Page 3 of Always a Roommate
And that was okay.
I made it out to my car before he appeared at the front door, the screen separating him from the outside. He watched me, a frown tugging at his lips.
“What?” I called back, annoyed that he made me even more jittery than I’d been.
“Good luck.” His lips twitched, but no smile came, and he turned back into the house.
Two simple words.
One man.
How was it possible that all these years later, he could still make me feel like the little girl who’d never grown up?
2
SHANE
Good luck? That was all I had for her?
Good freaking luck.
My sister had told me what today meant for Rae. She was off to the biggest meeting of her career. It was why I’d gotten up early, despite the fact today was an in-service day. We wouldn’t have any students, and the administration was allowing us to come in later than normal for a seminar.
And still, I’d made sure I was up to make Rae coffee. I hadn’t ever seen her drink it, now that I thought about it, but everyone did, right? Today, I figured she’d need the boost. A boost I’d completely forgotten to offer her before she was out the door, her curls flying free behind her.
Her preference for tea over coffee wasn’t the only thing I’d learned about Rae while living here. She talked to my sister every morning, not about anything in particular, just to talk. Her dad stopped by often, and she never showed any signs of that bothering her.
She couldn’t garden to save her life—hence the overgrown raspberry bushes out front. Rae Brooks was a force, one I wasn’t sure how long I could live with.
She wasn’t a bad roommate. The house was clean, and she stayed out of my way. But every time she looked at me with those piercing green eyes, it felt like she saw right through me down to my core.
And the last time I let anyone in, the last time a woman learned my secrets, she crushed them like they were nothing more than a piece of paper in the palm of her hand.
I, Shane Kelly, was damaged. Everyone knew that, but none of them had guessed exactly how much.
I dumped my coffee in the sink. If I left now, there was still time to grab a bite to eat at Momma Loves Sugar. It was a ridiculous name, but there was no better coffee in Gulf City.
Swiping my keys off the marble countertop, I sidestepped the kitchen island and pulled on my shoes, then stepped out into the blazing Florida sun.
Yep, Rae was right. I was going to fry today.
Too late now. I needed coffee. And definitely a scone. Maybe two.
The house Rae had let me move into, taking over my sister’s lease, was in a neighborhood near the beach, which happened to also be close to the main area of town where businesses lined the streets from restaurants to real estate offices.
I pulled my black pickup into the lot near the bakery and cut the engine.
Inside, I found my brothers sitting at one of the small white tables, their large frames looking odd in the narrow space. “Don’t you two have jobs?” I crossed my arms when I reached them.
“Look who it is.” Tanner, the closest sibling to me in age at three years my junior, checked the time on his phone. “During the school day?”
“They probably fired him.” Johnny sipped his coffee like that was a perfectly reasonable statement.
I slapped him on the back of the head. “You wish. Then, there’d be another slacker in the family.” None of us were completely sure what Johnny did. He seemed to work strange hours and didn’t talk about his job.
“Hey now.” He swatted me away, his laugh telling me he took no offense. Johnny was probably the most easygoing person I’d ever met, and Tanner was a close second. I’d always envied them.
“Grab a chair.” Tanner gestured to the empty table before waving toward someone at the counter. “Coffee dude! We need a third cup.”
