A Winter Wedding

As soon as they hung up, he stood.

“You getting your muffin?” Brandon jerked his head toward the cash register to signify that the line was shorter.

“Yeah,” Kyle said, “but I’m getting it to go. I’ve got a lot to do.”

Brandon’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re leaving already?”

“Busy day ahead. I have to get the guy who installed the HVAC system in the farmhouse to fix it before the weekend.”

“Why rush to have it repaired?” Riley gave him a meaningful grin. “If you like having Lourdes Bennett at your place, you could always have the HVAC guy come on Monday.”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “She’s not my type.”

“What do you mean, she’s not your type?” Ted asked. “You said you like her.”

“She’s probably only twenty-eight or twenty-nine, so I’ve got a few years on her. And I wouldn’t want her kind of life,” he explained.

“Maybe she’ll retire,” Eve said.

Kyle scowled at her. “Are you kidding? She’s had a good taste of fame. It’s in her blood.”

“I can understand why you’d hesitate,” Dylan said. “I wouldn’t want to be with someone who’s in the public eye. Gail and Simon handle it well, but I’m too private. I like being in my own space and not having to travel all the time. And I’d hate it if Cheyenne was always gone.”

“I wouldn’t like it if Phoenix was gone a lot, either,” Riley admitted.

Eve pushed her coffee cup away. “It takes a special kind of person to handle the challenges that come with having your spouse in such demand. You have to be able to share him or her.”

“Not an easy thing,” Sophia said.

“Then I’m glad we all agree.” But whether they agreed or not, after Noelle, Kyle understood his limitations.

He checked his watch. “Great to see everyone. I’d better roll.”

“Thanks for giving Noelle that water heater.” Olivia spoke before he could walk away. “That was really nice of you.”

What Noelle had done to get him to marry her had driven a wedge between her and Olivia for years. But last Christmas they’d made inroads toward rebuilding their relationship, and although it must have taken a great deal of patience, understanding and forgiveness on Olivia’s part (that was the case with anyone who had to put up with Noelle), they were acting more like sisters now than ever. Kyle was relieved there’d been progress in that area, at least.

“It was nothing,” he said, shrugging off her thanks. Although she claimed she’d forgiven him, and he’d been the one left hurting the longest, she had to be thinking he got what he deserved—having to put up with Noelle’s shit all the time.

“If you decide to have a Christmas party so we can all come over and meet Lourdes, let us know,” Callie joked.

“I don’t even have a tree,” he said.

Eve beamed up at him. “You’ve seen my B and B at Christmastime. I can fix that.”

“We’ll see if the opportunity arises.” He loved getting together with his friends on Friday. But ever since Brandon and Olivia had started joining them, that weekly ritual had become a form of torture. So the moment he stepped outside, he took a deep breath, as relieved to get on with his day as he’d been eager to come.

* * *

Lourdes was just getting out of the shower when Kyle returned. She hadn’t been able to fit everything she’d wanted to bring to California in her suitcase and didn’t have a robe with her, so he caught her in nothing but a towel as she walked down the hall to her room. His eyes swept over her, obviously taking note of her near nudity, but he didn’t make her feel threatened in any way, or even particularly self-conscious. He acted as if it wasn’t any big deal—as if they were roommates and seeing her like this was a common occurrence.

Lourdes didn’t know whether to be relieved that he respected appropriate boundaries, or disappointed that he didn’t seem compelled to push beyond them. It was a strange reaction on her part—evidence of the state of her self-esteem. Now that she was losing her grip on everything she’d once had, she wanted to be reassured that she still had the ability to attract a handsome man—especially one who didn’t care about her fame. There was something stimulating about that alone.

Or maybe she just didn’t want to admit that she was attracted to Kyle. She wasn’t sure how that could be possible when she was in love with someone else...

“Brought you some breakfast.” He held up a sack with a logo that said Black Gold Coffee. “I’ll put it on the counter for when you’re dressed.”

“That was nice of you.” Her eyes were red and swollen again. But she made no excuses, and he pretended not to notice. He understood what she was going through. He hadn’t told her much about his life when they were talking last night, but he had said he was in love with a woman he’d dated for two years—who was now married to his stepbrother. That had to involve some pain.

“No problem,” he said. “I have some bad news, though. So...when you’re ready, why don’t you come out and we can talk about it.”

“Just a sec.” She hurried into her room and pulled on the sweats she’d been wearing yesterday. She would’ve liked to dry her hair; it was dripping down her back. But she was too eager to hear Kyle’s bad news so that she could determine if she had a new crisis to worry about. These days she wouldn’t be surprised if someone had gone to repair the HVAC in her rental and discovered black mold, which would mean she’d have to find some other safe haven—without Derrick’s help.

She would’ve had time to make herself presentable, however. When she found Kyle in the kitchen, he was on a business call.

Instead of going back to dry her hair, she sat down. Besides coping with a great deal of anger, she was so busy vacillating between determination to overcome Derrick’s defection and the most debilitating discouragement she’d ever experienced that she didn’t have enough energy to obsess over her hair and clothes.

“What’s going on?” she asked as soon as he hung up.

He pushed the sack he’d brought home closer to her. “I bought the HVAC unit for the farmhouse from Owen’s Heating & Air. I called them not long after they opened this morning, but Owen was already on a big job in Stockton.”

“Stockton’s what...an hour away?”

“That’s about right. But he doubts he’ll get back before late this evening, and he’s taking his wife to Lake Tahoe for the weekend to celebrate her birthday.”

Relieved that this was only about getting the furnace fixed and not the house itself, she removed a cardboard cup of coffee from the bag, along with a cheese Danish, a bagel and a blueberry muffin. “Is this all for me?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t sure which one you’d like.”

“Unfortunately, I like them all.” She was sad enough to eat them all, too. If she wasn’t careful, she’d gain so much weight while she was here that she wouldn’t fit into any of the clothes she wore when she performed.

A little something extra to worry about...

“Did you hear what I said about Owen’s Heating & Air?” he asked.

“I did. You’re telling me I won’t have heat until Monday.”

“I’m sorry. I could call a few other companies, but even those places will probably tell me it’ll be the first of the week before they can get a tech out here. I figure if that’s the case, we might as well wait for Owen. He should guarantee his work.” He bent his head to peer into her face. “I hope you’re not too upset...”

She’d probably lost the man she’d expected to spend the rest of her life with and, unless she could come up with a Hail Mary pass, she was looking at the demise of her career. Waiting a couple of days to have heat in her rental seemed like a fairly minor problem by comparison. “I’m not.” She felt him watching her while she tried the coffee. “This is good.”

“Glad you like it. No one has better coffee than Black Gold. So...what do you want to do? Again, I’m happy to pay for a bed-and-breakfast. But you’re perfectly welcome to stay here until I get the furnace working.”

She didn’t care to go anywhere else, wasn’t convinced—in her current state—that she’d be able to summon a brave smile for the strangers she might encounter. Besides, the prospect of hanging out at Kyle’s place a bit longer didn’t sound unpleasant. He had a clean, comfortable house with plenty of room. And, considering her situation with Derrick, it might actually be helpful to have the right kind of company. She didn’t want to break down and call Derrick. Last night, during their final conversation, she’d told him not to contact her again unless he passed Crystal on to some other manager. She was afraid she’d be more prone to give in if she was staying on her own. “It’s only for the weekend,” she said. “As long as you can put up with me, I should be fine.”

He seemed surprised. “You’d rather stay here?”

She nodded. “Having someone to talk to last night... That helped,” she said. “But don’t worry. I won’t keep crying on your shoulder.”