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He kissed her softly. “You and me, we’re an algebra problem. You’re anxand I’m ay. We started with attraction and lust that turned into love. A variable we didn’t expect tore us apart, but now we’ve subtracted the bad stuff, found more of the good, multiplied our happiness and the love we share, and now we know for sure thatx+y=forever. Right?”
She grinned and chuckled. “That’s the perfect equation for us.”
“I’m glad you agree, because soon it will come with a ring and babies, I hope.”
“I look forward to our love multiplying and there’s a sweet little Max running around the ranch. Though I’m not sure how your nieces will feel about that.”
He chuckled. “They’ll love him. Or her. And it will be amazing to see them all riding horses one day and squealing over the calves like me and my brothers used to do.”
“It’s a sweet picture of a happy, simple life,” she agreed, making his heart soar because they’d talked about this a lot in the past.
He’d thought they’d have it by now.
And he still couldn’t wait for it to be a reality.
“Let’s head in before they send a search party for us.” Max slid out of the truck and held his hand out to Kennaso she could slide over and exit. He held her hand all the way to the diner and smiled at his family, sitting across the dining room at their usual table.
“So it’s official. You two are back together.” Hillary came out of nowhere and got in Kenna’s face.
“Back off,” Max ordered.
Hillary kept her gaze locked on Kenna. “You think you’re so smart and put together and have everything you ever wanted.”
“I do.” Kenna stood her ground. “My life may not be perfect, no one’s is, but I finally got a second chance to be with Max and I’m taking it. After what you did, I’d think you’d stay away from us. I don’t know why you care about what Max and I do.”
“He was supposed to be mine. But you got in the way.”
“No. I was right where he wanted me. With him. You saw how much we loved each other and you wanted that for yourself. I get it. It’s an amazing feeling to know someone cares about you that much. But you can’t take it. You can’t trick your way into it.”
Hillary glanced at him. “Why her?”
That was easy to answer. “She’s the best person I know. Better than anyone I’ve ever met. A true friend. She wants only the best for me. She loves with her whole heart. You betrayed me, her, yourself, and look what happened. You ended up with nothing.”
Max put his arm over Kenna’s shoulders and dismissed Hillary by giving her his back. He led Kenna to their table, every eye in the restaurant on them, including his family’s.
Hillary stormed out of the diner, the bell over the door clanging wildly with her exit.
Kenna leaned into Max. “I think I’ve earned some chocolate chip pancakes after all that.”
“Definitely.” Max held a chair out for her at the table.
“Are you all right?” Shelby asked, all of Max’s family looked concerned.
“I’m fine. She’s just...” Kenna waved it away. “Not worth even talking about.” She sucked in a breath. “I’m going to let it go. Thank you for inviting me to your special Pancake Tuesday.”
“We’re happy you came,” Cyn chimed in.
Shelby tapped her shoulder. “Cyn and I get together every Wednesday for lunch, since we work close to each other. You know, a girls’ thing. But you can’t leave campus and join us, so we thought we’d start girl’s night out every Thursday. We don’t always have to go out, we can get together at one of our houses. We’ll kick the guys out, of course.”
Chase grumbled out a “Hey.”
Kenna laughed. “Sounds fun.”
Hunt looked at his brothers. “We’ll get together, drink a beer, and watch a game or something.”
“You’ll have the kids,” Cyn reminded him.
“They like beer, too,” Hunt teased, and got an elbow to the gut from Cyn.
