Kennedy was no man. “What did you do to Misty?”
“I didn’t do anything.” Well, he’d run like a coward and avoided her for a week. That left a bad taste in his mouth, but he just couldn’t deal with what she’d told him. How could he look at her now and not think about the reason his father was dead?
“You hurt her.”
Damn it. Was this going to be some kind of girl code ass kicking? Denver turned away, putting his tools back into the box. He knew he’d hurt her, and it made him feel like an asshole. But what could he say to her? Hey, now that I know this thing about you that you can’t actually change, you remind me of the worst time of my life, and I can’t look at you anymore?
Kennedy moved to the opposite side of the truck, right in his line of sight so he couldn’t fail to see the pinch of disapproval on her face. “I saw you two together. Things were good. Y’all were happy. So what changed?”
She wasn’t gonna let this go unless he gave her some kind of a reason. “I found out something about her past that I’m having trouble dealing with.”
“What? Did she kill somebody?” Sarcasm fairly dripped from her voice, but something must have shown on his face because Kennedy sobered. “Wait, did she?”
“No. No she tried to help.” She’d tried to help, but it hadn’t been enough.
Kennedy frowned, clearly trying to work through his logic without him spelling it out. “Did she do something in trying to help that directly caused someone to die?”
“No. It wasn’t directly in her hands. Not really.” Misty had done her job. Gone above and beyond, actually, trying to find some way to get Judy what she needed. She hadn’t set the rules she’d been bound by, and she’d broken them trying to do the right thing. It was more than anyone had done for his father.
“Then it’s in the past. Speaking as someone who’s spent a lot of her life being driven by the past, it’s best to let it go. Unless whatever it is she did fundamentally alters who she is for you. Does it?”
Someone else would have stayed in the job. Someone else wouldn’t have acted in the first place. Someone else would simply have said, “Sorry, this is the policy,”
and left it at that. Denver had dealt with those someone elses. Endlessly. But Misty had quit. And she’d changed her whole life to build something beautiful to honor a woman whose life had touched hers. The whole thing had made her into the woman he so admired.
Arms braced on the side of the truck, he dropped his head. “Shit. I know I need to apologize.”
Kennedy nodded. “I have it on good authority she’s working late tonight prepping stuff for the wedding.”
“What the hell am I going to say?” Denver muttered.
“The truth,” she said simply. “Whatever it is, it’s better to get it out there. Trust me on this.” When he said nothing, she shot him a piteous look. “Don’t waste the chance Cayla and I bent over backward to create for you.”
Denver met her gaze. “We aren’t talking about that.”
“Are you going to go talk to her?”
“Yeah.” His conscience wasn’t going to give him a choice. He didn’t know if he actually could go back to thinking of her as the clever, intriguing woman who made him feel connected again for the first time in years. But he owed it to her to apologize for blowing her off without an explanation. And he owed her the damned explanation, even if it meant baring things he’d kept buried for years.
“Then we won’t talk about how it took two nosy women to get you over your own inertia.” She slapped the truck. “Go on. Go fix this.”
“Yes ma’am,” he said and slipped into the driver’s seat.
~*~
The wire frames had been a pain in the ass to build, but Misty thought she’d finally managed what she wanted. The pair of them ought to give the structure she needed to hold up the massive sprays she intended to mount to either side of the arbor. She’d be doing most of the rest on-site the night before and the day of the wedding, but having this piece finished was a load off. Her supplier had dropped off the flowers earlier in the day, and the entire massive lot of them were currently residing in the big walk-in cooler, waiting to be stripped and prepped. She’d get started on that tonight before heading home.
Someone knocked on the front door of the shop. She’d been closed for more than an hour. Thinking it might be Cayla with some last-minute wedding emergency, Misty went to answer. But it wasn’t the slim blonde darkening her door. It was Denver.
Misty’s heart leapt at the sight of him, but she hesitated near the register. She didn’t know what to think or how to feel. Why was he here? Knowing he could see her in the dim light, she went ahead and opened the door.
“Can I come in?” His face was back to that stony expression that she knew now was the front he put on for everyone.
Misty stepped back to let him in, then locked the door behind him. “I’m working.” Without waiting for a reply, she went on to the back, knowing he’d follow.
“The arbor is finished and set up over at the inn.”
“Good. I need to get started tomorrow night.”