He reached out to smooth her hair, a gesture she was going to miss whenever she thought of him—which she was sure she would do often. “If you were the type to ditch all those responsibilities and take off for some fun in the sun, I’d ask you to come with me.”
Her smile felt a bit sad even to her. “If you were the type to buckle down to all those responsibilities and be content with only a few rare hours of relaxation, I’d ask you to stay.”
His mouth twitched. “That doesn’t really describe either of us, does it?”
“No.”
Cupping her face in his hands, he kissed her lingeringly. She closed her eyes and sank into his embrace, returning the kiss, committing the feel and taste and scent of him to memory for savoring later. He tilted his head, kissed her again, then seemed to force himself to draw away.
“I hope your inn is as successful as you want it to be,” he murmured when he released her.
“And I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for,” she replied huskily.
She couldn’t stay there any longer. The one thing she absolutely refused to do was to cry in front of him. “Goodbye, Dan.”
“Bye, Kinley. I—”
Whatever he might have added, he bit it off. She was already walking away, heading almost blindly down the path past the gazebo. She wasn’t sure why she’d chosen to come this way, but she didn’t reverse her steps. She kept walking, her eyes focused fiercely on the caretaker’s cottage, looking neither behind her at Dan nor to the side at the once-so-familiar, now-mysterious woods.
Reaching her brother’s door, she rapped hard with her knuckles. She didn’t even know for certain if he was inside, but she thought she heard a ball game on his TV. The door opened, and Logan stood inside, casual in a T-shirt and jeans with bare feet, frowning at the interruption.
The frown changed when he saw her face.
“Can I come in?” she asked.
He stepped aside silently. She walked past him, waited until he’d closed the door and then buried her face in his shoulder. Sprawled on the floor by the couch, Ninja raised his head, then lowered it to his paws again as though sensing the siblings needed to be left alone for the moment.
Logan sighed and wrapped his arms around her. “Want me to go pound the guy?”
With a watery laugh, she shook her head against his chest. “No. But thanks for the offer.”
“Want a sandwich and a beer? We can watch the rest of the game together.”
Filling her lungs unsteadily, she pulled herself together and straightened, telling herself she was back in control now. “Yes, please.”
By the time the game ended, she knew Dan would be gone. And her life would go on, exactly as she’d planned.
Which didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt like hell whenever she thought of what might have been, had she or Dan been different.
Chapter Eleven
On a warm afternoon in June, Cassie Drennan stopped by the inn with her dad for a quick meeting about the wedding package she’d ordered for October. After almost a month of deliberation, Cassie had reached some big decisions that she wanted to discuss with Kinley, and her father had come along for the ride. Cassie confided to Kinley that her mom was out of town and her fiance was in London, where they would be moving after the wedding, so she and her dad were spending the day together.
“We’re having a nice dinner this evening and going out for a movie,” she added, smiling happily at her father. “Daddy and I have always loved going to see action films together, haven’t we?”
“We have,” deep-voiced Paul Drennan agreed, and though he smiled, Kinley thought his jade eyes were a bit sad. She could only imagine how hard it must be for him to see his only daughter marrying and moving so far away. It was obvious that he and his ex had been quite young when Cassie was born. It was even more apparent that he adored his daughter, and that the feeling was mutual.
Kinley gave Cassie a copy of the agreement they’d signed, accepted a check from Paul and stood to open the office door for them. She recalled that the first time she’d met Cassie she’d thought it would be a pleasure working with her. That opinion was only reinforced by this meeting. She liked this family very much.
“Feel free to let me know if you want any changes,” she said as she stood back to let them precede her into the entryway. “There’s still plenty of time to make adjustments.”
Which reminded her, of course, of the literally last-minute changes she’d made to Serena Sossaman-Thompson’s wedding last month, which led her around to thinking of Dan, which made her heart hurt, as it always did when he crossed her mind.
> She had become an expert at putting thoughts of him out of her mind, though they hovered constantly just around the periphery. She was confident that her smile never wavered when she added, “I’m sure it’s going to be a beautiful wedding.”
“I just hope the weather cooperates,” Paul said over his shoulder as he moved to step out. “Cassie insisted on having an outdoor wedding, even though I warned her it could—oof.”
Because he hadn’t been watching where he was going, he had crashed straight into Bonnie, who’d been approaching from the desk. Both of them staggered back, though Paul quickly recovered and grabbed Bonnie’s arms to steady her. “I’m so sorry. Totally my fault. Are you okay?”