Page 41 of Fractured

He didn’t say anything on the walk back to the front lobby. And I was extremely grateful. I didn’t think I could find any words to answer him if he had asked what happened. Or passed judgment on me being a poor daughter.

As I signed out, I couldn’t have repeated a word Sophia had said, and there were many of them. I just nodded, handed back the badge, and left. My attempts at being normal were completely gone in that moment.

I chugged the remainder of my bottle of water once I was in my car, because my throat was parched. Then I stared out the front window and dissected what Lauren had said.

She was crazy. Certifiable. Whatever she said couldn’t be taken to heart. It might have been a good day for her, but she wasn’t as lucid as I had first imagined because she devolved so quickly.

The way she snapped was too fast, and if she knew what she was saying, she would have led with that first instead of saying she didn’t want to talk about it or didn’t remember it. Actually, I was positive if there was some part of her that was sane during that conversation, she probably would have made that statement to fuck with me. That was definitely something Lauren would do.

It didn’t matter. I needed to push it out of my head for the rest of the day, because I could only spend so much brain power on what happened before I really did feel like I was going crazy.

Picking up my phone from my console, I turned it on and waited for everything to come back up. I was ecstatic to see a text from Kenzo. Kenzo, the sexy bar owner who was so much fun, he had me skinny-dipping in public. Well, almost public. A private beach counted to me.

I needed his level of fun right now to take me away from the moment. Right then, I felt fortunate I’d already made plans with him, otherwise I might have tracked him down.

Kenzo: I know we said evening, but I have the whole day off. It would be nice to spend it with you…

I silently squeed to myself. Pushing things out of my head was something I apparently inherited from Lauren, and right now, it was a boon instead of a curse. I’d take it.

Me: That’s a great idea. Where do you want to meet?

The response was immediate, and my heart skipped a good kind of beat.

Kenzo: Do you remember where that beach was? We can start there and maybe move to my place or yours later.

Me: Done. I’ll see you there.

When I pulled in, Kenzo was already waiting for me, leaning against his Jeep with his arms crossed. He was shirtless, showing off all of his tattoos and beautifully toned muscles. The backwards black hat and mischievous grin lifted my spirits more than I could have hoped for, and suddenly, Lauren was more than a distant memory.

I parked next to him and swapped my shoes for flip-flops before I got out. When I did, I leaned against my own car so we faced each other.

“Hey.” His greeting slid over me like a warm, soft blanket. I wanted to wrap myself up in him.

“Hi.” I grinned.

“I brought some stuff for us to do. Nothing too dangerous.” He winked, then opened the door to the backseat and pulled out a beach blanket, backpack, and boogie board.

Wow. I hadn’t seen one of those in years. Contrary to popular belief, just because I lived here didn’t mean I went to the beach often. And when Harper did drag me with her, she knew all the spots that were low-key adult zones. Zero kids with boogie boards in sight.

“A boogie board?” I asked.

“You’ve never been surfing. So we’re starting out small.” He shoved the blanket under his arm that held the boogie board and grabbed my hand. Then before I realized what he was doing, we were running down the sand toward the ocean. The breeze off of the water felt amazing against my skin, and the caw of seagulls sounded in the distance. Kenzo didn’t stop running until we were splashing through the waves in our bare feet, me having kicked my flip-flops off while running. We laughed the whole way.

“Fuck, I should feed you first.” He glanced down and smiled as he led me back to the sand. Dropping my hand, he spread out the white and blue stripped blanket. “Have a seat.”

He followed me down and placed the backpack in his lap. Curious, I leaned over, but he playfully pushed me away.

“Before you see what’s in here, I want you to know these aren’t traditional beach foods.” He actually looked at me like I would complain. He could feed me snails and pickle juice, and I’d stay here with him.

“I’m hungry. I’m sure whatever you have is perfect.”

He grinned just a little and pulled out a large Chili’s bag. I jerked my head back. Why would he care about Chili’s food?

Then he revealed a bag of their fresh tortilla chips and a small container. I knew what it was before he even opened it. “The chili con queso?” I laughed. “I love that stuff!”

“Me too. And it’s a good thing it’s not that windy today, otherwise we’d be eating sand in our cheese.” Reaching in the bag again, this time he pulled out a large thermos and two plastic cups. “And my very own signature cocktail without all the cool effects, unfortunately.”

I took a cup from his hands and took a sip. Yum. Cool, and sweet. A little odd to go with chips and queso, but it worked.

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