Hadley was looking him over, assessing him. He understood she was trying to help and didn’t deserve his sarcasm. “Sorry.” He rubbed his neck. “I didn’t mean to sound snarky.”
“I’m not offended,” she said. “Maybe show them with actions, not words. I mean, kids respond better to showing not telling, you know?”
He nodded. “I get it.” But really, he didn’t. If only he could show. But his knee wouldn’t allow it. Ever again. Yet she seemed to actually believe he could be inspiring. But how, when he could barely stand here on this field that he loved without breaking into hives?
Despite his confusion, there was one thing he needed to set straight for her sake. “Listen, Hadley. The truth is, I have been avoiding you. I’m sorry about the other morning.”
“You’re sorry?” She narrowed her eyes. “Maybe you better clarify what exactly you’re sorry about—the ceiling disaster or kissing me.”
That kiss was the best thing that had happened to him in a long time. But how could he allow himself to get involved with her when he didn’t know who he was anymore? He needed that restaurant. It was the only thing now that would make him feel that he hadn’t failed. And he couldn’t let Hadley stand in the way of that.
He would never take the chance of hurting her again like he had back when he was young and stupid. She had enough on her hands with that snake Cooper, and she deserved better. And better just wasn’t him.
“Oh.” The deadpan quality of her voice showed him she was disappointed in him. And he deserved it. He’d acted no better than the dumb kid who’d broken up with her all those years ago.
“I mean,” he said, “we clearly have the same attraction between us but we’re older and wiser now. We don’t need to act on it.” His words sounded shallow. Like he was making excuses and being an idiot, which he was. But he had no choice. Acting on his desire for her would be a big mistake.
“Right,” she said quietly, frowning.
“It was a weak moment,” he said. “I never should’ve let it happen.”
“Well, I let it happen too. It doesn’t have to mean anything. I mean, neither of us are in the right place for…for that.”
“For that?”
“For…kissing. For more than kissing. For a relationship.”
“Right. No. Definitely not that.”
She smiled at him. “Don’t worry. It was only a kiss. No biggie.”
Only a kiss? That kiss was smoking hot. It had incinerated his insides. But maybe it was only a glass of lukewarm water to her.
She tossed a ball back into the bucket. “Well, I better be going. See you around.” She bent and patted her thigh. “C’mon, Jagger babe, time to roll.”
Then she walked away, the dog trotting happily at her side.
Chapter 13
I thought we were meeting at Scoops,” Kit said as Hadley slid into a corner booth with her friends that evening at the back of the Sand Bar, a quaint little hole-in-the-wall right on the beach where you could grab an ice-cold beer and the best wings in town.
“This was my vote,” Darla said. “Not that I don’t like ice cream. But judging from your tone of voice, I was thinking maybe we need the hard stuff.”
“Actually,” Kit said as a big plate of wings was delivered to their table, “I like anyplace where I can sit down for more than five minutes at a time. I might actually be able to taste my food for once.” She clapped her hands a little and reached for a Thai chili wing.
“Why the emergency summons?” Hadley asked. “Not that we need an emergency to have a drink.” She was glad the focus would be on Kit, who’d asked them to meet. After her talk with Cam at the football field earlier, she’d decided the issue with Cam—not that it was actually an issue—wasn’t worth talking about. He was her past, and that kiss, while off the Richter scale in hotness, was nothing but an accident, brought on by familiarity and the close proximity that resulted when he pushed her out of harm’s way.
Under the rustic wooden beams, big, colorful sea life done in papier-mâché hung from the ceiling. A giant squid hung over the bar, along with an octopus, a crab, and a swordfish. A big red lobster, claws waving in the breeze, floated directly above their heads.
As the lobster’s claws swayed, Hadley decided Cam was like that lobster. Colorful and appealing but with claws that she had to stay away from. Because despite that open-the-floodgates kiss, he’d made it clear he didn’t want anything else. Windex clear.
What she needed was protection against the charms of Tony Cammareri. An anti-Cammareri vaccination. Something to build her immunity that would last forever.
Maybe she did need the help of her friends more than she thought.
Hadley suddenly became aware that Kit was talking. “…and a few days ago, I got this.” Kit pushed an airmail envelope covered with a lot of foreign stamps across the table.
“From Alex de la Cruz?” Darla read the envelope. “I haven’t seen him since we were all in your wedding party together. Except when I was in the middle of my chemo, he sent me a card from the air force base in Baghdad. So he’s probably still somewhere flying top-secret missions and looking super hot.”
Kit looked distressed. They all knew Alex, who had been Carson’s best friend since high school. Hadley knew him as a quiet, upstanding guy, if somewhat of a loner. “He’s done with his tour of duty and now he’s headed home to Seashell Harbor,” Kit said. “And he’s asking my permission to fix up the old McKinnon place.”
Darla choked a little on her mojito. “What?”
Before he’d died, Kit’s husband, Carson, had inherited his grandparents’ falling-down ancestral home. The Queen Anne Victorian, half obscured by weeds, looked more like Boo Radley’s house than a civilized place to actually inhabit. Which was why no one in Carson’s family had wanted it. And why Kit, overwhelmed as she was with expenses, had promptly placed it on the market.
Of course it was still sitting there, because it was essentially a tear-down. Unless someone came along with deep pockets and a very optimistic attitude.
“Apparently he found out that I put it up for sale,” Kit said. “He says it will bring in a lot more money if someone fixes it up.”
“And he wants to be the one to do that?” Darla shook her head incredulously.
Kit sighed heavily. “He says he’ll finance the renovation himself and just take the cost of materials from the sale. Honestly, I’m going to tell him there’s no need to feel this misguided loyalty to Carson.”
“Maybe he’s doing it for you,” Hadley said. “And Ollie,” she made sure to add, because any suggestion that the daredevil fighter pilot might have a thing for Kit would be very unwelcome. “Regardless of why, if he wants to have a go at it, why not let him?”
“Sit down with him when he gets here and discuss the possibilities,” Darla said.
Kit snorted and rolled her eyes. “Alex barely speaks to me. He prefers grunting or flat-out ignoring me. Honestly, having to actually speak with him would be…unsettling. He didn’t even leave a phone number.” She picked up the envelope and waved it in the air. “And look how he communicates. Via letter. It’s like he’s trying not to discuss this at all. So I got his email and told him thanks but no thanks.”