“Yes?”
“Now repeat after me. Lila is a goddess.”
“Lila is a goddess.”
“She is always right.”
Kenzie smiled. “She is always right.”
“And I will spring for pizza tonight to show her how much I care.”
“And I will spring for pizza tonight because I love her. Come over in an hour.”
Lila hung up, and Kenzie knew sharing a meal would help her friend deal with the loss of her roommate as much as it would keep Kenzie focused on a happy, man-free existence.
She had more important things to worry about than the cool gray eyes that had so mesmerized her earlier. After fixing herself in the rearview mirror, she left and locked the car. A deep breath later, she felt more herself as she went inside and yelled at her brother to take out the trash. Because broken hearts sucked, but someone still had to take out the garbage.
Chapter 4
Kenzie didn’t appreciate being grilled by her brother and Lila over dinner and having to lie her ass off. No, she didnothave a crush on Evan. No, she didnotmiss Bryce. Yes, she did have plans to date again in the near future. And her one truth: yes, she would one day be Lila’s maid of honor when Lila met and married her own MMFA—Moving Man with a Fine Ass.
Apparently fine asses had their own title now.
Thursday night blurred into Friday. Kenzie spent the day with the girls working on their newest account. Though Rachel had moved out, Will had been right when he’d said everything would pretty much stay the same. The girls and she still ran Sykes Design. The graphic design studio pulled in enough money to keep the three of them busy and the bills paid.
And being self-employed allowed Kenzie the flexibility to deal with her too-smart-for-his-own-good brother. Daniel should have been a grade below his current status as an upcoming sophomore. He was a prodigy when it came to computers, and his hacking skills threatened to get him into real trouble.
Raising a mini genius wasn’t easy. Though Kenzie was smart, having gotten a degree while raising her brother all on her own, the mothering part hadn’t come naturally. She’d had to study up on that as well, and she’d made her share of mistakes during those first years. Grieving after her parents’ deaths, she hadn’t had time to do anything but suck it up and deal. She’d dated sporadically, not having energy for a man in her life, not with so much else going on.
Years had passed, and Daniel had grown up. Her boyfriends had never lasted, and none of them had ever been serious contenders for her heart. Until a few years go. When she’d met Bryce. Her one and only.
She knew now that they wouldn’t have lasted, not when she looked back and saw how many ways they’d been incompatible. But her emotions were taking longer to heal, the betrayal of loving and losing taking its toll.
So it surprised her to feel so intrigued by Evan, Rachel’s MMFA. Kenzie had seen good-looking men before, been asked out plenty by men with great bodies and entertaining personalities. She didn’t know Evan, but something about him stayed with her. Maybe it was the way he’d first looked at her, with an intensity she’d never before felt. Or that he fit all her perceptions of what she’d consider just her type. Well, apart from the blue-collar job. Not that she had anything against his work, but she’d always been more attracted to academic types.
Whatever the case, she hadn’t meant to ask him to coffee. His easy dismissal had been polite, kind. And annoying, because she’d wanted to at least get him out of her system. Now she’d wonder.
“Hello? Earth to Kenzie?”
Kenzie glanced at Rachel staring at her. Rachel and Lila exchanged a look.
“What?”
Lila said, “Daniel told me you guys apologized toEvanyesterday.”
Daniel and his big mouth. “I thought it was the right thing to do.”
“Uh-huh.” Lila paused. “I also heard you asked him out, and he said no.”
“I did not ask him out.” She flushed. “I would have treated him to a coffee, with Daniel, just to say we’re sorry. He could have called the cops on us, and Daniel’s been in enough trouble with them as it is. I was just being nice.”
“Sure you were.” Rachel smiled. “Will thought he was cool.”
“Are you always going to mention him now?” Lila asked.
“Well, she used to mention him all the time before.” Kenzie shrugged. “Don’t think it matters much.”
“I guess not.” Lila sighed. “I need to rent out your room, but I don’t want to.”
