I didn’t like the idea of leaving Kenzie alone. I might have felt differently if I knew Ruby would be there to keep an eye on her. But Kenzie had said Ruby was going to be over at a friend’s house. Kenzie was having a hard time. She must have loved her parents very much, and to lose them at a young age. And on top of all that grief, she had been left to have to take care of and raise Ruby.
It was a lot.
I felt bad for feeling a little jealous. My parents were gone, and I didn’t notice or care. What must it be like to love someone so much that their absence caused so much grief?
I tossed my coat onto the hook at the back door as I walked into the kitchen. I saw the baseball on the table. Maybe I understood too well.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, shocked to see Kenzie’s name as the caller ID for the text message. Her phone minutes were a precious commodity. I was flattered she was using them to text me again.
I know I said I wanted to be alone. But I don’t, she texted.
You’re going to let me take you out?
No. No date. But I don’t want to be alone.
You want some company? I asked.
Please. And some pizza.
I laughed. Pizza and company. Sounded like a date to me.
Tell me what you want on your pizza and what you absolutely won’t eat. Beer or Cokes?
Everything, anything. Will not eat anchovies or sliced tomatoes. Beer.
I typed OMY, and the phone auto corrected to on my way, when I hit Send. I continued to stare at the conversation, waiting to see if she replied. After a few moments of nothing, I figured she’d turned her phone off like she had last time.
For some reason, I had been thinking about getting her a little something. Not as a Valentine’s gift, but because if anyone deserved a little present in their life, it was Kenzie. It had to be something that would be useful to her or she wouldn’t accept it. I couldn’t show up with a new phone or announce that I would add her to my phone plan. That was too controlling, crossing boundaries she was struggling to keep in place. For someone with so little, she protected what was hers fiercely. She hadn’t given up when it would be easier to do so.
I knew what I was going to get her.
I put my phone in my pocket and grabbed my coat.
My first stop was the drugstore. They had a kiosk of prepaid phone cards. I selected one, and then as I approached the checkout counter, I got a tickle on the back of my neck. The hairs there stood on end. I cast my gaze around the store as I rubbed the back of my neck.
I wouldn’t call it premonition, but it was a feeling I had before that told me to pay attention. I needed to look around and see if I was missing something important.
A large Trojans poster hung in the back near the pharmacy. The nerves along my spine settled down as if to say, ‘Here is your clue, dumbass.’ I wasn’t going over to Kenzie’s for a date or a hookup. I was going to keep a sad friend company. Something I’d done plenty of times without needing condoms. But none of my soldiers I had sat up with on long, dark nights were Kenzie.
More importantly, Kenzie wasn’t one of my soldiers. She was a beautiful woman, and my libido was screaming for me to pick up a box of condoms already.
Beer, condoms, a box of chocolates, and a phone card. It looked like I was preparing for a date. I slid my credit card into my wallet after paying for it all. “What’s the best pizza place around here?” I asked the cashier. I really hoped she wasn’t going to say the place out by the highway. I’d had their pizza before. I wasn’t a fan.
“Tommy-Oh’s, but they don’t deliver,” she said.
Tommy-Oh’s sounded familiar. “That’s the place downtown, by the hardware store, right?”
“That’s the place. I don’t think you’ll be able to get a table there tonight. But they do take-out. I’d call ahead if I were you.”
“Thanks, I will,” I said as I grabbed the case of beer and my small paper bag.
Back in the truck, I pulled out my phone. I more than half hoped Kenzie had texted me again. I liked her texts. But I understood why she hadn’t. Well, hopefully, my little gift would change that.
I looked up the number for Tommy-Oh’s and called.
“We aren’t taking reservations for tonight, the wait is already an hour, and if you want to order to-go, we’re only doing larges. Your choices are cheese margherita, pepperoni with extra cheese, veggie lovers’, and the kitchen sink. If you don’t like it, don’t order. What can I do for you?”
“Give me one pepperoni and one kitchen sink. Pay now or when I get there?”
“Nice and decisive. Pay when you pick up. Name?”
“Tate.”
“See you in twenty, Tate.”
That had probably been the easiest pizza ordering I had ever done. But what was I going to do for twenty minutes? It was only a ten-minute drive across town to pick up the pizza.
Thirty minutes later, I was taking the steps two at a time to get to Kenzie’s apartment.
“You brought beer?” she asked as she opened the door.
“What, no ‘hi’?”
“Hi, Tate. Did you bring beer?”
“I did,” I said as I set everything down on her kitchen table.
She tore open the case and popped open a can without even noticing the brand. She tipped her head back and began pouring the beer down her throat.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I reached out for her and snagged the can out of her hand before she completely drained it. “That’s beer, not water. Have you even eaten anything today?”
She wiped her mouth with the back of her arm. “No, but that’s what the pizza is for.”
She opened the top box and inhaled appreciatively. “You got Tommy-Oh’s.” She slid a slice of the kitchen sink pizza, with everything on it, out of the box and folded it in half lengthwise. She put at least a third of the slice into her mouth before she bit down.
“You aren’t drunk, are you?” I asked.
“No, but I want to be.”
“You called me over here to get you drunk?” I was a touch annoyed because I thought she had wanted my company.
She turned and finally looked at me. Her eyes were red like she hadn’t stopped crying all afternoon.
“Oh, Kenzie. Come here.” I pulled her against my chest. She was hurting badly today.
“I want this pain to go away. I miss them so much. And this fucking day always comes back and reminds me of all of it. I can’t get away from Valentine’s Day. I hate it, Tate. I hate it.”
“So you want to get drunk to forget?”
She nodded. “I don’t know how else to make it go away. I can’t sleep, and I know that a few beers and I’ll get drunk enough to sleep and forget.”
“Drinking is not your answer, Kenzie. That’s a slippery slope it’s best to just not approach. Alcoholics Anonymous is full of Army vets. You don’t want to forget that way.”
She felt good in my arms. I was a serious jerk for thinking the thoughts I was while she struggled with her emotions. But if it took my holding her all night to help her, I would be here.
“What am I supposed to do?” she asked.
“We could try a distraction,” I suggested.
“Like what?”
“A movie? We could play poker,” I suggested. I was going to need a distraction soon if she kept wiggling around against my chest the way she was. I could feel the warmth of her breasts pressed against me. And damn it, I was far too aware of her thigh brushing against mine.
“I tried a movie, but I can’t focus.”
I looked down at her. Her big eyes cast up to me. I took her sharp little chin in my fingers and tilted her face up to meet mine. Only her words could have stopped me, and I didn’t want her to say anything.
I slid my lips across hers.
She hummed, or maybe it was me, and then she was wrapping her arms around my neck. I leaned into her, scooping my hands over and around, and then finally under that glorious ass of hers before lifting her up.
She squeaked into my mouth but kept kissing me. Her tongue was the sweetest ambrosia on the planet. I carried her to the couch and kept a grip on her and lowered until she was on top and I was sinking into the cushions.
“We could always give you new, better memories for today,” I managed when she pulled back and stared down at me.
I struggled out of my coat and then tore my shirt off. If I was going to make any new memories with Kenzie tonight, I wanted to feel her against my skin.
She just kept looking at me.
“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” I said.
“What if I want to do it all?”
“I’m willing to oblige. But you’re in control here, Kenzie. If you say no at any point, I will stop. If you tell me to leave, I will leave.”
“If I tell you to make love to me?” She looked so nervous, but she held steady, her eyes wide. And she kept licking her lips like she wanted to taste me again.
A wide grin crossed my face. “I brought condoms.”
