McKenzie Cousins Box Set 4

I grinned and took her hand. “Let’s walk then.” The cold air hit us in the face as soon as we left the shelter of the barn. Tugging Jenna’s scarf up around her face, I did the same. “My flights the twenty-ninth. Mom wanted me back for New Year with them.” I shrugged and tried not to look as disappointed as Jenna did. “I’ll come find you when I land. Straight to you.”

“I’ll meet your plane. If you want me to, that is.”

“Are you kidding me? Of course, I want you to meet me.” Then a thought hit me, and I winced. “My parents will be. I promised to go back to Lexington for New Year’s.” My parents would be surprised, but I didn’t care. “Come home with me for the celebrations. Meet me at the airport and you’ll come with us.”

“Your parents?” Jenna’s face went paler than it already was. “That’s like a really big deal.”

“It is, but they’re great. You’ll love them, and they’ll love you. Dad and my uncles are entertaining, when Grandma

and Grandad aren’t around.”

“Are you sure about this Dylan?” she asked, sounding unsure.

“Hey, look at me Jenna.” I stopped and waited for her attention. “I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t want you there. Please come and spend time with me there.” I wiggled my brows wanting to lighten everything up. “We’ll even be able to share a room.”

Jenna gasped and her eyes grew so large they almost touched her eyebrows. “I’m not sharing a room with you in your parents’ house.” She paced. “Oh my God, Dylan! That’s worse than sharing a room under my uncle’s roof.”

“They won’t mind. Trust me. Mom won’t even raise a brow when I tell her.” I slung my arm around her shoulders and urged her on. “It’s settled. New Year in Lexington. Together.”

Somehow, I had to get Tracy to back off before Jenna found out about our messages and got the wrong idea. At least on my part, she’d get the wrong idea.

12

Jenna

Boston was so far from Ireland, yet the weather seemed to be the same. At least, this winter had been. The city was pretty with fresh snow on the ground and Christmas lights switched on. I didn’t often go out in the evening, but a couple of girls from my English lit class wanted to meet up for coffee. Probably to find out about my assignment, which I had purposely left buried in other paperwork back at my apartment. I didn’t trust them, so we’d see. They were actually full of gossip and tended to know everything going on at school…outside the lecture halls, that was. Half the time, I didn’t pay much attention, but I was missing Dylan and wanted to know what they had to say about him.

Curiosity certainly had me dressing warmly and heading outside in the bitter cold. The air was icy and bit through my jeans, chilling my legs. I knew I should have worn tights beneath the denim. None the less, I’d warm up in the coffee shop for sure. Hot air blasted me in the face the moment I opened the door, which was welcomed.

Tracy, Lisa, and Courtney waved to me from the back where I made my way over. We exchanged merry cheer while I waited for my latte to arrive. They didn’t jump in with their usual bickering about workload. My ears pricked up eventually.

“You look happier,” Courtney pointed out, and all three of them stared at me waiting for an explanation. They could wait.

“I enjoyed having a beak.” I shrugged. “Who doesn’t cheer up being away from school?”

“It’s a guy!” Lisa stated, grinning. “You have the sex bubble going on. Who is he?”

“I never mentioned a guy.”

“You don’t need to. It’s written all over your face,” Lisa continued. “Tell us. Please…”

“There really is nothing to tell. I thought you wanted to talk about the assignment or something.”

“Did you know Dylan McKenzie went to Ireland, too?” Tracy watched me carefully.

What the heck did she know? Dylan wasn’t even back yet.

“I didn’t know that. How do you know that?” I acted nonchalant.

“We had coffee before he left,” Tracy sighed. “He’s been messaging me while he’s been there. The place looks gorgeous. He said something happened to the bus and he got snowed in at a small village.” She grinned. “I wouldn’t have minded being snowed in with him. He’s really hot.”

My mind rapidly tried to work out how the hell she knew about the bus and being snowed in if Dylan hadn’t been the one to tell her. No way had he been with me while messaging another girl. I wasn’t the most confident person, but Dylan had been sincere. He had been. I had to believe that. There was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

“He said he was bored and that he’d rather be messaging me than spending his time with others from the bus.” Tracy gloated. “I can’t wait for him to get back on the twenty-ninth. He’s going to his parents’ but will be back to school on the fourth. We have a coffee date planned.”

“You’ve gone awfully pale, Jenna. Are you okay?” Courtney asked, frowning.

I wasn’t sure I was okay. The only way Tracy could know so much about Dylan’s trip to Ireland was if he’d told her himself because he hadn’t even arrived back in Boston yet.