Austin Crowley. Kenzie’s high school sweetheart whom she’d been intimate with on her last case. The case that had cost her everything she’d strived so hard to achieve. Not to mention how she’d told Austin they should just be friends despite him telling her that he was still in love with her.
To say the reunion was awkward was an understatement. The fact that Austin had some professional mechanical bull rider on his arm didn’t help matters.
“Hey,” he replied to her greeting. “It’s been a while.”
“Uh, yeah, it has.”
“What brings you to Starlight Shores?”
“My…um…”
“It’s spring break,” Jillian cut in. “We’re here for that, and it’s an early birthday celebration for Kenzie.”
“Cool. Happy early birthday.”
Kenzie mumbled a thank you before she fastened her eyes on the other girl. Austin followed her gaze and said, “I’m sorry, you haven’t met. Kenzie, Jillian, this is my girlfriend, Cheyenne. Cheyenne, these are my two best friends from high school.”
“Nice to meet you,” Cheyenne said with a slight southern accent.
Jillian and Kenzie said something appropriate, but Kenzie was surprised at how calm Jillian was considering the uncomfortable situation. She knew it wasn’t Austin’s intention to make her ill-at-ease, but that’s exactly what was happening.
"So, I have to ask,” Jillian continued. “How did you two meet? Because the last I heard, Austin was single."
Austin’s face turned red and Kenzie was sure her jaw dropped. Yeah, she just had to ask that.
Cheyenne, however, seemed to find the situation humorous. She replied bubbly, “Austin was riding one of his horses at the equestrian center, and he got spooked. The horse, not Austin.” She laughed like this was hysterically funny. “So, I got on my horse and came to his rescue.”
“Came to his rescue?” Kenzie repeated quizzically.
“Yep. Blaze saw something that scared him, so he started rearing up and almost threw Austin off. But I got to them and yanked on the reins so Blaze calmed down. Austin insisted he thank me by taking me out to dinner. So, I said what the heck, I’ll go. Next thing I know, a couple of months pass, and he asks me to officially be his girlfriend. I didn’t even have to think about it. You two are friends with a great guy.”
Kenzie almost winced. She wondered if Cheyenne knew exactly how good a friend she and Austin had been to each other in the fall.
“Well, congrats to both of you,” Jillian said. “What brings you guys here?”
“Cadie Berry,” Austin said, finally regaining his color back. The embarrassing shade of umber did nothing for his freckles. “Cheyenne loves her and wants to see her, so I figured we’d check it out.”
“No way! We’re going to see Cadie tomorrow night!” Jillian exclaimed.
Kenzie almost slapped her forehead in frustration. As if she wasn’t uncomfortable enough. She knew it wasn’t entirely Austin’s fault for what had happened, but it was hard to even look at him considering what had happened only a few months ago. She also couldn’t believe he’d found someone else so soon. Was he trying as hard as she was to forget the fatal mistake they’d made in Appaloosa Plains?
Then Cheyenne dropped another bombshell by saying, “Kenzie, Austin told me a lot about you. He said you’re a detective.”
“Uh…yeah, well…I was.”
“You’re not now?”
“No, not exactly…”
“She’s going to try new things.” Jillian finally came to her rescue. But that wasn’t the most life-saving explanation. Especially when Austin raised his eyebrows and asked, “New things? Since when? Kenzie’s had her heart set on being a detective since middle school. She loves her job. Why would she want to change that?”
Kenzie knew not telling Austin the truth would come back around and bite her in the ass. She could almost feel the pinch on her rear end now. It wasn’t pleasant.
Austin looked at her, obviously wanting an explanation. She just shrugged and said, “It didn’t work out.”
“I don’t believe that. You’re one of the most well-known detectives around. You were always getting called to solve cases, and you never turned one down. What happened?”
You happened, Kenzie thought in her mind. Then she felt guilty. She’d made a choice that night, too. Austin hadn’t forced her. But she’d been weak and starved for simpler times. Falling into bed with Austin had made her feel safe, but now it made her feel sick.
It was nice to know that he’d managed to move on. And his career hadn’t been shattered. She hated herself for making that decision, and she was more disappointed with herself now than she’d ever been in the past.
Austin was still waiting for an answer from her, but she wasn’t about to tell him the truth. At least not in front of Cheyenne. So she shrugged and settled for, “What happened was I got a wake-up call.”
“That doesn’t even make sense. You’re hiding something.”
“I’m not hiding anything.”
“Kenzie…”
“Look,” Kenzie finally said, losing her patience. “I’m not a detective anymore because something got screwed up, okay? I’m working on something else in my life right now, and that’s it.”
Austin stepped back and Jillian gaped at her friend. Kenzie covered her ears in shame and said, “I’m sorry. It’s just…a sore spot with me right now.”
“I understand,” Austin said quietly.
There was a short awkward silence and Austin finally said, “Well, it was nice seeing you two again, but we better get back to the hotel. It’s been a long drive from Appaloosa.”
“Yeah, we’ll probably head back too,” Jillian said. “Unless Kenzie’s up for checking out more venues…”
Kenzie just nodded glumly. Jillian patted her shoulder reassuringly and Cheyenne said, “Well, it was nice to meet you two. Maybe we’ll see you around.”
“Probably, if we’re all going to see Cadie Berry tomorrow night.”
“Sounds cool.”
“Okay, well, see you. Nice to meet you too.”
“Bye.”
Kenzie managed a halfhearted goodbye and Austin and Cheyenne scuttled out the door. Kenzie was ashamed of herself for her outburst. And Jillian knew exactly why.
“You didn’t tell him, did you?”
“How could I? He’d just blame himself. And it’s not all his fault.”
“Well, part of it is. He knew you were there on a case, and that you had a boyfriend. He shouldn’t have tried to push you.”
“He didn’t push me. I guess I was just that stupid.”
“You’re not stupid.”
“Well he didn’t force me, Jill. I made the decision too, and I’m being punished for it. I knew the consequences but I overlooked them. I’m as much to blame as he is.”
Jillian wrapped her friend in a supportive hug. “It’s okay. You’ll get through this. You always get through things.”
“Thanks, Jill. I’m sorry I’m turning this into a crappy trip.”
“You’re not. It’s just a crappy situation. Come on, I know just the place to cheer you up.”
“I’m afraid to ask.”
“Trust me, you’ll love it.”
Kenzie found herself reluctantly following Jillian outside. But they didn’t head for her car – instead, they headed across the street to a karaoke bar called Mick’s Master Karaoke.
“I know you love Asian stuff,” Jillian explained with a smile. “And this place looks great!”
Kenzie had to hand it to Jillian. She really knew how to cheer her up. They spent the rest of the night at the karaoke club singing their hearts out to various songs, mostly by Cadie Berry, but for the duets, they put on The Bitter Girls and La Ninjas del Toro.
They didn’t particularly get a lot of applause, and some random things were thrown at the stage, but they both had fun, and that was the important thing.
It was nearly one in the morning when the two got tired enough to return to the hotel. They both took turns taking quick showers before changing into their pajamas. When Kenzie came out of the bathroom, she saw Jillian lying on one of the beds watching the TV above the dresser.
“Anything good on TV tonight?” Kenzie asked.
“Not really, just the travel channel. It’s telling us all the places we can go here in Starlight Shores, as if we didn’t already have a brochure.”
“Well, the main source of income for this place probably comes from tourists. They want to promote it as much as they can.”
“I guess so.”
Kenzie sat down on the bed and said, “So, I guess I’ll be meeting your boyfriend tomorrow.”
“Yeah…I hope it’s okay with you. I mean, I had no idea Austin would be here, and that he’d have someone with him…”
“It’s not your fault. Besides, I have to get a good look at this guy and give my approval.”
“Oh Ken, you’re too much!”
Jillian playfully threw a pillow at her friend, and that resulted in a fierce pillow fight.
The battle drained what was left of their energy, so the two crawled into bed and burrowed under the covers. Before drifting off to sleep, Kenzie wondered if Jillian’s new boyfriend was really better than the last ones she’d picked. She hoped so, for her friend’s sake. Hopefully this guy wouldn’t turn out to be a jerk who only wanted woo, a total tool, a gangster thief, or someone who used magic for frivolous purposes.
********************
The next morning, Kenzie woke up and saw that it was nearly 11. She sat up, stretched, and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
She’d slept dreamlessly the previous night, and that helped shed some light on the day. Jillian jostled and then opened her eyes to look at her friend.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Morning. How’d you sleep?”
“Great. You?”
“Pretty good.”
“Sweet. So, what’s on the agenda for today?”
“Cadie’s concert is tonight, and I’m going to meet your boyfriend.”
“What time is it?”
“Almost 11.”
“Shit!” Jillian cursed and threw the blankets back before standing up and rubbing her face. “He’ll be at Flying V’s Coffeehouse at noon!”
“Then let’s get going.”
The two threw on some clothes and rushed out the door. Jillian drove again, and Kenzie could tell that her friend was very excited.
“Just so you know,” she said, “I don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night and see you two getting it on.”
Jillian let out a loud guffaw. “Wow, no offense, but it wouldn’t turn me on if you were there.”
“Uh, thanks?”
“Kenzie, we wouldn’t do that.”
“I know, I’m just saying. I’d be scarred for life, and I’ve already been cursed with enough bad luck.”
“You’re not cursed. Maybe this was all meant to happen.”
“I don’t know about that. But seriously…”
“We won’t.”
“Is he going to be staying in our room since it has two beds? Ugh, why did I ask that?”
“Because you’re used to asking questions. And no, we weren’t planning to, but if you’re offering…it would be a shame to let that second nice bed to go waste.”
“Ack!”
“Okay, never mind!”
When the two arrived at the coffeehouse, several people were already congregated outside. Since it was a lovely morning, they were obviously getting their morning dose of caffeine before returning to work, since they didn’t get spring break. Kenzie scanned the patrons but they all looked too old to be Jillian’s latest beau.
“Boo,” someone said from behind them. The two jumped and turned around to stare into the icy blue eyes of…
“Isaiah?” Kenzie gasped dubiously.
Talk about a small world.
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