He didn’t think she would expect—or even want—one night of lovemaking to miraculously transform their friendship into a romance. But getting naked with a woman—even one who was a longtime friend—had a way of changing a relationship, and it would be foolish to pretend otherwise.
Thankfully, Erin knew that he wasn’t looking for any kind of long-term commitments. She understood that he had no intention of ever marrying or having a family—no way was he going to risk turning out like his dad, who’d abandoned his first wife and kids, or his mom, who’d prioritized her restaurant over all else. But in order to resume the status quo, they needed to remember that they’d been friends first, and that neither of them wanted to risk that friendship by pretending it could lead to something more. Which meant that there could be no repeat of what had happened between them last night.
Because friends-with-benefits might sound like a good idea, but he’d been down that road before and inevitably one of the friends wanted more, and then even the friendship was lost. He couldn’t risk that happening with Erin. Not only because he valued her friendship too much but also because she was his sister’s best friend.
He winced, imagining how Lucy might react if she knew that he’d spent the night in Erin’s bed. His sister would undoubtedly be furious with him. She probably wouldn’t be too happy with Erin, either, but she’d blame Kyle. Because she’d warned him, years ago when she’d sent him to the airport to pick up her friend, that Erin was off-limits.
At the time, he’d laughed at her fierce warning and promised that he had no interest in hooking up with her college pal. Then Erin had walked off the plane and he’d cursed himself for offering an assurance he wasn’t sure he could keep.
* * *
Erin breathed a sigh of relief when she woke up and discovered that Kyle was gone. She didn’t think he’d snuck out to avoid an awkward “morning after” conversation. She knew that Thursday was a market day, and Kyle liked to be there early to get his pick of the crop. She’d gone with him once, and she’d actually enjoyed the sights and scents of the market—though not enough to want to get up with the sun on a regular basis.
His absence now meant that she’d have some time to figure out what to say before she saw him again. Because they were definitely going to have to talk about what had happened between them the night before—and where they would go from here.
She stepped under the spray of the shower, wincing as she soaped up her limbs and felt little tugs in muscles that hadn’t had a workout in far too long—and had been very thoroughly worked out the night before. She hadn’t been surprised to discover that Kyle was every bit as talented and creative in the bedroom as he was in the kitchen, and she was admittedly disappointed to know that there wouldn’t be a repeat performance. Because as amazing as their lovemaking had been, there was no way she could allow it to happen again.
She had no regrets about their night together, but she also had no interest in a friends-with-benefits arrangement. Mostly because she’d never been particularly good at sharing her body without opening her heart, and she knew that if she made the mistake of falling in love with Kyle, she’d end up with it in pieces. He would never hurt her on purpose—he didn’t ever intend to hurt any of the women whose hearts he’d trampled in the past—but the lack of intent wouldn’t mitigate the result.
He’d told her more than once that serious relationships weren’t for him. I enjoy the company of beautiful women, but cooking is my passion and the restaurant is my priority. And I’m always up-front about that fact when I start dating a woman—so why do they expect it to change?
Erin hadn’t been able to answer his question then, and she wasn’t going to make the mistake of becoming one of those women now simply because they’d spent the night together.
In addition to worrying about how she could restore the status quo with Kyle, she was also worried about her relationship with his sister. Because there was no way she could keep a secret like this from her, and she had no idea how Lucy would respond to the discovery that her best friend had gotten naked with her brother.
She was concerned that Lucy might be upset, but her bigger concern was that she might try to romanticize the situation. Since she’d fallen in love with and married Claudio, Lucy had been eager for Erin to follow the same path, even going so far as to imagine that they’d have kids close in age so they could grow up together. And while Erin wasn’t completely opposed to the idea of getting married and maybe having a family of her own someday, she knew it wasn’t going to happen with her friend’s brother.
Kyle had made it clear to Erin—and to every woman he’d ever dated—that he had no interest in marriage or kids. Not that this information had dissuaded many of his girlfriends, more than one of whom had been certain she’d be the one to change his mind. But Erin knew his family history, and she understood that his determination to remain single was about more than loving the bachelor life—it was about feeling abandoned by the father who’d walked out on his family when Kyle was only ten years old and neglected by the mother who’d spent most of her waking hours at the restaurant. So she definitely wasn’t going to ruin their friendship by trying to turn it into something more just because they’d shared one night of off-the-charts lovemaking.
* * *
When Erin didn’t immediately answer his knock, Kyle suspected that she was probably in the shower and decided to use his emergency key—the same one he’d used to lock up when he left her apartment only a few hours earlier—to let himself in. He didn’t hear the water running, which immediately obliterated his wayward fantasy of stripping down and joining her.
And that was a good thing, he reminded himself. Because while he hadn’t been able to prevent his mind wandering down that tantalizing path, he’d already decided that they couldn’t go there again. And maybe, if he kept reminding himself of that fact, his brain would eventually transmit the message to his ready and willing body.
“Erin?”
The only response was a sniffle from somewhere down the hall.
He paused in mid-step.
Was she...crying?
There it was again.
Another sniffle.
Damn, she was crying.
Was it his fault? Was she upset because he’d left without saying goodbye? Should he have left a note on the bedside table?
Should he leave now?
Emotions usually made him uncomfortable, but Erin wasn’t quick to tears, which meant that there was no way he could turn away from her now.
A few more steps down the hall and he was standing in the doorway of her bedroom. The sheets they’d tangled up the night before had been untangled and the bed was now neatly made. But it was the suitcase open on top of the bed that made his heart drop.
“What are you doing?”
Erin jolted at the sound of his voice, obviously so deep in her own thoughts that she hadn’t heard him come in or call out to her.
“I’m packing,” she said, stating the obvious.
“But...why?”
“I have to go home.” She continued to pull clothes out of her dresser and toss them into the suitcase. “My mom called...my dad’s sick.”
“Sick?” he echoed, uncomprehending.
“He had a doctor’s appointment this morning. It was just supposed to be a routine follow-up to some tests.” She continued to pack as she talked. “At least that’s what they thought.” She drew in a deep breath, let it out on a shudder. “Until the doctor said he has stage four colon cancer.”
He didn’t know exactly what that meant, but he knew that stage four any kind of cancer was bad.
“He has an appointment with the oncologist on Monday.” She closed the lid of the suitcase and zipped it shut. “I need to be there.”
“Of course,” he agreed.
“I don’t know how long I’m going to be gone. It might be a few weeks. Mayb
e longer.”
“Will you keep me posted?” he asked.
She nodded. “But you’re probably going to need to hire someone else, for the interim.”
“I’m not worried about the restaurant—I’m worried about you.”
“I’m okay.” Erin managed a weak smile. “I have to be, because my mom is completely falling apart, and somebody has to hold it together. Of course, she hasn’t reached out to my sister yet, because she doesn’t want to upset Anna while she’s on her honeymoon—even if that honeymoon is only a string of Dusty Boots Motels between Las Vegas and Silver Hook.”
But it was okay to upset Erin, because her mom knew that she’d drop everything to rush back home.
“Do you want me to take you to the airport?”
“No, thanks. I couldn’t get a flight out before tomorrow afternoon, and since it will be convenient to have a vehicle when I’m there, I decided to drive.”
“You’re going to drive to Arkansas?”
“I’ve done it before,” she told him.
He knew that she had, and though he’d always worried about her making the long journey alone, he’d trusted that she could take care of herself. And if he said anything to object to her plans now, she might think he was being overprotective—like a boyfriend rather than just a friend—because they’d spent the night together.
“But not when you’re obviously upset and worried,” he pointed out gently. “Maybe you should wait and—”
“No.” She grabbed another suitcase and began filling it as haphazardly as she’d done the first. “I don’t want to wait.”
“Then let me take you.”
“It’s a sixteen-hundred-mile trip,” she reminded him. “There’s no way you can drive me home and be back in time for dinner prep.”
Obviously not, but he wasn’t going to let that detail dissuade him. “Giselle can cover for a few days.”
“Giselle already covered for you last night.”
“She’s very capable,” he pointed out.
Erin managed a smile. “I know. And I appreciate the offer, really, but I’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” he relented. “But why are you packing up everything you own?”
“I just want to be prepared for all contingencies.”
“If you get there and realize that you’ve forgotten something you want, let me know and I’ll ship it to you.”
She nodded, her eyes shiny with fresh tears. “Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” he told her. “I’m here for you, and I’ll always be here for you, because we’re friends.”
Even if, for one night, they’d been more.
Though that night had ended only a few hours earlier, he imagined that it felt like a lifetime ago to Erin, whose whole world had been turned upside down by a phone call.
And he didn’t realize how much he’d miss her until she was gone.
Chapter Six
It was still early enough when Kyle left the farmer’s market that he felt confident he’d be able to catch his mom at home. Mondays and Fridays were delivery days at the restaurant, and while any of her staff was capable of handling the receiving, she preferred to be on-site to ensure there weren’t any problems. She claimed that the success of Jo’s Pizza could be credited to her oversight of even the smallest details. Kyle would argue—and he had—that her micromanagement style prevented her employees from realizing their potential. It was only one of many disagreements they’d had over the years that had ultimately led to his decision to find a job elsewhere.
But today was Thursday, so he knocked on the heavy wooden door of the modest bungalow that she’d bought before his last year of high school. The house was a definite step up from the apartment over the restaurant, but it wasn’t far away, and even now, his mom usually walked to work—and home again at the end of a long day.
“This is a surprise,” she said, when she opened the door.
Kyle held up a paper bag. “I brought you fresh strawberries from the market.”
“Another surprise,” she said, stepping away from the door to allow him entry. “I didn’t expect to see them for another week or so.”
“They’re early this year,” he confirmed, as he followed her to the kitchen.
She took the quart-size container out of the bag to look them over. “Oh, they are perfectly ripe and beautiful.” She drew in a deep breath. “And they smell as good as they look.”
He nodded his agreement. “I’m adding a spinach and strawberry salad with candied pecans and feta to the menu tonight.”
She wrinkled her nose as she reached into the cupboard for a mug. “People actually order salad with fruit and nuts?”
“People love salad with fruit and nuts,” he told her. “Our field greens with pear, walnut and blue cheese is another popular one, as is the arugula salad with grilled peaches, toasted almonds and a honey vinaigrette.”
“What’s wrong with a traditional garden salad?” she asked, dropping a coffee pod into the Keurig.
She was referring, of course, to the small bowl of romaine lettuce with a few slices of cucumber, a sprinkle of matchstick carrots and a couple of cherry tomatoes with Italian dressing that had been a staple at Jo’s for as long as he could remember.
Not even Caesar or Greek salads had ever made it to her menu. “Fads,” she’d insisted, when he’d suggested expanding the healthy options they offered.
“Well, thank you for the strawberries,” she said. “But I’ll eat mine as God intended—on top of shortcake with a mountain of whipped cream.”
He smiled at that. “Enjoy. And now I should probably be heading over to the restaurant.”
But he made no move to leave, and she offered him the mug of fresh coffee.
“On the other hand, I can probably spare a few more minutes,” he said, accepting it.
“You’re missing Erin,” she guessed.
He lifted a shoulder, feigning a casualness that didn’t fool his mother for a minute.
“Have you heard from her recently?”
“A few days ago.”
Jo picked up her own half-empty mug and sipped. “How’s her dad doing?”
“I don’t really know,” he admitted. “The prognosis doesn’t seem great, but every time we talk, she sounds so relentlessly upbeat.”
His mother nodded, understanding. “Because she doesn’t want to admit that he might be dying.”
It was a possibility that Kyle didn’t want to consider, either. And one that had got him thinking about his own father—and wondering if he should make an effort to build a relationship with him before it was too late.
Not that Marty Thomas had any health issues that Kyle was aware of, but Brian Napper’s diagnosis had been a reminder that bad news could come out of the blue. A truth his mom had learned when both her parents died, suddenly and unexpectedly, in a car crash only a few months after she had separated from her husband.
“Lucy told me that Erin’s thinking about subletting her apartment,” she said now, drawing his attention back to the present.
He nodded. “Shawna, the night manager at The Stagecoach Inn, was looking for a place for a few months until her new condo is ready.”
“Which suggests that Erin’s going to be in Arkansas for at least a few months,” Jo noted.
“Yeah.” And he understood that she’d want to spend as much time as possible with her dad, but she’d been gone only a few weeks and he already wanted her to come home. He’d been surprised to realize how many times he thought about her throughout the day, and how much he missed being able to stop by her apartment just to say hi.
“You should think about taking a few days and going to Silver Hook,” his mom suggested.
“I have thought about it,” he said, surprising himself as much as her with the admission. “But it’s a busy ti
me at the resort and I wouldn’t want to be a distraction.”
“She might need a distraction. And I have no doubt she could use a friend.”
“Maybe Quinn can take a trip,” he suggested as an alternative. “She always says that, as long as she’s got her laptop, she can work anywhere. My job doesn’t offer the same flexibility.”
“Is it the job that’s inflexible—or is it you?” his mom wondered aloud.
Kyle bristled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you don’t have a life outside of the restaurant.”
“I can’t believe you, of all people, would say that to me,” he said, feeling not just defensive but annoyed. “All I’m doing is following in your footsteps.”
“The difference between us is that I didn’t have any choice but to pour every ounce of energy into the restaurant.”
“Every single day, from midmorning until late at night.”
“Someone had to make the pizza.”
“You could have hired someone to help out,” he pointed out. “So that you could spend a couple of nights a week with your kids.”
“Is that what you think? That I chose to be at the restaurant rather than spend time with my family?”
Of course, it was what he’d thought, because he’d been a kid who didn’t understand why she was never around. But seeing the stricken expression on his mother’s face now, he was forced to acknowledge that his assumptions might have been wrong.
“You have no idea.” She shook her head. “And why would you? I didn’t want you or Lucy to know how shaky our financial situation was.
“But the truth is, in those early days, I was barely able to pay a server and a dishwasher to work Friday and Saturday nights—but on every other night, when the restaurant wasn’t so busy, I waited on customers and did the cleanup myself.”
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