Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
It had been five hours since Smith had heard from Kenna last. Every one of his texts after their last infuriating exchange had remained unread. His calls went unanswered.
She’d quite effectively shut him out. Similar to the way he’d done with her when he’d walked out on her all those weeks ago.
Was this how she’d felt? Helpless? Frustrated? Afraid? Confused? Guilty?
Hurt?
God. He was such a prick. Yes, he’d felt all of those emotions throughout their marriage as well. It was why he had left her, after all. But he’d never once considered how she felt after he’d left.
He hadn’t cared. Because part of him had believed that she didn’t care.
He was restless, unable to focus on anything for too long.
He’d been with Harris and Greyson earlier.
The two men had set up office at Grey and Libby’s home for the afternoon, so they could watch their four kids—the twins, and Grey and Libby’s two little girls—while their wives were at the restaurant.
But Smith had been such terrible company, constantly checking his phone and losing track of conversations, that he’d made a lame excuse about needing some supplies and fled.
After that he’d spent an hour restlessly pacing from room to room, still tethered to his phone.
At one point he’d gone into panic mode when the battery had died. He’d spent five agonizing minutes quietly losing his shit while trying to remember where the fuck he’d put his charger. In the end he’d given up and made the irrational decision to sit in his car while it charged.
Then he’d waited an additional two minutes for the device to switch back on.
Only to be gutted that he’d received no missed calls or texts from her during those seven minutes without connectivity.
Out of sheer desperation, he did the unthinkable and messaged Tina.
Hey have you heard from Kenna today?
No response.
Was everybody fucking ghosting him today?
Although, to be fair, MJ’s was usually extremely busy on Fridays. It was nearly five, so the after-work early dinner crowd would be drifting in round about now.
He made a muffled sound of frustration and ran restless fingers through his hair.
He was stumped and had no idea what to do next. Which was when he’d come to the unwelcome understanding that it wasn’t his place to do anything.
His edginess stemmed from the fact that he wanted to talk to her. He didn’t like the way they’d left things last night. Kenna had been wanting to talk since arriving, and Smith had constantly brushed her off. She’d wanted to fucking talk last night too, and he’d run away like a scared child.
And now he finally wanted to talk and it was driving him crazy that she’d made herself so unavailable.
It was humbling to admit this was a problem of his own creation.
“Shit.”
The word was quiet and filled with regret.
His phone pinged and he lifted it a little dazedly. Not sure what he would do if it was Kenna finally responding to his unhinged texts and voice notes.
But it wasn’t Kenna.
It was his sister.
Tina
Yep. She’s enjoying her day out.
Smith reined in the urge to pepper her with questions.
The response he settled on was insipid, but the best he could do under the circumstances.
That’s good.
Tina’s next message was a photo.
And it stole Smith’s breath away.
Kenna, wearing a flowing, soft pink summery halter neck jumpsuit. Her back was to the ocean—it looked like Wilderness Beach—and the long strands of her glossy black hair were lifting in different directions, framing her laughing face like living tendrils.
He was riveted by her expression. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen her laugh like that. Way back in the beginning, perhaps. But definitely not since their marriage.
Despite her laughter, her beautiful eyes still held a trace of sadness, but in that moment, Smith could tell that she was genuinely happy.
So fucking happy without him.
Her left hand was up, pushing some of the more unruly strands out of her face and Smith sucked in a pained, panicked breath when he realized that her wedding rings were missing. Nothing on that slender finger but a pale band of sun-deprived skin where the rings once sat.
He made a soft, distressed sound of denial and his eyes dropped to where his own wedding band still gleamed on his finger in the late afternoon sunlight. The thought of removing it was…abhorrent to him.
He swallowed thickly. And his eyes were helplessly drawn back to the laughing image of his wife…soon-to-be ex-wife.
His eyes narrowed as he grasped another disturbing detail about the photograph. It was taken from too far away to be a selfie.
Who took this fucking picture?
Who the hell was getting the smiles and laughter that had so long been withheld from her own husband?
Did you take this picture?
Tina
What? Don’t be ridiculous, Smith. I’m working.
Well then…
Who the fuck took the photo?
Tina
Tina
You’re going to have to ask Kenny that question, brother. But I’m willing to bet she’s going to tell you that it’s none of your damned business.
He grimaced at the accuracy of that statement. Kenna was done having her pride cut into tiny pieces and having it force-fed back to her.
Smith should have known this would happen after his relentless push back against all of her conciliatory attempts. He’d married a strong, proud, driven woman. And those were all traits that he admired in her. Traits that had drawn him to her
But she’d come here and had bravely revealed a fragility—a softness—that she usually kept shielded. And what had Smith done with that trust? He’d gone and validated her reasons for protecting that rarely seen vulnerability from the world.
He’d brutally rejected her over and over again and had thrown her trust back in her face.
So fucking convinced that it was too late for them.
Only, maybe it hadn’t been too late then.
But thanks to Smith’s colossal fuck-up, it certainly was now.
Kenny half expected Smith to be waiting for her on her porch when she returned home. She’d braced herself for that eventuality. She was relieved and maybe just the slightest bit disappointed when she arrived back to find nobody waiting for her.
Caleb helped her up the steps, watched her unlock her door and step inside, and then he dashed back down those same steps like a carefree kid after the final school bell.
Kenny chuckled as the man started the Mustang and sped away with a squeal of tires. She had no doubt he’d be taking a bit of a joy ride on his way back to the rental company.
He’d be driving her around in her unexciting old SUV from tomorrow onward, so she didn’t begrudge him his fun now. It was a half an hour drive to the rental place. She hoped he enjoyed the ride. He deserved it after what must have been an extremely boring day for him.
She sank onto her new sofa with a relieved breath. She hadn’t wanted to give Caleb the satisfaction of seeing how drained she truly was. She didn’t need to see his told you so smirk. She had to take her victories where she could.
She finally checked her messages from Smith and shook her head at the increasingly desperate parade of threats, pleas, and demands. The five voice notes followed a similar pattern.
But the last one, sent just half an hour ago, was different.
“I’ve been an arse today, Kenna…”
She raised a brow at that. “Today? Try all week.” Saying it out loud made her feel slightly better and she listened to the rest of the subdued message.
“I’m sorry. I hope you enjoyed your day. Maybe, next time, we could go—uh—sightseeing together? I’m not too familiar with the area either. We could discover it at the same time.”
What? Where was this all coming from? Was it his aim to confuse her? Was this his revenge for her being a shitty wife? A campaign of confusion to keep her constantly bewildered and wrong-footed?
She sighed, a noisy, impatient exhalation of air from her nostrils.
She tossed her phone aside, refusing to be drawn into a conversation with him. Refusing to even think about this any longer.
She’d bought a pizza for dinner, had a stack of romance novels obtained from the secondhand book stall at the flea market in Wilderness, and was looking forward to an early dinner with a glass of red wine and then…
Bath. Book. Bed.
Bliss.
Kenna
Tina has invited me to the football game tonight. I’ve accepted.
Smith’s fucking stupid heart actually stalled for a second when Kenna’s message came through unexpectedly at noon the following day.
He’d all but given up on hearing from her again. He’d fully expected her to avoid him for the remainder of her time in Riversend.
And he’d been trying to sort through the ethical dilemma of how to insert himself back into her life without being a total stalking bastard about it.
This unexpected message gave him a sliver of hope.
Before it had come, he’d been half listening to Harris rhapsodizing about how little Flynn—the older twin—was starting to toddle. And how Jamie had just said his first word. Harris predicted that Flynn would be more athletic, while Jamie would excel at academics.
Not exactly riveting stuff.
Yes, Smith was a doting uncle and incredibly proud of his nephews’ genius. But it was difficult to be enthusiastic about their clearly outstanding achievements when he was so fucking preoccupied with his own personal shit.
Just another item to add to the growing list of Smith’s many flaws.
“You’re right. It does sound like Dada,” he absently appeased Harris, even though Jamie’s happy chatter hadn’t produced anything sounding remotely similar to the English language as far as Smith could discern.
He quickly typed a reply to Kenna.
I’ll be there too. I’m on the team
He’d adamantly refused to play for weeks now, but he didn’t want Kenna to change her mind because she thought he’d be underfoot all evening. If she knew he was playing, she’d expect him to be preoccupied.
Kenny
You are? I thought tennis was the only sport you could play.
He glowered at his screen, a little affronted.