Page 59 of Putting Out
“That’s fine. For her. But what about us? How are we going to kick-start this thing if you’re in Savannah and I’m doing the west coast swing?”
“I’ll call when I get down there. Maybe you could come for a visit or if I think Reilly can do without me for a few days, I’ll fly to the coast,” he said neutrally.
“Okay. That’s fair. You’ll call me and let me know what’s going on?”
“Do you want to know?”
There was a pause on the other end. “I guess not. I can’t really be hypocritical about this, can I?”
“No. I’ll tell Reilly you said hey.”
“Thanks. And Kenny, I do want this to work between us. I would even fly coach to Georgia if that was all I could get just to see you.”
He tried to smile, but couldn’t. “Coach? It must be like-like.”
“It must be. Talk to you.”
“Yeah.” He ended the connection as he tried to deal with what she’d said and why her words had seemed like a knife aimed directly at his back.
She hadn’t intended them to be cruel. It was obvious from her tone she’d simply stated what was to her a fact.
Why did he need to go to Savannah? What did he contribute?
Without thinking, he hit another name in his contact list. The phone rang in his ear, but realized he had no clue what he was going to say if anyone answered.
“Hi, you’ve reached Tessa. I’m not available right now but please leave a message.”
For a second he froze as he considered if it was possible to leave a message that would change her opinion of him in some fundamental way. When he knew such words didn’t exist, he ended the call.
Downstairs, Luke was dropping his duffel bag on top of Reilly’s suitcases.
“Hey, you ready? We’ve got a flight in two hours.”
Kenny shrugged. He hadn’t packed, but he wasn’t quite as over the top as Reilly was about her stuff. He could throw everything he needed together in a matter of minutes. What he was considering was not making the trip at all.
“That was fast.”
“A lot of frequent flyer miles and gold cards. It helps,” Luke explained. “Pierce, Odie and Pop are out in the barn breaking down the equipment. When you’re finished packing help us load up the truck.”
“I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
“Everything okay?” Luke paused at the front door.
“Sure.” But it wasn’t.
He wasn’t good with dealing with stuff like this. For the most part he was a happy person. He had a great job. He enjoyed women. He had all the money he needed to live the life he’d grown accustomed to. Now all of a sudden it felt as if the ground had shifted out from under his feet. Not enough to make him fall, but enough to have him stumbling.
Truth was, things had been shifting inside before this all happened with Reilly. He’d just done a much better job of ignoring it.
“Look out. Woman on a mission coming through.”
Reilly stormed by him on the stairs with another bag over her shoulder. Once she reached the bottom she swung it around and chucked it on her pile near the front door.
“That’s it. I’m ready. What about you?”
Kenny lowered himself on one of the steps. “What would you think if I didn’t make the trip with you? I mean, there’s really no point in my being there.”
Reilly’s jaw visibly dropped. “You’re kidding, right? You have to come.”
