Page 72 of Always a Roommate
Rae kicked the sand. “So, how did this all come about?” She directed the question to Tanner.
“I’m going to go get the painting started.” I walked away from them, hating myself for having nothing to say to her.
I wasn’t good at this… feeling stuff. Things with Diana had been easy because it never got too deep. We never needed to talk about how we felt, even once we got engaged.
So, why was it so hard now?
I looked back at the beach where Tanner and Rae were deep in conversation and then headed to my truck to unload the supplies.
Once I’d piled it all up against one of the walls, my dad came to take over.
“Who is that?” he asked, looking back to the beach.
A stream of waiters from The Beach Club walked toward us carrying platters of food.
I had no idea what was happening, and I didn’t have time to stay to find out because Finley called me over to her.
“We need to head back to the store for wood. A few of Tanner’s friends are coming this afternoon to build some shelving.”
I groaned. “And Tanner couldn’t have told us this before?”
She shrugged. “Come on.”
We climbed into my truck, and it wasn’t until we were halfway to the store that Finley spoke again. “Okay, we don’t really need wood.”
I gave her a look out of the corner of my eye. “What are you talking about?”
She sighed. “I wanted to get you alone so we could talk.”
“About what?” My hands clenched around the steering wheel.
“Rae.”
I slammed the brake in surprise, and Finley let out a curse, looking behind us.
“You’re lucky there’s no traffic.”
Getting ahold of myself, I turned off the road into a small parking lot in front of the cottage offices that had been damaged in the hurricane.
I cut the engine but didn’t look at her.
“I knew it,” she breathed. “You have feelings for my best friend.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Finny.”
She poked my cheek. “Don’t lie to me, Shane Jeremiah Kelly. You are many things. A grump, a grouse, a moody dude—”
“Those are all the same thing.”
She continued as if she hadn’t heard me, “But you are not a liar.”
I leaned my head back and stared at the ceiling. “It’s not real.”
It couldn’t be. What we’d had was just physical, her lips and mine.
“Oh, boy.” She turned in her seat. “It seems someone needs a bit of a lesson. Okay, Shane, you’re my big brother, and I love you, but you’re also an idiot.”
“Thanks for that.”
