AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Fucker,” I muttered, wondering what was wrong with the guy, while also thanking my lucky stars for not succumbing to the pressures of marriage. I’d managed to hit forty and not tie myself down to the disfunction of a forever relationship.
“So, the woman sleeping with my husband is now my boss. I went postal in the boardroom, because who wouldn’t, and now I’m on an unpaid leave.”
I nodded, wondering if her silence was now my cue to speak. Or was this information dump rhetorical? “At least that’s over, yeah?”
Kenna’s face split with a grin that turned into the kind of laugh you’d hear on a horror flick. “Oh, that’s funny. No, of course not. Then my aunt died, my car got robbed of its tires while I was broken down on the side of the road, and my jackass husband served me with divorce papers. And now he’s frozen our joint accounts so even if I wanted to have an emotional crisis and buy a G-wagon to compensate, I couldn’t.”
Damn. That was a lot. No wonder the woman was barely dangling onto the coattails of life. “A G-wagon? I’d splurge on a Ferrari when faced with a jackass ex, but that’s just me.”
Kenna raised an eyebrow—auburn, not bleached blonde—and I saw the error in my ways. “Missing the point, Mr. Boggs.”
“Dec, please. You just told me all the dirty details of your recent history. I feel we’ve earned a first-name basis.”
She nodded and a lock of yellow-blonde hair slipped in front of her face. She blew it out of the way. “Kenna.”
I hitched my thumb over my shoulder. “How about I make you a cup of tea? Maeve swore that was the answer to all that ailed you.”
Kenna sighed, shoulders dropping. “I wish I’d gotten to know Aunt Maeve better. But the tea sounds great. I’ll be down in a second.”
I headed out of her room and down the stairs, getting the teapot on the stovetop and the mugs sorted before I saw the packet of papers on the dining room table. I noted the name of the lawyer’s office and shot off a picture to Mel. There was no guarantee he could do anything about those frozen accounts, but for the sake of the mental health of my next-door neighbor, I had to try. The teapot began to whistle. I poured the boiling hot water over the tea bags and added a healthy dollop of honey to my mug.
Kenna came down, her hair now in a ponytail and one of Maeve’s old Tampa Bay Rays hats jammed on her head. Pretty sure she had a bra on now too, but I wasn’t going to look to double-check.
I took the mugs to the table and had a seat. Kenna sat across from me and blew on her tea before taking a tentative sip. The silence was awkward, but I couldn’t think of a single thing to fill it. Sure, I could talk about the weather or the tea, but it seemed Kenna was beyond small talk. What did one say to a virtual stranger in the midst of an emotional breakdown? My thumb tapped the handle of my mug, in time with the seconds ticking away on Maeve’s old cuckoo clock.
“I was thinking of calling up Char Becker.”
Kenna lifted her head, a trickle of hope in those red-rimmed blue eyes. I grunted softly. Being nice was hard sometimes. Okay, all the time. But this woman needed some kindness, and I was the only person she knew in this town.
“Char owns the hair salon in Sunshine Key and about the nicest person you’ll ever meet. How about we get you in to see her to fix this?” I waved my hand around in the general direction of her head.
Kenna’s gaze dropped back down to her mug. “I can’t. No bank accounts, remember?”
The offer was easy. It was only money. “It’s on me.”
Kenna’s head shot up. “No.”
I frowned. Here I was being nice for once and she was throwing it in my face? “All right. How about a loan?”
“No.”
I gritted my teeth and tried like hell to keep my voice even. “An advance, then. On the boat club profits.”
She hesitated, but I could see she wanted to say yes. I had the sudden urge to laugh, just remembering that shock of hair and the raised blow-dryer. When her hair wasn’t bleached neon or plastered to her head in the rain, Kenna was an attractive woman. Not that that had anything to do with my offer.
“Come on, Kenna. We need to go into the boat club soon and get our arms around what we’re dealing with. I can’t walk in there with you lookin’ like that.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Thank you so much. Your kindness is really helping right now.”
I didn’t respond to her sarcasm. I just pulled out my phone and sent a text to Char about any openings for a color disaster correction in the next day or two. She dinged me back within minutes with a slot tomorrow morning. Everything slowed down in the summer, including the local hair salon. Many of the locals headed for cooler climates during the wettest, hottest months, but it was my favorite time of the year in Sunshine Key. We mostly had the key to ourselves. No tourists. No prying eyes. And the fish practically jumped into my boat.
Kenna took a sip of her tea, her gaze darting to my phone and then back to my face. Clearly, she wanted this appointment, she was just too stubborn to come right out and say it. I slid the phone in my pocket and took a long, slow sip of tea, letting the seconds pass. I could sit here all day and torment this woman.
Kenna finally exploded. “Well?”
I gently rested the mug back on the table. “Oh, you wanted the appointment?” I asked innocently.
Kenna’s eyes narrowed and I could have sworn I saw steam coming from her ears and not the mug of hot tea. “Yes, Dec. I’d like to not glow in the dark for the rest of my life.”
