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“So you’re staying, then?” Lars asked.
Kenna glanced up at me, a shy smile on her face. “Yeah, I am staying.”
I swallowed hard, relief flooding my chest. I hadn’t realized how much I needed to hear her say those words. How many feelings I’d been holding at bay until she was sure. Lars rambled on with his questions while I made a firm decision in my head. I’d be telling Kenna about my past tonight. No more half-truths or outright omissions. She deserved the same level of honesty she’d given me since day one.
It was when Lars started asking about the house Maeve had left Kenna and even more intimate details that I stepped in. I didn’t like the way he was looking at her, like he had intentions of getting her phone number for personal reasons.
“That’s about all the time we have today.” I shot him a magnanimous smile, one I’d used for years with reporters that had gotten a bit too nosy. The smile was rusty but apparently still held weight when Lars gave up that line of questions.
He frowned at me. “You know, you look familiar.”
I shrugged even when every muscle in my body engaged in the freeze portion of the fight, flight, or freeze response to danger. “I have one of those faces.”
“Huh.” He still studied me when the photographer switched to getting still shots of Kenna and me with the dock behind us.
They wrapped up and headed out, saying that they’d be printing the article in tomorrow’s paper and would send over an electronic copy for our personal records. We watched their news van leave the parking lot before turning to each other. It was finally quiet enough that I could hear the water rhythmically hitting the dock again. A seagull flew overhead, searching for food the tourists had dropped in their haste to board the boats.
I took her hand in mine. “I’m proud of you, Kenna Ryan.”
She tilted her head. “Oh yeah?”
“You came here looking like life had officially broken you and now you’re thriving. You’ve renovated a whole house, made new friends, turned a business into a money-making machine.” I grinned. “You’re fucking amazing.”
“What about bagging the hot town recluse?” She swayed toward me and waggled her eyebrows.
I could already feel the ghost of her lips under mine when Irene’s trucker voice broke the moment. “Hey, lovebirds. I need a picture.”
I craned my neck to see her with a cell phone in her hand that wasn’t an ancient flip phone. “What the hell? Did you buy yourself an actual smartphone?”
Irene flipped me the bird and then waved us where she wanted us. “I gotta put a picture up on our new social media page. The Twittergrams ain’t seen nothing yet.”
I gaped at Kenna who just laughed and posed, like Irene talking about social media was a normal everyday occurrence. “Where’s Irene and what have you done with her?”
The old hag put her hand on her hip. It was weird to see her without a cigarette hanging out of her thin lips. “Are you saying I’m an old dog who can’t learn new tricks?”
This was dangerous territory. “Never, Irene. You’re a social media goddess.”
“Fuck yeah, I am,” she muttered, squinting at the screen and jabbing it with her fingernail over and over while we smiled, arms around each other. “Okay, got it. Carry on.”
I waited until the slap of her sandals faded before pulling Kenna over to the bench that overlooked the water. She’d had it re-stained at some point, returning it to its former glory.
“Can we talk?” I asked her.
She bit her lip, looking unsure of herself. It was a look I saw a lot those first few weeks. A look I never wanted to see on her face again. I sat, pulling her down next to me.
“I owe you an explanation.”
She knew exactly what I meant, which told me she’d been thinking about all my secrets too. “Only if you want to tell me.”
I put my arm around her. “I do. Very much. I just don’t want it to change how you see me.” She opened her mouth to object, but I rushed on. “See, Kenna, I thought I could just keep things surface level with you, but I was an idiot. I didn’t want to be, but I’m in love with you.”
It didn’t hurt to say those words like I thought it would. It felt fucking good. Freeing. As if I was finally being me without having to hide. Kenna’s eyes filled with tears and she opened her mouth. I cut her off again.
“Don’t say it back yet. I want to tell you everything and then you can make up your mind how you feel about me.”
Kenna nodded. “Okay.”
Footsteps sounded behind us. I turned my head, hoping it was just someone strolling by, but it was Lars, his gaze locked on me as he rushed over. The photographer was running behind him to keep up, a camera held high in his hands.
