Page 76 of Will Bark for Pizza
As the drive to the cabin was blocked off, I found a spot past the cabin, closer to the lake, and pulled in behind a hunter green 4Runner. I couldn’t see the boat dock from here, but I didn’t need to. I remembered meeting Kira like it happened yesterday.
I could hear Nana’s voice in my head.You dumbass, itdidhappen yesterday. Stop thinking with the wrong head.
The warning wasn’t enough to ward off the memory of Kira’s wet T-shirt clinging to the curves of her body, her red locks plastered to her cheeks and collarbone. Had she been wearing that necklace the day she fell into the lake? The same one she had on last night that kept disappearinginto the V of her shirt. I imagined dipping a finger into the valley between her breasts to reveal what charm dangled on the end of the silver chain. Would she make one of those soft whimpers she made at the bar and grill when I sucked frosting from my thumb as my rough fingertips grazed her soft flesh?
“Oh, good!” The familiar female voice pulled me immediately out of my forbidden fantasy.
“Hey, Aspen.”
“Beckett,” Aspen said, a look of relief falling over her face. “Can I ask a favor?”
“Of course.”
She gave me an apologetic smile as she opened the back door of her SUV, revealing a massive sheet cake with the wordsHappy 60th Birthday Wendyinscribed on it. “I hate to ask, but it’s crazy heavy, and I don’t think I’d make it to the cabin without tripping. It’s literally the only task Dad asked me to handle tonight. I don’t want to mess it up by dropping it.”
“I got it.”
“You are a lifesaver. I sent Owen ahead with Tango so we wouldn’t have any mishaps in the car. But my phone died, so I can’t call him.”
“Really, I don’t mind.”
“Good. Because we only have about five minutes before my parents are due to arrive.”
As I carried the cake and followed her off the heavily rutted road toward a path in the woods, she filled me in about the plan for Karl to pretend to take Wendy out for a special birthday dinner, but a surprise phone call would come in before they got to the restaurant,warning him there were trespassers out at the lake property.
“Think she’ll be surprised?” I asked.
“I just hope she’s not mad. They haven’t been out here in a long time.”
Aspen grew quiet as we followed the path through the thick trees toward a clearing. I didn’t want to risk putting a damper on the night, so I joined in her silence.
The aroma of grilled burgers and brats hung in the air, and I wondered if someone had cleaned up the old charcoal grill or brought in another for the occasion.
“How late did you and Kira stay out last night?”
I nearly stumbled over my own two feet at the unexpected question. I gripped the edge of the tray beneath the sheet cake as though my life depended on it. I didn’t release a breath until my feet were flat on the ground beneath me, and I double-checked that the cake was still fully intact on the tray in my clutches.
“We all left at the same time,” I said.
Aspen laughed. “I wasn’t insinuating anything.”
“Right.”
“Not that I’d be entirely against it. You two are grown adults.”
This felt like a trap, so I stayed quiet.
“Just know that Kira’s been through a lot.” Her gentle tone was laced with warning, the sign of a true friend. “If you don’t have any intention of treating her right, then maybe the kindest thing you can do is leave her alone.”
“I wasn’t planning . . . She’s not staying.”
“Maybe not,” Aspen said, sounding as though she might know something I didn’t. “But that doesn’t give youlicense to use her and toss her to the side. If you’re planning to stay in Bluebell Springs, youwillrun into each other.”
“I’d never do that to her.”
My admission slipped of its own accord. Kira wasn’t just some fling I was pursuing. But she wasn’t staying either, which meant anything more was off the table. Not that it mattered if she was staying. Because nothing would change the fact that she was off limits, out of respect for the family who made me an honorary member of their clan.
So whatwasshe to me?
