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KENTUCKY WAS WORKING on restoring a cherry-red ’57 Chevy. It was a beautifully old dame who still sparked with a fire that Kentucky needed in her life. She’d done the interior in this white metallic-flake vinyl and was currently installing various chrome accessories.
Working on that car was like meditating for her. Nothing could intrude on her thoughts while she was working on Betty, as she’d named the lovely machine. She could lose herself in the intricacies of the old girl’s guts, in the repetition of shining the chrome. Betty was close to done, though, and Kentucky would need a new project soon.
If she kept avoiding thinking about Sean, as she’d done since last night, she’d be able to restore a whole fleet of the ’57s.
When her cell rang from the pocket of her coveralls, she jerked it out, hoping against hope it would be Sean—even though the logical part of her brain knew it wasn’t.
It was Rachel. “Hey, Pop-Tart. Are you banging away on Betty?” she teased.
“You know it.” She was always working on Betty in every second of free time she had. Originally, Kentucky began restoring her in hopes of selling her at a profit, but the car had come to mean so much more to her. Betty had come to represent a dream of something more. A dream where Kentucky could cruise off down the highway and end up in a place that was her idea of heaven. Just as soon as Betty was done, they’d be on the road.
She knew it was silly, that every place and every person had their own faults, their own quirks, but Kentucky needed something to believe in and Betty had become that for her.
“Yeah, well, go wash off the grease and put on your good boots. Guess who is in town?”
“I don’t know. Tell me.”
“It’s no fun if you don’t guess.”
Had Sean called her about going to Eddie’s? She wasn’t ready for anyone to know what happened between them last night, and she was sure that Sean wasn’t really looking to circulate that information either. She swallowed and her gut flipped over and tied itself in knots. “I guess I’m not that much fun these days.”
“Sean! He just called and asked if I could get us together for some beers and pool tonight at Eddie’s.”
Suddenly, the idea of seeing him again, pretending as though she didn’t have deeper feelings for him after what they’d done—it was like a knife in her chest. So much for not letting anything come between them. So much for her acting as if it were just sex and didn’t matter past the comfort they’d managed to give each other in the moment.
She kind of despised herself for having all of the feelings she promised herself she wouldn’t.
“Man, I don’t know. I’m almost done with Betty. I could probably finish her tonight if I don’t go.”
“Come out and celebrate. Come on, how often is Sean home? It’ll be fun.” Rachel sighed heavily. “I think he really needs this, Kentucky. He didn’t sound good when I spoke to him. Didn’t sound like himself.”
“Well, his fiancée died less than a year ago,” she offered hesitantly.
“All the more reason for us to be together.”
“What time are you meeting?”
“Seven.”
She was torn between wanting to go and wanting to get rid of the resurgence of her feelings for him. If they saw each other and he acted as if everything were cool, she could make it that way in her head. She wasn’t stupid. She knew she was no Lynnie.
And she didn’t want to be. She’d wished it when she was young, that she could be someone else. But she was right with who she was now. She wasn’t changing for anyone. Even golden-boy Sean Dryden.
There was only one Lynnie, and she was gone and wasn’t ever coming back.
“What’s with all this reluctance to hang out with Sean? Don’t you want to see him?”
Rachel was much too close to her secret. “Just have things to do, is all. I’ll be there. Save me a seat.”
Her stomach flipped again, and so did her heart, the traitorous bastard. If Sean really wanted to see her again as something outside their friendship, he’d have called himself. This was a message and she’d received it loud and clear.
But she’d go.
Hell, maybe she should go crazy and curl her hair.
That was just what she did. Kentucky even put on a red lip gloss that tasted just like cherries. She had to admit that she cleaned up nice. She liked the woman in the mirror looking back at her and maybe even thought she was just a little bit pretty.
When she walked into Eddie’s a short time later, Rachel and Eric were already there.
“Whoa, nice!” Eric grinned. “Is that for me?”
“Nah, you know I’m trying to steal your girl.” Kentucky grinned back.
Rachel laughed and tugged Kentucky down into her lap. “You can steal me anytime, sugar.”
She found herself lost in the moment, and just like old times, she reached over and swiped a sip of Rachel’s beer.
“So who is up for a game?” Eric nodded to the pool tables.
“I’ll totally kick your ass, soldier,” Rachel promised.
“Not with a lap of Kentucky, you won’t.”
“Bet me.” Rachel lifted her chin.
“Shall we say a kiss?”
“Gross,” Kentucky interjected. “Let me just get out of the way here.” She squirmed off Rachel’s lap.
She was so happy that Eric and Rachel had found each other. Rachel had had a thing for Eric since they were kids. Her emotions had always been kind of tattooed on her face for everyone to see, but Eric... Eric was more like a rock when it came to his emotions.
“You wouldn’t think it was gross if you had your own soldier. I know this guy...” Eric started.
Kentucky held up her hand. “Lord save me from well-intentioned big-brother types. Sean told me what you guys did.”
Eric wore an expression of practiced innocence, eyes wide. “Who? Me?”
“Yeah, that doesn’t work on anyone who knows you, brother.” She elbowed him lightly.
“Especially not me,” Sean said, surprising them.
Rachel was the first to throw her arms around him and hug him as if it were going out of style. Sean returned the embrace, rubbing his hand up and down her back.
Eric didn’t bother to hide his emotion at seeing the other man. He clapped his hands on his back and hugged him tight. They stayed that way longer than what was considered appropriate for a casual hug, although it was anything but casual. Sean was his brother in all ways but biological.
“It’s good to see you,” Eric said gruffly.
“It’s been too long. Sorry about that, man.” Sean returned the hug with just as much ferocity.
There was enough emotion hanging among the group of them that it was almost a physical presence.
When Eric stepped away from Sean, his arms were open again. This time for Kentucky.
That emotion that hung heavy before, this time it was like a wall and it kept her from leaping into his arms the way she wished she could. The way she would’ve before Mossy Rock.
“What, no love for me, my pretty Kentucky Lee?” Sean looked so earnest, so hopeful and so...
Her throat constricted. “Always.” She leaned into his embrace, carefully. Almost as if all her feelings were something dirty and she was afraid to sully his crisp white T-shirt with them.
He smelled so good, felt so good...like all things pure and true.
The embodiment of the dream she couldn’t have.
Sean rubbed up and down her back just as he had with Rachel, but he tightened the embrace, crushing her against his chest in a way that made her wish they were alone and she could tear that shirt off him and drown in the heat of him, in the sensation of their bodies together.
“You smell good, pretty girl.”
Her face flushed at the compliment and he let her go.
“So we playing some pool or what?”
“You and Sean first.” Rachel nodded to the guys. “I need Kentucky for some girl time.” She didn’t wait for a response but practically dragged Kentucky to the bathroom.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Rachel turned to face her and leaned her back against the door. “Okay, what the hell was that?”
“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.” Kentucky forced her expression to remain neutral. Why had she thought she could keep any of this a secret from Rachel? Rachel had gone into hyper matchmaker mode since she’d started dating Eric. She said she wanted everyone to be as happy as she was, whether they wanted to be or not.
Rachel put her hand on her hip. “Really? That’s the answer we’re going with?”
“Yep.”
“You saw Sean last night, didn’t you? What happened?”
“I—” She didn’t want to lie to Rachel, but she wasn’t about to go spreading tales that weren’t only hers to tell. “It’s not something I can or want to talk about. Just let it go, okay?”
“Uh, no.” Rachel sighed. “Fine. But you know whatever happened, you can talk to me.”
Kentucky considered the distance between them, the hole that had been left in their friendship, their world, since Lynnie died. “Yeah, I know. But you know I’m not the confiding kind. This girl thing, the talking in the bathroom at the pool hall, that’s not me.”
Rachel smiled, her features soft, with understanding in her eyes. “No, but you can be if you need to be. We’re all still walking wounded after losing her.”
“I know that, too. Don’t say anything to Eric, okay?”
“I won’t have to. He saw the way you and Sean were together, but I’ll tell him to keep his opinion to himself.”
“Would he be angry?”
“What, if you and Sean were a thing?” Rachel turned her head to the side.
Kentucky chewed her lip. “Yeah, I mean, he’s Lynnie’s brother.”
“I really think he’d just want you both to be happy.” She sighed. “I don’t know if I should tell you this.”
“Then don’t. Whatever it is, I’ll wait for Sean to tell me if he wants to.”
“When did you get to be the mature one in the group?” Rachel hugged her again.
All of this hugging was not something she was usually into, but lately, it had been kind of nice. “I don’t know. But I think we need to fix that because it’s definitely a sign of the impending apocalypse.”
“You know how much Lynnie loved you, right?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “And we have each other to remind ourselves of her. I think she’s still with us. In you. In me. In Eric.” Kentucky swallowed hard. “In Sean.”
Rachel nodded. “So whatever happens, don’t let it make things weird.”
“I won’t.” Or she’d try like hell. But change was inevitable. It happened to everything. Especially people, friendships—that was just the way of life.
“So, even with my eyes watering from all the feels, how do I look?” Rachel tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Like you got up on Eric’s side of the bed,” she teased.
Rachel slapped her arm and blushed. “Well, you know...”
Kentucky held up her hand. “This is all the girl talk I can handle at the moment. This is my quota for the night.” But she softened her words with a grin. “So next time give me the juicy details first and then we won’t have time to talk about me.”
They made their way back to the table, next to which Eric and Sean had already started a game of pool. Kentucky grabbed her own beer and sat down to watch. Rachel didn’t hesitate to harass Eric while he was trying to make a shot, blowing in his ear, tickling his neck, rubbing up against his back.
Sean shot her a look that seemed to be one of sympathy for Eric. Kentucky shrugged as if to say, “What can you do?”
Suddenly, she found a pool stick shoved in her face.
“Take over my light work, huh, Kentucky?” Eric asked. “I’m obviously not getting anywhere, since Rachel wants to dance.”
She accepted the stick and approached the table, trying to figure out a strategy to beat Sean.
“We could start over,” Sean offered.
“Nah, I like a challenge.” She continued to study the table.
He moved silently, stealthily, and slid up beside her, his arm around her waist. “You sure you don’t want to start over?”
She had the idea he was talking about something other than the game, but she didn’t quite understand what he meant.
God, but he smelled good. Playing any game with him in proximity was definitely going to be a challenge. She couldn’t concentrate. All she could think about was him bending her over the pool table, pulling her hair and taking her right there.
“I don’t need to start over. I can play the hand that’s dealt me. Or in this case, the balls.” Jeez, that sounded way dirtier than what she meant.
“Oh, really?” He arched his brow and flashed her a smirk.
