Reserved (9 page)

“Ken.” Garrett touched her shoulder. “You all right?”

“It would be great if everyone stopped asking me that. I was just thinking of ideas. Yes, of course I’m fine.”

“I was just giving you crap. If it’s too much, with Paige and all, I get it. We can hire a coordinator, even just for this one project.” Logan’s face grew serious.

“No.” She added a new calendar to her list—Malendar-Galloway Wedding.

“You sure?”

“I am. Done. I’ll set up some meetings for you, me, and Travis to sit down and make sure we’re on the same page. I’ll also call Grady and Kate to see if there’s anything we are missing or other things we can contribute. I’ve got this.”

Logan smiled. On some level she’d probably never understand, seeing either of her brothers smile was worth any backflip. She supposed she could blame her need to keep everything together, especially when it came to money and their security, on her mother. More like her lack of a mother. She left when Kenna was five, right about Paige’s age. The thought of it made her sick to her stomach ever since she became a mother herself. What kind of woman left her children? She had no idea and had probably spent most of her life working to make up for something lacking. She took another sip of her Coke and moved on to asking Garrett for the new-hire paperwork for the two new farm hands he’d hired. There was no point in dwelling on the past. Makenna never dwelled. Ever. It didn’t help the sun rise any faster and it never made anyone rest easy. That’s what her father always used to say when any of them started to get sappy.

“It’s somewhere in my truck,” Garrett said, finishing his coffee and standing.

“Yeah? Well, let’s go find it because your new guys won’t get paid without it.”

The Rye family exchanged kisses and pats on the back. All the men took turns snuggling their favorite little waitress, and Kenna thanked Libby once again.

“Pleasure’s all mine. Anytime.” Libby smiled, winked at their father as she always did, and then blended into her morning breakfast rush.

Sometimes when Kenna tucked Paige in and the house was quiet, she felt alone. Left behind. But most days, such as this one, she realized that she and Paige had people who loved them. They were their tribe, or her pack as Paige liked to call them. Was it possible for a little girl to watch too much National Geographic? Kenna would have to worry about that some other time.

Chapter Eight

T
he polka-dot weekend bag was all packed and sitting on Paige’s bed. She and Kenna were collecting an assortment of books from the bookshelf while Fritters took a few more spins in the dryer. Paige would be gone for four days with Adam’s parents on Coronado. It wasn’t far, but Kenna was still buzzing around making sure she had everything. They had stopped at Walgreens last night to pick up a new elephant-shaped toothbrush and a pack of colored pencils. The latest issue of
National Geographic Kids
had arrived in the mail on Monday, so Paige would have plenty to discuss with her Nino and Gigi, as she called them. More nicknames, which pissed Garrett off to no end and made Kenna smile.

Karen and Bill Conroy had arrived in LA on the 9:15 from JFK. According to a text Kenna received, their driver had hit some traffic and they were due at her house in about an hour. That was a half hour ago and her pulse was starting to quicken. They came to visit twice a year, and every year Kenna felt as if a piece of a life she’d barely started popped in to say hello. Bill looked so much like Adam, well, what Adam might have looked like as an older man; Karen had her son’s blue-sky-on-a-Saturday-afternoon eyes. Kenna thought about Adam from time to time, but she missed him every time she saw his parents. Missed him for her own selfish reasons and missed him for them. She could never imagine what it had been like for them to lose a child. At the time, she was too absorbed in her own grief to even notice, but time had a way of sorting through pain, and now she was able to see. She was able to be there for them and share her daughter.

“Fritters smells yummy.” Paige held her fresh-out-of-the-dryer pig up to Kenna’s nose.

“He sure does. Okay, I think we’re all set. Anything else you think you’ll need?”

Paige shook her head, so Kenna put her favorite blanket on top and zipped up her bag.

The doorbell rang.

Paige ran to the door, and Kenna heard happy greetings along with oohs and ahhs as Paige got an early start on what’d been happening in her life. Kenna took a deep breath, picked up the polka-dot bag, and went out to greet Adam’s parents.

“There she is,” his father exclaimed and pulled her in for a hug.

Kenna hugged him back and then leaned in to kiss Karen on the cheek.

“You look wonderful.” Karen Conroy was clearly being generous, as always.

“Thank you. You guys do too,” Kenna said, handing Paige’s bag to Bill.

“So, anything we need to know about Little Miss here?” Bill ruffled Paige’s hair and she grabbed his hand.

“Oh, I’m sure she’ll give you an earful, but no medicines; she’s great and very excited to spend time with you guys.”

“Yes, I am,” Paige exclaimed.

“What will you do with yourself for four days without her? Sleep probably.” Karen laughed.

“Mama’s going to start dating.”

Makenna thought she’d experienced awkwardness with Travis these past few weeks, but this topped it.

“Oh,” escaped her in-laws’ mouths in unison.

Makenna crouched down next to Paige. “Honey, where did you hear that?”

“Mama, sometimes I use my earphones to trick you.” She giggled, and so did Makenna.

“Okay, good to know.” She stood and tried to soften the concern in Adam’s parents’ eyes, but before she had a chance, Bill put his hand on her shoulder.

“There’s no need to explain to us.”

“Of course not. You’re a young, beautiful woman, and it’s been a long time.”

“Frankly, we were surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”

“You were?” Kenna was relieved.

“Honey, we want you to be happy, and he . . . Adam would want that too. You know that, right?” Karen seemed to be forcing herself to say her son’s name as if it was some coping exercise, but Makenna still saw the same raw pain in her eyes. She was pretty sure she always would.

Kenna swallowed back things she thought had gone away. “I do. Thank you.”

“We don’t need to get all crybaby,” Paige said. “Let’s go so Mama can meet someone like My Travis.”

Kenna was sure shock was all over her face.

“Okay, that’s enough. You can tell Nino and Gigi all about your lunches and your Travis during the car ride.” Kenna rolled her eyes and moved her daughter and her dead husband’s parents out to their waiting car. Her life had never been a sitcom and hadn’t quite reached reality show crazy yet, but sometimes it felt pretty close.

After Paige was safely tucked away with her grandparents, Makenna went to work. She checked off a little more than half her to-do list, which included meeting with the handyman again to explain why the hand sanitizers needed to be installed right side up. His assistant had installed them upside down and when he first arrived to observe what Kenna thought was a clear mistake, he looked at her and said, “Looks kind of cool like that, no?”

It often amazed Kenna that something so simple, which seemed obvious to her, was lost on some people. “No, it’s not cool,” she had responded, and they spent a good part of the morning making things right. She’d earned a lunch, so she sat with Sage to tell her about Paige sharing her new dating status.

“Oh wow, so they were cool with it?” Sage asked, after serving burgers to the couple two stools down.

“I don’t know why I thought they wouldn’t be. It’s not like I was hiding anything from them, but when she blurted it out, I felt like I was going to fall over. I’m going to talk with her when she gets back. She’s obviously smarter than I’m giving her credit for. She seemed to joke about it, but the idea has to be weird for her too. It’s just change, more change.”

“Speaking of change, it’s been a few days since you told Travis about the dream. How are things? Back to normal?”

Makenna wasn’t sure she knew what normal was anymore.

“Things are good. I haven’t really seen him that much, but things are fine.”

“Back to normal?”

“What does that mean?”

“By normal, I mean not just good. I mean he’s back to annoying the holy hell out of you. That you couldn’t possibly ever imagine stripping him out of those cargo pants he wears all the time and running your tongue up his—”

“Okay, okay. I understand the question.” Kenna sipped the new tea Kara was making her try for her nerves. She would have killed for a Coke.

“And the answer?”

Kenna looked at her and even though she was still running her hands up Travis’s chest in her mind, she was trying to get back to normal.

“The answer is, damn it, I don’t know. I still see him differently. He doesn’t drive me nuts. I mean he does, but in a different way. I don’t get it. It’s like that dream gave me permission or opened a door.” Kenna shook her head. “It doesn’t make any sense. You don’t just do a one-eighty with someone because of a dream. That’s why I need to date.”

“Maybe you’ve always had feelings for him.”

“What?”

“Yeah, you know, the love-hate thing. Lots of people start off that way. There’s tension that leads to passion.”

“Aren’t those called dysfunctional relationships?”

“Not always. Sometimes, they’re just windy roads. Were you immediately attracted to Adam?”

“Yes.”

“You guys got along instantly?”

“Yes. I met him in class, he made me laugh, and I thought he was gorgeous. He asked me out two weeks later.”

Sage blinked as if she’d turned down the wrong way and was trying to find her way back.

“Okay, so that was a bad example. Well, sometimes the rest of the world has a more complicated time finding love.”

“What’s going on with Travis has nothing to do with finding love. It’s purely physical, some kind of reaction I’m having because he’s maybe the most sexual guy I know, so that’s why I put him in my kitchen.”

Sage went to interject, but Kenna finished up. She was sick of thinking about this.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter because I got it out. I told him and we’re moving on now. Have you looked at any of the profiles Match sent? How are things going on your dating front?”

“Kenna, the man is your brother’s best friend. He makes your daughter lunch.”

“Yeah, what’s with that? He made her mac and cheese last week. Came in on his day off to make her lunch.”

“Right, so there’s a detail you overlooked in that party boy story you gave me a couple of weeks ago. I don’t really think it’s just physical for you. Don’t you think you should at least—”

“No, no I don’t. I’m a single mother. My idea of a good time is reading and planting flowers. I own a bunny, Sage. I’m not his type and he’s not mine. It was a fluke, so please,” she pleaded, “let’s drop this and move on.”

Sage sighed. “Fine. I’m not really seeing anything so far in the profiles. I told you I had a couple of coffee dates, but nothing really.”

“What about the guy with the tattoos? Seemed like you were talking with him a lot.”

“Yeah, we finally met yesterday at Starbucks. He designs bikes, hotter in person, but his favorite movie is
Princess Bride
.”

“So?”

“So? I can’t do that. I mean he’s all man on the outside and then you hit me with that? I overlooked that he ordered a Frappuccino, but
Princess Bride
? He even took my hand and said, ‘as you wish.’” Sage mocked a shiver, or maybe it was a real shiver.

“You know most women would love that combination: tough yet sensitive. Not you, huh?”

“No. I mean, figure out who you are. I’m not really interested in the new modern man. I’d rather have genuine. I’m meeting the cowboy, bull rider I think, tomorrow.”

“A real bull rider, or one of those candy asses in the sparkly jeans who hang around Sharky’s pretending to be bull riders?” Garrett walked into the bar, nodding as he let two women who were getting up from their stools pass him before he took a seat.

“Do you lurk around corners waiting for your cue?” Sage asked, eyes locked and drifting from Garrett’s face to his chest. He was wearing a button-up work shirt and looked surprisingly clean, maybe even right out of the shower. Kenna was sure Sage noticed all of that and more. She cleared her throat, hoping her friend would snap to before her chin hit the bar.

Garrett smiled. “I’m all about timing.” He winked.

Makenna laughed. “Oh please, do you practice this garbage in the mirror?”

“Don’t have to. I’m the real deal.” Kenna wondered how much of Sage’s speech he’d heard and if he had heard the whole thing, what game was he playing?

“You certainly are,” Sage whispered as she bent across the bar to take Kenna’s lunch plate.

“Stop it.” Kenna almost laughed, and her friend simply smiled.

“Beer, Garrett?” Sage asked as she put their plates into a dishwasher bin.

“Nah, I’m thinking of having one of your creations.”

Sage stopped cold.

“Are you for real?” Kenna asked.