literally ruining some precious memories because you can’t get your crap together. You’re like the people who talk about how tough they’ve had it, how they walked to school barefoot, up hills and shit. And you’re mad at me because I drive the truck you bought me. I can’t help that I haven’t had my heart broken. That doesn’t give you and Melanie the right to punish everyone else for your ‘feelings.’”
Tennyson wanted to tell her son to go fly a kite, but she knew some of what he said was true. Neither he nor Emma deserved to shoulder the crap she and Melanie had between them. Part of her wanted to ask Melanie to dinner, to just say all the things she’d been wanting to say for years, but she wasn’t sure Melanie would agree to it, and, if she were truthful, she wasn’t ready to be that vulnerable. “I’m sorry, Andrew. I truly am. I will try my best to take the high road. I’m not always good at that, but I don’t want either you or Emma to feel like what is between the two moms will wreck the wedding.”
“Thanks,” he said, checking his seat belt when she floored the gas and shot through the green light. “So what about this guy you’re messing around with?”
“What guy?”
“I know how you are when you’ve got a new guy.”
Tennyson didn’t want anyone to know she was flirting with something that may or may not be a good idea. Officer Joseph C. Rhett hadn’t been by in a few weeks, even though she’d suggested he stop by when he had some free time. Sometimes he called her, and they talked for hours about inane things. She knew he was interested. He knew she wanted him in her bed. They had been skirting around something more, but she wasn’t ready to put a name to what that something was. “He’s just a friend.”
Andrew snorted. “Is that what you call them these days?”
“I’m serious. We haven’t slept together or anything. We haven’t even gone on a date. We’re friends.” She swung into her neighborhood, giving a wave to a woman in a jogging bra and running shorts who probably didn’t realize what she looked like from the back side, but, hey, you do you, girlfriend. Girl power.
“That’s cool. Who is he?”
“Hot cop.”
Her son laughed. “Hot Cop? That’s what you call him?”
“No, that’s what he is.”
“You are dating a cop?”
“He likes to be called a police officer or a law enforcement officer, but yeah.” She smiled when she thought of Joseph with his tight pants and panty-dropping smile. There were nice benefits to a guy in uniform . . . one with handcuffs and the knowledge of where people hid weapons and drugs on their body.
“That’s so not your type. I’m surprised.” Andrew gave her a smile. He didn’t like her to be mad at him. He was a good boy that way.
“Well, I’ve been married three times to my type, and I’m going to say that maybe ‘not my type’ would be a good thing.” She smiled as she pulled into the driveway, and the man himself was sitting there like she’d summoned him. But he was in his patrol car, which meant he was still on duty.
Dang it.
“Is this him?”
“Yeah, I’ll introduce you. Please remember that we’re just friends. For now.”
Andrew laughed. “Yeah, but I saw how you smiled when we pulled into the drive. I bet friends won’t last for long.”
Tennyson pushed the garage-door opener. “It won’t if he’s lucky.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A week later . . .
The image of Kit and Charlotte sitting together on the patio sucker punched Melanie when she entered the hotel’s outdoor restaurant and bar. Charlotte sat close to Kit, a fruity drink in front of her, shoulders bare and freshly tanned by the Florida sun. Kit perched on the stool, relaxed, his linen trousers adorably rumpled, dark glasses covering his pretty eyes, looking every inch the confident, sexy older man he was. The glittering green waters of the gulf coast framed them, making them look like a couple in a travel brochure. Come relax and reconnect with your love.
Except they weren’t lovers.
Or maybe they were.
Melanie wasn’t so sure anymore. Kit had seemed pleased his wife had come with him to Destin, but once they’d arrived, he’d disappeared into the wave of friends he’d cultivated over the years, Charlotte at his side looking very much sure she belonged there with him. Melanie had been left to see