Page 124 of Mine For The Winter

She wanted to talk to Kris. Find out if what Lyle had told her was true.

And then she wanted to cry. For the girl who’d been totally oblivious to their agreement.

* * *

Kris’ phone buzzed in his pocket as he was loading the dishwasher behind the bar for the third time that day. There were eight of them working at the tavern, and all of them had been run off their feet. He was glad, in a way, because it kept him from thinking about what was happening at Kelly’s house.

Standing, he pulled his phone from his pocket, and saw Kelly’s name on the screen.

“I just need to take this call,” he said to Will. “I’ll be right back.”

“Can you bring some bottles back with you?” Will asked him. “We’re getting low.”

“Sure.”

Walking into the back room, he swiped to accept the call, using his shoulder to wedge the phone against his ear as he kicked the door shut behind him. “Hey.”

“Hi.” She sounded so far away. “How’s the tavern?”

“Busy. Making lots of money. Nothing you need to worry about. More importantly, how’s Cole?” he asked her.

“He’s good. He had a long nap but he’s awake now and playing some car chase game against Dad.”

“On the playstation rather than real life I hope?” Kris smiled.

“I think so.”

“And Lyle? Is he behaving.”

“Lyle left,” she said abruptly.

“When?”

“An hour ago. He woke Cole up to say goodbye. He won’t be staying. He’s heading back to Virginia tonight, California tomorrow.”

Kris blinked. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t relieved, but he hated that Cole might be hurt. “How did Cole take that?”

“He barely noticed. He’s so used to Lyle being absent.” She let out a long breath. “Lyle said something to me before he left.”

Of course he fucking did. Lyle never left anywhere without a scorched earth policy. “What did he say?”

“That you and he…” She swallowed, or that’s what it sounded like. “That you both agreed not to touch me. When we were younger.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. What a little shit Lyle really was. “Yeah, that was the biggest mistake of my life.”

“I was wondering why you didn’t tell me about it.”

The honest answer was, he’d forgotten about it. The longer one was that he’d regretted it from the moment he came home and she and Lyle were together. “I…”

“I’m so sorry,” Will said, bursting into the room. “We’re all out of Coronas. I just need to get some.”

The sound of laughter and loud discussion rushed into the room. From his vantage point he could see a line halfway down the tavern. “Kelly, I gotta go help. Can we talk about this later?”

“Sure.”

“I’m going to close up.” He couldn’t ask any of the staff to do it. Most of them had families and it would be late as hell. “You’ll be asleep when I’m done. How about I come over tomorrow?”

He hated not seeing her. Hated even more that he’d forgotten about that damn pact. Fuck, he’d been a dumb shit in those days.

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