I shake my head sadly. How fucked up is this? “Not like that, kid. Not like that.”
“He told me so. I believe him,” Kendall says, glancing quickly out the kitchen window. “And I’m going to help my mom now before it’s too late. I want her all to myself, and I’m going to save her before this goes on any longer.”
I furrow my brow. “What?” My anger is so permeating, I can’t calculate her next move, and I should, because it’s my job to predict others’ actions. Love has fucked me up and down and every which way a person can be fucked.
The back screen door slams.Magnolia.Kendall throws herself into my arms, and I think she’s hugging me. Like maybe she’s upset and wants to be comforted by a father figure. She’s distraught. That’s not a leap, right? But then she twines her fingers into my hair and presses her mouth against mine.
What.
The.
Fuck.
Is.
Happening?
I put my hands against her shoulders, but my body is shocked, unable to process what is taking place. I don’t move my lips as Kendall’s work against mine, in fact, I don’t move a fucking muscle—not even to breathe.
“Aidan,” Magnolia yells. “What the hell is going on?”
Her sweet, albeit broken, voice dashes the haze surrounding my body. I push Kendall away in a stiff, jerky movement. Facing Magnolia, I see the pain. The betrayal reflecting in her eyes. I see her reliving her worst nightmare once more. My stomach churns and my heart pounds.
“Magnolia. No. No,” I plead. My voice sounds wrong. As if I’m outside, listening to someone else say the words. I see the sever—the disconnect—and I know nothing I’ll say will matter.There is no witty joke or cocky swagger that can repair the scene she sees in front of her.
I swallow hard.
Fuck.
FOURTEEN
Magnolia
The hours blur into days,and the days blur into weeks and then a month. Then another. The intermittent chill of December is in the Florida air, and I’m a hollow shell of disbelief. I shut Aidan out completely. For only one reason: Kendall is getting better. She’s happier than she’s ever been now that my attention is solely focused on her. She confessed about her dalliance with an older teenager down at the beach, gave me very few details about him, but said he made her sad and confused. That was the reason she gave for the shared kiss. I had to accept it.
There are several voicemails on my cell phone pleading for a call back. I can’t bring myself to delete them, I listen to them every night before I cry myself to sleep. Aidan showed up to my work a week after the kiss heard round the world. My heart skipped a beat, but then my brain delivered the bad news, and it stopped altogether for a beat or two.
Aidan is bad news. I knew it all along. A tiger can’t change its stripes. He begged me to listen to him. Pleaded on his knees, in fact. Told me a story about how some guy at his workpoisoned Kendall’s mind and told her lies. That Kendall kissed him because she knew I’d see it. She wanted to destroy the relationship because she thought he would hurt me in the end. He was tearful as he delivered his side of the story hoping I’d accept it…and him. Did I believe him?
I did. I think, anyway. But it didn’t matter. Kendall adamantly denied the whole thing. Given the option of believing my daughter or believing Aidan, he has to know I’ll always choose her side. I’ll always choose her. What message would it send to Kendall if I said, “I know you’re telling me that Aidan kissed you back and that you were confused and sad, but Aidan said something different, and I’m not only going to believe him, but I’m going to continue dating him?” Aidan refused to give me the name of the SEAL in question, and as much sense as it makes, I can’t see Kendall entangling herself with someone that much older than herself. She knows better.
I’m cleaning the antique store, putting the finishing touches on the holiday window display which is a head tilt toward the Nutcracker ballet but formed entirely with small, ceramic trinkets. It’s been a welcome distraction. My love life is in shambles. It’s as if the universe said, “Here is your happily ever after, Magnolia. Just kidding. You don’t get one of those.”
Jenny comes in through the back door, her sing-song greeting alerting me to company. “It’s looking so good, Magnolia. How was your day?”
“Fine,” I reply. “What brings you here? I told you yesterday, I’m fine. You can’t just pop in all the time.” Every other day, without calling first, Jenny is by my side.
“No, you put on the ‘I’m fine’ face and attitude for Kendall. I get that. You’re definitely not okay, and I’m here so you can tell me every single way in which you’re not fine.”
I shake my head and clear a speck of dust off a mirror, which is acting as a skating pond. “I’ve been thinking a lot about thattime he came here and told me his side of the story. It makes more and more sense as time passes, you know? I don’t see any way around this. Kendall is happy.” I say the last sentence because Jenny is a mother, and she will immediately know the magnitude of that. “She’s even thinking of letting Paul visit her here. I’m not even sure if that’s a good thing or not, but it’s progress.” I swallow hard. “I can’t fuck everything up again. I’m too scared. I went out on a limb, and look what happened. It broke.”
“It did. Snapped like a motherfucking twig, didn’t it?” Jenny says. She sits down on a low stool next to me after locking the front door of Magnolia’s Steals. “You do realize that’s normal, right? Broken trees and all? Relationships tend to be a little messy.”
“If you just came here for a pep talk or to make me feel bad about myself, you can just go.”
Jenny groans. “You are such a drag these days. We have the fundraiser tonight, remember? I didn’t want to wait to meet you at Betsy’s because I have a name for you.” I glare at my best friend, and she looks frightened, her eyes flaring wide. “I can’t believe I’m breaking her trust like this, Magnolia. Don’t make me regret it. I’m going to regret it. I wish I didn’t overhear. I mean, I’m glad I overheard. Oh, shit. I don’t know what I think anymore! I know the name of the boy Kendall was seeing. Down at the beach. The boy.”
“Tell me,” I yell, then cover my mouth. It came out louder than I anticipated. I think I have an idea, but a name would give me something to go on and try to piece together this mess a little better.
