Page 56 of Son of a Preacher Man

“I miss you.”

I miss you too.

With a smile plastered to her face, Kelly returned to the family room. Her three sisters expectantly stared up at her. “What?”

“Just friends, huh?” Her niece giggled, breaking the silence.

Kevin snorted.

“We are.”

“That’s what she says…” Turning to her mother, Katie kept going. “…but trust me, there’s more to it than that. Right, Kev?” Not that she waited for an answer. “Come on now, a guy who’s…” She threw up air quotes. “… ‘just a friend’ wouldn’t be calling at one in the morning—”

“Katelyn.” Squeezing her knee, Brendan put an end to it.

“Linn had the baby,” Kelly announced to a captive audience. Raking her teeth over her lip, she nodded. “And I’m going up to bed. Goodnight.”

Peeking through the blinds, Kelly watched Kim and Kara climb into their truck and drive away. Oops, was it something I said? She snickered to herself, the taillights receding in the distance.

A gentle tap sounding on her door, Katie poked her head in. “I’m sorry.”

“You know how they are.” Kelly shook her head. “The last thing I need are my sisters weighing in on my love life.”

“So, you are more than friends.” Then coming all the way inside, her niece took a seat on the bed.

“Not officially.”

“I like Kodiak.” Katie took her hand, urging her to sit beside her. “Never would have imagined it, honestly, but I think the two of you are good together.”

“Thanks. I didn’t know I needed your approval.”

“You don’t.” Smiling, her head tipped to the side. “And I didn’t need yours either, but you have it anyway. Never mind my mom and the aunts.”

“I can hear Kim already. What, did she change her mind? I thought she was a lesbian,” imitating her sister’s grating voice, Kelly wrinkled her nose in distaste. “You know that’s what they’re thinking.”

“Is that what’s bothering you?”

Maybe.

She shrugged.

“You don’t owe an explanation to anyone.” Katie hugged her. “It’s your life, your choices. That man is the one who makes you happy, so fuck what anyone else might think.”

“How’d you get to be so smart?”

And she winked. “You.”

Linnea tenderly laid the baby in his arms.

“She’s so tiny.” Just one week old, Kodiak gazed in awe at his sister’s daughter. “I don’t remember you being quite as small.”

“Well, you were just a kid yourself.”

“I was ten, Linnea.” Feeling Charlotte’s wispy curls, soft beneath his fingertips, he took in her newborn smell. Raised up as he was, even at that age, he’d felt ancient.

“Perception, brother.”

Yeah, maybe.

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