his usual crowd. He had no doubt that his friends would accept her, if only she would give them a chance, but he sensed it was going to take some time and patience to knock the chip off her shoulder.
They shared a medium pizza with pepperoni and hot peppers on his half, mushrooms and green peppers on hers, and a couple of sodas. When the pizza was delivered to their table, she slid a slice onto her plate, then picked off every single mushroom before she bit into it. He’d started on his fourth slice while she was carefully removing toppings from her second.
“Why did you order mushrooms if you don’t like mushrooms?” he finally asked.
“Because I’m going to take the other two slices home for my sister, and she does like mushrooms.”
“How old’s your sister?”
“Four.”
“And how old are you?”
“I’ll be sixteen in December.”
“That’s quite an age gap,” he noted.
She nodded. “My mother says Becca is a lesson in what happens when you stop being careful.”
He had no idea what to say to that, so he backtracked. “I guess if you’re not even sixteen yet, you don’t have your license.”
She shook her head.
“I’ll be seventeen in January,” he told her, though she hadn’t asked.
“Did you get the car for your sixteenth birthday?”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “I wanted an SVT Cobra Coupe, but my dad said I would only get one of those when I could afford to buy it myself.”
She lifted her brows, and he knew without her having to say it that she expected—as a lot of people did—because his family was wealthy, he’d get whatever he wanted.
“My father has some pretty strong ideas about making sure his kids know—” he made quotation marks in the air with his fingers “—the value of a dollar.”
“I bet even the car you’re driving now cost more than a few dollars.”
He nodded his agreement. “And it gets me where I want to go, so I can’t really complain.”
“I have to take three different buses to get to and from school,” she admitted.
“That sucks.”
“By the time I make all the necessary transfers, the trip adds almost an hour to the start and end of each day.” She shrugged. “On the other hand, it beats the alternative.”
“Walking?” he guessed.
To his surprise, she smiled as she shook her head. She really had a pretty smile. “Still being at South Ridge and feeling like I’m going nowhere.”
When the waitress came to check on them, he asked for a box for her leftover pizza. She brought the box along with the bill, and he put some money on the table for payment, then counted out fifty dollars more and tucked them under the edge of the take-out box for Kenna.
Her eyes were riveted on the money, but she made no move to touch it.
“It’s yours,” he reminded her. “We had a deal.”
She finally reached for the bills and tucked them into the front pocket of her backpack.
“I’m not usually so mercenary,” she said, “but my sister needs new shoes.”
He’d never known anyone like her. She was honest and genuine and completely unapologetic. Yeah, she had a bit of a chip on her shoulder, but from the little glimpses that she’d given him of her life over the past few weeks, he thought she’d probably earned it.
“So...do you think we could do this again sometime?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Why not?”
“I’ll admit that I no longer think you’re a complete ass just because your family has boatloads of money, but the fact remains that we don’t run in the same circles.”
“Actually, if you want to get technical, it’s yachtfuls of money.”
Her lips tipped up, just a little, at the corners. “Which is too bad, because I almost think I could like you.”
Then she pushed back her chair, and he immediately rose to his feet and offered her a hand. She seemed surprised by the gesture, but she put her hand in his, and he felt an unexpected warmth spread through him in response to the contact.
“I want to say ‘hi’ to someone in the kitchen before I head home,” she told him.
“I can give you a ride.”
She shook her head. “Thanks, but I don’t live far.”
“Are you sure?”
“I know where I live,” she promised him, her blue eyes sparkling with humor.
He’d never known anyone else who had the ability to make him feel like an idiot with so little effort. But she wasn’t ever mean about it and, truthfully, he kind of liked that she challenged him. Most of the girls he knew just nodded in agreement with everything he said. Kenna had her own thoughts and opinions, and she wasn’t afraid to share them.
“I meant—are you sure you don’t want a ride?” he clarified.
“I’m sure.”
“Okay,” he agreed, albeit reluctantly.
“Thanks again for the pizza,” she said, and turned toward the back of the restaurant.
“Thanks for letting me win the bet.”
It had been a long time after before he realized that he’d won a lot more than a hundred-dollar bet that day.
He only hoped he hadn’t jeopardized everything by putting a ring on her finger.
* * *
When they landed at the Raleigh-Durham Airport Sunday afternoon, there was a text message on Kenna’s phone from her sister.
@ library with Todd
Kenna sighed and simply replied ok.
It wasn’t okay—not by a long shot, but she knew that expressing her disapproval of the relationship would only succeed in fueling her little sister’s affection for him.
Besides, she had bigger things to worry about right now. Like Sunday night dinner at the home of her new in-laws.
David and Jane Garrett had bought a modest farmhouse set on ten acres of property when they were newlyweds. Over the years and as their family had grown, they’d renovated and added on so that the current dwelling bore little resemblance to the original structure. The first time Kenna had ever seen it, she’d loved it.
The two-story house was big but not particularly grandiose. Certainly no one seeing it from the street would think that it belonged to one of the wealthiest families in Charisma. But any time David complained that the floors were creaky and suggested they should move to a modern home in a newer neighborhood, Jane shot him down. “Each one of our boys took their first steps in this creaky old house, and I’m not selling those memories.”
Kenna had a lot of happy memories of times spent in that house, too. Studying for numerous exams with Daniel at the butcher-block table; nibbling on warm chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven; playing flag football with his brothers and his cousins in the backyard; sitting on the porch swing with her head on Daniel’s shoulder, trying not to cry the night before he left for college.
Because she’d spent so much time there over the years, no one was surprised when she showed up with Daniel Sunday afternoon. He’d wanted to get there early, so they could tell his parents about their marriage before everyone else arrived. Everyone