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I’d balled up the tissue in my lap. My breathing was finally calm and steady. He wasn’t looking at me with anger or pity or disgust, but like he usually did with that quiet attentiveness that made me feel safe.
“Thank you for coming for me tonight,” I whispered. “And thank you for being my friend.” The kind who was there for me.
His gaze turned serious and sincere. “Always, Anna.”
Chapter One
Seven YearsLater
~REED~
“I can’t believemy whole family is against me.”
My stomach clenched at the sound of her voice in the Hebert’s kitchen as I walked through the living room. I paused on a shaky exhale, their voices carrying.
“We’re not against you, sweetie. Don’t be so dramatic,” said Anna’s mother, Ms. Dinah. “We just want you to get more experience first.”
“Your mom’s right. It’s a big step, princess.”
I hesitated before I rounded the corner into view, preparing myself for the sight of her. It always took me a minute to recover. Sure enough, that visceral reaction I had every time I laid eyes on Anna Hebert punched me hard again, a jarring sensation that made me dizzy.
“Sorry to interrupt.” I held up my portable ice chest. “Jonah out back?”
“Hey, Reed. You’re not interrupting,” said Ms. Dinah.
Anna’s big brown eyes skated away from me to the floor. She was leaning against the kitchen counter in a casual summer dress that loosely draped her tall, slender frame. It was still May, but in Louisiana, it was already hot as hell. Her long legs distracted me for a split second before I cleared my throat and forced my eyes not to wander.
“Hi, Anna.”
“Hey.” Her gaze was still on the floor, and I wanted it on me. But if I stared any longer, her dad would notice.
“Jonah on the patio?” I asked again.
“Yeah, he’s on grill duty.” Jim Hebert clapped me around the shoulders as we walked toward the back door. “Brought my favorite, didn’t you?”
“Of course, Mr. Jimmy.”
“That’s my boy.”
The Heberts had a nice covered patio affixed with ceiling fans on the east side of the house. In Louisiana, that was important. It meant that you could actually come outside and enjoy the outdoors for most of the day, even in summer.
Plus, they had a pool. Currently, no one was in it. And I prayed that Anna wouldn’t dare. There was only so much willpower a man could be expected to have. Sitting among her parents and three brothers and pretending I wasn’t staring while she flitted around in a bikini was akin to swimming in bloody, sharky waters and hoping you didn’t get bitten.
“Reeeeed!” shouted Jonah’s brother, Justin. He was the second in line behind Jonah, but the biggest of the brothers, built like a pro linebacker. “Please tell me you brought the Old Fashioned mix.”
“Of course.” I lifted the ice chest and headed to the outdoor kitchen and bar that I’d built with Jonah a few summers ago. It was a Father’s Day present for Mr. Jimmy. “Jessie, you want one too?”
Jessie was the third Hebert son, a year older than Anna. She was the baby. Jessie’s head popped up from his phone. “Nah. I’m good.” He held up the bottled beer that had been sitting between his legs.
“Was wondering if you were coming or not,” called Jonah from the grill, shirtless and in shorts but wearing his mom’s apron adorned with a crawfish wearing a chef’s hat. The words below read,First you make a roux. “What took you so long?”
This was the first time I’d see Anna since she graduated from college in Lafayette and moved back home, so I’d debated for an hour if I should make an excuse to ditch the Hebert barbeque today.
“Just had a little job to finish up.”
“Hale working you on Sundays?” asked Mr. Jimmy, setting four rocks glasses next to me as I unpacked my latest concoction of Old Fashioned in several mason jars on the counter.
“Nothing big,” I told him, hating to lie, but I sure as hell wasn’t telling him the truth.
