She limped to the front door.
“I’ll send the driver in for my bag as soon as he arrives,” she threw over her shoulder.
“Christ, I can carry your fucking bag for you.”
“No, thank you,” she replied breezily as she walked out. “I don’t want a damned thing more from you.”
Kenny had never slammed a door before that moment, and after it shut with a satisfying bang behind her, she wondered why on earth she’d never done it before.
She also wondered why she didn’t lose her temper more often, because quite honestly, this rage surging through her veins felt awesome.
But once she found herself outside on the empty porch with the adrenaline starting to wear off, she began to feel a little foolish.
Those brave words felt good but she didn’t have a clue what to do next. She didn’t know where to go or who to talk to. Still, one thing was certain. She damned well refused to set foot back in that house tonight. She would sleep out on the porch if need be.
She hobbled to the swing and sat down heavily, giving herself a moment to absorb everything that had happened. Her head dropped on a deep and despondent sigh.
She allowed herself the luxury of a few angry tears beforesniffling and scrubbing them away with the heel of one hand. Time to gut up and be strong.
She lifted her phone and began searching for a place to stay.
She only became aware of Smith’s presence when a warm blanket was draped over her shoulders. The unexpected contact startled her and the seat swung wildly.
“Easy, Kenna, it’s just me,” he murmured, the words soft and unthreatening. “You’ve been out here for hours and it’s getting chilly.”
“There’s nowhere for me to go,” she admitted in a small, defeated voice.
He sank heavily down next to her, leaving a few inches of space between them.
“I spoke with Tina and… Well, she knows of a place,” he said after a few long moments. “She’s not sure it’s available but because it’s not in great condition, it’s more likely to be vacant. She’ll find out about it tomorrow.”
“Why did you do that?”
“What? Talk to Tina?”
“Yes.” Her voice was thick with tears. She was such a mess right now. Her emotions weren’t usually so…present.
“Because you need to rest and recuperate.” She heard a smidgeon of warmth in his voice as he repeated her words back to her. “And this is a great town to do that.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“You do your thing. I do mine. We’ll be unlikely to ever see each other.”
“I don’t know what mythingis,” she mused, suddenly daunted. “I don’t think I’ve ever had real free time before.”
That seemed to trip him up and he stared at her in bemusement.
“What? Like…never?”
“When I was a child, maybe? But as soon as we were old enough, our dad wanted us to learn the business from a grassroots level and that meant hard hats and boots, out on construction sites, doing physical labor.”
He looked horrified.
“You’re shitting me, c’mon.”
“Not at all.”
“That’s literal child labor.”
