“And what were you doing during that time?”

“Staying away.”

I laughed, but it didn’t sound right. “So are you saying it was a mistake for you to do that too?”

“Nope,” he said simply, and I looked back at him.

“How is that supposed to help me right now? You said Chase would’ve regretted stepping back, but you stepped back and didn’t regret it.” I paused for a second, and then said, “But at that time, it wasn’t really a decision between the two of you anymore since you and Mom were broken up. So your situation wasn’t exactly the same as mine.”

He thought for a minute before saying, “It was, and it wasn’t. Your mom knew she’d hurt me, and one of her main reasons for waiting so long was because she didn’t want me to get hurt even more by being with Chase and shoving their relationship in my face all the time. Then, when Chase died, even though your mom had broken up with him right before, she was still too torn to be with me. She thought it would be spitting on his memory.”

“But you were together a couple months later,” I hinted, and he nodded.

“The way your mom has put it was that she loved Chase, and was in love with me. From the beginning, and through the whole thing. Even though she told me she wanted me to find someone else, she and I both knew that we would eventually be together again one day. But then Chase died, and it confused things as well as sped them up.”

I shook my head and stared back out at the ocean. “Doesn’t matter how many times I hear the story . . . I’ll never understand how you went through any of that.”

“I went through it because I loved your mom and you.”

“Dad?” When he made a grunting noise, I asked, “When it was back to being a choice of being with you again or not . . . did you still stay back?”

“No. Hell no. She told me she couldn’t be with me, and because of Chase’s death I was questioning what I thought I’d already known about us being together again. But I told her I would be there for her and you. Not just because of how much I loved the two of you, but because Chase was my best friend and I know he would’ve done the same if the roles had been reversed. So I was there, at your grandparents’ house, every day. Never pushing her, just always being there. Well—I may have pushed her a couple times.”

I smiled and looked back to see him grinning. “She was with you, then no one, then Chase, then no one, and then you again. So Chase was there waiting for a relationship, then you both stepped back, and then you were there.”

“Pretty much.”

I sighed heavily. “What does that mean I should do?”

Dad looked up at me and laughed. “It is the most complicated and simple decision. In this situation with Kennedy and her ex, you need to figure out what stage you are all currently in, and then you need to figure out if you’re me, or if you’re Chase.”

“Nothing in that sounds simple.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

December 4

Kennedy

“HEY, RHYS!” I called out as I walked down the hall and turned into the living room. I was caught off guard and took a step back when I found both Rhys and Kira looking at me—Kira with wide eyes that held a tinge of an apology, Rhys like he was afraid of what I was about to say. “Uh, everything okay?”

Rhys glanced over to where Kira was sitting on the love seat then back to me. “Yeah. What’s up?”

“Er, well . . .” I drifted off and shot Kira a confused look that immediately had her snapping out of whatever weird state she’d just been in. “There’s a farmers market in town tonight, they have one every Friday night. There’s live music, fresh veggies and fruits we can grab for the kitchen, and I saw them putting up a stand for corn dogs and funnel cakes. It’s my favorite part of a fair and the produce section from a grocery store all in one, and I thought you might like to go.”

“Do you think it’s a good idea to go walking around town when there’s a possibility of more people looking for you?”

My face fell. “After how much Matthew cried on that couch, I’m really not worried about how another one of Juarez’s guys will be.”

“Kenne—”

“Please!” I whined, cutting him off. “Funnel cake!”

Rhys laughed at my excitement over the fried goodness, and conceded with a sigh, “Yeah, okay. Sounds great. When did you want to go?”

I shrugged. “Whenever. It started an hour ago, and I’m ready when you are.”

“I’m ready.” He stood from the couch, and I once again caught Kira staring off with a weird expression.

“Kira, you coming?”

“What?” she asked, her head snapping up to look at me.

“Farmers market. Are you coming with?”

Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a small O, like she was just now clueing in to what I’d been talking about. “Oh no. You two should probably go alone.”

“Really, it’s not a big deal, I want you to come.”

“You’re not going to come?” Rhys asked, and I pointed at him.

“See? He wants you to go too. Come with us!”

I stood there silently praying she would say yes. As much as I’d been enjoying having Rhys around, I was terrified whenever we had to do something alone. I was worried he would start taking it as a sign that I wanted to be with him again, and he and Kira got along so well that it usually took the awkward tension away from us. Besides, Kira had started withdrawing back into a shell, and I wanted to do anything that prevented her getting sucked into it. It had taken long enough to get her away from the one Zane had put her in, and now I didn’t know how long it would take for this one since I didn’t even understand what had caused it. All I knew was that whenever I entered a room, she wouldn’t talk to me and always had weird looks on her face; and when I was talking with Rhys, she’d go to her room. If she was giving me the opportunity to be alone with him . . . it wasn’t appreciated.

“No, really. You two go. You’ll have fun.” She was already off the couch and walking toward her room before she was even done talking.

Seriously? “So anyway, you ready?” I asked Rhys, and began walking toward the front door.

Rhys followed me out of the condo and walked with me over to the farmers market. It was only a mile away from our complex, and I doubted we would have gotten much closer if we’d driven and tried to find a place to park.

We didn’t talk about anything important on the way over, or as we browsed the booths filled with produce. By important, I mean anything that I should have talked to him about. Like what had happened to me after he left, what I really felt the day he showed up at the condo, and just getting to know him again on a deeper level. All we talked about was Kira’s and my job, the differences between California and Florida, and Matthew and Juarez. Rhys never really offered up anything about himself, he just continued directing questions at me.

And like with Kira, I felt like something was off with Rhys.

He was still smiling, polite, and funny, but there was a distance between us that hadn’t been there just a few weeks ago, and it was nothing like the distance I’d placed between us when he’d first showed up. There was just something in his dark eyes that left me wondering why he looked so worried and, at times, unhappy.