Page 51 of Return to You

Barely, but yes.

Before he’d returned people had either treated her with pity, or like she should be nominated for sainthood. Now everyone was treating her like a princess who’d been rescued from a tower. No one needed to feel sorry for her. Many people had it a lot worse than her. And she certainly was no saint. But she also wasn’t some damsel in distress that needed him to slay dragons for her.

All she wanted was for things to go back to normal, to be treated like she was normal, but she was beginning to think she didn’t even know what that was anymore. Lately her normal was simply trying to avoid Kade because being around him was absolute torture.

“Kade’s been staying with you, right?” Laura twisted the cap off her bottled water as she committed one of Ali’s biggest pet peeves, asking a question she already knew the answer to.

“Mmm, hmm.”

“It must be nice having him around.” Laura winked before taking a sip of her water.

“Mmm.” She made another sound instead of using her words and hoped that Laura would get the hint.

“I wouldn’t throw him out of my bed, if you know what I mean.”

Yep. She did know what she meant. Ali had thrown him out of her bed.

“I thought the two of you might have something going on but then I heard that he’s been looking for his own place.”

This was not new information to Ali. Kade told her that Kennedy had shown him some properties the day before. But she didn’t want to discuss it with him and she sure as heck didn’t want to discuss it with Laura.

The woman clearly wasn’t picking up on Ali’s whole vibe so she opted for silence as she stared at her computer.

Laura scooted closer and rested her hand on Ali’s forearm. “You know I’m not one to gossip.”

In Ali’s experience, anyone who started a sentence with “I’m not” usually “was.” And there was usually a “but” that followed.

“But…a…

There it is.

“little birdy told me that she saw Kennedy and Kade cozying up at Bite Me.”

Bite Me was Whisper Lake’s answer to Subway. The community had done its level best to keep chain restaurants and stores from infiltrating the city limits. Part of the sleepy town’s charm was its mom-and-mop establishments.

“You know they used to date in high school?”

Yeah. Ali was aware. Unfortunately, she’d had a front row seat to the Kade and Kennedy show. They broke up and got back together so many times it gave Ali relationship whiplash. Every time the two of them would split, hope would bloom in her heart. Then they’d get back together and rototill her hope flowers.

“My friend said they were very cozy.”

Ali did her best not to roll her eyes. It must be a slow week if Kade and Kennedy eating lunch was making the front page of the Gossip Gazette.

“Has Kade mentioned anything about it?”

Yes, he had. One of the steps in his program was making amends, and he’d told her he’d done that with Kennedy. He said that it had gone well. And the entire time he’d been telling her that, the only thing Ali could think about was wanting him to shut up, grab her, and kiss her. And that irritated her more than this conversation.

“Nope.” Ali shut her computer and carefully swung her foot over the bench. “I’ve got inventory to do. I’ll see you later.”

“Is Kade around?”

“Last I saw he was down at the dock.” She’d tried to tell him she didn’t need his help, but he’d insisted. So, she gave him a to-do list a mile long. She may not need him, but she could at least take advantage of the opportunity. Besides, if he was busy with errands, it was easier to avoid him. So far, it had been working.

“Tell him to stop by and see me anytime. He can have my special strawberry shake on the house.”

Ali was sure that wasn’t all Kade could have.

She had to give Laura credit; the woman was an eternal optimist. She was a two-time divorcée and was definitely looking to walk down the aisle again. She kept saying, “Third time’s the charm.”

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