“You’re not dressed.” She banged on the door across the way. “Mrs. Hamm? Mr. Hamm?”
The door flew open, and a kindly older gentleman swept one gaze over Kaci before springing into action. “Wanda, hon, I’m runnin’ Kaci and Miss Higgs to the vet,” he called.
“Door locks on its own,” Kaci said to Lance.
And then she was gone with her neighbor, leaving him with a half-mast erection and the growing suspicion that his little post-being-left-at-the-altar, pre-deployment fling was doomed.
Four hours later,after racking up an emergency vet bill Kaci didn’t want to think about, Miss Higgs was resting comfortably.
Given her age, there wasn’t much the vet could do for her, but she’d stopped having seizures and was drinking water, so that was something.
She wasn’t gone.
Yet.
Kaci would’ve stayed all night with her cat, but the vet ordered her to go home. If Miss Higgs was supposed to go tonight, she’d be gone already, the vet had said. Kaci neededsleep so she could take care of Miss Higgs when she came home tomorrow.
So once Miss Higgs was comfortably asleep, Kaci left the vet and climbed into her Jeep.
Mrs. Hamm had picked up Mr. Hamm after Kaci had assured him that Miss Higgs would be fine and then threatened to call a cab for him. So it was just her.
Going home would be the easy thing to do.
It would also be the chicken thing to do.
Tara wasn’t there. If she wanted to crawl into bed and cry herself to sleep, no one would ever know.
But she wanted a friend more than she needed her pride. A friend who apparently understood more about her than she would’ve thought possible.
She fired up her engine and headed to Lance’s house.
He’d been sweet to offer to go with her.She wasn’t used to accepting help. She wasn’t used to having help available. Even when she’d been married, she’d been independent.
She wouldn’t have asked the Hamms for help tonight, except Lance had been right. She shouldn’t have driven herself.
And she hadn’t wanted him to go with her. She hadn’t wanted him to see her if Miss Higgs didn’t make it.
So who was she doing the greater disservice? Herself, in denying herself a friend?
Or Lance, in denying him her trust?
It was approaching midnight when she reached his house. Lights glowed in his windows, so she climbed out and knocked.
But it wasn’t Lance who stared back at her from the other side of the doorway.
It was one of his little flyer buddies.
His roommate, apparently, who still couldn’t stop his eager-beaver eyes fromdrifting toward her chest. “Looking for round two with Thumper?”
“You old enough to shave on your own? Or does your momma still do that for you?” She squeezed her eyes shut. Probably not the fastest way to get to Lance, but she couldn’t help herself. Her mouth did most of its own thinking when she wasn’t in a classroom. “Is he here?”
“Nah. But I’m starting to wonder about his taste in women,” the kid said.
That got her attention. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t turn you down either. But then, I didn’t just get rid of a crazy ex-fiancée.”
A cold jolt shot through her stomach. She’d been showing her own crazy lately. Waving it like a flag. Might as well have tattooed it to her forehead.
