She meets my gaze over her shoulder, holding up a mug. “You want some?”
“No, I already had several cups, thanks.”
I look around the kitchen as she goes about making her cup. It’s so homey in here, lived in, and warm. The whole house is. The wood on the cabinets is weathered with little nicks in it, the wall has one of those growth charts etched onto the paint with pencil, depicting Luke’s growth spurts, and one recent measurement of Tessa. If someone would’ve told me this was where hard-ass Luke Evans grew up, I wouldn’t have believed them. I always pictured him living in the Alabama backwoods like a savage, eating squirrels and small children. But with Tessa living here with him, it fits. Maybe it’s because they’re together, I don’t know. But it works.
“So, what’s up, and why aren’t you in bed with one of your whores?” She gives me a playful look over her shoulder, softening the blow of her dig.
I clasp my hands in front of me. “One of my whores? For your information, the woman I brought home last night was in law school.”
“Oh, perfect. She’ll know how to properly sue your ass for sexual harassment.” She giggles at her crack up, reaching across the island to mess up my hair. “Kidding. Sorry, but you pretty much set that one up perfectly.”
I bat her hand away with a glare. “Can we be serious for a second? Please?”
She brings her coffee mug up to her mouth, hiding her smile. “Yes. Very serious.”
I take a minute to calm my nerves, rolling my shoulders to ease the tension that’s beginning to settle between them. “Molly is back in town.” Our eyes connect, hers doubling in size. “My sister saw her at Costco yesterday. I don’t know if she’s back for good, ‘cause Riley didn’t talk to her, but she was buying food, so . . . what the fuck?”
Tessa leans against the counter, her finger steadily tapping her mug while she stares at a spot on the floor. “Really?”
I nod, causing her to look over at me when I don’t give her a verbal response.
“And this is bothering you because . . .”
I bring my hands to my lap, keeping them folded together. “Gee, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that this town is too fucking small to avoid her.”
“So what. You’re over her, right?”
I squeeze my hands together in my lap. “Yeah,” I reply, my voice hardening.
Tessa sets the mug down on the island and drums the counter with her fingers. “You’re such a shit liar, Reed. You wouldn’t be here, stressing the fuck out, if you were over her.”
“I’m not stressing out!” I clamp my eyes shut, taking in a deep breath while the one person I thought I could talk to about this laughs quietly across from me.
I need new fucking friends.
“I’m actually happy about this.”
I slowly open my eyes. “What?” I ask, dragging out the word.
Tessa piles her long, red hair on top of her head and secures it with the band around her wrist. “You said it. This is a small town, which means, the chances of me having the amazing opportunity of running her bitch-ass over with my car is actually looking really good right now. With her living in another state, that probably would never happen. And, I’m sleeping with a cop, so . . . that’s like an automatic get-out-of-jail-free card.” She shrugs her shoulders before picking up her mug. “I can pretty much get away with murder here.”
I snort. “Who are you kidding? Luke would stick your ass in jail for a few days and get off on it.”
A wicked smile spreads across her lips. “The gorgeous bastard would do that, wouldn’t he?”
I lean my elbows on the counter, digging the tips of my fingers into my temples. It feels like my heart is now lodged in my skull, and with every beat, my head throbs with a pain unlike anything I’ve ever felt. A slow pressure builds behind my eyes, filling my vision with blotches of indiscernible color. If this is what a fucking migraine is like, I’ll start having sympathy for the people who complain about them, because this shit sucks.
“Reed.”
“Yeah?”
She leans down, bringing her face to my level. All trace of Tessa’s typical smart-ass demeanor is gone, replaced with the same look of concern my sister gave me, standing in my kitchen.
“Don’t,” I warn, because I know what she’s about to say. “I’m not hung up on her. That’s not what this is about.”
Her eyebrows pinch together in doubt. “Then what is it about? Because right now, I’m two seconds away from offering you the pint of Ben & Jerry’s I have in my freezer.”
I straighten up, letting my hands fall to the counter. “I don’t know what the hell that means, but I’m not hungry.”
Tessa lets out an exhaustive sigh, mumbling the word “men” under her breath before taking a sip of her coffee.
“Look,” I begin, reaching down to pat Max when he nudges against my leg. “I don’t need a walking reminder of the pussy-whipped asshole I used to be nine years ago coming back into my life. The fact that I ever let some chick get to me like that isn’t something I like thinking about, and having Molly in Ruxton is going to make that a problem. Ow! What the fuck, Max?” I push him away, rubbing my hand along the side of my leg that’s just been mauled. “Jesus Christ. You need your nails clipped.”
“He just got them clipped. That’s why they’re so sharp.” Tessa walks over to the container of dog treats on the counter and pops the lid off. As soon as she does that, Max goes flying at her, leaping off the floor to get to the treat she’s holding in the air.