Fiancé In Name Only

“Hence?” Kelly took the coffee, savored a sip, then sighed in appreciation. “Have you been reading British mysteries again?”

“Nope.” Terry stuffed her hands into her jeans pockets. “With my sad love life, I’m home every night watching the British mysteries on TV.”

“Love lives can be overrated,” Kelly said.

“Right.” Terry nodded. “Who’re you trying to convince? Me? Or you?”

“Me, obviously, since you’re the only one of us with a man at the moment.”

Terry leaned one shoulder against the pale rose-colored brick of her building. “I don’t have one, either, trust me. It’s impossible to have phone sex on an iPad when half of Jimmy’s squad could walk in at any moment.”

Kelly laughed, grabbed another brush and laid down a twining green vine connecting all of the pumpkins. “Okay, that would be awkward.”

“Tell me about it. Remember when he called me as a surprise on my birthday and I jumped out of the shower to answer the call?” Terry shuddered dramatically. “I can still hear all the whistles from his friends who were there in the room.”

Still laughing, Kelly said, “Well, that’ll teach Jimmy to surprise you.”

“No kidding. Now we make phone appointments.” Terry grinned. “But enough about me. I hear you and the writer went for a long ride the other day.”

“How did you—” Kelly stopped, blew out a breath and nodded. “Right. Sally.”

“She and her sister came in for coffee yesterday and told me all about it,” Terry admitted, tipping her head to one side to study her friend. “The question is, if there was something to know, why didn’t I already know it?”

“Because it’s nothing,” Kelly said, focusing on her painting again. She added shadows and depth to the curling vines. “He took me to buy some pumpkins.”

“Uh-huh. Sally says you were gone almost two hours. Either you’re really picky about your pumpkins or something else was going on.”

Kelly sighed. “We went for a ride.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I showed him around a little.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Nothing happened.”

“Why not?”

Kelly just blinked. A couple of kids on skateboards shot down the sidewalk with a roar that startled her. “What?”

“Honey,” Terry said, stepping close enough to drop one arm around Kelly’s shoulders. “Sean’s been gone four years. You haven’t been on a single date in all that time. Now you’ve got this amazing-looking guy living in the Victorian for six months and you’re not going to do anything about it?”

Laughing a little, Kelly shook her head again. “What should I do? Tie him up and have my way with him?”

Terry’s eyes went a little dreamy. “Hmm...”

“Oh, stop it.” But even as she said it, a rush of heat filled Kelly. She only enjoyed it for a second or two before tamping it right down and mentally putting out the fire.

Honestly, she didn’t want or need the attraction she felt for Micah. He clearly wasn’t interested and Kelly had already loved and lost. She really had zero interest in a romance. Of any kind.

“Okay, fine,” Terry said, laughing. “If you’re determined to shut yourself up in a closet, wrapped in wool or something, there’s nothing I can do about it. But I swear, if the CIA ever needs more spies, I’m going to recommend Sally and Margie. Those two have their fingers on the pulse of everything that happens in town.”

And lucky Kelly lived right across the street from them. Sean used to laugh when he saw the older ladies, noses pressed to the windows. He would sweep Kelly into an elaborate dip and kiss her senseless, saying, “The reason they’re so nosy is no one’s ever kissed them senseless. So let’s give them something to talk about.”

That memory brought a sad smile that she just as quickly let slide away. Remembering Sean meant not only the good times, but the pain of losing him. She’d lost enough in her life, Kelly told herself firmly.

First her parents when she was just a kid, then her grandfather, then Sean. Enough already. And the only way to ensure she never went through that kind of pain again was to never let herself get that close with anyone again.

She had Terry. Her grandmother. A couple of good friends.

Who needed a man?

Micah’s image rose up in her mind and she heard a tiny voice inside her whisper, You do. He’s only here temporarily, why not take advantage? There’s no future there, so no risk.

True, Micah would only be in Banner for four more months, so it wasn’t as if—no.

Don’t think about it.

Sure. That would work.

“You know,” Terry said, interrupting Kelly’s stream of consciousness, “there’s a guy in Jimmy’s squad I think you’d really like...”

“Oh, no.” Kelly shook her head firmly. “Don’t go there, Terry. No setups. You know those never go well.”

“He’s a nice guy,” her friend argued.

“I’m sure he’s a prince,” Kelly said. “But he’s not my prince. I’m not looking for another man.”

“Well, you should be.” Terry folded her arms over her chest.

“Didn’t you just say there was nothing you could do about it if I wanted to lock myself in a closet?”

“I hate seeing you alone all the time.”

“You’re alone,” Kelly reminded her.

“For now, but Jimmy will be home in another couple of months.”

“And I’m happy for you.” Deliberately, Kelly turned back to her paints. She picked up the yellow and a small brush, then laid in the eyes on the first pumpkin. With the bright yellow, it would look like the pumpkin was lit by a candle. “I had a husband, Terry. Don’t want another one.”

From the corner of her eye, Kelly saw her friend’s shoulders slump in defeat. “I didn’t say I wanted you married.”

“But you do.”

“Not the point,” Terry said stubbornly. “Sweetie, I know losing Sean was terrible. But you’re too young to live the rest of your life like a vestal virgin.”

Kelly laughed. “The virgin ship sailed a long time ago.”