Page 63 of Blue Moon Love

“Yep. I sure am. Last time I checked. Nice to meet you, Miss Adler.” I patted the roof of her Accord. “Drive safe.”

“You too,” she replied, then shook her head again as if she were embarrassed. “I didn’t mean to tell you how to drive. I mean, of course you drive safely, that’s sort of your job. Or, I guess, not when you’re on high-speed chases. Although you probably still have to be safe; otherwise, civilians could get hurt, and your job is literally to protect and serve. Not that you didn’t know that, of course. I mean, you’re the one in the uniform, and I’m sure you had to go to school or something before you got—” She stopped talking abruptly and pursed her lips together. Then she exhaled and said, “Sorry, I ramble when I’m…it doesn’t matter…sorry.”

I couldn’t help but grin.

“Drive safe,” I reiterated before heading back to my SUV.

I climbed inside the driver’s seat and watched as Miss Adler put her blinker on and got up to about thirty before merging onto the highway. I sat there for a moment thinking that Morgan Adler was, as the kids on Love Island UK (which I only watched because Kenna was obsessed with it) said, “my type on paper.’” She was a pretty, quirky, adorable, sexy-girl-next-door who seemed sweet and down to earth with nurturing tendencies since she was a carer for her dad. She worked nights, which wasn’t an easy shift, so she was tough. Still, I had zero interest in her.

The only pretty, quirky, adorable, and sexy girl next door I was interested in was the sexy girl who actually lived next door to me.

I tried to shake off the melancholy cloud that had been hovering over me as I lifted my hand to the radio to check in with Betty and let her know the status of the call and that I was available again. When I turned my head to the left to speak into the radio, I noticed a truck going at high speed in my side mirror. It was flying and had to be going well over a hundred. I was reaching to turn on my blues and twos when I heard a loud crunching sound. The next thing I knew, my body was being flung like a ragdoll against the steering wheel. I felt my head hit something hard, saw Kenna’s face, and then everything went black.

29

KENNA

“If ya don’t get on with it or get over it, ya die with it.” ~ Archie “Witty” Whitlock

“Are you nervous?” I asked Taylor as we all walked from the rehearsal at The Barn, where both the wedding and reception would be held, to Goodfella’s Pizza for the rehearsal dinner, which was only a couple blocks away.

“Yes.” She placed her hand on her stomach. “But not about the wedding.”

I wasn’t sure how many people knew that Taylor was expecting. I glanced around and saw that no one was paying any attention to us. Kane and Remi each had one of Harper’s hands, and they were swinging the five-year-old high in the air as they walked.

Kane and Taylor might have only been friends when they conceived that girl and were still only friends, clearly since Kane had just married Ruby and Taylor was marrying Remi, but that little girl was a product of love. They had done an incredible job co-parenting and raising her.

“You’re a great mom,” I assured my cousin. “And I know Remi is going to be an amazing dad.”

When Remi and Ruby Rhodes were growing up, Remi did a lot of the heavy lifting when it came to raising his little sister since neither of their fathers were in the picture. I’d witnessed firsthand how paternal, loving, and protective he was.

“I know.” Taylor nodded. “It’s just…I wasn’t expecting any of this. I had a plan.”

“Harper wasn’t planned, and look how amazing she is,” I pointed out.

One of the things I’d always admired about Taylor was her ability to make a plan and stick to it, no matter what obstacles and roadblocks got in her way, or how much she had to sacrifice. It was like her superpower, and she truly was a superhero, to me anyway. But even superheroes had weaknesses. With Superman, it was kryptonite. Wonder Woman lost her power when she got tied up. Iron Man was out of luck when his battery died.

Taylor’s kryptonite was something not going the way she’d planned. She didn’t do well with surprises or anything that wasn’t scheduled. It’s funny because, knowing her personality, I would have never guessed she’d end up being an E.R. doctor and loving it. Talk about an unpredictable environment.

When I asked her about it, she said that it was predictably unpredictable. I loved how her mind worked.

Taylor nodded as a smile lifted on her face. “She is, isn’t she?”

All my life, I’d looked up to my cousin. She was gorgeous, smart, driven, and just really cool. We hadn’t grown up together. She’d lived with her mom, who suffered from mental health issues, in Massachusetts. Her dad, who was my dad’s little brother, was killed in a car crash when she was Harper’s age, just five years old. Taylor was in the car with him when he tragically died.

I didn’t know a whole lot about her childhood, but I knew it was bad. I’d overheard my parents discussing whether or not they should try and get custody of her more than once. Since she lived so far away, it was difficult, and, as far as I knew, they’d never taken any legal action.

Taylor joined the Navy when she turned eighteen and met Kane at boot camp. When she found out he was from Wishing Well, she told him she had family there. The two of them quickly became best friends.

Harper was the product of a one-night-stand she’d had with Kane, who had been her best friend for years. Thankfully, after they crossed the line, they’d managed to stay best friends.

I hoped that Sam and I would be able to stay best friends. The glaring difference between our situations was neither Taylor nor Kane ever had actual feelings for each other. They both maintained that they loved one another but were not in love with each other.

My problem was that I was hopelessly, madly, and completely in love with Sam. I thought I’d had it bad for him before, but sleeping with him had only made my feelings for him stronger, something I would have thought was impossible.

“How’s Sam? Taylor asked.

“What? Why?” I snapped, a little taken aback that my cousin had read my mind.

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