Kennedy ushered me to a table in the cafeteria, and before I realized he’d left, he was returning with a mug of coffee. Everyone was staring at me, and the pity on their faces made me feel so ridiculous. It was a stupid chalk mural. This wasn’t the first time it had been smudged; it was just the first time the damage had felt malicious.
“Drink.” Kennedy nudged the mug toward me, and the scent of peppermint hit my nose. Friends would bring you a cup of coffee while you got your bearings. Real friends would spike said coffee with peppermint schnapps.
With a shaky smile, I took a healthy swallow, not even caring when the hot liquid scorched my tongue. Next he brought me two plates piled high with pancakes and bacon. He set a plate in front of me, and when I didn’t touch it, he stabbed a piece of pancake with his fork and offered it to me. I took the bite obediently but shook my head when he offered a second.
We sat in silence for a minute, and I sipped at my coffee, waiting for the alcohol to hit my system, but there wasn’t enough to give me a buzz, sadly.
“It was probably just some stupid kids, Bree. Don’t let it get to you.”
“I’m fine,” I managed finally. “It’s no big deal.” But it was a big deal. When Mom came to town, she was going to see that and then she’d never want to come back. Why did her wanting to be here matter so much to me anyway?
I pushed my pancakes around on my plate, but my appetite from this morning had vanished completely.
“You can fix it, can’t you?”
I snapped my head up so fast that I jerked my fork and a pancake went flying off my plate. “What?”
“Come on, Bree. You have more talent than anyone I’ve ever met. You can fix it.”
I hadn’t even thought of that. If I got it done today, would she find out about it when she arrived tonight? “Maybe,” I whispered. “Yeah, maybe I could.”
He grinned, and my heart did acrobatics in my chest just because that dimple was aimed at me. “That’s my girl.” He patted my hand and stood. “You can still make it to lunch today?” The vulnerability in his eyes made me forget the mural for a few beats. I was worried about some smudged chalk, and Kennedy was looking at a day where he was going to disappoint the hell out of his father.
“I’ll be there, Kennedy.”
“You’re the best. I’ll catch you in a few, okay?” He smiled and winked at me, but there was no kiss, no hug, no public display of our new relationship before he was walking away, heading toward his father and his duties as heir Hale.
“You want any more coffee?”
I looked away from Kennedy’s retreating form to see Maya standing at my table a pot of coffee. “Yes, please.”
“I’m sorry about the mural,” she whispered. “I guess this will be the first year you’ll be glad when your mom doesn’t show up like she promised.”
“She’s coming this year,” I defended. “She’ll be here tonight. In time for the art exhibition.”
The pity in Maya’s eyes pissed me off. Why did everyone think they knew more about my mom than I did? She’d come this year because we were leaving for France together tomorrow.
“Sit down, Maya. You work too much.”
She slid into the seat beside me and poured herself a cup of coffee. “So are you sticking around for the Winterfest toast on Sunday night?”
I snorted. “If there’s gonna be toast, there’d better be bacon.”
She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”
I grinned. “Nah, I can’t make it this year.”
“But it’s tradition!”
I shifted uncomfortably and avoided her eyes. “I’m leaving for Paris with my mom in the morning.”
“Paris? I guess you’ve been in New York almost six months. It was time for you to move again. You’ll be back for Winterfest next year though, right?”
“Sure,” I said, though I didn’t know what to expect out of next year. “I’ll be back and I’ll make sure I stay through Sunday night next year.”
Her face lit up and she wrapped her arms around me. “I’m so excited for you. I hope Paris is awesome.”
Someone screeched, followed by the sound of crashing dishes.
Maya released me and stood. “Gotta get back to work.”
She bounced off into the crowd, leaving me alone with my thoughts. No one but Kennedy had been surprised about my move. Not Everly, not Mrs. Hale, not Maya. Was it because Kennedy didn’t know me as well as they did or because he understood me better?
My phone buzzed. Mom’s face smiled back at me from the screen. I accepted the call.
“Good morning, Mom! Isn’t it like six in the morning there?” Mom was on the West Coast this week and was so not a morning person.
“I haven’t been to sleep yet, darling. I’ve had the most amazing night. Charles took me out on his yacht, and well, you probably don’t want to know the details, but it’s safe to say Mama’s still got it.”
“I didn’t doubt it for a minute, Mom.” I wrapped my hands around my coffee, holding my phone between my ear and my shoulder. “What time does your plane get in tonight?”
“Oh, see, sweetie, that’s why I’m calling. I’m not going to be able to make it. Charles is having this party and all of these Hollywood people are coming. It will be my last hurrah before Paris.”
“But…you promised.” Worse than the fact that I sounded like a child when I said the words was that I felt like one. Time shifted, and I was a little girl again. In that breath, I wasn’t an adult capable of making her own decisions and her own mistakes. I was eight years old and looking for Mom in the audience of my first dance recital. I was nine and sitting on the couch in my Halloween costume, watching the clock tick past ten as I waited for her to get home and take me trick-or-treating. I was fifteen and looking for her at my first Winterfest Art Show. Her promises were nothing.
“I’ll make it up to you,” she said. Her voice was so perky and full of excitement. She was never that excited to spend time with me. But I kept betting on her. “You’re not mad, are you? I know my Bree. She’s too cool to make a big deal of something like this.”
My stomach contracted painfully. I know my Bree. But she didn’t. She didn’t know me at all. “Have fun at the party, Mom.”
“We’ll get you moved to Paris another time. Or better yet, go ahead without me. The apartment’s ready, and I can meet you there in a few days, a week at the most.”
“Right, Mom. Okay.” But Paris didn’t feel like the glowing beacon of possibility anymore. It just felt like an empty shell of lonely disappointment. Like every other city in the world. But the alternative? Coming back to Ohio to stay? That scared me even more than moving overseas.
Kennedy
When I finally escaped Dad, I couldn’t find Bree anywhere. Maya said she’d seen her leave Village Hall, but she wasn’t at Juke’s. She wasn’t at the bakery. I jogged back to her house and used my key to let myself in. She wasn’t in her room. I finally found her in the basement, studying a portrait of her parents under florescent lights and making notes on a pad of paper.
She looked gorgeous in those harsh lights. She’d stripped off her sweater and stood in jeans, boots that came to her knees, and a tank. One strap had slipped, and my hands itched to push the other one down to match.
“Why didn’t you—” I cut myself off at the sound of her jaggedly drawn-in breath. In all the years I’d known Bree, I’d seen her cry only once. She was fifteen and she had a painting in the Winterfest Art Show. Her mom had promised to return before the winners were announced. We all knew the ending to that story. Her mom never showed. Not that year or any year after.
I’d been itching for a fight when she’d disappeared on me after breakfast and I’d had to run all around town to find her, but the loneliness on her face made all my anger and frustration fizzle away.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
She didn’t look at me but kept her eyes trained on the portrait. “I’m making a list of the supplies I
’ll need to fix the mural. It shouldn’t be too bad.” She grimaced. “Not that there’s any rush. Mom’s not coming tonight. Probably not ever.”
“I’m sorry.” I wished I were surprised, damn it, but Aubree’s mom always let her down. The surprise would have been if the woman had actually shown up tonight.
She swallowed and swiped at her cheeks. “It’s no big. I should have listened to you and everyone else. It was silly to think this year would be any different. But with Paris…”
Here I was, overwhelmed with too much attention from my parents, and Bree had none of that. Her dad was always traveling on business, and her mother did nothing but let her down.
I used to think her lucky. She’d been able to live her life without them hovering all the time. But maybe I was the lucky one. At least my parents cared enough to hover.
I closed the space between us until I was standing over her, her sweet face tilted up to me. God, I wanted to kiss her again. I’d spent all morning thinking about those lips, looking for her in the crowd, thinking of sneaking away and taking her with me. When she disappeared after breakfast, I thought maybe she was having second thoughts about us, about what we’d done last night.
“It’s okay to be angry with her, Bree.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Of course. She’s a little self-involved, but it’s not like she’s abusive or something. Lots of kids suffer much worse at the hands of their parents.”
“True. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve your anger.”
She had this smudge of golden chalk on her cheek, and I wiped it away with my thumb. Her eyes fluttered shut at the touch.
“She doesn’t,” she murmured. “She gives me everything I need. She’s going to buy me a place in Paris, for God’s sake. I’m lucky.”
“I’m not sure anyone has ever given you what you need.” I dipped my head and pressed my lips to hers, relishing her soft sigh against my lips. “Tell me what I can do for you,” I whispered against her lips. “Tell me what you want. It’s yours.”
A hiss escaped my lips as her hand slid into the waistband of my jeans. Before I realized what she had in mind, she was unbuttoning my pants and pushing them from my hips. She sank to her knees as she tugged them down, her lips parted and kiss-swollen, her eyes wide and smoky, her tongue darting out to wet her lip.
“Bree,” I moaned. “Get your ass back up here.”
“You asked what I wanted,” she murmured. She took me into her hand and moved over me with one long, self-assured stroke. I staggered back against the wall at the feel of her hand on me, her breath so close it teased the head of my cock.
Then she was parting her lips and opening her mouth against me. She took me in slowly, just the head at first, circling it with her tongue before moving deeper. Centimeter by deliciously painful centimeter, she took my shaft into her mouth. It was all I could do not to jut out my hips and push myself deeper. I pressed my palms against the wall, praying for self-control. Then in one long, slick movement, she was taking me deep in her mouth and I couldn’t stop my hands from tangling in her hair.
I kept my eyes opened. I had to remember this. Bree on her knees before me, her lips swollen, sliding over me, her mouth hot as she sucked me deep.
“Stop, baby.” I was too close.
She pulled back, replacing her mouth with her hand. “Let me finish,” she whispered.
I growled. Pulling her up, I took her mouth and seduced her with my lips. My body throbbed—I was so close—but I wanted to be inside her when I came. Slowly, I removed her tank then slipped her jeans from her hips. After grabbing the condom from my jeans, I led her to the couch and pulled her onto my lap.
I kissed her slowly, and when she pressed close and tried to change my tempo, I didn’t waver. When her hands moved against the hot skin of my abdomen, I held steady.
She tasted like hot cocoa and felt like heaven. She was the warmth on the cold day, the sunshine breaking through the gloom. And I didn’t know how to be any of that for her. So I kissed her until she was breathless and open. I kissed her until she stopped trying and started being. Until she softened beneath me, as open and vulnerable as this ache in my chest made me feel.
Then I shifted my hips and she settled onto me. I took her gasps, her pleas, and her sighs, and I held tight as she moved over me. I never wanted to let go.
Kennedy
“How long have you and your girl here been an item, Kennedy?” George, the vice president of my father’s company, took a giant bite of his sandwich as if he hadn’t just sent my meal from uncomfortable to extremely awkward.
We were all gathered around my parents’ oversized dining room table—Mom and Dad, my sisters, the board of Hale Construction, Aubree, and me.
“Um, we’re not—” Crap. We hadn’t had this discussion. Were we an item? Or was this just a weekend of no-strings sex? I’d pulled an Aubree and acted before I thought it through, and now look where I was.
“If I could have everyone’s attention.” My father pushed out of his chair, and all eyes turned to him. “George and I have an exciting announcement.”
George Stevens stood up and grinned. Or I thought he was grinning. It was hard to tell behind all his facial hair. “As you all know,” George said, “I’ve been anxious to retire for some time now, but I’ve been putting it off until we could find a suitable replacement. I have no doubt my wife shares my enthusiasm when I say that we’ve found that replacement and I will be transitioning into retirement between now and this summer.”
I took a drink of my water and tried to be patient while I waited to return to my conversation with Bree. I hadn’t wanted to get dressed and come play nice with the board. I’d wanted to spend the day with Bree. Alone. Naked.
“Kennedy, would you mind standing, son?” George extended a hand in my direction. “I’m pleased to introduce you all to the next vice president of Hale Construction.”
Just like that, water was racing to my lungs. I coughed as my dad’s chest puffed with pride.
“Kennedy will move back to Abbott Springs when he graduates in May and step right into George’s position as vice president. We’re all very excited.”
Fuck me.
Everyone around the table started clapping, but I was still trying to cough the water from my lungs. George came around the table and slapped my back in a manly hug. “You’ll do great, son.”
My father was right behind him, wrapping his arm around me and smiling across the table. Another board member pointed his cell phone camera in our direction. “I wanted it to be a surprise, but your mother thought I should tell you.”
Mother sent an aggravated glare at my father then gave me an apologetic smile. I’d bet my mother thought he should have told me before today—or hell, ask if I even wanted the position. But my father didn’t get permission. He did as he pleased, everyone else be damned.
“I’m not sure this is what I want right now,” I said. My father scowled, so I added, “Sir.”
“Nonsense,” my father said. Then he returned to his seat like this conversation was over. “You’re a Hale. This is in your blood.”
My chest burned as I lowered back into my seat.
He was right. I was a Hale. I’d been working for my father’s company my whole life. I’d be comfortable stepping into George’s position. I’d be good at it. It was the sure bet.
“Actually,” Bree began, and I squeezed her thigh under the table and shook my head. Now wasn’t the time. She narrowed her eyes at me. “What if Kennedy—”
“Thank you, everyone, for all of your support,” I said, cutting her off again. “It means a lot.”
“You’re a lucky man, son,” my father said, turning his attention back to his plate. “We arranged this all for you.”
He wasn’t doing it for me. He was doing it for him. And if I wanted to live my own life for once? If I wanted to take a chance? Just to see what that was like? I should know better. I was a Hale, and that
was asking too much.
My father and turned the conversation to Winterfest, and Bree scowled at me. She wanted me to tell them the truth, to tell them I wanted to go pro, but I would look like a complete fool if I did that now. She had no idea what it was like to be me. The people in this town loved her no matter what. But I had to earn it by living my life exactly as they deemed suitable.
When the meal ended, Bree calmly placed her napkin on her plate, hugged my mom, and left the house without a word to me.
“Go after her,” Mom said, coming to my side.
“What?”
“Bree,” she said. “She’s obviously upset.” She squeezed my shoulder and nodded toward the door. “There are a few hours yet before the parade. Go.”
Aubree
“What are you doing?”
I looked up from my suitcase to see Kennedy walking into my bedroom. “I’m packing. I figure I’ll be busy all night, so I need to get it done now.”
His jaw ticked. “Why are you packing?”
Something flipped in my stomach. Guilt? Fear? Hope? I didn’t even know. “My plane leaves in the morning.”
“Your plane?”
I grabbed a pair of jeans from the pile of laundry on the floor. I hated goodbyes and I had no desire to have this conversation after our lovemaking had left me so emotionally raw. I folded the jeans carefully before settling them into the suitcase.
“You’re actually going to do it. You’re going to leave to be with her when only a couple of hours ago she let you down again.”
I scooped up a sweater and kept my eyes trained on the soft knit as I folded. Anywhere but on Kennedy.
He crossed the room then flipped my suitcase shut before lowering to the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, his face in his hands.
“When I want someone in my life, I’m willing to take a chance on them.” Something crushed in my chest as I whispered the words.
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