Finding Home Again

CHAPTER FIVE

“MORNING, KAEGAN.”

Kaegan turned when Ray walked into the office. “Morning, Ray. What are you doing here so early? I take it your in-laws are still in town.”

“Yes, they’re still here.”

He’d gotten a call from Ray last night offering to do the audit this morning. Claimed doing so kept his mind sharp. “When will they be leaving?”

“Not soon enough. At least my father-in-law is handling his wife better than I remember. But she’s still a pain in the ass. She told us yesterday that she doesn’t like the names we’ve chosen for the twins. Like we give a royal damn.”

Kaegan chuckled and then headed toward his office.

“By the way, I heard Bryce left town today.”

Kaegan paused and then turned around, wondering why Ray thought he would care. “Did she?”

“Yes.”

“And how do you know that?”

“She wasn’t at the café this morning.”

Kaegan didn’t say anything. He’d deliberately stayed away from the café this week as much as he could. At least until he could figure out why he was hell-bent on lusting after the woman who’d betrayed him. “And?”

“And I asked Mrs. Witherspoon where she was, in case she was sick or something. She assured me Bryce was okay.”

Kaegan nodded. “That’s nice.” And because he figured Ray would know, he asked, “So where did she go?”

“To California to attend a wedding. Some guy she went to college with who also grew up in this town. I understand his parents used to own a pharmacy here.”

Kaegan almost choked on his coffee.

“Hey, man, you okay over there?” Ray asked with concern.

“Yes, I’m okay.”

He placed the coffee cup down, not believing what Ray had said. Samuel Abbott, the guy she’d betrayed him with, was getting married and she’d gone to the wedding? He’d heard the Abbotts had moved to California. Bryce and Samuel must have remained pretty good friends after they split. He was suddenly filled with anger at the mere thought. “When is she coming back?”

Ray glanced over at him. He must have heard the anger in his voice. “Why do you want to know, Kaegan?”

Kaegan met his gaze. “So now you want to get quiet on me?”

Ray shook his head. “No, I want to know why you want to know when Bryce is coming back. Especially with the tone of your voice. And please choose your words carefully.”

Kaegan rolled his eyes. “I guess the next thing you’ll be saying is that you intend to beat the crap out of me if I don’t.”

Ray nodded. “That thought has crossed my mind a number of times, to do just that when I see how you handle Bryce, but Sawyer wouldn’t let me.”

“Whatever.” Kaegan leaned against a desk. “So are you going to tell me or not?” This time he tried asking in a calmer voice.

“I guess I will. She’s coming back Monday, sometime before noon.”

Kaegan nodded as he took another sip of his coffee, satisfied he had the information he wanted. He intended to see Bryce for himself on Monday. There was one question he had to ask and then for him there would finally be closure with her. He’d always wondered why she and Samuel Abbott broke up all those years ago.

“Bryce is a wonderful woman. Not sure what problems the two of you had to break up, but I hope they can get worked out,” Ray said, breaking into Kaegan’s thoughts.

“Nothing can get worked out between me and Bryce. It would take a miracle,” Kaegan said. Then he tossed his empty coffee cup into the trash can.

Ray shrugged. “Considering how close I came to death that time and what has happened in my life the four years since, I happen to believe in miracles, Kaegan. Maybe you should, too.”

BRYCE SAW KAEGAN the minute he walked into her parents’ restaurant. Automatically, he zeroed in on the area where she stood and their gazes connected. Why today, of all days, did he have to come into the café for dinner? A late dinner at that. She had arrived back in town earlier that day and had told her parents she would pitch in this evening.

The restaurant would be closing in an hour, and since things had gotten slow and she hadn’t expected many more customers, she had convinced her parents to go home and that she and her brothers would close the restaurant. Since her folks had been there since four that morning, they’d quickly taken her up on her offer. Her brothers were in the back, and since Kaegan was her only customer, that meant they were virtually alone.

She hadn’t seen him for a while. Not since that day he’d made those deliveries to Shelby by the Sea. He had not come to the café and she’d refused to ask Sawyer or Ray about him.

Pasting a smile on her face, she said, “Evening, Kaegan. Any particular place you’d like to sit?”

“I’ll grab that table by the window.”

She nodded. That was where he normally sat whenever he came in alone. No need to remember even when they were in high school that he would sit there to wait for her to leave the restaurant so he could walk her home at night. “And what would you like to drink?” she asked, walking over to the table to put down a place mat and eating utensils.

“A cold beer would be nice.”

“One cold beer coming up. Here’s the menu,” she said and made a move to walk off.

“I don’t need a menu. I talked to your mom earlier when I dropped by for lunch. She promised to put aside some of her lobster stew and corn bread for me.”

“My parents have gone for tonight, but I’ll see if Mom mentioned anything about it to my brothers,” she said before walking off.

Her mother had indeed told Duke and Ry about it. After getting Kaegan a beer, she went behind the counter to wait for Duke to get the meal together. As she wiped down the counter she could feel Kaegan’s gaze on her, but refused to say anything to him or look his way.

Why did he have to look so darn good today? Of all days? Being at Samuel’s wedding and seeing how happy he was had made her wonder if there was a man somewhere out there for her. She hoped so because she definitely wasn’t getting any younger. She was thirty-two and never had a ring on her finger. And she did want kids one day. She loved her nieces and nephews but they were just that—her nieces and nephews. She wanted to have children of her own.

A pain settled in her chest when she recalled how she would often lie in bed and visualize how her kids would look. They were kids she thought she’d have one day with Kaegan. They would take on more of his prominent features. Her son would be strikingly handsome and her daughter would be eye-catchingly gorgeous. They would have their father’s long silky black hair and that hawkish nose that she used to love rubbing hers against. Her son would grow up with his father’s rugged good looks, chiseled jaw and those dreamy dark eyes. She would have to work hard to keep the girls from him.

Duke rang the bell for her to pick up the food. She carried the dishes over to where Kaegan sat watching her with those dark eyes. Why did he still have to be, after all these years, the work of impossible male beauty? She knew then that she needed to meet someone and get involved real quick-like. She didn’t do casual sex but her vibrator had seen its useful days. She hadn’t shared a bed with anyone since Marcel and that was close to four years ago.

Kaegan didn’t say anything when she placed the food in front of him on the table. She was about to walk off when he said, “You’re usually not here on Monday nights, Bryce.”

How would he know that? And why did he have to say her name in that deep, husky voice that could still send shivers of desire down her spine? “You’re right—usually I’m not. I was away this weekend, so I thought I’d pitch in so the folks could leave early.”

He nodded. “Today your mom mentioned that you’ll be taking a six-week class at a university in New Orleans.”

She wondered why he was holding a conversation with her when all those other times he’d come into the café he’d acted like he could barely tolerate her presence. “Yes, that’s right. I’m taking the class so I can become a licensed Realtor in other states. Very few people are leaving the cove and selling their homes, so I need to expand my horizons if I want to continue to make money.” She wondered why she’d told him all that. It wasn’t like he was interested in knowing any of it. “I’ll let you get to your meal now.”

Bryce walked away, and like before, she could feel his gaze on her. She wondered if, like her, he was remembering how things used to be between them. Every time she saw him, she was reminded of how close they used to be. How incredibly close, both in and out of bed. Each time she looked into his face, studied his lips, she couldn’t help but remember how he’d taught her to kiss that first time and all the times after that, and just how much she enjoyed doing so. Kaegan had taught her a lot of things that she’d rather not think about now.

Bryce decided to wipe down the counter and restock supplies so her parents would have less to do in the morning. Anything to keep her concentration elsewhere and not on Kaegan. She moved from table to table, filling up the napkin dispensers and straw holders. Afterward, she wiped off the laminated menus and placed them back in the rack. When she saw Kaegan’s beer had gotten low, she asked, “Would you like a refill?”

He glanced over at her, as if considering her words. Instead of giving her an answer, he asked one of his own. “Why did you and Samuel Abbott break up, Bryce?”

His question was like a blow to her stomach. She actually felt the sharp pain, which was why her hand suddenly covered the lower part of her abdomen. Honestly, she wasn’t ready for this. In a flash, anger replaced the pain and she had a mind to go get that pitcher of beer off the counter and pour it on his head. But why waste good beer over a brutal hard head? The one still filled with untruths about her.

She crossed the room and stood beside his table with her hands on her hips. “I’m going to tell you the same thing I tried telling you ten years ago,” she said, trying to hold back her anger and failing miserably. “There was never anything going on between me and Samuel Abbott. It was lies your father made up. Lies you chose to believe.”

His jaw tightened and his dark eyes flared. “I saw the two of you together, Bryce. He was leaving your house at two in the morning. The two of you were hugging on your front porch. Do you deny that?”

She tossed her hair back from her face. “No, I don’t deny it. It was a friendly hug that you tried making into something dirty.”

“I tried making into something dirty?” he said, as if incensed with what she’d said. “Don’t you dare blame me for what you did to us.”

Bracing her hands on the table, she leaned in closer, almost right in his face. If he wanted a good fight, she would give him one. “I am blaming you, Kaegan, for not believing in me when you should have. For your lack of trust in me. I’m also blaming you for sleeping with another woman to spite me when you thought I had wronged you.”

She drew in a deep breath and backed away from him, trying to get her anger under control, but she couldn’t. “And as far as Samuel is concerned, he’s living in California and I went to his wedding this weekend.”

“So I heard.”

Had her mother told him that, too? Was that the reason he’d asked why she and Samuel had broken up? “It was a beautiful wedding.”

“Must have been pretty damn awful for you to be at the wedding. Seeing the man you once loved marry someone else,” he sneered.

She lifted her chin. “No, it wasn’t awful at all. In fact, I am very happy for him. Samuel deserves to be happy and I believe Matthew will make him extremely happy.”

“Matthew?” he asked, as if to make sure he’d heard her right.

“Yes, Matthew. The reason Samuel and I spent so much time together is because he needed a friend. He was having a hard time coming to terms with his sexuality. Since we both attended Grambling, whenever he came home he would offer me a ride back here. And he was in a number of my study groups on campus. That’s when we became close and he would confide in me.”

Kaegan glared at her. “You should have told me.”

“And you should have trusted me,” she snapped, glaring back. “That night when you thought you saw us in some kind of passionate embrace, I was giving Samuel a hug of encouragement because he’d made the decision to tell his parents the truth. He was tired of living the lie he had lived all his life and wanted to come out. And before you say I should have told you that, too, I tried telling you after I got that call from you, ending things between us. Just think of how different things would have been had you listened to me. Instead, you hung up on me and then blocked my number so I couldn’t call you back.”

She drew in a deep breath, remembering that day like it was yesterday. “But I didn’t let that stop me, Kaegan. I was determined that you knew the truth. I used every penny I had to buy a bus ticket, and I rode that bus for eighteen hours all the way from college to see you. And what did you do? Instead of listening to what I had to say, you treated me like shit in front of some brazen hussy.”

“Bryce, I—I’m sorry—”

Without saying anything else, she crossed the room and headed straight for the kitchen, ignoring Kaegan calling out to her. Duke and Ry looked up when she walked into the kitchen and snatched off her apron.

“Kaegan’s still here but that’s it for me tonight,” she said, refusing to let her tears fall. “I’m done here and going home.” She grabbed her purse out of one of the cabinets, walked out the back door, got in her car and drove off.

KAEGAN SAT STUNNED at Bryce’s words. And then, like he’d been stung by something, he bolted out of the booth and charged into the kitchen. He looked at Bryce’s brothers, who both stared at him. “Where’s Bryce?” he asked them.

Ry answered in an angry voice, “She just got in her car and left, obviously upset, Kaegan. What’s going on? What the hell did you do to her?”

Kaegan wanted to go after her but knew that wouldn’t be a good idea. Not tonight, anyway. He had a lot to think about. A lot to take in. What she’d just told him had shocked the hell out of him. It had been like an enormous kick in his gut. How could he have been so stupid? So fucking stupid? How could he have been so wrong about her? For ten fucking years he had believed the worst about her and he’d been wrong. So damn wrong, and she was right. He only had himself to blame. He’d been more than stupid, more than a moron, worse than an ass...

“Kaegan? Dammit, what did you do to Bryce?” Duke asked, raising an angry voice.

Bryce’s brothers had every right to be angry, but this was between him and their sister. “Bryce and I had an argument.” And that was all he intended to tell them about it.

“I left the money for my dinner and beer on the table.” Then he turned and walked out of the kitchen and left the café, feeling at the lowest point he’d ever felt in his entire life. He felt sick. His guts felt twisted with remorse. He had a feeling Bryce would never forgive him for what he did, and at that moment he doubted if he would ever forgive himself.

CHAPTER SIX

“HEY, BRYCE. WHAT’S UP?”

Bryce adjusted her cell phone in her hand as she sat down at her kitchen table. She was still trembling, inside and out. “It’s about Kaegan, Vash.”

“Kaegan? What about Kaegan?”

Bryce sighed deeply. “He knows the truth about Samuel.”

“How did he find out?”

Bryce closed her eyes and fought back more tears. Why was she still crying? Why was she crying at all? Hadn’t she sworn years ago she wouldn’t shed any more tears for Kaegan Chambray? That he didn’t deserve them? “Kaegan came into the café for dinner and I waited on his table. When he asked why Samuel and I had broken up, in anger I blurted about Samuel and Matthew and their wedding this weekend before I could stop myself.”

She heard Vashti’s sharp intake of breath. “So now the entire town knows about Samuel, as well as knowing why you and Kaegan broke up?”

“No, Kaegan and I were the only ones in the restaurant. It was late, near closing time. My brothers were in the kitchen, but they didn’t hear anything, either.”

“I bet he feels bad about how he’s been treating you all these years. Did he apologize?”

“Good, let him feel bad. All he had to do was listen to me ten years ago. I tried telling him about Samuel then, but he refused to listen. Instead he wanted to lash out at me. Break my heart with another woman to my face. He succeeded, Vash. And as far as apologizing, I didn’t want to hear his apology.”

Bryce paused a moment and then added, “As my friend, I’m going to ask that you don’t try to change my mind about how I feel about him. I respected your wishes years ago about your baby’s father, and I’m asking you to respect mine now about Kaegan.”

Vashti didn’t respond for a long moment, and then she said, “Okay, Bryce, I will respect your wishes. Do you want me to come over? I could bring some ice cream.”

“Thanks, but I just want to be alone right now. I’ll talk to you later. Love you. ’Bye.” She clicked off the phone. Before she could put down the phone and go into the bathroom for her shower, both Ry and Duke called. She assured them she was fine but told them she wouldn’t be coming into the café tomorrow morning as usual. Although Kaegan hadn’t come into the café any mornings last week, she couldn’t risk seeing him.

She needed time to pull herself together before she saw him again. That was the only way she could move on with her life and one day find a man whom she could love and who would love her in return just as much.

“I WONDER IF Bryce didn’t get back yesterday as planned,” Ray commented when another waitress filled their order.

“She got back,” Kaegan said, staring into his coffee. He had arrived at the café early that morning after a sleepless night, only to find out from Mr. Witherspoon that Bryce had decided not to come in that day because she had a lot of things to do. A part of him knew that was just an excuse. She was avoiding him, and he’d been hoping to do just the opposite with her. He had wanted to see her. Apologize again.

More than once last night, he’d been tempted to get out of bed and drive over to her place to see her. But each time he would talk himself out of it when he remembered the look on her face when she’d said, “Don’t you dare blame me for our breakup. You can only blame yourself for not believing in me...”

Again, he could only ask himself how he could have been so fucking stupid. He had spent all those years wanting to hate her. Despise her. Believing she had betrayed him, and as a result, he’d thought all sorts of mean things about her when she’d been innocent of all of it. Totally innocent. Instead she’d been being Bryce. The person who was always a champion for the underdog, the girl who would give you the shirt off her back, a person who was that friend when you needed one.