Page 43 of Homecoming

“Of course it is. Fine. I’ll go. But we arenotdating, you will not tell anyone we are, and there’ll be no romantic shit of any kind. Am I clear?”

“Crystal.” He was smiling brightly again. “Thank you for doing this for me. You’re saving my life with the aunts.”

As he walked away, whistling, Renata dropped her head into her hands as she wondered when exactly she’d lost control of that so-called negotiation. It’d been more like bribery. Whatever. She’d go with him to the wedding, keep her distancewhile they were there and get things back on track afterward by being nothing more than coworkers.

That was all they would ever be, even if he hadn’t figured that out yet.

Chapter

Ten

Kendraand her family lived in a restored farmhouse in Trenton, just north of Mount Desert Island. Kara had seen photos of the renovation but was looking forward to seeing it in person for the first time since the project had been completed more than three years ago. In another life, her sister might’ve followed her keen interest in architecture and interior design into a different career.

But in this life, she worked as their dad’s executive assistant at Ballard Boat Works and kept things running smoothly for the entire company.

That was the role Kendra had always played in their family—the organizer, the peacemaker, the surrogate mother and chauffeur.

“How long does it take to get used to the smell of dead fish?” Dan asked as he drove Buster’s truck to Kendra’s with the windows down.

Kara laughed. “I’m smell blind to it, so I can’t say, but it probably takes a while for you flatlanders to become accustomed.”

“It’s incredibly disgusting.”

“It’s the smell of home.”

“Yummy. So give me the backstory on Kendra again. You were close to her growing up, right?”

“As much as we could be with eight years between us, but more so now that we’re both adults. I spent far more time with her growing up than I did with my mother, so for a time, she was just another authority figure. Now she’s a friend. We refer to her as Switzerland because she tries to keep an open line of communication with all of us, even though she and Kellen, the second-oldest and the chief strategy officer, have had a lot of arguments over the company’s direction. They didn’t speak for a couple of years.”

“Don’t they work together?”

“In offices across the hall from each other.”

“That must’ve been interesting.”

“It was terrible, and only because Kendra finally said enough is enough did they start speaking again. From what I hear, though, there’s a lot of tension between them to this day, and in some ways, my dad fosters that as he tries to figure out which one of them he’s going to put in charge when he retires.”

“That sounds awful.”

“It is, but Kendra goes out of her way to try to keep it peaceful now that they’ve sort of kissed and made up.”

“Sounds like the eldest child. You could be describing my oldest sister, Barb. Very similar.”

“With hindsight, I can see that Kendra was instrumental to me getting through school and childhood, but at the time, I resented having to do what she told me to.”

“I feel that. Barb was bossy with me and Dylan. We mostly ignored her.”

“Kendra is the kindest person you’ll ever meet. She’d get so hurt when we were mean to her, so that ruined our fun somewhat.”

“What’d she have to say about what Kelly did?”

“Other than the shit with Kellen at work, it’s the only time I’ve ever known her to be on the outs with any of us. I guess they’ve patched things up since then, but Kendra has told Kelly that she doesn’t approve of what she did or how I was treated.”

“That’s something, anyway.”

“I don’t expect others to hold a grudge forever on my behalf.”

“Just so you know… I always will.”

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