Page 126 of Save Me

She closes her eyelids before opening them. “Thank you,” she whispers. “I wanted these but always put off buying new heels.”

“Why?” I ask because there isn’t anything I don’t want to know about her.

She peers down at the shoes. “At first, I said it was because my job isn’t necessary or convenient to wear heels daily. Plus, I have enough.”

“At first?”

She gives me a small smile. “That's what I used to tell myself. The truth is that I stopped buying heels a few years ago when I realized so many men in my world only wanted me to dress up to be eye candy on their arms.

“They wanted a doll while they went off and did the ‘real work’ of running companies and whatever.”

She uses air quotes around the words real work.

“Most talked about me resigning from my job once we got married so I could stay home and be the socialite they saw their wife being.”

She shakes her head. “I kind of went in the opposite direction after realizing that. I didn’t want to resemble anything like what they made me out to be.”

Kennedy peers down at her shoes, and a beautiful smile appears.

“I missed the feel of a new pair of heels. Thank you.”

I cup her face in my hands. “If you want a chance to show off those shoes anywhere else besides over my shoulders, you’re going to have to stop looking at me like that.”

She tosses her head back and laughs. The sound is so enticing that it makes me laugh.

“I promise to show you how they look over your shoulders when we get home.”

An involuntary groan rips from my lips. “Let’s go, little warrior.”

Minutes later, I’m holding the door open of the town car that’s taking us to the downtown convention center where tonight’s event will be held.

I clasp Kennedy’s hand in mine, our fingers intertwined the entire forty-minute ride. She stares out of the window, her lips spread into a smile.

“I love this city at night,” she says, her eyes taking in the sights of Williamsport. She turns to me. “Remember when I told you I almost moved to New York after college?”

I nod.

Her smile widens. “When I went away to college, I was sure I wasn’t going to move back once I graduated.”

“Why?” I ask.

She looks down at our intertwined hands.

“I didn’t want to work in the shadow of my family.” She leans in. “In college and my first few years as a reporter, I went by my mother’s maiden name, Theirs. Kennedy Thiers.”

“Why?”

Shrugging, she looks out of the window again. I reach over with my free hand, taking her by the chin to bring her gaze back to me.

“I don’t like it when you’re not looking at me.”

She laughs. “You’re so greedy.”

“When it comes to you.”

“I have never been and will never be ashamed of my family.” Her voice hardens to convey how serious she is. “Not ever.”

I nod. “I know that.” Anyone who spends time with Kennedy knows how much she loves her family. “But?” I prod.

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