3

Kamryn

May 9, 2015

“THINGS ARE GREAT, Barb, I swear.”

She sighed. “If you say so, baby girl. You just sound off today.”

I am off. And I know exactly why. I haven’t slept since the barbecue at Jace and Kinlee’s four days ago because all I can think about is a certain brother.

“You’re sighing.”

“I am?” I kept myself from sighing again and looked around the coffee shop to make sure I didn’t know anyone there before hanging my head. “I met a guy, Barb.”

“You did? Oh, baby girl! Then why do you seem so sad about this? Tell me all about him! Is he handsome?”

I smiled and felt my cheeks get warm. “Yeah, you could say that. But nothing’s going to come of it.”

She tsked at me, and I pictured her pointing whatever cooking utensil she was holding in the air like I was there next to her. “Kam. I don’t know why you won’t let yourself date any of these men Kinlee tries to set you up with. It’s not like you got out of a long relationship that you were happy in. You were miserable with that preppy bastard. You deserve someone better, so let yourself be happy.”

“That’s not it, Barb. This isn’t one of the guys Kinlee tried to set me up with, although she tried that this weekend again. And if I hadn’t met this other guy, I actually think I would’ve really liked to get to know Aiden—”

“Oh, what a great name,” she whispered.

I laughed. “But then I met Brody . . . he’s Kinlee’s brother-in-law.” Even I could hear how pathetic I sounded now.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, I’m sure Kinlee wouldn’t mind—”

“Yeah, but I’d bet his wife would,” I mumbled lamely.

“Oh, baby girl. Don’t you go getting caught up in that. Nothing good can come from that, and I raised you to be above all that nonsense.”

“I’m not, Barb. I told you, nothing’s going to come of it. And besides, I only saw him for all of two minutes.”

“So then why do you sound like your mother when I hide her Xanax?”

I laughed out loud and covered my face with my free hand when people around the coffee shop looked at me. “Oh, my God, Barb . . . you’re the one who does that?” My mom didn’t suffer from anxiety—she just liked the effect Xanax and vodka combined had on her. She was always accusing my dad of hiding the pills and would go into a faux-depressed state until they reappeared. Knowing Barbara was the one hiding them made me love her even more.

“Course I do. Now explain. Two minutes knowing a married man and you’re acting like this?”

“I—I can’t explain it without sounding crazy.”

“Well, I’ve lived with Crazy One and Crazy Two for twenty-five years, I’m an expert on it.”

“True,” I huffed softly. “We just . . . had these moments. We couldn’t look away from each other, couldn’t speak to each other . . .”

“This is all my fault for letting you read trashy romance novels growing up,” she mumbled, and I laughed.

“I’m being serious! I swear I distinctly remember the way he smelled, and I can still feel where his hands were.” I looked down to see goose bumps spreading on my arms at the same time I heard the aforementioned cooking utensil hit the counter.

“He had his hands on you and he is married? He is bad news, Kamryn! You stay away from him!”

“No, Jesus, Barb! He caught me. I literally ran into him and almost fell over. He just caught and steadied me.”

“Oh. Well. Still. You need to remember the man is married, and there are some lines you just don’t cross. And don’t you dare take the Lord’s name in vain around me again, young lady.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Why don’t you tell me more about this other guy . . . Aiden, right? Let’s talk about him until Kinlee gets there. I’m assuming she’s running late again?”

“Of course, she is.” I sighed and rolled my eyes as I looked up at the door to see if it was her who just walked in. “Oh . . . my . . . word. He’s a cop,” I whispered.

“Who is?” she whispered back at me.

“Brody. He just walked into the coffee shop.”

“Kamryn, don’t you dare—”

“Barbara,” I hissed as I forced my eyes away from Brody in his uniform and looked around to see if there was anything I could hide behind. There wasn’t. “He’s married!”

“Baby girl, you are not too big for me to give your behind a good swat! Don’t you use that tone with me! I’ll fly to Oregon just to remind you of your manners.”

“Yes, ma’am, but I need to hide, and there’s nothing to hide behind. Maybe he won’t—”

“KC?”

Son of a bitch! “He found me,” I whispered, before turning to look at Brody. “Hi,” I said through gritted teeth. Oh, Christ, he looked better than I remembered . . . and with that uniform on, this was not about to go over well.

Brody gave me a strange glance before looking to the side and back to me. “You don’t remember me, do you? I’m Brody—”

“No, of course, I do. You’re Jace’s brother.” How am I supposed to forget you? I can’t sleep because of you! “Barb, I have to go, call me later.” She was spouting off warnings as I tapped the END button and laid my phone on the table.