But now? Now, that was all shot to hell.
“Course he is. It was only his time with his daughters. Don’t know why I assumed he’d want to spend it with them.” Rory kept her tone pleasant as if she were commenting on the weather they were having and not challenging Sean’s interest in their girls.
“He does,” Sarah Beth insisted. “It’s just, well…” She gestured to the moving truck in the driveway then shrugged. “My lease is up today, so there wasn’t any way around it.”
Rory gave her a tight smile, all the while attempting to burn a hole in Sarah Beth’s forehead solely powered by her rage. “Yes, he’s justsobusy. What with making partner and bangin’ anything that walks.”
Sarah Beth’s mouth dropped open in shock—something Rory was feeling a little of herself. But to hell with it. In for a penny, in for a pound. She was tired of tiptoeing around and not saying exactly what she thought. She’d done it all her life, had strived for pure perfection in her manners, her actions, her dress, and where had it gotten her?
So instead of apologizing and taking back her words, she just stood in the silence that crackled between them, not willing to be the first to break.
“I never meant for this to happen, you know,” Sarah Beth finally said. “I never wanted things to end up like this between us.”
Rory barked out a humorless laugh. “Oh, so he just accidentally fell into your vagina?” she asked with false confusion. “That’ssucha weight off my shoulders. Bless your heart, thanks so much for lettin’ me know!”
“Rory, c’mon now, don’t be like that. You’re my best friend, and I’m just sick about everything that happened.”
The sad thing was, she appeared to be genuine. And that, right there, was where Rory had gone wrong. Sarah Beth didn’t see anything faulty with her actions, which meant Rory’s standards had bit her in the ass once again. It was her own damn fault that she’d assumed her closest friend would treat her exactly as Rory would’ve treated Sarah Beth. With respect and love andloyalty. But that was her ax to grind. She needed to lower her expectations because she was tired of getting burned.
“Yes, well, you probably should’ve thought about that before you opened your legs for my husband.” Rory shot Sarah Beth a sardonic smile and exuded as much fake enthusiasm as she could muster. “But Idoso wish you both the best of luck. You certainly deserve each other.”
It took every ounce of control Rory possessed to turn on her heels, stroll down the front walk—stepping over the pile of mail Edna had tossed there, bless her—and slip into her car as if she didn’t have a care in the world. As if she’d just dropped off Girl Scout cookies instead of learning her best friend for the past thirty-plus years was now shacking up with her ex-husband only two months after their divorce was final.
The girls were chatting away excitedly in the car, Ava going on and on about how cool it was that she got to share a room with her best friend. Andisn’t that so great, Momma? Rory slipped on her mask, smile firmly in place as she listened to her girls titter on about the changes at their daddy’s place, when all they managed to do at her house was complain about how it was so far away from all their friends, how they didn’t have a trampoline or a pool or a basketball hoop, and that it was so much hotter, smaller, older than Daddy’s house.
“Girls, what would you say to helpin’ out your great-gran?” Gran asked. “Mimi’s been hounding me to get that attic cleaned out for months. So many old clothes and fancy jewelry hidin’ up there. Think y’all might like to help me go through it?”
“Can we try ’em on?” Ava asked excitedly at the same time Ella scoffed, “Jewelry?” with as much disdain as one would saycockroaches.
“Yes, Ava,” Gran said, turning around to glance in the back seat. “And, Ella, I do believe there’re some of Great-Gramps’s old baseball cards that need sortin’, too.”
“Really?” Ella’s tone brightened. “Can we, Momma?”
“I’m sure it’ll be quite late,” Gran said off-handedly. “It’d probably work best to just have the girls stay the night, then Mimi can take ’em to camp in the mornin’.”
Rory didn’t want to say yes. It’d been Sean’s weekend, which meant the girls had been with their daddy for five days, and she’d missed them. She was still getting used to not seeing them every day, and it was hard. Ithurt.
All she wanted to do was curl up with them on the couch, eat popcorn, and have a movie marathon. But that was the dream world. In reality, Rory and Ava would get into a fight within ten minutes of being home, Ella would disappear into the backyard, and Rory would be left alone to stew over everything.
“That sounds like a lot of fun, girls,” Rory said, her throat thick with unshed tears. “But tomorrow, I want you all to myself, all right?”
A chorus of yays sounded from her daughters and grandmother, bringing a genuine smile to Rory’s face. Apparently getting tipsy at noon wasn’t going to be her lowest point today. Because good judgment and common sense had left the building. She was cracking into those bottles of wine in her pantry, and she wasn’t stopping until she’d made sense of exactly how she’d let her life turn out like this.
Nash was a goddamn idiot. There were no two ways about it. Partnering with Rory was the best chance he had at taking over King Construction, and he’d managed to fuck it up in a single day.
It’d been almost two weeks since that day in her kitchen. When he’d said fuck it and kissed her against his better judgment. Christ, he could still recall—in great detail—the wordcockfalling from her lips, her mouth popping open in surprise when she’d whipped around to look at him. How she’d fallen straight into his arms and he’d finally had all those mouthwatering curves pressed right up against him, filling his hungry hands.
But he hadn’t been the only hungry one.
She’d melted into him like butter on a hot day, her little whimpers and the curling of her fingers against his chest sending him from stiff to hard as steel in the blink of an eye. If he hadn’t heard Edna clomping her way up the rickety porch steps and forced himself to back away, he couldn’t say he wouldn’t have fucked Rory right there against the cock wallpaper.
Thankfully, he’d had enough sense to step back. Because if she went full-on Ninja Avoider because of a kiss, what would she do if they’d slept together?
He’d called and sent her countless texts, inquiring when they could get together next, if she had time to meet at Mrs. Gene’s house, if he should pick up the wood she needed for the porch. He’d even sent her an estimate on the cabinets like he’d promised, but her responses had all been a more polite version offuck off.
So, he’d done what he did best when it came to Rory. He’d goaded her.
But the truth was, shewasbeing a coward. Their kiss had been unexpected, yes. Mind-blowing, too. He knew Rory never did well with the former. And if what she said in the kitchen was true, she probably wouldn’t know what to do with the latter either.
