Prologue #3
Because the way he was looking at her? It just…lit her up inside. For that moment, at least, the rumpled divorce decree she’d stuffed in her pocket didn’t matter at all.
They both turned and leaned back against the Bronco with maybe a foot or so of distance between them. He moved a fraction closer.
The sleeve of his jacket brushed hers. And then he said softly, “How about dinner, you and me? For old times’ sake…”
Suddenly, she felt downright audacious. And excited, too. She met his eyes directly. “Yes. I would like that.”
“Excellent.” He pulled out his phone and created a contact for her. When he passed it to her, she put in her number. And when she handed it back, he sent her a text.
Her phone chimed in her pocket. She pulled it out.
He’d written, I’ll be seeing you. Soon.
She grinned. “Got it.”
He tipped his hat and headed back up the street.
Kenzie drove home smiling, her earlier misery momentarily forgotten. No, she wasn’t thinking of rekindling an old flame. But she liked this new, grown-up Finn. He’d been kind and attentive. He’d brightened her spirits on an otherwise deeply depressing day.
And really, the past was just that—over and done.
They could certainly share a nice dinner together. Maybe even become friends.
Yeah, he was more compelling than ever. No doubt he’d broken a long string of tender hearts in the years since they’d parted ways.
But so what? She wouldn’t be falling for him again. Not a chance.
* * *
The minute Kenzie drove away, Finn started second-guessing his own actions.
He probably shouldn’t have asked for her number. What had happened in the past still haunted him. And the ink was barely dry on her divorce.
No. Getting something going again with Kenzie would not be wise…
However, in the next several days he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He grabbed his phone to reach out to her more than once…and then stuck the damn thing back in his pocket without following through.
Because she got to him. She always had. And now, he’d seen her again and he had to admit that he wanted to see her some more. He was just too damn interested in the girl he left behind and that was probably unwise.
He decided not to call. Instead, he worked a lot. Over the next week and a half, he closed three sales—a couple of ranchettes not too far from town and a bigger spread about fifty miles west of Tenacity. Business was booming. No doubt about it.
He also got a call from Barrett Deroy Jr. who had coached the local high-school football team last fall. Barrett talked him into getting together for a drink at the Tenacity Social Club.
When they got there, another town booster, Brent Woodson, was waiting for them.
The two men informed him that they wanted him to coach Tenacity High’s varsity football team next season.
“I think this group of kids has real potential,” Barrett said. “And with you stepping in as coach, big things can happen. You will give those boys the inspiration and training they need to make this season better than last year.”
“Plus,” added Brent, before Finn could gently say no, “you’re in real estate, am I right?”
“Yes, I am. But I—”
“It matters that you’re helping out in the community,” said Barrett. “Your clients will love you for stepping up to coach the team.”
“I really don’t think so.”
“But you will consider it, won’t you?” asked Brent.
What could he say but, “Sure. Let me think about it…”
For a week, he tried not to think about it. Just like he tried not to think about Kenzie.
It didn’t work. He thought about Kenzie a lot. And he thought about coaching the Titans, too.
Five days after Brent and Barrett took him out for that drink, he called Barrett and said yes.
Barrett laughed, “I knew you’d come through.” They talked football for an hour, right there on the phone. Barrett agreed to be Finn’s assistant coach.
It took him two more days to admit that he was acting like a total ass about Kenzie. He wanted to see her a lot—enough that it scared him. He’d been thinking that staying away would make thoughts of her fade. But that didn’t happen. He wanted to see her again and the wanting was not going away.
He started to text her. But a text just seemed weak—not to mention, nothing short of insulting. The least he could do was give her a chance to let his overdue call go to voicemail.
She picked up on the first ring. “Hello, Finn.”
Two words, hello and his name. From those two words, he knew everything. She sounded a million miles away and she was not glad to hear from him.
He considered faking it, making small talk, playing it light and easy. But they had loved each other once, even if they were barely more than kids at the time. She deserved honesty from him.
“I know I should have called sooner,” he said. “I wanted to call. Maybe too much. Truth is, it kind of freaks me out, how much I want to see you again.”
“It’s okay, Finn.” Her voice was kind now. But it was distant, too. “You did nothing wrong.”
He couldn’t read her. And this was not going as he’d hoped. He had to do something, so he went for it. “Are you free tomorrow night? Or Friday night? I could do Thursday, too. We could—”
“Finn,” she said, cutting him off. “Listen. It was good to see you that day at the Grizzly. But since then, I’ve had to take a long, hard look at…things.”
No doubt about it. This was going nowhere good. “What things?”
“Well, I have to be realistic. I just got divorced. I can’t be getting anything started right now. I really can’t.”
“And that’s fine.” It wasn’t fine. Not in the least. But he understood why she was turning him down.
They had a painful history together. That in itself would make a woman wary.
And now he’d waffled like a fool and taken too long to call her after implying that he would be getting right back in touch.
He didn’t blame her for not wanting to start in with him again.
Still, he gave it one more shot. “I mean, we can be friends, right?”
She sighed then. “Oh, Finn. I don’t think so.”
What could he say? “Well. Alright, then.” It wasn’t alright. But he did understand. He’d blown it, pure and simple.
“It’s just…” Her voice trailed off.
“Just what, Kenzie?” He kept his tone gentle.
“It’s a bad idea for us to get all buddy-buddy. And not because of what happened fifteen years ago.”
“Tell the truth,” he coaxed. “You’re pissed because I’m a jerk who took way too damn long to call.”
“No. Honestly, I’m not pissed at you, not at all.”
“So then, have dinner with me.”
Several painful seconds crawled by. Finally, she said, “I’m not ready to go out with any guy, not even for old times’ sake. Not even as friends. I need to…focus on myself right now. My life is changing and I can’t afford unnecessary complications.”
So now, he was both unnecessary and a complication? He really had blown it. He’d felt such a connection with her that day at the Grizzly.
But now what could he say? “Right. I’ll let you go then.”
“Finn, honestly, I—”
“Kenzie. It’s okay. You said no. And I get it.”
Dead silence on her end. And then, she said, “Of course. I understand. Take care of yourself.”
“You too,” he replied.
And that was it. She disconnected the call.
* * *
But Tenacity was a small town. He was bound to run into her now and then.
On a rainy day toward the end of May, he saw her at Tenacity Grocery. He glanced up from tossing a box of Raisin Bran into his cart and there she was coming his way.
He thought how pretty she looked in jeans, a white shirt and a hooded canvas jacket, with her long blond hair pulled back in a low ponytail. At the last minute, as the distance between their carts shrank to a couple of feet, he remembered to put on a smile.
She said, “Hello, Finn.”
“Kenzie.” He gave her a nod and kept moving forward.
The building was an old one, the aisles narrow enough that the wheels of their carts almost touched. He got a faint hint of her perfume—vanilla and oranges—and took special care not to look back at her once she had rolled on by.
A few weeks later, he spotted her having lunch with three other women in the Silver Spur Café. He’d come in to pick up a take-out order and saw her there by the window that looked out on Central Avenue. She was laughing at something Lauren Dalton, who taught science at the high school, had said.
He couldn’t stop himself from staring. As Kenzie threw back her head, her pale hair gleamed in the sunlight that streamed through the window behind her.
Her happy laughter captivated him. He made himself turn away so that she wouldn’t catch him watching her.
As luck would have it, his take-out order was right there waiting for him.
He grabbed it and got the hell out of there.
Then, in the first week of August, he came face-to-face with her at the high school, which he’d figured would happen eventually. They met up at the entrance that led directly into the administrative wing. He was going in and she was on her way out.
“Kenzie.” He tipped his hat as he held the door open for her to go through.
“Thank you, Finn.”
“You’re welcome.”
By then, she was already walking away. He just stood there holding the door wide open, staring at her retreating back as she strode purposefully along the front walkway, heading for the parking lot.
The sun made her hair into a waterfall of gold down her back.
She wore a filmy, light-as-air shirt with fluttery sleeves and a full skirt that fell to mid-calf.
Her boots were tooled with flowers. He watched her go and wished…
What the hell did it matter what he wished? She’d shut him down and he didn’t blame her for it. There was nothing to wish for.
And he really needed to remember that.