Suddenly, I’m pulled away from our conversation by silence in the building. The kind of silence that suggests something major just happened. Jaxon and I share a glance, both uneasy by the shift in the room.
Kelsey’s voice rises, but not in anger—just a calm authority that no eighteen-year-old should have.
I’m not sure when Kelsey went back up to the counter, but suddenly, she’s there, leaning between my mom and one of the men.
“What did you just say to her?” she asks, her tone cool, her words sharp. “Do you know how disrespectful that term is?”
I start to stand, but Jaxon shakes his head, mouthingbad idea. I know he’s right—if I go insert myself into the mess, the men are far more likely to do something we’ll all regret.
Seeing my movement, my mom’s eyes flash to me, warning me to stay away before she says something quietly to Kelsey and the man.
My mother, always the one to smile and nod through everything, is obviously trying to keep the peace. Kelsey, though? She doesn’t back down. She stands there with a fire in her eyes, her shoulders squared, completely unafraid.
“It’s not okay, Alice. Even if you did get the order wrong—which I highly doubt—he can’t call you that.” She turns and looks the man directly in the eye as she says it again. “That’s not okay.”
The man looks thrown off by a petite high school girl standing up to him. He stammers, trying to come up with some response, but Kelsey doesn’t give him a chance. She keeps going, shutting him down with words that are pure steel.
I’m just sitting there, unable to tear my eyes away. Not because I’m surprised—because I’m not—but because I’ve never seen someone stand up for my mom like that. No one ever does. She’s spent her whole life taking shit from people, thinking she deserved to be called names to her face and behind her back because she made one bad decision eighteen years ago. I’ve never really seen anyone else go to bat for her.
And Kelsey Harper? She just did. Without hesitation.
The guy doesn’t know what to say. He stumbles out an apology and tosses some money to his friends before stumbling out of the restaurant.
My mom brings Kelsey a full cup of water, and Kelsey flashes a smile that’s so effortlessly genuine, it makes my chest tighten.
“Are you okay, Alice?” Kelsey asks, her voice still the only one loud enough to hear across any room.
My mom nods, her lips pressed tight. “I’m fine, Kelsey. Thank you.”
I watch Kelsey as she walks back to her table, her short track shorts pulling along the curve of her muscled thigh with each step. Her sisters and their friends immediately start talking the minute she sits down, and I can tell from across the room she’s already annoyed with their questions.
“Not interested, huh?” Jaxon says, pulling me from my one-sided staring contest.
“No.”Yes. One thousand times yes.
Jaxon snorts. “Sure. I definitely believe it now after watching you stare at her for two minutes without blinking.”
“It doesn’t matter if I like her or not, Jaxon. She managed to get into a military academy, and I got into my dream school with an ROTC scholarship. There is no possible outcome that ends with us together.”
“Maybe someday,” he offers, his smile gentle. Jaxon has always been a romantic at heart, setting up people in school he knows like each other and asking his prom date out with an elaborate song he wrote for her. He would believe there is some way Kelsey and I will magically end up together in the end. Unfortunately for him, I plan to leave this town and never look back—to live my life wild and free.
I shake my head. “Nah, man. There’s no future for us.”
Chapter one
Kelsey
Present Day: October
“Thisisonlythemostimportant contract of my life, but you’re right, I’ll try to havefunat the meeting. Thanks, Iz.” I hang up on my sister and push through the doors leading into the commercial building on the east side of Denver. Hearing a footstep on the tiled floor behind me, I slow down, realizing my account manager is here with me.
“Sorry,” I say to Lila. “I’m not used to bringing someone with me to these client meetings.”
“That’s okay. So you think we got the contract?” Lila asks for the fourth time since we left Wild Bluffs this morning.
I peer into the reception area of the meeting room rental company, taking note of the empty seats before giving her the same answer I gaveher three times as we carpooled here. “Most people don’t make you drive three hours just to let you know you didn’t get the job. It’d be a pretty dick move. Though most people don’t make you meet with them after the interviews, but before awarding you with the contract, either. So I guess I don’t know. Our proposal was good regardless.”
I walk up to the woman bent over her computer, forcing myself not to raise an eyebrow at the sight of her shoeless feet curled up under her on her office chair. When I realize she’s not going to acknowledge my presence, I clear my throat.
