Corrie’s eyes went wide. Blake’s nearly did too.
Heat started to whirl in her belly. Damn that baritone.
Though, could she really only blame the octave of his voice for making her have to fight a blush?
Blake didn’t need to have a good memory to recall the fact that no more than two minutes ago, she had kissed the sheriff in the front seat of his truck like they were teens parking. She hadn’t lingered as long though. As quickly as she had moved to him, as quickly as she had felt the soft strength of him, smelled some kind of spice on him, heard his breath momentarily pause, Blake had ended the kiss.
Then, as if she had reverted right past that confident teen making out in a parked car mindset, she had settled on an awkward resolution.
Pretend it didn’t happen while not addressing it at all.
She’d broken the kiss and then coughed.
Then said, “Let’s go.”
And, to his credit, Liam had.
Now he stood firm at her side until Corrie redirected her open hands to one of the tables against the window. Instead of following her suggestion, however, Blake felt his hand on the small of her back.
“We’ll sit over there instead, thanks.”
Blake let herself be guided to a table in the corner of the room with a good sightline to all entrances and exits. She would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy Corrie’s dumbfounded expression as they walked around her.
There wasn’t time to talk, or not talk, about their kiss as Blake settled into a chair. Liam left her to go to the main counter to order, and no sooner had he done that, a man with golden floppy hair and a too-wide smile came into the coffee shop.
Kyle Langdon, Missy Clearwater’s ex-boyfriend.
Like she couldn’t deny seeing Corrie baffled by Liam wanting to be next to her, there was no denying that Kyle heard the news about the attack.
He was barely holding it together as he took the seat opposite Blake. He didn’t even notice Liam or Corrie at the counter.
Which was good. That way he wouldn’t leave before she could start prying.
“Are you okay?” Kyle said. He had those big doe eyes and they suited him nicely. He was handsome and, she’d bet, charming. The stereotypical image of a good old Southern fraternity brother who went to the beach for spring break and wore the same shirt for every football game his team played.
Blake smiled into his concern.
“Bad news travels fast, I see. But I’m good. I just needed a change of scenery, is all.”
She motioned to the room around them. Kyle’s eyes were glued to hers.
“I bet! I couldn’t believe it when I heard, and then you texted me to reschedule? I really couldn’t believe something like that happened here in town.”
Blake had already suspected that Kyle would hear the news and, with it, would figure out who she was with all the additional town talk through the years. Kyle, however, went in a different direction.
“If I knew you were Beth’s sister, I would have been way chattier when we first met.”
Blake, who had been at the ready to pepper in questions that would lead to Missy and her life right before her death, stalled. She’d been 100 percent focused on a Missy conversation. Talk of her sister hadn’t even been on her radar.
“Beth? You knew my sister?”
The Bennet family had never been a simple one. Their go-to family move was to leave after all. Their mother, Blake, Beth’s husband, and then their dad after Beth’s death. Even Beth had found a way to go, though she hadn’t intended to. There had been a lot of time between Blake’s exit and Beth’s, and logically, Blake had known that.
But, sitting across the table from the smiling man, Blake finally understood that space. She had no idea if Kyle Langdon knew her sister. She had no idea if they had been friends. If they had passed each other on the streets every day or went to the same church. If they only knew of each other or if they had gone to a party or two as friends.
And it wasn’t just Kyle.
The last time Blake had spoken to Beth about her life and not just updating her about her own, they had been texting. Beth was trying to remember a song but hadn’t known enough of the words to search it. So she’d sent a voice message to Blake humming it poorly. Yet Blake had gotten it and answered correctly. Beth had been excited and said thanks.
