Our Kind of Love by Kait Nolan

Chapter 3

Kyle had no plan.

They’d driven hell for leather to get here, only to walk in and see her standing in the lobby with Howie Frick, one of the cretinous paparazzi who haunted the country music scene. He’d thought for sure he was already too late. But then Abbey had seen him, and her first reaction hadn’t been anger or hurt. She’d looked… happy to see him. After how things had ended between them, that was the last thing he’d expected. In that moment, kissing her had seemed like the smartest, most vital thing in the world.

He’d gone in prepared for her to push him away, maybe try to slap him. Her little purr of surrender wrecked all thoughts of giving Griff time to hustle Howie out the door. As she rose against him, pressing closer, Kyle forgot everything else but the woman in his arms—the one he’d dreamed about, sang of, and pined over for more than ten long years. The one who was undeniably kissing him back. Her mouth opened under his, and he swept deeper, desperate to fill the void in his chest with the taste of her. Why the hell hadn’t they been doing this every day for years? Nothing else mattered but that he never, ever let her go again.

The rapid-fire click of a camera shutter brought him back.

Camera. Paparazzi. Audience. Shit.

Lifting his head only far enough to speak, he growled one word. “Griff.”

“On it.”

“Hey! That’s my camera!”

“And this is private property.”

“It’s a public business!”

“Do we need to have another conversation about what is and is not appropriate behavior?”

Kyle didn’t need to look to know Griff was hauling the guy out. It wasn’t the first time.

He kept his eyes on Abbey’s face, his hands still woven into the silk of her hair. Her lips were pink and swollen from his, and the soft, stunned expression in her big, brown eyes was fading, replaced by… well, he didn’t know what, but they needed to get somewhere private fast before her brain kicked back online.

Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he hustled Abbey toward the nearest open room and shut the door behind them. The moment he did, she jerked away, whirling on him.

“What the actual hell?” This was the furious woman he’d been braced for.

“Keep your voice down.”

“Give me one good reason why.”

“You kissed me back.” Not exactly the kind of reason she was asking for, but it was the detail his brain was spotlighting.

She opened her mouth as if to refute him and then closed it again. Her cheeks suffused with color, and her hands curled into fists. “You’re engaged!” she hissed.

Christ, he hadn’t considered she could hear about part without hearing about the whole. He lifted his hands in peace. “To you!”

“To... What?” Profound shock replaced the fury.

Yeah, okay, she hadn’t expected that. Wishing he’d thought this through and that he had any blood flow to his brain, he struggled to find the words. “I can explain.”

“Talk. Fast.”

“I might have accidentally let it slip this morning during a live interview that we were engaged.”

Her brows climbed even further toward her hairline. “Might have?”

“Okay, I sort of did,” he conceded. Did the fact that it hadn’t been on purpose make it better or worse?

“Are you out of your mind?”

Someone knocked softly and opened the door. His foster sister, Pru, stepped inside. “I’m sorry to interrupt… whatever this is, but the elder care is on the phone, Abbey. They’ve been trying to reach you.”

She bolted from the room without a backward glance.

Pru crossed her arms and somehow managed to stare down her nose at him, despite being several inches shorter.

Kyle rubbed the back of his neck. “Hey, sis.”

“Don’t you ‘Hey, sis’ me. You stay away from home all these years and now you come into my place of business like this, doing—” She waved a finger toward the lobby. “—whatever the heck that was. You’ve got more than a little explaining to do.”

He’d seen all of them at their brother Caleb’s wedding last fall, but he understood that wasn’t enough. Not when he’d missed the family reunion and Joan’s funeral before that. “That’s completely fair. And I promise I will, but I need to talk to Abbey first.”

He started for the door, but Pru stepped into his path. “I hope you two sort things out. It’s way past overdue. But if you hurt her again, I’ll string you up myself.”

He wondered how much she knew. “Yes, ma’am.”

This time, she didn’t stop him when he moved past her. He stepped into the lobby just in time to see all the blood drain out of Abbey’s face.

“I’m on my way.” It took her two tries to get the phone hung up. She lifted huge, terrified eyes to him.

No, not to him. To Pru, who’d skirted around him.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

“Granddaddy had a fall and got hurt. They called an ambulance. He’s on his way to the hospital in Johnson City.”

Kyle’s own hands clenched with the need to do something… anything. This was a man who’d once treated him as family. Who’d taught him how to whittle wood. How to peel an apple in one long strip. He had to be okay.

“Oh my God. Go. We’ll cover everything here,” Pru insisted.

Abbey yanked open a drawer in the front desk and grabbed her purse. “Where the hell are my keys?” She pawed through it for several long moments.

When she made as if to upend the entire bag, Kyle moved in to stop her, laying his hands over hers. He could feel the tremors running through her. “I’ll drive.”

He knew it was bad when she didn’t even try to argue.

Griff came back inside. “Frick’s gone. Not sure for how long, but I think I bought you at least a few days with my creative threats of where I’d shove his camera if I saw his ugly mug here again.”

“Need keys.”

Without hesitation, Griff tossed them over.

Glancing back at Pru, he said, “I’ll explain later. Just… if anybody shows up asking about me… or Abbey, put them off and tell them nothing.”

Pressing a hand to Abbey’s lower back, he led her out to his SUV. As they stepped out the door, he could hear Pru. “Apparently, it’s the day for homecomings. Welcome back, Griffin.”

Griff would be fine. The family would take care of him while he did this. It’s what all of them who’d spent time at The Misfit Inn before it had been turned into a literal inn had been raised to do. The family you made stuck.

Abbey said nothing as they climbed into the Land Cruiser. Her breaths were quick and shallow, her hands knotted in white-knuckled fists in her lap as he headed for Johnson City.

“Why is Griff with you?”

“He finished his stint in the Marines a few months ago. I hired him as security on my tour.”

“Oh.”

They lapsed back into silence for a while. It wasn’t one of the easy silences they’d shared in their youth. It was full of emotional landmines, past and present, and Kyle hardly knew where to step.

“Do you need to call your folks?”

She pressed the heels of both hands to her eyes. “My parents just left for a ten-day cruise this morning. I sent them for their anniversary. I told them I could handle him on my own. And now…”

He hated the self-recrimination in her voice. “What’s going on with Granddaddy other than this fall?”

“He has dementia. We think it started after Grandma Ruth passed a few years ago. He has long stretches of good days, and because he’s worked the orchards his whole life, we missed the signs for a while. But eventually, we couldn’t deny what was happening. A couple years ago, he ran the tractor into the side of the barn because he forgot to set the brake. It was a miracle he wasn’t hurt and that nobody else was either. I moved home after that to help take care of him.”

This was all stuff Kyle should have known. These people had once been family. But, of course, no one had told him. Why would they? He’d screwed things up and hadn’t been a part of their lives. Not even enough for his sisters to keep him up to date. The guilt over that was a bitter taste in his mouth.

Before he could express his regrets—he had so damned many when it came to this woman—Abbey was speaking again.

“So… what is this whole engaged thing?”

He glanced over at her, glad to see a trace of color back in her cheeks. “We don’t have to talk about this right now.”

“You brought this to my doorstep, and it’s a distraction to keep me from freaking out right now. Why in the hell did you say we were engaged?”

“My manager and my label have been pressuring me to hook up with Mercy Lee Bradshaw for publicity purposes. There’s no amount of money or publicity on earth that would induce me to do that, so I figured I’d shut that shit down by announcing I was promised to someone else. I didn’t mean to mention your name, but I kinda got tricked into it. Combination of no sleep and a sneaky host.”

There went the eyebrow again, but she let that pass. “Why me?”

One corner of his mouth twitched into a smile. “I mean, technically, you’re the only woman I’ve ever been engaged to.”

“We were six.”

“I still meant it.”

On a disbelieving snort, she turned to look out the window. “Maybe you did back then.”

“Abbey, I—”

“No.” The single word stopped him more effectively than a slap.

Right. This was not about fixing things between them. This was about distraction from whatever was waiting for her at the hospital.

“I didn’t mean to dump this on you.”

“It’s your mess. You can clean it up. Issue a retraction or… whatever.”

The idea had a fresh spate of panic bursting through him. He didn’t want to announce it had been a lie. For better or worse, she was talking to him right now for the first time in forever. If he could keep it that way, maybe he could prove to her he wasn’t who she thought he’d become.

“It’s not that simple.”

“Sure it is. You open your mouth to say that you didn’t mean it or the host misinterpreted or whatever. Then you go back to your life, and I go back to mine.”

“That isn’t going to stop the paparazzi from harassing you.”

“I’m nobody. None of them are going to care about me.”

“Unfortunately, yeah they will, because of me.”

“Then I’ll set them straight.”

“The gossip rags likely already have their teeth in this. They’re going to run with whatever story they think plays best. You won’t get left alone if I just publicly announce ‘Oops, my bad.’”

“So, what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know yet. My top priority was getting here to tell you before someone else had the chance. I’ll get my publicist on it.” Deanna was probably going on the growing list of people who wanted to kosh him over the head with a blunt instrument. She and Abbey would get along great.

He pulled up to the doors of the Emergency Department with no little relief. “Right now, the only thing that matters is Granddaddy. Go on in. Find out what’s going on. I’ll park and come find you.”

Abbey slid out of the front seat, shooting him a confused glance. “Thanks for driving me.” She hesitated, one hand on the door. “This doesn’t mean you’re forgiven.”

“I didn’t think it would.”

But as she shut the door and strode into the hospital, he wondered if his big fat mouth might have just given him the perfect excuse to get close enough to her to earn that forgiveness.

* * *

“The good news:Nothing’s broken. You’re incredibly lucky, Mr. Whittaker.”

Abbey let go of the breath she’d been holding since the doctor, a studious-looking black man in wire-framed glasses, came back to their little curtained-off exam room. That was one prayer answered.

“The bad news: You’ve rolled your ankle badly. The inflammation is pretty nasty, and you’ll be unstable on your feet for a while. You’re going to need to keep off it. Elevation, ice, crutches. Do you have someone who can stay with you to help out?”

“I live with him. I’ll be there,” Abbey interjected.

“There’s no need for that. You’ve got work.”

“Mr. Whittaker, you might not be so lucky with another fall,” Dr. Johnson warned. “And at your age and condition, a broken hip or a head injury could be—well, let’s not go there, shall we?”

Abbey heard what he didn’t say. Another fall could lead to an injury that would be a death sentence. Granddaddy didn’t understand his own fragility as a dementia patient, but she did. The next ten days without her parents just gotten infinitely more complicated. “We’ll work everything out.” She didn’t know how, but right now she couldn’t think past getting home.

That was when she remembered she hadn’t driven herself. Kyle had brought her. It said a lot about how worried she’d been that she’d managed to block out that detail for the last few hours. Was he still here? Maybe he called back to the inn and traded off with… someone else. She could hope. She didn’t know how she was going to handle the ride all the way back to Eden’s Ridge. If she wasn’t driving, she’d have time to think, and that was a dangerous proposition.

It was, of course, Kyle himself who rose from a seat in the Emergency Department waiting room, when they emerged from the back. Much as she’d painted him with a villain’s brush over the past ten years, she’d known he wouldn’t just leave her with no way to get home. He’d seemed just as concerned about Granddaddy as she was on the drive over.

“Everything all right?” He’d donned a baseball cap and some Clark Kent glasses that almost made her smile at the cheesiness.

“Bunch of fuss for nothin’,” Granddaddy insisted from his wheelchair. “Just a sprain. I could’ve walked it off.”

Kyle eyed the crutches Abbey carried. “Doesn’t look like you’re gonna be walking for a little while, either way.”

Granddaddy crossed his arms and scowled. “Well, I suppose you’ll get extra time on the tractor this week. But don’t you let it interfere with your schoolwork, Kyle.”

Of course, he’d recognize Kyle after all these years. It seemed he was also stuck in the amber of high school, as she so often was for her grandfather.

Kyle’s sharp blue gaze flicked to her and back to Granddaddy. “No, sir.”

When he lagged a few steps, Abbey dropped back herself. “He slips in and out of the past. Sometimes he thinks I’m still in high school. Sometimes he thinks I’m Grandma Ruth. We try to humor him as much as possible because arguing about when it is or who we are just upsets him. Most of the time, he comes out of it on his own.”

Kyle nodded once, shoving the glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Abbey couldn’t quite hold back a smirk. “Does that getup actually work as a disguise?”

One corner of his mouth lifted in a rueful smile. “You’d be surprised.”

They trailed the nurse to the entrance, and Abbey waited with her grandfather until Kyle brought the Land Cruiser around. They got him settled in the backseat, with his ankle propped up. After a brief stop at a drive-thru for fast-food burgers, they headed toward home. She fought not to stare as the two of them slid into easy conversation, like it hadn’t been years since they’d seen each other.

When it became readily apparent her contribution wasn’t needed, Abbey blew out a breath and relaxed for the first time since she’d gotten the call. For all intents and purposes, her grandfather was okay. His injury wasn’t life threatening. It hadn’t required surgery or an overnight stay in the hospital. And that was good. She already wasn’t sure how much the ambulance ride was going to set them back. But an overnight would have required she contact her parents, and she didn’t want to ruin their trip. More, she didn’t want to be proved incapable when she’d insisted he’d be fine with her. They were out of port by now, so she had to make this work.

She’d need to cancel appointments for at least the next couple of days. She couldn’t possibly ask Pru to let her bring him to work at the spa. It wasn’t everybody else’s responsibility to keep an eye on him to make sure he stayed off that foot. The medical costs, on top of the chunk she’d dropped to pay for the cruise, was going to hurt. But she’d do what needed doing. For now, the focus had to be on what was right in front of her.

She began mulling over what accommodations needed to be made for his current condition. They’d been talking about converting the downstairs study into a bedroom for him for a while, as his balance had gotten to be more of an issue. No way did she want him trying to manage stairs on crutches. So that would need to be flipped.

“It’s gotta be the ’65,” Granddaddy insisted.

“It’s a sexy car, I admit. But the ’69 and ’70 is where it’s at. Speed, class, and that engine, man. You can’t beat it.”

This man chatting with her grandfather so much resembled the boy she’d loved and not what she was expecting. Abbey shook her head in silent denial as the bitterness washed through her. How the hell did she get here, being chauffeured from the hospital by her best friend turned enemy? A man she’d done her best to despise. To forget. A man she’d kissed as she did in the dreams she admitted to only in the dark of night. Abbey’s cheeks heated at the memory. So did the rest of her. Thank God the sun had long gone down so no one could see.

In all her thousands of imagined scenarios for when she saw him again, she’d never imagined any of this. There’d been groveling. Serenading. Heart-felt confessions. A great many of those situations had ended with a slap because, even ten years on, she couldn’t forgive him for the things he’d said.

God, how could she have kissed him back? The truth was, as many years as she’d been harboring the hurt, she still wanted him, and her inner teen girl, who’d been in love with her best friend since time immemorial, had flat-out swooned because she’d wanted his kiss for years. But not as some kind of act. Not as a cover story. She’d wanted him to want her. To choose her.

He hadn’t, when it mattered. And now he’d gone and announced they were engaged in a live interview. She still couldn’t quite believe he’d done that. But that paparazzi guy had showed up at the spa, and what else would have dragged Kyle home after all these years? She didn’t think he’d lied about saying it. It would be too easy to verify, which she should probably do to see what had been said.

Why her? What did it say that hers was the name he blurted out on impulse? That he’d been thinking of her? Of that silly ring and that day in the orchard?

The whole thing gave her a headache. It would have to be sorted out tomorrow.

Kyle drove them straight home. Probably for the best. She didn’t think it would be easy to get Granddaddy transferred from the SUV to her little car. The fewer unnecessary moves, the better.

He tried to get out on his own as soon as they rolled to a stop.

“Wait, wait. Let me get your crutches.” Abbey leapt out.

“I don’t need any damned crutches,” Granddaddy insisted.

“How about using me for one?” Kyle suggested, ducking under his arm. “It’ll make the womenfolk happy.”

“Well, all right then.”

Abbey pressed her lips together to keep from commenting as she trailed them up the porch steps and into the house. Kyle got him settled in the recliner in the den.

“There. You’re the official king of the castle in that chair. And your humble servant will get you some ice.” He sketched a bow and turned toward the kitchen.

Abbey stared after him, dumbstruck at his ability to just walk in here like it hadn’t been years. She heard the freezer door. A minute later he came back with a bag of frozen peas and a kitchen towel.

“I expect we can sacrifice some peas in the name of an ice pack. This should mold to your ankle a little better.” Gently, he settled the peas in place.

“Thanks, son.”

Kyle straightened and caught her still staring. He handed Granddaddy the remote and jerked his head toward the kitchen. “Talk to you for a minute?”

Because she couldn’t think what else to do, she trailed him out of the room.

In the kitchen, he turned, eyes searching her face. “You okay, Abs?”

No. She was not anywhere in the vicinity of okay. She didn’t know how to handle being here, in this house, with Kyle. Just below the surface, emotions were set to hit a rolling boil, and she didn’t know what would happen when they spilled over.

But she wasn’t about to tell him that. “I was just trying to figure out the logistics of how we’re going to get my car. I can’t leave Granddaddy alone to go get it.”

“I’ll drive you to get it when we get up in the morning.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m staying to help. With your folks gone, I expect you could use a hand.”

She absolutely could. But not him.

Keeping her voice low, she prowled toward him. “You’ve been out of my life for years, and now you’re just sliding in and acting like everything hasn’t changed?”

He sucked in a breath, and she thought he might’ve been counting to ten. “Look, I brought a mess and more stress to your doorstep. The least I can do is help you out with this. You can argue with me about it tomorrow after you’ve had some sleep, and we’re sure everything is copacetic with Granddaddy. I’m guessing we need to do some kind of switcharoo with furniture so he can sleep down here tonight?”

She could keep arguing. But it didn’t change the fact that he was right. She couldn’t move the bed on her own, and she didn’t want Granddaddy’s old bones to suffer on the fold-out in the living room.

“Fine. You can stay the night, and we’ll sort out the rest in the morning.”

“All right. Let’s go move a bed.” He started toward the stairs.

“Kyle.”

When he turned back, a question on his face, Abbey pressed her lips together for a long moment. “Thank you for being here today.”

Something that might’ve been pain flashed in his eyes before he dropped his gaze in a nod. Without another word, he trotted up the stairs.

Sucking in a bracing breath, she followed.