“Edna!” Kenna hissed. “Why are you such a dirty old woman? My God.”
All I could do was laugh. The attention I’d been getting from the ladies of Havenbrook—from all walks and ages—was certainly something I wasn’t used to here. The last time I’d been home, I’d been only nineteen and wasn’t exactly on anyone’s radar. Seemed the lady folk in town had gotten thirstier since I’d been gone.
“Oh, come on,” Edna said. “Don’t ruin an old lady’s fun. Sittin’ next to all that muscle is the closest I’ll get to it. Earlmay be packin’ in the nether regions, but he’s a green bean everywhere else.”
I barely covered up my snort with a cough at the same time Kenna said, “You’re the absolute worst. I hope you know that.”
Edna gave a definitive nod. “No disputin’ it. C’mon now, I’ve still gotta take care of that squirrel situation, so let’s get a move on. Go on. I’m gonna grab a couple things right quick.”
With obvious reluctance, Kenna slid out of the Jeep before slamming the door a little harder than necessary. I stepped back and studied her as she trudged toward me, her eyes focusing on everything but me. Or the cabin, now that I really paid attention.
Was this the first time she’d been out here too? My momma hadn’t ever mentioned Kenna coming to the place, but I’d assumed she had. It’d been nearly as much of her second home as it was mine.
I was so focused on Kenna that it took me a moment to realize a rumble of an engine had started again.
“Well, would you look at that?” Edna said. “Got it started back up. Must’ve overheated or something.” She locked eyes with me and gestured toward where Kenna stood, her mouth agape. “Would you mind bringin’ her on back into town? She doesn’t wanna be an accessory to breakin’ and enterin’. Again.” Without another word, she waved, then sped off down the dirt road that led to my cabin.
“You traitor!” Kenna yelled toward Edna’s retreating taillights. She huffed out a breath and crossed her arms, clearly not happy about being stuck out here.
My lips quirked at the corner. “I have one question.”
“What is it?” she asked, distrust burning in her narrowed eyes.
“‘Again’? You and Edna do a lot of breakin’ and enterin’, do you?”
She sighed and shook her head, dropping her arms to her sides. “I swear that woman didn’t get loved enough as a child or something. She needs attention all the time. She’s a senior-citizen replica of Nat.”
This time, I didn’t try to stifle my laugh. It rolled out of me as I remembered all the times Kenna and I’d had to go pick up her rebellious younger sister and keep her from getting into trouble—or bail her out of it after she was already knee-deep into it.
“How’s Nat doing? She still like that?”
Kenna shook her head. “Worse. Except now, I just get the details of her death-defyin’ antics after the fact.”
“Where’s she at now?”
“Whereisn’tshe? She’s got an apartment in Portland, but she’s rarely there. She’s a globe-trotter, like you.” She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. “Yesterday, she was in Greece, according to her Snapchat.”
“Greece, huh? Wow. I think Momma mentioned she was a photographer.”
“Yep. Published and award-winning, if you can believe it.”
“Everyone has things they’re good at, I guess. I’m glad she found hers.”
“Yeah,” Kenna said, her voice hollow and flat. “Me too.”
In the span of thirty seconds, she’d done a 180 from the fiery, irritated Kenna I knew and loved to this sullen, unsure Kenna I’d never seen before. She wasn’t the kind of person to begrudge someone their successes—and definitely not one of her sisters—so it had to be something else.
I’d dig into that later. Right now, we were alone for the foreseeable future, and I wanted to work through some of those scenarios I’d thought of earlier.
“What’re your plans now that you’re stranded out here?” I stepped closer, dipping my head toward hers. Near enough for her breath to caress my face. We locked gazes, and there was nodenying the heat burning in her eyes. I licked my lips, my eyes flicking down to her mouth. “’Cause I have a few ideas.”
CHAPTER NINE
MAC
It lookedlike I was going to end up in jail today after all. Because the next time I saw Edna, I was going to kill her. I couldn’t believe that old witch would just…abandonme. Completely desert me in the one place I had absolutely no business being.
Being at the cabin where everything had happened was bad enough, but add in the mix an extremely gorgeous Hudson, with his worn jeans and T-shirt that was too tight to be legal and his new delectable tattoos begging to be touched, and I was a goner. A damngoner.
