Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
“I cannot get over how damn good it smells in here.” Andy stopped and inhaled deeply before laughing and walking all the way into the Sugar Shack. “I don’t know how you work in this environment and aren’t five hundred pounds.” He greeted his best friend with a shake and half hug with a clap on the back.
“We totally should have met at the Bean Bag. At least then it’s only the cinnamon buns I’m trying to resist instead of…” He scanned the display case of ice cream flavors before tapping on the glass. “Peanut butter brownie?” Andy looked up at Craig. “Is that a new flavor?”
“I just brought it out for testing a few days ago. Want to try?”
“You know I do.”
Craig chuckled and scooped out a portion into a cup before joining Andy on the other side of the counter. “The least I can do is provide you with free ice cream. We all really appreciate you being there for Kat right now.”
A flash of guilt flared through him, and Andy busied himself with a spoon full of the delicious treat so he didn’t have to respond. The truth was he had been there for Kat. Every single night since they’d gone bungee jumping together, and most mornings, too.
The chemistry between them had been impossible to ignore. If Andy thought that their hot and heavy session in the front seat of his car would be enough to finally get her out of his system and go back to just friends , he was sadly mistaken.
Or not so sadly, because they’d been having a lot more fun as friends with benefits, or happy for right now or whatever it was they were to each other.
“You’re the only reason I’m not beating her door down right now.”
Andy choked on his ice cream. “What?”
Craig shook his head. “Kat’s been avoiding us all since the meeting. No one’s spoken to her, and she hasn’t told any of us about the list or what it says.”
That surprised him. Kat and her siblings were close. More so than any other family he knew. Especially since their father died.
“Wait. So you haven’t seen the list at all?”
Craig shook his head.
“You have no idea what’s on it or what’s required of her for the next six months?”
Again, Craig shook his head. “I suppose you do? ”
Andy put his spoon down and pushed his cup away. He had seen the list. But not right away.
It had been almost a week since they’d come to an arrangement or agreement, or whatever it was they were calling their situationship , and a lot had happened.
Almost none of it that he could tell his best friend.
However, he could be honest with Craig about the list. At least as much as he was at liberty to discuss.
It wasn’t until later on that first night, after he’d finished worshipping Kat’s body just the way it deserved to be worshipped, when they finally came up for air, once more starving and ready for a late-night snack.
Kat ordered a pizza for them to eat in bed, and it was after their second slice when Kat climbed from the comforter and left the room without a word. She returned a few minutes later and handed him the folded piece of paper that contained the list her father had written and climbed back into bed without another word.
He’d hesitated before unfolding the paper, because he knew the weight of what he was about to look at. He also knew how much it meant that she was sharing it with him. He read over the items in silence before gently folding the paper again and placing it on the bedside table.
He reached for her hand and squeezed it a little until she looked at him. “So, what are we doing next?”
It had been the right thing to say because the smile that crossed her face lit up her eyes. “Really?”
“I told you I was here for it.” Andy tugged her toward him until she was in his lap and the blanket had fallen away to reveal the very same perfect breasts he’d had his face buried in less than an hour ago. He traced one finger down the side of her face, to her neck and finally between her breasts.
“All of it?”
He shrugged. “Well, except for the solo camping trip. It sounds like you might need to do that one alone.”
“But what about your job and your apartment and?—”
He stopped her with a finger to her lips. “I already told you, don’t worry about it. I have some time off and it’s all just details I can sort out.” He waved his hand. “At any rate, it’s definitely not something you need to worry about. Have you changed your mind about me helping you out?”
“No way.” She laughed, a sound that reached deep inside him. “I think it’s going to be nice to have someone share this with me.”
“ Someone?” He kept his voice light, teasing her. But there was more to it. She would never be just someone to him.
“You,” she confirmed. “It will be nice to share this with you.” She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his lips.
Her bare breasts pressed against his chest in a way that instantly had his dick hard and his mind racing with all the dirty things he’d like to do to her next.
“So? Do you?”
His friend’s voice pulled him abruptly back into the moment. Andy blinked hard and scrubbed his hand over his face before making eye contact with Craig.
“What the hell is wrong with you, man? You look?—”
“Sorry.” Andy cut him off quickly. “My mind drifted for a moment.” Not that he was going to tell his best friend that he’d just been replaying in his head exactly what had happened next with Kat. He needed to remember that no matter what happened, Craig could never know what had happened between Andy and his little sister. He was dancing on the edge of a cliff, and he damn well knew it.
“So? Do you know what’s on Kat’s list or not?”
Andy nodded. “I do.”
“And are you?—”
“Going to tell you?” Andy winked. “Not a chance. It’s not for me to tell.”
Craig slammed his hands down on the table.
“You know Kat.” Andy grabbed a napkin and wiped up a stray drop of ice cream. “She’s shit at keeping secrets.” He really hoped, for both of their sakes, that wasn’t entirely true. “She probably just needs to process everything,” Andy continued. “I’m sure she’ll tell you guys about the list at the next family dinner. But if she doesn’t, don’t worry too much. I told you I’d be there for her, and I committed to helping Kat with everything as long as she wants me to.”
Craig raised an eyebrow, and he was afraid he’d said too much. “Is that why you’re still at her place instead of coming to stay with us?”
Something in his friend’s voice warned him to tread carefully. “Yeah, that and you and Lucy are still very much in the newlywed phase of your relationship.” He blew out a breath. “I don’t think you need me hanging around until I find my own place.”
“You forget we have a kid—privacy is nonexistent. You know it wouldn’t be a big deal to have you. But I get it if you want to stay at Kat’s. I bet she was happy to hear you were moving back to town.”
“Why would she be happy?”
Craig shot him a look. “Because she loves her family, and you know you’re family, Andy.” Craig rolled his eyes.
“Right. Of course.” He swallowed hard and sucked in a breath. “But I didn’t tell her yet.”
“Why not?”
That was an excellent question, and not one he could answer honestly. Not if he didn’t want Craig to punch him in the jaw. It’s not like he could casually mention that he’d missed his window before agreeing to continue sleeping and living with his little sister for the next six months.
“I just didn’t want to give her anything else to concern herself with.” Andy shrugged and hoped it came off more casual than it sounded.
“I guess that makes sense.” Craig shot him a look, but if Craig was really bothered by him staying at his little sister’s house, it didn’t show. “And really, if you want to stay at her place, it’s good with me. It’s probably quieter. Ultimately, you are going to be around a lot more now anyway. Have you had any luck finding anything yet?”
Andy glanced at the clock on his phone. “Actually, Jess is meeting me here in a few minutes to go over a few options. Charli hooked me up with her.”
“I bet she did.” Craig laughed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s trying to hook you up with more than a place to live. Jess is a nice woman, and she’s super cute, too, hey? ”
He shook his head. “She’s very nice. And I’ll take your word for the cute, I haven’t actually met her yet, but I’m not really looking to get involved with anyone right now.”
Because I’m already involved with your little sister.
“Who said anything about getting involved ?” Craig made air quotes. “I know that’s never been your style.”
“I could have changed.”
He’d completely forgotten that he’d told Craig a bunch of bullshit about how he didn’t think he would ever settle down and how he preferred to date around. It was stupid and totally unnecessary, but he’d panicked after he’d almost slept with Kat because for the first time, he’d let himself believe that maybe there could be something more between them if it weren’t for the distance between them.
And the fact that he’d lose his best friend.
“Yeah,” Craig said. “You could have. But I doubt it.”
The bells over the door chimed, alerting them to an attractive brunette woman with a stack of papers in her arms.
Jess.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it then.” Craig winked in his direction and pushed up from his chair and cleaned up the ice cream cup and napkins. “Hey, Jess. Nice to see you.”
There were definite drawbacks to living and working in the plaza in the center of town. Most days, Kat loved the convenience of being only steps away from her business, the shops, restaurants and cafés of Trickle Creek, and of course her brother’s ice cream shop and her sister’s flower shop.
She loved hanging out with her siblings. Along with Annie Darling, they were all her best friends and were her favorite people to spend time with.
Which was why it was so strange that she’d been actively avoiding them all for the last week. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone even a day without speaking to one of her brothers or her sister. And it wasn’t that she was avoiding them—well, maybe she was, a little bit—but mostly she just needed some time to process…well, everything.
They all must have sensed her need for space, too, because if any of them thought it was strange that Kat had mostly withdrawn from the family since the last meeting, they hadn’t said anything. Kat knew they were probably going crazy trying to figure out what was on the list their father had left her. Just the way she would have been if she’d been the one left in the dark when it had been their turn.
There was no real reason why Kat didn’t want to tell her brothers and sister about the list, and she would. But for the time being, it was nice to have it all to herself.
Truthfully, she hadn’t kept it entirely to herself. It had felt natural to share it with Andy. A lot of things with Andy felt natural. A whole lot of things.
She couldn’t let herself go down that trail of thought right now. She needed to focus on the matter at hand: her family. And the fact that it was only a matter of time before they finally banged down her door and demanded to know whether she was okay .
And that was exactly what she was trying to avoid. Especially considering Andy was still staying with her and was no longer sleeping in the guest room.
What she really should do was make the first move and go to one of them. At least that way it would keep them away from her apartment, where they might see something they shouldn’t.
“Might as well get it over with,” she muttered to herself as she finished reviewing the accounting on her laptop.
Even though she’d canceled or rescheduled most of her regular clients, Kat still liked to be in the shop, and she’d been working from the front desk of Strands for most of the morning. Her little salon had grown fast over the few years she’d been in business and not only with her own clientele: she also had a nail technician and an aesthetician who each rented space and saw regular clients. And more recently, Kat had gotten over her fear about being a manager of employees and had hired two additional stylists for the shop, which had turned out to be a blessing because Carla and Alison had been able to cover everyone she had to reschedule because of her wrist.
And that was perfect because even though the cast had been replaced by a brace, Kat had decided to lighten her client load for the next few months so she could focus on getting through everything on her list.
A flash of movement out in the plaza caught her eye. Before she even looked, Kat knew it would be a member of her family. She shook her head, put a smile on her face, and looked up to see her niece Meri doing a particularly bad job of hiding behind a tree.
Kat used her good hand to put her thumb to her nose, stick out her tongue, and wiggle her fingers. Meri burst out laughing.
“Alison,” she called to the woman who was at the sink, rinsing color off a client. “I’m heading out for today but I updated my availability in the schedule in case anyone calls in.”
“No problem, Kat. Have a great day.”
Kat grabbed her phone and belt bag and headed out into the warm sunshine, where she immediately spotted her niece crouched next to a bench.
“I see you over there, kiddo.”
Meri popped up and threw her arms up in the air.
Kat laughed and greeted her niece with a hug. “We’re going to have to work on your hiding skills. When I was your age, I was epic at hide-and-seek.”
“I wasn’t really trying to hide.” Meri rolled her eyes. “I wanted to show you the ribbons I got at sports day, but Dad and Lucy told me not to bother you.”
“They did?” Guilt squeezed at her heart. It was one thing to be avoiding her siblings, but she never wanted her niece to think she couldn’t come to her for anything.
Meri nodded. “They said you were stressed.”
“Do you even know what stressed means?” Kat looked at her sideways and tried not to laugh.
“It means you want to be alone to think about things,” Meri answered seriously .
“Well, you’re not entirely wrong. But I’m not stressed. And even if I was, that would never mean that you have to leave me alone, okay?”
Meri nodded.
“Now, show me these ribbons. Did you kick some butt?”
Meri giggled at her use of the word butt and proudly thrust her ribbons toward her auntie.
“You got second in the skip rope contest?”
Meri scowled. “I would have gotten first, but Harrison stuck his tongue out at me, and I shouldn’t have looked, but I did and then I tripped over the rope so Brittany got first, and she never should have won because I’m better at skipping and everyone knows that and if it wasn’t for Harrison, I would have won.”
She stuck her hands on her hips and looked so put out that it was absolutely adorable and Kat had to work hard not to laugh.
“That doesn’t sound fair at all,” she said instead. “What do you say we get some ice cream? Because you’ll always be the best skipper I know.”
Meri grabbed Kat’s good hand and pulled her toward the Sugar Shack.
She blew out a breath and braced herself. She couldn’t avoid her brothers and sister forever. She might as well get it over with.
Besides, there was no reason for any of them to suspect that anything else was going on. And there really wasn’t any reason why they should think that her avoidance had anything to do with Andy .
Her lips curved into a natural smile the moment he popped into her head. The last week with him staying with her had been…well, to say it had been fun would be a massive understatement. But there was no other word for it, because that’s exactly what it had been.
They both knew that what they were doing together was wrong and Craig would lose his mind if he ever found out. But he wouldn’t find out. Because they’d agreed that it was only some temporary fun.
The fun they’d gotten up to that morning flashed through her memory, sending all kinds of good feelings through her. But the moment she stepped through the door, the good feelings evaporated when she saw who was sitting at a table in the corner, heads together, deep in an intimate conversation.
“There’s got to be at least one in here that catches your eye.”
Andy shuffled the papers around the table in front of him. Jess had really come through with a variety of different types of properties for him to look at.
He hadn’t given her much to go on as far as criteria, so she’d arrived with everything from family-style homes that were newer builds in some of the more recent communities on the edge of town, to a few older miner houses that needed renovation work. There was an acreage property complete with a barn and outbuildings; that was an easy one to reject because he didn’t have any time for land.
Jess had even come through with a studio suite that was situated over the kitchen shop in the plaza. The location was perfect, and that didn’t even take into consideration that it was only a few shops away from Kat’s place.
Still, none of them appealed.
None of them were Kat’s apartment.
Andy knew that was ridiculous and not at all the way he should be thinking. It’s not like they were even in a relationship. They were in a situationship.
He almost laughed out loud at the idea, but caught himself moments before he did.
“Andy? Anything?”
Jess was waiting for an answer. And really, he owed her one.
He exhaled slowly and reached for the paper on the top of the pile. “This one looks pretty good.”
Jess took the paper from his hand, looked at it strangely before lifting his gaze up at him and back to the paper. “This one? Really? I didn’t really take you for a fixer-up type.”
For the first time, Andy took a peek at the house he’d chosen to see that it was a house built almost one hundred years ago that would require a complete remodel. Jess was right. He was not the remodel type. Between the new job and helping Kat with her list, Andy wasn’t going to have much free time at all .
And even if he did, the last thing he wanted to spend it on was ripping out old flooring and painting walls.
But Jess was watching him expectantly, so he smiled and shrugged as casually as he could. “Well, you never know. I might be up for the challenge.”
She laughed and shook her head before choosing a different paper from the pile. “What about this one? When I saw the listing, I thought of you immediately.”
He looked at the paper she’d chosen for him and smiled a little to himself. It was the listing for the apartment in the plaza close to Kat.
Was that a good thing? Or would the proximity turn out to be more temptation than he could handle when things between them finally ran their course?
The smile slipped from his face at the thought.
“No?”
Andy met the Realtor’s concerned eyes.
“I thought the convenience of this one might really suit you and?—”
“It does,” he interrupted her. “It’s just that…” He pretended to examine the paper. “It’s not big enough for what I’d like.”
It was a lie. The studio was more than big enough for what he needed.
“Well, maybe we could go take a look at this one?—”
“Uncle Andy!”
Andy spun around at the sound of the little girl’s voice, ready to greet Craig’s little girl Meri, but his eyes locked on someone else instead .
Kat.
Despite seeing her only a few hours earlier, Andy’s instinct was to jump up and greet her by pulling her into his arms. Instead, he swallowed hard and focused on the little girl who, in typical Meri style, was running full speed toward him. He stood, caught her easily in his arms, and swung her around before setting her down.
“Hey, kiddo. What are you up to?”
“I found Auntie Kat,” Meri said proudly. “She caught me spying on her.”
Behind her, still standing close to the doorway, Kat shrugged, but she wasn’t smiling. The expression on her face was unreadable.
“Hey, Jess.” Kat slowly walked toward them. “I didn’t know you two knew each other.”
Ah. That’s what it was. The expression on Kat’s face was jealousy.
He couldn’t help but grin, but the grin quickly fell away when Jess spoke up. “Andy and I are actually?—”
“On a date.” He looked quickly at Jess, who had not hid her shock well. She blinked a few times, and must have seen something in Andy’s expression that alerted her to the fact that he did not want Kat to see the real estate brochures.
Although, when he turned back to Kat and saw the look on her face, he realized that his backup story was far worse.
“I mean, it’s not a date date .” Even to his own ears, he sounded like an asshole. Could he not have come up with any better excuse? “It’s just that your sister really wanted me to… ”
Jess stopped him with a hand to his arm. “It was just a coffee.” She winked and quickly swept up the papers before Kat could see them. “I’ll give you a call.” She smiled at Kat. “It was nice to see you, Kat. I’ll need to book an appointment with you when your wrist is feeling better.”
“For sure. Give the shop a call, and the girls can book you in.” Kat lifted her bad hand that was out of the cast and now in a brace. “But I’ve actually taken some time off to deal with some family things, so if you can’t get in to see me, Carla and Alison are great.”
“Sounds good. Thanks.” Jess gave them each another wave and then she was gone.
“I’m gonna see if Dad will get us ice cream,” Meri declared. “Auntie Kat said we could have some.”
Andy tore his gaze away from Kat to look at the little girl. “Well, if Auntie Kat said so, I’m sure he won’t be able to say no.”
“That’s what I think.” Meri nodded smugly and took off running for the back room where Craig was working.
He knew they didn’t have long before Craig would join them, so Andy moved quickly to close the space between them. He knew it was risky, but he reached for her cheek and cupped it gently. “It wasn’t a date, Kat.”
“It’s fine if it was, Andy. We’re not together or anything. This is casual, remember? We agreed. Happy for right now.” She shook her head free from his touch.
He was really starting to hate those words. Still, she was right.
And he hated it.