“No, I, uh, I’m in the school musical.I had to stay to work with the piano player and music teacher on one of the harder songs I’m singing.”
I hadn’t known there was a musical.Had they always had those?Wait, maybe I’d seen something about it, but I hadn’t paid attention.That was about to change.
“You sing?”I asked.
Her cheeks pinkened, and she nodded her head.
“When is this musical?”Because I wasn’t missing it.
“In two weeks,” she replied hesitantly.“But I doubt you’d want to see it.I can’t imagineMean Girlsis your thing?”
I had no idea what the fuck that was.“You onstage might be though.”And that came out without me thinking it through.
Her breathing hitched, and it was obvious she was fighting back a smile.She didn’t have to; her eyes said it all.
“Oh,” she replied in a soft whisper.
Too sweet for you, Kash.You’re not good for her.She needs someone who doesn’t have a dark side.
“You should probably go.Your brother is waiting,” I told her, not giving a shit about him, but trying to get her away from me because it was clear I wasn’t able to do the right thing.
She nodded.“Yeah, he has work,” she said.“Um, well, uh, bye.”
“Have a good night,” I told her and stepped back.
“You too,” she said.Then, with one last look, she turned and hurried toward his car.
My hands tightened into fists at my sides at the way he was watching her.Waiting on her.I didn’t want another guy taking her anywhere.Even if he was her brother.That was a major warning flag that I should pay attention to, but I feared I was about to ignore it.
Five
Cressida
Present Day
I reached out to take Glenda’s dry cleaning as the man passed it to me over the counter.This was a once-a-week errand.Every Tuesday, while she was at her bridge game, I took Glenda’s clothes that needed to be cleaned to the dry cleaner and then picked up the clothes from the week before.I still had an hour before I had to go get her from her game, and she’d given me thirty dollars and told me to go buy lunch somewhere and relax.Going to a restaurant felt like a splurge, but then the Italian place, Vapiano’s, was right across the street.That was tempting.
“Thanks,” I told the man and took her clothing before heading out, planning to put it away in her Cadillac before deciding on where I would be eating.
Stepping out into the cool December air made me shiver.I needed to buy a coat.I should probably go to the secondhand store to do that instead of eating pasta.But if I didn’t use the money she had given me for food, like she’d said, I’d feel guilty.I’d have to return it, and that would upset her.But then I could go buy a coat with my money and grab a sandwich somewhere to appease her.I glanced back down the street behind me, trying to remember where the secondhand store used to be.
Then I stumbled.Barely catching myself from face-planting on the sidewalk when my eyes met ones the color of the bluest ocean.My heart slammed in my chest so hard that it was painful, and I held Glenda’s clothes to my chest like a lifeline as I stared at the one man who had not only been my world once, but also destroyed it—Kash Savelle.
“Hello, little Songbird,” he said in his thick Southern drawl that had always made my knees weak.
Even after his actions had ruined my life, stolen my mother from me, left me alone, they still trembled.Damn my knees.Traitors.
“Kash.”I tried to sound casual as I said it.As if seeing him again didn’t affect me.I failed.My voice cracked, and my breathing came out in a hitch.
“Didn’t know you were back in town,” he said, appearing so unaffected by the sight of me that it hurt.
It shouldn’t.It had been four years, and the last words he had spoken to me still sliced so deep that I couldn’t allow them to resurface.
I cleared my throat in hopes of it not giving away what all I was feeling.“I, uh—yes, for about six months now.”
His jaw ticced, and that was the only sign that he had any reaction to seeing me at all.Even if it was loathing or simply hate.He was excellent at masking his emotions.I’d forgotten about that.
“I thought you were in Alabama,” I said, lifting my chin and straightening my shoulders.
