But it would’ve been damn nice if shewantedhim.
And wanting her to want him was the last thing he needed. This was supposed to becasual. A distraction. He was wheels-up on his way to the Middle East in five days.
Kaci was right.
They should’ve just said their goodbyes last week and been done with it.
He squeezed her arm. “She was lucky to have you,” he said.
And he showed himself out the door.
She was gone.
Miss Higgs was gone.
Despite what she’d told Lance, Miss Higgs had been gone for near on ten minutes, but Kaci still couldn’t let go.
The door clicked shut behind Lance, and the floodgates opened. It started as a trickle of tears, and soon she was full-out sobbing.
Miss Higgs had given her last purr to the world.
One day Tara would get a real job andmove out and probably find a new man who adored her. Her students would graduate and be replaced with more students with the same problems. Her momma was bound to give up in complete frustration one of these days.
And Kaci would be completely alone.
Tara squeezed into the chair with her and wrapped both Kaci and Miss Higgs’s body into a warm squishy hug. “I’ll go get him back,” Tara said, her voice thick with tears too.
“Don’t leave me,” Kaci choked out.
Tara hugged her harder.
“Ever,” Kaci added.
“Aw, Kaci…” Tara touched gentle fingers to Miss Higgs’s head. “Honey, I don’t think?—”
“I know.” Her kitty was gone. Her constant companion through the ups and downs of the past eighteen years. “I just need another minute.”
Or another eighteen years.
Who else would curl up with her every night for eighteen years? Who else would be waiting by the door when she got home every night? Who else would ever keep as many secrets?
Her gaze drifted to the door.
Lance wouldn’t.
No matter how much she wanted him to.
Tara put her head to Kaci’s shoulder and sighed. “Wish I could blame just the grief for you wishing he was still here.”
Kaci wiped her tears on her sleeve. “Hush or I’ll send you away too.”
“No, you won’t.”
She was right. Kaci would’ve tied her to a chair before she let her leave. “Why is it the one I don’t want can’t leave me alone, and the one I want is willing to give me space?”
“Because men are idiots.”
Men weren’t the only ones. “No commenton the one I want?”
