Pulling into the parking space, she regarded her reflection in the rearview mirror with an air of resoluteness.
She was going to be tougher. Grow a thicker skin.
Never mind the fact that an emotional slipup would cost them everything with the ongoing investigation.
Them. Kenna almost laughed but her throat already stung from suppressing tears and she thought it was unwise. Why did she care what happened to him? She should’ve been more concerned with protecting herself.
The suppression swelled within until, all at once, the emotion unleashed itself in a violent burst. She banged the heel of her palm against the steering wheel and pain soon blazed through her forearm.
“Damn my love for him.” Softer, she cursed, “damn it all to Hell.”
Following a moment of quiet composure, she summoned enough energy to get out of the station wagon. As she climbed the wooden stairs, she thought only of what would ease her mind and body after the day’s troubling developments. A hot shower, the blissful cocoon of her down comforter. Solitude, above all.
But as Kenna neared the front door, self-care was rendered the least of her concerns.
Fingers trembling, she snatched the neon orange notice posted below the peephole. It felt like a sick practical joke. She read the paper but the details didn’t make it any more real. Still, she must have registered its significance because the tears that she’d so valiantly restrained rushed forth as she sank to the welcome mat, crumpling the paper in a clenched fist.
Her eviction notice.
33
TAKE MY HAND
He sat in the back corner booth at Sinclair’s, the same one he and Kenna had occupied the night their relationship truly began. He’d been breathing a little easier since Detective Reynolds crawled back to Portland with an unsolved investigation hanging over his head.
Not tonight.
His breathing was far from normal and his nerves were off the charts as he sweated against the vinyl, waiting for Kenna to show up. The ring box strained in his pocket and, for that reason, Dayton had already decided against standing to greet her and prayed she didn’t take offense to the abnormal behavior.
Some of his anxiety quelled as she approached. Her hair hung wet and limp around her face. She hadn’t dressed up for the occasion, clad in her usual jeans and blouse. He reminded himself that she wasn’t aware of any occasion.
For her, it was an ordinary day.
Kenna didn’t seem to mind his lack of greeting, offering a terse smile as she took her seat. Her waterlines were pink and swollen. She grabbed the wine list, oblivious that he had already ordered the same bottle they’d shared during their previous visit.
“Is everything alright?”
“Rough night.” Her eyes cut to him. “I’d rather not talk about it.”
The waiter brought the wine and uncorked it tableside. Dayton resented the fact that she carefully spied the inside of her glass before she let him fill it.
She studied him while taking a prolonged sip, seeming to note his meticulous appearance. He wore the dress shoes he had bought for Nathan’s wedding the year before. He’d even gelled his hair, something he had not done since his residency graduation.
“You’re wearing a tie?” Her voice climbed higher on the last syllable as amusement danced across her face.
“I’ll confess, I didn’t ask you here solely for dinner.”
The playfulness vanished. Confusion wove her mouth into a frown and drew her eyebrows together.
“My darling.” He seized her hand across the table, intertwining their fingers, and she looked at it as if it were severed and bleeding all over the tablecloth. “You are the single most important thing in my life, and loving you has given me a light that’s always been absent.”
Quiet fell over the room as other diners took interest in their romantic scene. Dayton rose, removed the ring box from his pocket and kneeled on the floor in front of her.
He opened it and Kenna turned white as a ghost.
There were no tears building in her eyes, no hand flying to her mouth in surprise. He went on anyway.
“Kenna Aisling O’Callaghan, will you marry me?”