There’s a link to some kind of resort. I don’t bother to open the link, knowing that with my mother, what’s done is done. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission and all that.
My shoulders slump and I sigh.
“Oh no. Did he know something?”
I whip around at the sound of Kenzie’s voice. I didn’t even hear her approach.
“Where were you?”
She thumbs behind her. “Mrs. Hoffmeister called and asked if I could run to the corner store to grab her some smokes. Sorry, thought I’d be back before you.”
I step back so she can unlock the door, and I follow her inside.
“So did he know anything?” she asks as soon as the door closes behind me. I’d told her about my meet-up with her brother and that I was concerned about what he might want to talk about.
“No, he asked me to be his best man.”
She beams. “That’s great.” Her smile drops. “That doesn’t explain why you looked so miserable out in the hallway though. What’s going on?”
I step past her and push a hand through my hair. “My parents are coming to visit.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
I turn to face her. “Not completely, no. We get along fine, it’s just… it’s complicated.”
She frowns. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not especially, no.”
Kenzie wraps her arms around my neck. “Do you guys not get along?”
“Like I said, it’s complicated. And they want to meet in upstate New York at some resort. Which means an entire weekend together.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
My eyes widen. “You’d do that?”
She lifts one shoulder. “I mean, you did have to suffer through a Thanksgiving meal with my parents where I ran off angry, so I suppose I could.”
Having Kenzie there will definitely make things more bearable, and it might even keep my parents off my back.
“Wait. It’s next weekend though. Saturday is your birthday. You should be here, celebrating with Tessa and your brother and whoever else.”
She waves me off. “Andrew Wainwright, if you haven’t figured out that there’s no one I’d rather hang out with on my birthday than you, I don’t know what to do with you. Besides, it’s my twenty-eighth birthday, not a milestone or anything.”
I press my lips to hers. This woman is phenomenal.
Our kiss deepens until I pull back, because I haven’t actually answered her yet. “I’d love it if you came with me, thank you.”
“Just remember you said that the next time you have to spend a few hours with my parents and they start fighting.”
I like the way she talks as though it’s inevitable that will be a reality. It means she sees us having a future, right?
ChapterTwenty-Four
Kenzie
The week leading up to my weekend away with Andrew goes by in a flash. We don’t have much time to see each other because we’re both slammed with work, trying to get it wrapped up before we leave Friday at lunch.