Page 56 of Loving You Always

Walsh nodded and offered Mrs. Peterson a genuine smile. He didn’t look at Kerris, but the tight jaw and clenched fist he slid into his pocket signaled that he wasn’t altogether pleased with her.

“Thank you. I miss her, too.”

“I heard your father is holding a big shindig in her honor up there in New York.” Another customer, the one with the camera phone, said from across the room.

Walsh turned in the woman’s direction, another smile on his face.

“Yes, ma’am. It’s for an endowment in my mother’s name Bennett Enterprises has created.”

“In two weeks, right?”

“Yes.” Walsh lifted impressed eyebrows. “You’re well informed.”

The customer looked a little sheepish.

“We all keep up with your family. You’ve done a lot for this community.”

Another smile from Walsh and then his eyes drifted back to Kerris. She hated to see the smile he’d held on to for everyone else wither and die when his eyes landed on her. He didn’t speak, but just let the quiet build between them like a brick wall. Just as she was about to say something, probably the wrong thing, Meredith joined them.

“Walsh, good to see you.” Meredith slapped Walsh on the arm and brought him in for a hug, giving Kerris WTF eyes around his shoulder.

Kerris was asking herself WTF. She’d been mooning over this man all day, waiting for a phone call, and he shows up in the beautiful flesh and she messes it up this badly?

“You look great, Mer.” Walsh tweaked the hair spiking around her gamine face. “I like the pink.”

“You know me. Always trying something new.” Meredith turned to Kerris. “I’ve got things handled out here, Ker.”

“Oh, um. Okay.” Kerris turned to Walsh, her face a silent question he refused to answer. “Would you like to…we could…if you want…”

Walsh didn’t acknowledge the word salad Kerris couldn’t stop tossing. He walked past her and toward the back office. Meredith slammed her palm against her forehead and shooed Kerris after him.

“Go fix that,” Meredith whisper-shouted.

Kerris wasn’t sure how to fix whatever she had broken. Once in the office, she leaned against the door, unsure what to do with her hands. If she hadn’t botched things up so badly, she’d already be in Walsh’s arms. Against a wall getting the sense kissed out of her. This was not the reunion she had envisioned.

“I um…” Kerris cleared her throat. “I wasn’t expecting you. I thought you were in meetings all day in New York and wouldn’t be back until the weekend.”

Walsh crossed his arms, molding the shirt to the hardness of his chest. “I wanted to see you and had Trish clear my schedule.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

“I wouldn’t have known it by how you dropped my hand out there and stepped away from me in front of everyone like I had the plague.” His eyes, marble hard, didn’t leave her face. “What was that, Kerris?”

“I didn’t mean to do that.” She pressed herself deeper into the door, wishing she could blend into the paneling. “It was a knee-jerk response. I just don’t want people to think we are—”

“But we are.” Walsh ran hands through his hair, a little longer than when she had last seen him. “Aren’t we?”

“Of course. I don’t want people judging us.”

“And I honestly don’t care.”

“I don’t want Cam hearing about us through the grapevine or some blog or tabloid.”

“Baby, even if Cam hasn’t heard anything, he knows. Our being together was an eventuality he has been preparing himself for since he left.” He pointed to the door that was her support. “That out there? You treated me like a friend.”

“I just wasn’t prepared for you to show up. I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?”

Walsh pushed off the desk and strode over to stand in front of her, caging her in with his arms on either side of her against the door.

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