Drew motioned toward the mayor, who had just walked up to his wife and greeted her with a playful swat on Mrs. Johnston’s rump. “Well, with an example like those two, how can I not try my best to charm you?”
Kylie nodded as she put slices of pepperoni pizza onto plates for the kids. “Just think. If our marriage only lasts a few months this time around, we can always try it again when we turn seventy.”
* * *
Why in the world had she made that stupid joke about getting married again when they were older? Kylie had been kicking herself all week for saying it. Sure, Drew had chuckled at the time, and luckily the kids had run out of quarters and returned to the table, saving them from any further conversation on the subject.
But a couple of days later, as she sat at her desk, she still wished she could take the words back.
They had settled into a nice routine at the cabin off Sweetwater Bend. Drew usually left for work right about the time the boys woke up. She fed the twins but didn’t even have to drive them to Russell’s Sports since the day campers now met at the boat shed on the Gregson property, where Alex Russell was storing rafts and kayaks and other river gear. Then Kylie would go to work at her office, a small space she rented above the antiques store on Snowflake Boulevard.
By the time her husband came home in the evenings, the twins were so exhausted from all the hiking, paddling and swimming they’d done during the day, they barely kept their eyes open for dinner—which Drew wasn’t much better at cooking than Kylie. Once they got the boys bathed and in bed, he would take off for a couple of hours to do who knew what. She didn’t ask him where he was going, but last night she’d sneaked outside and saw that he hadn’t actually driven anywhere, which made her realize the light inside the boat shed was on and loud music was coming from the old wooden structure. She wasn’t sure what he was doing in there, but at least she was less suspicious that he was off seeing another woman.
Of course, Drew didn’t strike her as the kind of man who would cheat on his wife—even a wife in name only. Which made her all the more curious as to what had happened between him and the ex-girlfriend he’d mentioned. He’d said something about the woman being more serious about the relationship than he was, and Kylie had come to the conclusion that Drew didn’t like his women getting too clingy.
So she allowed him his space in the evenings and would either read a novel in her room or catch up on all the emails she hadn’t gotten to at work. Man, she didn’t know how working moms did this kind of thing every day. The twins were fun, but they were a full-time job. Thank goodness it wasn’t tax season or there would be no way she could keep this up.
Her phone pinged and she knew it was three o’clock—time to meet the kids. She’d had to set the alarm on Tuesday when she’d gotten so caught up in researching tax code that Alex called her to ask why she hadn’t picked Aiden and Caden up from camp yet. Out of four days, she’d forgotten them only once. Not too bad for a new aunt turned surrogate mom overnight.
But tonight was Thursday—her official girls’ night out with her best friends. They’d been meeting every week for the past few years, and she wasn’t about to go AWOL now. Although she was settling into her new environment well enough, she would eventually be returning to her real life and needed to try to keep things as normal as possible.
She grabbed her purse and the leather shoulder bag containing her laptop before locking the office door on her way out. As she navigated her way down the steps to the alley behind the antiques store, she fired off a quick text to Drew to let him know about her plans tonight.
She dropped her satchel on the pavement as she fumbled in her designer handbag for the keys to Nana’s Oldsmobile. Even though she didn’t need the big four-door sedan for kid-hauling purposes since camp drop-off and pickup was now right outside their back door, the rutted driveway to the cabin had seen better days, and she’d gotten her Mercedes stuck in one of the potholes yesterday. So she was back to driving a car that looked like something out of an old episode of The Brady Bunch.
She tried to stick the key in the door lock when her purse tipped and half its contents fell on the ground.
“Oh, come on. Would it be too hard to ask for a car with a remote or keyless entry?” she yelled to the empty alley. She decided Drew needed either to pave the road to the cabin or to find her a more updated mode of transportation.
An appreciative whistle came from a passing truck as she bent over to retrieve her belongings. She stood up quickly to yank her skirt down. Maybe it was a little too short, now that she was somewhat of a mother figure. While she was used to being on the receiving end of unsolicited pickup lines, she would have been mortified if someone actually hit on her when the twins were with her.
She sat in the Nanamobile, rethinking her entire wardrobe and feeling a decade older already. She envisioned herself dressing like Mrs. Johnston in head-to-toe velour tracksuits, with an old ball cap covering her plain gray hair. If she didn’t hit the town tonight with Maxine and Mia, she might as well kiss her thirties goodbye.
Her phone lit up right as she started the engine and she glanced at the screen, but she didn’t have time to read Drew’s text. Alex told her he was going to charge extra if she came late to pick up the boys again.
When she pulled up beside the cabin, she waved at Alex, who was directing several kids trying to carry man-size kayaks. She reached for her phone and read Drew’s message.
I should be home by five ;)
She was frozen in the driver’s seat, the engine shut off and a handful of preadolescent boys looking at her as she tried to make heads or tails of the message. Was he flirting with her? Or had he meant to type a smiley face with a wink?
She jumped out of the car, muttered a few words to Alex, waved the kids inside to get them snacks, then got showered and changed.
Drew arrived right on time, but Kylie tried to keep her conversation with him to a minimum—partly because she was still flustered over the text wink and didn’t want to read too much into it, which was probably where Drew’s ex-girlfriend had gone wrong.
“Are you going to be out late?” He looked pointedly at her jeans and high-heeled boots.
“Not too late, I don’t think. It’s not as if there’s too much nightlife in Sugar Falls.”
“Dressed like that, you could generate enough action on your own to last a lifetime.”
Before she could ask whether he’d meant his comment as a compliment or a commentary on her fashion sense, the boys ran into the room and launched themselves at her.
“Goodbye hugs!” They both latched on to her, and she squeezed each one three times.
“Is this a new thing?” Drew asked, but he smiled as though he approved of the affection she was showing his nephews.
“Kind of. When I leave for work, it’s a little ritual we do.” Kylie had started the routine when she realized the boys were clinging a little closer than normal to her on the first day of camp. Surely, with Drew being a psychologist, he could appreciate that the twins might have some issues with separation, especially considering their family history.
“Yeah, Uncle Drew,” Aiden said. “You gotta give Aunt Kylie your three biggest hugs so she can think of you at least three times while she’s gone.”
“Go on, Uncle Drew,” Caden added. “Hug her three times.”
Drew adjusted his glasses as he looked helplessly at his nephews. Well, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t touched each other before. And he’d been the one to insist that they keep up appearances even in front of the children.
So she raised her arms and walked toward him. He shrugged before putting his hands lightly on her back and patting her a couple of times.
“No, Uncle Drew. You gotta make them big hugs.”
“Yeah, like your tightest and best hugs ever.”
Drew pulled back and looked down at her. “Three of them, huh?”
She couldn’t have been any more embarrassed, so she barely managed a nod. He wrapped his arms
tighter, his warm bands of muscles squeezing her until her Italian leather boots were lifted off the floor.
Kylie had no choice but to cling to his shoulders, which reminded her of the last time she’d touched him there. She hoped Drew couldn’t tell how damp her palms were.
“One. Two. Three,” he counted as he lessened his grip only slightly between each number. “And an extra one for the road so she thinks about me four times tonight.”
The boys dissolved into giggles and Drew slowly released her, keeping her body against his until her stiletto heels touched the hardwood floor. It took her a few moments to feel steady enough to stand on her own, let alone walk to the car.
“Okay. Well, goodbye, then.” She made the mistake of looking back at him as she wobbled away, and would’ve traded her favorite pair of designer jeans to know what that parting smile of his meant. She had a feeling she was going to be thinking about Drew way more than four times tonight.
* * *
Normally on Thursday nights, she and her girlfriends did an exercise class at Mia’s dance studio and then had dinner at a local restaurant. But tonight she really needed to let off steam, so they were bypassing yoga and going directly to the privacy and comfort of Mia’s kitchen. Shortly after Cooper had moved into Maxine’s apartment over the bakery, he’d begun hosting poker night with some of his new friends, so the women couldn’t go there. Thank goodness Mia knew how to cook, because if Kylie had to eat mac and cheese one more time this week, she was going to scream.
Plus, after the massage and the goodbye hug, the physical tension between her and her husband was now reaching an unprecedented level, and she didn’t know how to handle it.
Maxine handed her a margarita and a bowl of guacamole as soon as Kylie walked in the door. “We want details,” her friend said, foregoing any formal greeting.
She’d given both women brief overviews on Sunday morning as she was packing to move into the cabin, but the updates this week had been vague and via text. “What do you want to know?”
“Like, what were you thinking?” Mia asked first as Kylie plopped onto the kitchen counter stool.
“What’s it like living with Doctor Handsome?”
“How’s it going being an instant family?”
“How did your dad take the news?”
“Who’s doing the cooking?”
The questions came at her rapid-fire, and she couldn’t blame her friends their inquisitiveness. If their positions were reversed, she’d be asking the same things. But that last question from Mia brought a halt to the interrogation.
“Really, guys? My whole life is completely upside down and that’s what you’re worried about? The cooking?”
“Well, it’s just that kitchen duty isn’t one of your stronger domestic talents,” Maxine pointed out. It was a well-known fact.
“But you’re great at laundry,” Mia said, ever the peacemaker.
“Some claim to fame—I wash a mean load of whites. Which is actually a blessing because living with three extra people, the old washing machine on the back porch never stops running. It’s as if my entire day just got three times more stressful. Maxine, I have no idea how you did it as a single mom.”
“It was tough, and I only had one little boy. How are you doing with two?”
Kylie sighed. “Actually, not as bad as people might think.”
“Who might think that?” Mia turned away from the skillet sizzling on the stove, her face suggesting outrage for anyone who said otherwise. See, this was why Kylie loved her friends. They looked past her outer appearance to the person she really was.
“Come on, you guys know what the town thinks of me. Outrageous and wild Kylie. Great with accounting, horrible with men. Marcia Duncan and Elaine Marconi made it pretty clear at the wedding that they questioned my ability with children.”
“But you’re great with kids. You do all those pageants with young girls, and your family is huge. Hunter adores you, and you’re one of the favorite guest teachers at the Snowflake Dance Academy.”
“Hmm.” Kylie took a sip of her drink, then pushed it aside in favor of the tortilla chips. “I will say that Aiden and Caden are pretty awesome. They’re a little wild, but they are really cute. And funny. It’s kind of sad, because they miss their dad and I don’t think they really remember their mom. They just need a little structure and some routine, which they got once I enrolled them in Alex Russell’s wilderness and adventure camp. And they come home every afternoon exhausted, which is a plus. The kids aren’t really the issue here.”
Maxine reached toward the chip bowl and pulled it closer to her. “Is the cabin an issue? I know it’s pretty remote, but when Cooper lived there for a while, it seemed comfortable and pretty well equipped.”
“No, the cabin is fine. I mean, it’s a little different than what I’m used to, but you guys know I’m not a snob. Except I will admit that I am absolutely done with that stupid car I got stuck driving. I don’t know if I can make it the whole summer motoring around town in the Nanamobile.”
“Is that what I saw you driving the other day down Snowflake Boulevard?” Mia asked as she spooned their chicken fajitas onto red pottery-style plates. “I had to take a second look because I thought it was Mae Johnston at first. She has almost the exact same car.”
Kylie flinched. Just one week of married life and she was being mistaken for a seventy-year-old woman. And by her best friends, no less.
“So the car situation can be fixed. Just go rent a different one. It’s not as if you can’t afford it.” Maxine’s observation was true and not intended as a reference to her family’s known wealth. Kylie rarely spoke to anyone about her personal finances, but her friends knew she believed in living strictly off her own income as a CPA—which was fairly substantial considering most of the businesses in town paid her a pretty hefty fee for her services.
Mia put their plates on the small kitchen table. “So if it’s not the twins or the cabin, and the car situation can be fixed, it must be Doctor Handsome.”
“Stop calling him that,” Kylie said as she joined her friends to eat.
“No,” Maxine replied as she reached for a warm flour tortilla. “I don’t think we will stop. Remember how you used to call Cooper Gunny Heartthrob all the time? Consider this payback.”
“But you and Cooper were perfect for each other. And you’re the one who said the guy made your heart literally throb when you first met him.”
“So you don’t think Drew is perfect for you?” Mia asked.
“I don’t know if anyone is perfect for me. And trust me, I’ve looked far and wide for someone to fit that bill. But more important, I know that I’m not perfect for Drew.”
“Stop it,” Mia said at the same time Maxine argued, “Don’t be crazy.”
“Ladies, we’re talking about Saint Drew here. He looks at me as if I’m a test subject in a psychology experiment.”
“No way. I saw the way he was dancing with you at our wedding, and I guarantee you he looked at you as though he wanted to devour you.”
“No offense, Max, but you’re so crazy in love, all you see are roses and rainbows. Forgive me for thinking your opinion is a little skewed right now.”
“Well, I’m not all doped up on pheromones and love,” Mia said, referring to her general disillusionment toward most men. “Yet I get the impression that the guy is really into you. How can he not be, Kylie? You’re an amazing woman. You’re smart, funny, loyal...”
Bless her friends for trying to cheer her up, but they were obviously biased.
“Okay, let’s say that Drew possibly is physically attracted to me.” Which might not be too much of a stretch, considering how she did catch him staring at her sometimes. Or the way he’d hugged her an hour ago. “He’s made it clear that this marriage thing is just temporary for the summer. The guy’s too straitlaced to want someone like me on a long-term basis. And he’s way too proper and polite to act on his attraction.”
“So you guys haven’t.
..you know...done anything since that night in Reno?” Mia asked. Her friends knew that Kylie had maintained a tight resolve on her decision to not sleep with a man until she was sure he was The One.
“Ugh. Neither one of us knows if we even did anything back then. I mean, I’m sure we did, because every time I’m in the same room with Drew, my insides get all liquidy and my skin gets tight. I may not know much about sexual attraction, but I’m smart enough to recognize that I can’t really control my body when I’m around him. But the not knowing really sucks.” Kylie dropped her fork and put her forehead in her hands.
“Oh, honey,” Maxine said, and patted her back. “My first time was after the Boise State homecoming game in Bo’s dorm room. He hung a sock on the door so none of his fraternity brothers would bother us. It really was the most unromantic night of my life, but every girl deserves to have at least a memory of it. I hate it that you can’t recall yours.”
“Why don’t you pretend Reno didn’t happen and have another first time with him?” Mia asked. “One that you can remember.”
“Yeah, right.” Kylie lifted her head only to find Maxine nodding along. “No. Really, you guys, I can’t just rewrite history.”
“Mia’s right. If a column of numbers doesn’t add up, you simply erase the answer and start over again. Besides, if you’re going to have a do-over, at least you already know that Doctor Handsome is physically compatible with you.”
“Compatible is a bit of a leap. I said that I was attracted to him. But he’s never given me any indication that he wants something more than a roommate.”
“Then, why don’t you convince him that he does?” Maxine asked.
“How? By seducing him? I can’t do that.”
“Sure you can.”
“Seriously? If I actually made an attempt at it, I’d look stupid, and he’d see right through me. He’s trained to read people. Do you have any idea what it’s like to live with somebody so calm and in control all the time? Not to mention, I have zero experience in that department, and I’d be a nervous wreck and wind up turning him off completely.”
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