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Kendra didn’t answer the question directly. Sometimes it felt more real than her past relationships, but they still agreed that it wasn’t “serious.” “We’re having fun.”
Holly let out a sigh and stared at her apple. “Oh well. It’d be nice to have more feminine energy around.”
“I’m here now. Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong? I feel like I wasn’t that much help last time, and I want to do better.”
“So it’s all about you, then?”
Kendra sighed and spread open her hands. “Take it or leave it, kid. Do you want a friendly grownup to vent to, or don’t you? I have about ten minutes before I have to get back to the Blue Drake.”
Holly tossed her apple core into the nearest waste basket, then crouched down next to Rusty, who affectionately pushed his snout into her hand. She snuggled with him for a moment, causing the dog’s back leg to thump happily on the floor, as it always did. “It’s…well, it’s a situation that I don’t know how to handle. And that really never happens, so it’s confusing.”
“Can you tell me more?” Kendra kneeled on the floor next to Holly and Rusty. “ I’m not good with comforting, but I’m a badass when it comes to handling things.”
Holly shook her head, pulling her lower lip between her teeth. “I can’t. No.”
“Is it more social media drama?”
“Not exactly.”
The fact that Holly wasn’t spilling all the tea was unusual. “Can you talk to Jason about it?”
“No. He might freak out for no reason. Don’t say anything to him.”
“Like what? You haven’t told me anything.”
“It’s a first, right? Well, I’ve been accused by certain friends of being unable to keep my mouth shut. So I’m trying. But it’s hard.” Holly rubbed her cheek into Rusty’s ruff of fur.
“You’re doing great.”
The girl spoke in a rush of words. “You don’t understand how hard it is. It’s on my mind all the time, I can’t think about anything else.”
“Aw honey.” She was very curious now, but didn’t think she could press any further. Her best guess was that Holly was suffering from an unrequited crush. Those were the absolute worst. She patted Holly’s upper back. “You have to distract yourself.”
“Why do you think I’m taking all these summer courses?” Holly groaned. “It’s not helping.”
“That’s a good start, though. How about a new sport? Want to start jogging around the lake in the mornings? How about yoga? There’s a new class starting up that I wanted to try. You could come with me. You could start thinking about college too. One more year and you’ll be on your own. You’re going to meet so many people, and you might fall in love.”
“Love sucks.”
Ah-ha! Maybe she’d guessed right about the crush. “Ain’t that the truth.”
Holly lifted her head, showing the first real signs of interest. “That sounds juicy. Is it the rich guy who dumped you?”
“The memory on you. Wow.”
Holly sat on her heels, curious gaze fixed on Kendra. At least she’d dragged her out of her despair. “What happened?”
“Bottom line, he screwed me over. We were business partners, but he abandoned all our plans and dumped me and took off for London.”
“Why don’t you get a new partner?”
She decided to keep her answer simple. “Because we have a contract. My options are limited.”
Holly put her hands on her hips and fixed Kendra with her shining blue eyes, so like Jason’s, but lighter and fiercer, somehow. “Why are you just giving up?”
“Excuse me?”
“You know what I mean. Are you just going to sit back and let him ruin all your hard work? That doesn’t sound like Kendra to me.”
