Page 57 of Faking Forever
The driveandthe meal had been conducted in total silence. And Kenny had fully expected him to just drop her at the front door and leave. Or, at the very least, wait outside.
Instead he had trailed after them in sulky silence. Clearly he wasn’t missing a single flawed detail of the house as he dragged fingers over chipped and broken surfaces, checked light fixtures, glowered at the grubby linoleum floor, and squinted at the loose hinges on the bathroom door.
“I’ll take it,” Kenny told Tina, ignoring Smith’s statement, and folding her arms over her chest as she met his incredulous stare with a defiant tilt of her chin.
“It’s not that bad,” Tina murmured, as they stepped out on the porch which had a pretty decent panoramic view of the town and the ocean glittering just beyond it from where it was situated on a hill. “You get some pretty spectacular sunrises.”
The last was said with a fond smile, which Kenny gathered meant the other woman was quite familiar with the sunrises from this very porch.
“I stayed in this house when I first moved to Riversend,” she said, confirming Kenny’s suspicion. “It’s not ideal, but it’s a roof and four walls.”
“Oh no, it’s perfect,” Kenny said with a smile, as she drank in the lovely view. She pictured sitting out here on warm evenings, a glass of wine in one hand, her e-book reader in the other.
Bliss.
She truly needed that kind of peace in her life right now. And not even the relative proximity to her soon-to-be ex-husband was going to ruin that for her.
He sound he made in response to her last statement was derisive and dismissive.
Kenny ignored the rude noise and smiled at Tina.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice throbbed with sincerity. “I truly appreciate this.”
“I’m happy to help. Believe it or not, the house next door is in worse shape,” Tina said. She was referring to the other half of the semi-detached house. The two small houses shared the long, wide porch.
“Harris and Greyson shared that one for a little while,” Tina continued with a laugh. “You’ve never heard so much whinging about ‘substandard living conditions’ from grown men. They’re such spoiled brats.”
Kenny shared a smile with her and her gaze skimmed over the horizon again.
“It’s so peaceful up here,” she whispered reverently. “When can I move in?”
“Mr. Dickens, the landlord, said that if you’re not fussed about having it cleaned beforehand, you could move in today or tomorrow.”
“I can clean it.”
“How the hell do you propose to do that with an injury?” Smith’s reality check was not welcome, and she slanted him a quick look. She’d assiduously avoided looking at him too long all morning.
“Really,reallyslowly,” she replied with only a hint of flippancy.
Tina giggled and then slapped her hand over her mouth when her brother leveled his unimpressed stare on her.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Smith said, after staring at Tina a beat longer. He refocused that cool gaze on Kenny. “I mean, would you even know one end of a mop from the other?”
“Hmm, thatisa head scratcher. The pointy end goes up, right?”
Another irreverent giggle from Tina and this time she met her brother’s glare with a shrug.
“Sorry,” Tina chuckled. “You never told me she was so funny.”
“I’ll be fine, Smith.” Kenny lost track of how many times she’d used the same phrase in the last twenty-four hours.
Why did everybody think she was so damned incapable?
She was a renowned oncologist, a talented surgeon, the youngest head in the history of the oncology department. She could bloody operate a tower crane expertly, for God’s sake. She was extremely competent, so why was everybody suddenly treating her like some fragile flower who couldn’t tie her own shoelaces?
“I don’t like it,” Smith groused.
“You don’t have to. What I do and how I do it no longer concerns you.”
