Her eyes narrowed. He bit back a grin. “Anyway, Bryce and I started dating. But because Daniel had met him when I did, Bryce was in both our lives from the beginning. At first, Bryce was nice to Daniel, probably to impress me. But then he seemed to take to my brother. Daniel isn’t clingy, but he and I are a team.”
Evan still winced every time he heard the word “clingy,” thinking of his mother’s accusation.
“I always put Daniel first. And I’ve been accused of hiding behind my brother when it comes to men. I’m sorry, but it’s not fear that has me taking care of him or putting him first, it’s love.”
He had to say something. “I understand. I’ve had a few similar conversations about my devotion to my mother.”
Kenzie lost a bit of her tension. “Right. You understand.” That seemed to settle her. “Bryce moved in a year and a half after we’d started dating. He also started looking at moving, expanding his career. I had told him from the beginning my life was here with Daniel. My career is established, my friends—who are my family—are here. I have roots.”
“Like a wise old tree.”
“I’m sorry. Old?”
“Ignore me.”
“I would if you’d stop talking.” She wiggled again, arousing him, and smirked. “I have roots, yes. And I have yet to meet a man who’d make me want to uproot my roots for him.”
“Ouch. Put in my place.” He twisted an invisible key over his lips then ruined it by saying, “I’m going to be quiet now.” Plus he didn’t mind the “roots” comments because he had no intention of moving anytime soon either.
“Anyway, Bryce kept mentioning possibilities of starting his own company somewhere else. Or taking time off to travel and see the world and get new ideas. A lot of pie-in-the-sky nonsense. Well, not nonsense, but not something a person with a ten-year-old can do.”
He stroked her legs, feeling for her.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go. I couldn’t. But Bryce couldn’t see that. And he’d complain I never had enough time for him.”
“You had Daniel.” Easy enough to understand. Yet how could Evan judge, when he’d only been with Kenzie for so short a time? Still, he liked Daniel and couldn’t see begrudging a boy his mother—which Kenzie was, for all intents and purposes—out of a sense of jealousy.
“I had, and have, Daniel.” At her warning, he nodded. “Bryce and I talked about his ideas, but eventually he realized my stance. He stopped mentioning it, and I thought he’d gotten used to the idea that I couldn’t move. Yet. Maybe once Daniel finished high school in another few years. Then Daniel got into some trouble hacking the school’s computer. And a few companies. And then that incident with the bank.”
“What?”
She flushed. “Will helped us deal with that. Anyway, Daniel’s been keeping himself out of trouble. Mostly. But Bryce… We were engaged. Happy, I thought. Then one day he told me he was leaving.” Her brows drew close. “He didn’t want to talk about it. Hadn’t given me any warning he was still having issues. I thought about it a lot, Evan.” She looked sad more than angry. “Bryce never showed me anything but that we were happy, in love. He took Daniel to soccer games, to the movies. Bryce and I had date nights. Not a lot, but enough for me. Rachel and Lila liked him. It felt like a real family.
“We weren’t perfect, and we both had things that meant more to one of us than the other. But he just left. One day he was there. The next day he and his things were gone.”
She paused, quiet. “He didn’t even say goodbye to Daniel.”
A teardrop hit his chest, and Evan swore. “Aw, baby. Come here.” He drew her down for a hug, feeling so bad for her. “That sucks. He was a fucking coward, and he didn’t deserve you.”
She hugged him, and he let her cry it out.
Muffled against his shoulder, she said, “Lila has been using aversion therapy on me. Anytime I say his name, she slaps me.”
Evan laughed. “Lila’s a smart one. I guess I owe you a few slaps. More if you wipe your nose against me again. Not all body fluids are sexy, Kenzie.”
She smashed her face against him. “I’m so embarrassed right now from crying all over you. Don’t rub it in.”
“Shouldn’t that be my line?” earned a hiccup and a laugh from her. He set her aside gently. “Stay right here.”
He returned with some tissues. “Blow. Not me, blow your nose.”
She’d tucked herself under his blanket and sat up with it covering her breasts. She stuck out her tongue at him, and he sat next to her, relieved to see her no longer so sad.
“I’m going to tell you something I never told anyone, not even my mom, okay?”
She nodded and wiped her face.
“When Rita was sick, I didn’t know what to do. At first. I really loved her, Kenzie. The way you loved Bryce. It was real, and it meant something. It was a part of me. Just because she died doesn’t meant the love died. So don’t feel sorry for loving Bryce. It was real at the time.”
