. Most of the staff had been understanding of the need for an understated, quiet ceremony.

  Vance laughed. “We’ll be throwing her a work party when she gets back from the honeymoon.”

  Kevin rolled his eyes then went back to prepping vegetables for dinner service. “We get it. Are you ready to get back to work, at least?”

  Vance grinned. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” He shrugged.

  “You didn’t manage to pick someone up at the wedding, did you?” Kevin winked at the man.

  “There weren’t enough people at the wedding to pick someone up.” Vance rolled his eyes.

  “No one at all?”

  “What are you going on about?” Vance turned to the man that assisted him.

  “Just that some guy showed up at lunch and asked about you.”

  “What?” Vance frowned. “Who was it?”

  “Some guy. A nice suit and didn’t seem to smile at all.” Kevin shrugged. “I tried to ask, but he just said he needed to see you.”

  “I don’t know who it would be.” Vance sighed. “Maybe some kind of health inspector or something? We should do a deep clean just in case.”

  “They don’t normally wait for the owner to show up, do they?” Kevin shook his head. “They would just come in and check everything out.”

  “Yeah, probably.” Vance nodded. “I really don’t know who would come here in a suit asking for me like that. How long ago was it?”

  “It was a while. He looked kind of like a lawyer type.” Kevin shrugged.

  “Did he leave a card or anything?”

  “Uh, ask Lilly. She was the host.”

  He knew that Lilly was already off. She didn’t work dinner because she had night classes at the local college. This was only a part-time job for her. He walked out to the front of the house, heading to the hostess desk. There was no one there yet. Dinner rush hadn’t started so the servers were handling hostess duty until a new host came in for the dinner shift. It was a way they saved money, hiring part-time hostesses that only wanted to work part-time during rushes. Most of their employees were full-time if they wanted those kinds of hours. It let them retain some amazing members of their staff.

  He walked behind the counter and looked at the binder there. If there was a card it would have been left there.

  The binder came out of the shelf easily and he opened it up. It was where they kept a secondary copy of the reservation sheet for a week or two at a time. It also had current menus and other information that the servers might need if they came in. He opened it on the hostess stand.

  Nothing seemed to be there. He frowned and felt in the pockets. There were a couple of old business cards there and then he found exactly what he was looking for.

  It was a business card. It was from a law office. He frowned and looked at the number and then put the binder back. He shifted back and greeted a few of the servers as he made his way back to the office. He didn’t want to make that call at the host’s desk. He didn’t know what it was, but he wasn’t going to risk having an awkward conversation in front of customers and staff.

  Once he was back in the office he called out
to the kitchen. “I found his card. I’ll give them a call and then be back out.”

  “Sure,” Kevin called back in his direction.

  Vance sat down at the desk and grabbed a legal pad and a pen then picked up the restaurant’s landline. He wasn’t going to give his cellphone number away to whoever wanted to get a hold of him this way.

  The phone rang about six times before the call was answered. “Tennant’s office.” A gentle voice spoke on the line.

  “Hi, this is Vance Lloyd. Someone came to my restaurant and I missed their visit.” His heart started to race. He was sure that it wasn’t any sort of major issue. It wasn’t like he had gotten into any trouble ever in his life.

  “Ah, that would be Mr. Tennant.” The woman was smiling on the phone. He told me to expect a call from you, I’ll get him on the line for you.”

  He was then put on hold. Vance tapped his pen against the legal pad in front of him. He wasn’t a fan of waiting on hold for someone that was trying to contact him, but he waited there on hold for a while.

  He was rolling his eyes when the phone picked up again. This time it was a man’s voice. “Sorry about the wait, Mr. Lloyd. I’m glad that you got back to me.”

  “What is this about?” Vance didn’t have much patience. He had work that needed to be done.

  “Yes, I’m sorry again. I’m handling some paperwork from your fiancé’s life insurance.”

  Vance frowned, his brows knitting together. “His parents were his beneficiaries. We weren’t married when he passed away. I’m afraid I had nothing to do with any of that paperwork.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not exactly true, sir. It appears he had a policy that paid out to you, but there’s a minor problem with it.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Well, sir, I’m afraid his sister has been trying to claim it.”