Page 61 of Blue Moon Love

He looked down at his hands, and he took a deep breath. I waited, thinking he was going to say more. But instead, he stood up and went into the kitchen to gather his shirt, wallet, and keys that he’d left there the night before.

“Sam?” I said his name as I followed behind him.

He didn’t answer me. He didn’t say anything. He was putting on his shirt when his phone rang.

“Whitlock,” he answered it. After a few seconds, he said, “Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

When he hung up, I said his name again. I’m not sure why or what I expected him to do; I just didn’t know what else to say. “Sam.”

“I gotta go.” He stepped into his shoes, grabbed his keys, and kissed me on the top of my head. “Bye, pretty girl.”

We were back to pretty girl. No more, my pretty girl. I’d never wanted to belong to someone so bad in my life. I stood in my kitchen, cemented in place, as I watched Sam walk out of my front door, and I feared for my life.

28

SAM

“Feelin’ lower than a bow-legged caterpillar.” ~ Archie “Witty” Whitlock

“I tell you what, lookin’ at you is like your daddy’s standin’ right in front of me.” Velma Ferguson shook her head as she bagged up my energy drink and protein bar. I’d stopped into the Pit Stop for gas and snacks halfway through my shift. “You know, I had a crush on your daddy right before I met Denny, that no-good two-timer.”

Apparently, she had a type. Velma and Denny Ferguson were recently divorced. Word was Denny was stepping out on Velma with Annabelle Dixon. Since she had just referred to him as a two-timer, I tended to believe the rumors were true.

“Is that right?” I asked, pretending to be surprised.

The truth was, most of the women in town around my dad’s age, or twenty years on either side of him, had eyes for my father. Even more than two decades after his death, they still got starry-eyed talking about him.

“Sure is. You know, he’d be so proud of you.”

Would he? I thought to myself. He’d barely even noticed I existed when he was alive. He was too busy breaking my mom’s heart with half the female population of Texas.

“Good to see ya back on the streets, Officer Whitlock!” Velma saluted me after she handed me my bag.

“Thanks.” I nodded to her as I headed out to the Wishing Well PD SUV. It felt nice to be back in that thing. There was something so right about being behind the wheel and being out in town with the people. The last few weeks had taught me that a desk job was not for me. I was going stir-crazy. Of course, some of that might have to do with a certain redhead. If the job was the stir, she was definitely the crazy

Today was my first day off desk duty. I was covering for Kane, who was at his baby mama’s rehearsal dinner. Taylor and Remi were getting married tomorrow, and Kane would be walking the bride-to-be down the aisle.

As maid of honor and cousin to the bride, I was sure that Kenna was at the rehearsal dinner, too. Before we’d slept together, I would know whether she was there or not. Now, I was just assuming.

We went from talking and texting every day to nothing. No contact. No communication. She’d said that we had to stop hooking up to save our friendship, so nothing would change, but I was scared it was too late for that.

I’d spent every second of every day overanalyzing what had happened between us. On one hand, I couldn’t be any happier that I’d been her first. If it had been someone else, I’d have seen red. It was right that it was me. On the other hand, what if I’d totally fucked up the most important relationship I had in my life?

For years, decades, I’d ignored my feelings for Kenna. I’d locked them up and thrown away the key. I’d forced myself not to reveal them or act on them. I’d done all that so I wouldn’t hurt her, so I wouldn’t lose her, but now it felt like I had done both. The tortured look on her face when I left her house was forever etched in my mind. I saw it every time I closed my eyes.

The radio clipped to my shoulder crackled, and Betty’s voice came through the static.

“We’ve got a couple of reports of a suspicious vehicle on the side of the highway just past Corral Junction.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Be safe!” Betty called out as I climbed into the SUV and headed out to the highway.

On the drive out of town, I passed Goodfella’s pizza parlor, where I knew the rehearsal dinner was going to be held. I glanced inside the glass storefront to see if I could catch a glimpse of red hair. I didn’t.

The only time I’d seen Kenna in the past two weeks had been on my security camera. She was avoiding me, and I wasn’t exactly sure why. Did she regret what we’d done? Had it changed her feelings for me completely? Was she mad at me? Was she embarrassed about what we’d done?

Tomorrow, at Taylor and Remi’s wedding, I wondered if she would ignore me. Was this our new relationship? Or non-relationship, I should say. The biggest fear I’d had about crossing the line with her had come true.

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