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Max refused to let it slip away again. He’d do everything possible to make it a reality, and make Kenna happy again.
Chapter Nineteen
Max sat at the table by the windows as the sun came up, drinking his coffee. He’d barely slept again last night and felt the fatigue in every muscle and bone in his body. He had a long day ahead of him. But just like last night, all he thought about was Kenna and the revelations about what happened so long ago.
How could he have not seen what Hillary did to him and Kenna?
His dad walked into the kitchen. “You and Kenna looked cozy on the couch last night.” He’d gone up early to his room to watch TV, giving Max and Kenna some time alone together.
Well, as alone as they could get with an FBI agent in the house, checking all the doors and windows, making sure they were safe.
“She needed a quiet night of vegging on the sofa.” He’d been more than willing to sit with her pressed up against his side, letting them both get used to being close again.
They’d gone up to bed just after ten. She’d beenyawning for an hour, but stuck it out to the end of the movie. He hoped because she wanted to spend more time snuggled up with him. He wanted to take her to his bed and hold her all night, but she’d gone to her door and offered a shy good-night, like she was unsure what he wanted or what she wanted to do.
“So I guess you two stopped fighting and avoiding each other.”
“We started talking.” It was a good place to start. But he wanted more.
His dad joined him at the table and sat in a chair facing the window. “That’s good.”
“I think so. There’s a lot going on in her life right now. I feel like she’s holding back. I thought that once we unraveled the past, everything would go back to the way it used to be.”
“Nothing is that easy.” His dad sipped his coffee. “What happened?”
“She got to say what she wanted to say for a long time, and I forgave her for believing a lie I didn’t know someone else kept telling her even after we broke up.” He sank deeper into his chair. “Who goes out of their way to taunt someone, to hurt them, to take something away from them, for no good reason?”
His dad’s eyes narrowed with concern. “Did Kenna do that to you?”
“No. Someone did it to her. Someone I thought was our friend.”
“Sounds like this someone wanted to hurt Kenna to make themselves feel superior in some way.”
“Her name is Hillary.” Just saying her name made him angry. “She wanted me, so she caused some trouble. Kenna and I ended, and I spent the last three years wishing I had what we shared back and thinking we couldn’t get it back because Kenna thought I cheated on her when I didn’t.”
His dad blew out a breath. “So that’s what happened. Damn, son. I had no idea.”
“She blames herself for the whole thing, because she believed our so-called friend.”
“This Hillary must have made it damn convincing.”
That was the piece he’d missed. “She did. And still a part of me wishes Kenna had come to me and we’d have talked about it again until we figured it out.”
“She never tried?”
He thought about the times he’d seen her around town, how she’d looked like she wanted to say something and he’d turned away.
“She did. And I didn’t want to hear anything she had to say if she thought I’d do something like that to her. By the time she found out the truth, on the anniversary of our breakup no less, from Hillary herself, I’d cemented in her mind that I’d moved on.”
“She knew you were seeing other women.”
He put his elbows on the table and his face in his hands. “Yes. Damnit.”
“Talk to her. Tell her they didn’t mean anything. She’ll understand.”
“They meant she couldn’t talk to me. They meant I didn’t want her. That’s what she thinks.”
“Then prove her wrong. Show her that who you were with them is not who you are with her.”
