I pulled her into my arms. “The feeling is mutual, Penny.”
“You see all these people?” she indicated the group gathered to celebrate one more year of my life. “They’re here for you.”
“Actually, they’re here because you asked them, so if you really think about it, they’re here for you.”
She slapped me on the arm. “Why do you always have to fight me on everything? If they didn’t want to celebrate you, they would have told me to stuff it and stayed home. You have so many people who care about you.”
Try as I might, I couldn’t deny that Kennedy had a point. The bar was filled with people wearing floral shirts and leis, toasting me with fruity drinks. The sense of love and community was thick. I was a part of this tribe. They didn’t want me to be anything but who I was. They knew the best and worst of me, and loved me anyway.
I drew Kennedy into my arms. “You know the only thing I could think that night with Dr. Stalker at the Drunken Goat was how beautiful you were. How much I wanted to kiss you. How much I wanted you to know what you meant to me and that I would do everything in my power to protect you. Even make an ass out of myself.”
“You did a good job of that.”
“It’s kind of my specialty,” I replied, then silenced her with a kiss.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Joe
Explaining what I was about to do would be difficult if Kennedy caught me before I was ready, but that only added to the excitement of the day. Sunlight glinted off the koi pond in Maxine’s backyard while my guests chattered quietly. Sweat gathered at my temples and I swiped it away.
Living in paradise used to feel like torture. I complained about squinting through endless days of perfect weather like being grumpy made me a badass. I was as wrong about that as I was about me being an asshole.
I didn’t need to complain to be a badass. That just came naturally. And, I wasn’t as much of an asshole as I thought.
At least that was what people kept trying to tell me.
A year ago, I’d searched for purpose. I thought I’d find it by building my career. That the thump of the hammer, the smell of fresh cut wood, and the sight of a job done well would teach me who I was. I’d found purpose all right, but not where I expected. Sure, standing in front of a finished project gave me blips of happiness, but connecting with the people who mattered was the real payoff. Kennedy and Maxine. Collin and Harlow. Lucas and the rest of the Huttons. They were my tribe.
Finally, after years of thinking I was better alone, I had a group of people to depend on. They wanted me. They needed me. They accepted me. It was a feeling I wouldn’t trade for all the money in the world and the kicker of it was, some of them had been there all along. If I’d just opened my eyes sooner…well…best not to finish that thought. I opened my eyes when I needed to and that was what mattered.
Channing Construction was a success. A year into owning my business and I only took the jobs that spoke to my heart, ones that left me excited to start each day. Between the money I’d earned touring with Collin and the money I brought in with each project, Kennedy hadn’t needed to find another job. All her time went into volunteering at the clinic. She came home late every evening, fulfilled and happy.
There was only one more thing that needed to happen. If my calculations were correct, then we were just a few minutes away from ticking that item off the list.
My boots—still black, of course, I’d changed, not turned into someone else—thumped over steppingstones as I creeped through the backyard to peek around the front of the house.
Kennedy sat in her car in the driveway, phone pressed to her ear. She rolled down the windows as heat shimmered in waves around her. Her hair was pulled up off her neck, twisting and coiling as it cascaded in a long tail. Her full lips, painted a dark red, pulled into a giant smile as she rolled her eyes and leaned her head on her hand. I’d begged her mother to distract her and it seemed she was doing a fantastic job.