Summer Breeze Kisses - Addison Moore Page 0,55

front of it.” Her expression sours. “Hey, you think Holt needs a new waitress at the bar?”

“It’s not that kind of bar.” My lips twist. “I’m teasing. I’ll ask.”

“Thanks. That way I can pull double duty and catch me one of those cute frat boys like you did. We can start our own sorority—the Cougar Club. Rawr!” She claws the air, and suddenly I’m fearing for my eyes and my social standing.

“We’re not old enough to qualify as cougars.” I hope.

“You just keep believing that. And if anyone gives you any crap, you tell them you’ve got an entire den of crazy cats just waiting to pounce.”

“Crazy cats.” That sounds about right.

Lila rushes in and snatches a cookie off the table.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” She scolds through a laugh. “You guys ate all the cookies!”

“Come here, you.” Jemma scoops her up and plants a sweet kiss on top of her little blonde head.

“Hey girl!” I give her finger a quick tug. “When are you coming to dance for me?”

“I gonna go when my momma tells me.” She smears the cookie over her mouth like lipstick.

“Good girl.” Jemma buries another kiss in her hair before making crazy eyes at me. I know how Jemma feels about the financial commitment that goes along with the studio. It’s anything but cheap. The monthly tuition can easily equate to a small car payment.

“How about I comp this one?” I give a little wink.

“Your mother will crap a brick the size of a refrigerator.”

Sometimes I think Jemma knows my mother better than I do.

“She won’t have to. I’m thinking of taking over the studio. She wants to sell.”

Jemma sucks in a never-ending breath. “Are you kidding me? I would have thought she’d keel over in that place before she ever gave it away. What’s the story?”

“Greasy D was up to his old tricks, so I told him to take a hike. He took off, and now she’s blaming the studio for her inability to hang onto a ‘damn man.’”

“Selling it over a damn man.” She mindlessly picks up a cookie with her gaze fixed on a faraway horizon. “I wonder what she would do if she found out it was you all along?”

I wonder the exact same thing.

That afternoon Laney sends a text and lets me know there’s a fitting at the bridal shop. I drive all the way to downtown Jepson with its metropolitan appeal, its skyscrapers—and a twinge of envy bites through me. Laney really does have it all. And I’m thrilled that Ryder is not only one of the nicest guys on the planet, but he’s established in life, too. I’d hate to see her in the same position as Jemma. Poor thing. I worry for her sanity almost as much as I do mine. But then I’m no Laney, either. I’ve got issues I could stack to the moon myself.

I wonder how different my life would have been if that day never happened? If I would have found someone to talk to—someone who could have helped me move beyond the hellish borders of that night. Instead, I cemented my emotional feet in it and spent the next decade holding the rest of the world at bay. I wonder how different things would be—how far I could have gotten in life by now—if my father had just stuck around in the first place.

The posh bridal shop comes up on my right, and I park and hop out.

I wonder if I would have long since met my Mr. Right and had a few kids of my own by now. Would I still be at the studio? My head spins with the possibilities.

Holt comes to mind with his hotter-than-a New York-sidewalk-in-July smile, those teeth that flash bright as a North Carolina sunrise each time he opens his mouth. Holt is a god among men and deserves to be venerated as such. I’m sure there are plenty of coeds ready and willing to drop to their knees for him. I wonder if I’m nothing more than some fantasy conquest left over from his childhood. But I don’t think I am. I can feel a real connection between us. Holt and I are on the path to something great if we ever let it get there.

I step inside the overpriced dress shop, and the scent of spiced tea hits me, thick and suffocating. An entire sea of white candles glow along a granite counter. The facility alone is large enough to outfit an entire fleet of