Bonus Kisses - Freya Barker Page 0,24

First by design—hers—and then by choice—mine. I’d become adept at merely coexisting and naturally slipped back into that pattern with Taz, albeit for entirely different reasons.

My kids are hurting, though. Nicky may have wanted her sister here to look after them, but that doesn’t absolve me. I need to be on the ball, and I haven’t been, because I was too busy avoiding Taz.

“I promised Sofie I’d come to school to help out for lunch, but maybe you should call them first? There may be some list I need to be added to?”

It’s on my lips to tell her I should be the one to help hand out pizza at lunch, but Lisa has my schedule packed today. “Okay,” I agree instead.

“Good. Oh, that reminds me,” she says, pushing open the front door and walking in ahead of me. “We’re you planning on selling the SUV?”

“The CRV? Why?” I watch as she pours us fresh coffee from the pot and hands me my mug.

“I was wondering…I’m going to need some wheels. If you were going to get rid of it, I’d like to buy it off you.”

I’m a little confused why she’d offer to buy her sister’s ride when it’s already sitting in the driveway. “It’s outside, the keys are on the hook, just use it. Why would you need to buy anything in the first place?”

I recognize the stubborn set of her chin: I saw it this morning on Sofie’s face.

“I pay my own way. Which brings me to another issue we haven’t addressed yet: household expenses. I need to know what I owe you. I’ve been looking at rental places, but there isn’t too much available around here at the moment, so until I find something I expect to carry my share.”

“Rental places?” I know she said a whole lot more, but that’s the one thing I hear. “Why? I don’t get it. Why would you worry about wheels or a place to stay when you already have both?”

Abruptly she turns her back, focusing her attention on the window over the sink and I get the sense I said something wrong. Fuck if I know what.

“It’s better that way.”

I can hear she’s hurting. It suddenly dawns on me that maybe it’s simply too painful for her to live in this house. Her breath hitches and I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Look, I understand if staying here with these daily reminders your sister is gone is painful, but the house is big and you’re more than welcome to make it yours.”

I quickly withdraw my hand when she whirls around, those brown eyes, shiny with unshed tears, flashing unexpected anger.

“You’re an idiot, you know that? It’s not because of Nicky…it’s because of you.”

I’m still standing there slack-jawed well after I hear the door to her bedroom slam upstairs. I guess I am an idiot because I’m utterly clueless what just happened.

I dump the rest of my coffee in the sink, quickly call the school, and leave a note confirming she was already on the list of approved visitors for Taz, and dart out the back door.

Animals are a fuckofalot easier to understand even without the ability to talk.

Taz

I inwardly wince at the curious glances when I walk into the school. I’m sure most of these people were at Nicky’s funeral, and this isn’t the first time they’ve seen me, but I was preoccupied and didn’t notice then.

I’m convinced it’s partly because half the town is wondering where I was, while the other half wants to know what I’m doing back here. The dreads don’t help either, I’m pretty sure I’m an oddity here in Eminence with this hairstyle.

An oddity, an interloper, a troublemaker, as I’d been before I left.

I felt like one too. Especially as an interloper. I’d been wanted—needed—when Nicky was still here, but in the weeks since her death, I’ve felt more and more out of place. I look after her kids, live in her house, drive her car; I’ve all but slipped into her life. I’m not fooling anyone, though, except maybe myself. If not for the promise I made her, and the love I have growing for her children, I wouldn’t have stuck around.

Especially not after the almost embarrassing scene in the kitchen earlier this week. I’m not sure what I was thinking. Actually, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t thinking at all. If that alarm on my phone hadn’t gone off when it did, I’m afraid to think what might’ve happened.

It would’ve validated