Page 49 of When You Got a Good Thing (Misfit Inn 1)

It helped to hear it. Kennedy supposed it was a sign of some kind of growth that she actually believed it. “Thanks. I really needed that.”

“Now, about Xander.”

Kennedy tensed. “I didn’t mean to hurt him. I don’t even know how he found out.”

“I don’t give a damn how he found out. I give a damn about what he did with the information. How dare he come in here and attack you about it? You were the innocent party in all of this. He has no right to be angry with you.”

“He feels like I didn’t trust him.”

“Well boo hoo, poor him. You got put into a situation where you didn’t feel like you could trust anybody. Once he calms down a bit, he’ll realize that.”

“It’s not just that. I lied to him. By omission anyway. He thought, all this time, that I left because of him. Because of a fight we had the night I left. He spent all this time blaming himself for running me off, beating himself up for it. He apologized for it that night out at the bluff.” Kennedy shook her head. “I barely even remembered it. But that’s what he believed and—I let him think it. I let him think it because it seemed safer than telling him anything that would make him ask questions about all this.”

“You didn’t have a choice. Not then. Surely he’ll grow to see that.”

“I don’t know that it matters, Pru. Right now, he feels like everybody he cares about lied to him. We’re all complicit in this in one way or another.”

“Don’t you be defending him.” She shot off the bed and paced from one end of the room to the other. “I have half a mind to go over there and give him a good boot in the ass myself.”

The image almost wrangled a ghost of a smile. “Please don’t. At this point, Xander just needs to be left alone to work out his own feelings on all of this. If nothing else, it put a stop to us just falling back into a relationship as if nothing ever happened. We aren’t the same people we were at eighteen. We shouldn’t pretend to be.”

Pru crossed her arms with a huff. “Fine. I won’t go kick his ass. Even though he totally deserves it. But I wish I could do something.”

The truth will set you free. “There is one thing you could do.”

“Name it.”

“Someone needs to let Maggie and Athena know.” Now that the secret was out, she wanted them to know that there’d been a real reason, that she hadn’t just been selfish all these years. “But I’m just...not up for rehashing this all over again. Not right now. If you could explain, it would be a big help.”

“Of course I’ll tell them.”

Kennedy could only hope that the knowledge would improve her relationship with the two of them. But, if nothing else, she’d solidified her relationship with Pru, and she felt just a little bit lighter for having told the tale.

She shoved off the bed. “I should get a shower. I’ll have to pull out all the stops to make myself look not like I’ve been sobbing most of the day.”

“I’ve got a few tricks for that. Get your shower. I’ll go dig out my cucumber eye gel and the eye drops.”

“Thanks.” Kennedy began gathering her work clothes, but she stopped as Pru reached the door. “Pru?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for believing in me.”

Her sister’s face softened. “Always.”

~*~

Xander felt like a stalker. He’d been pulling out of his driveway when he remembered Kennedy was starting work at Elvira’s tonight. He considered going by, but nothing he had to say needed an audience. No reason to add further grist to the gossip mill. Plus, the last thing he wanted to do was upset her at work. So he’d waited, driving aimlessly around the county, trying to get his head on straight, to find the right words. Ultimately he’d ended up parked down the street from Elvira’s, waiting for closing.

As downtown Eden’s Ridge emptied, he slid from the Bronco and walked down to the tavern and around back. No bear tonight. But Joan’s SUV—repaired now—was parked beneath the security light with the other employee cars. He kept out of sight, avoiding conversation with anyone else. He didn’t know what Kennedy may have told people about them. That people had asked wasn’t even a question. He’d made sure of that at the diner, and he wasn’t in the mood to explain himself.

Kennedy was almost the last one out.

“Hey.”

Her head shot up, along with her hands. Her car key protruded from between the fingers of one fist. Xander approved of the display of caution and kept well back, in case she felt compelled to use it.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

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