Never Doubt Me: Judge Me Not #2(26)

When Will wanders into the kitchen a minute later, I pay close attention to his demeanor. He seems to be in pretty good spirits despite the fact his girlfriend, who is trailing behind him, is leaving in a few hours.

After we’re seated and have started to eat, Will glances my way. I’ve been watching him from across the table, but he’s only just now noticed.

He raises a questioning eyebrow, but I just shake my head and smile. I give him a “Life is good, yeah?” kind of look, and his lips curve up into a smile of his own.

Cassie scoots her chair a little closer to Will. She places one hand on his knee and picks up her juice glass with her other hand. “Everything is really delicious,” she says to Kay. “Thank you for doing this.”

Cassie proceeds to nod to the assortment of breakfast foods on the table, and Will and I chime in with our own gracious sentiments.

Following the compliments to Kay’s cooking, Cassie says to her, “I wish you could have taken off work today, like Chase. I was hoping you could meet my mom when she gets here.”

“I know.” Kay sighs. “I wish I could have, too. I planned to take today off, but Father Maridale has an out-of-town meeting that will last all day, and someone has to man the office.”

“Well,” Cassie replies, toying with a crispy piece of bacon, “if you and Chase ever make it out to Vegas, you’ll have to stop by our house and visit. You can meet Mom, then.”

Kay promises that when—not if—we fly out to Vegas, we will most assuredly visit with Cassie and her mom.

“And on that note”—Kay glances over at the digital clock on the stove—“I better get going.”

“Hey,” I mumble to Kay through a mouthful of pancake, “hold on a sec and I’ll walk you out.”

I finish off the last bit of syrup-covered goodness from my plate and push back my chair. “You two get started on cleaning up in here,” I say to Will and Cassie as I stand.

Will groans and insists he’s too full to move, but Cassie elbows him and quickly interjects, “Of course we’ll clean up, Chase.”

Out in the driveway, when we reach Kay’s car, I lean forward to open the door for her. But when she places her hand over mine, stopping me, I ask, “What’s up?”

She sighs. “I didn’t want to say anything last night, or this morning in front of Cassie and Will, but Missy stopped by the church office yesterday afternoon.”

I roll my eyes. “What the f*ck did she want?”

Yeah, I’m still a little aggravated with the way things went down at the church carnival, the night Kay learned of my hookup with Missy. And I’m less than thrilled when I think of how Missy blew off Kay at the Anchor Inn to go f*ck around with Nick Mercurio and his cousin. But, hey, when it comes right down to it, who am I to judge?

Kay stares down at the keys in the hand not still on mine and mumbles, “Uh, Missy wanted to talk about next month’s rummage sale.”

Kay’s acting a little strange, like there was more to Missy’s visit, so I ask, “She didn’t upset you, did she?”

“No, not at all. But she did have some…news.”

“Oh yeah? What kind of news?” With Missy, I can only imagine.

But even I’m shocked when Kay blurts out, “The baby kind of news, Chase. Missy is pregnant.”

“Holy f*ck.”

There are these few drawn-out seconds where Kay and I just stare at each other. I squeeze her hand, all the while, thinking one thing: Thank God I never f*cked Missy Metzger.

Kay glances away, probably thinking the same thing. She says, “For the record, Missy knows who the father is—Nick’s cousin, Tony.”

“How does she know it’s not Nick’s?” I chuckle, recalling how Kay told me Missy had been with both Tony and Nick.

Kay explains that she’s since come to learn Missy was only with Tony.

“Nice,” I say, smirking, “so Nick just watched the show.”

Kay frowns. “Chase, please, be nice.”

Moving my hand from hers, I cup her chin and urge her to look up at me. When she does, I want to know, “So you’re friends with Missy now?”

“Actually, I do want to be her friend. I think she needs people to support her.”

I have a sinking feeling this includes me. “I guess that means she’s my friend now, too?” I raise an eyebrow.

Kay smacks me in the chest. And I suppose to show me she’s not holding my indiscretion with Missy against me—or Missy—she teasingly says, “Not too good of a friend, buddy.”

I laugh, but then, just to make things clear, I lower my lips until they’re touching hers.

“Hey, it’s you I love,” I murmur against her mouth. “I have no desire to ever be with anyone other than you. You know that, right?”

“Mmhmm,” she replies, before placing her hands on my sides, standing on her tiptoes, and kissing me with everything she’s got.

Shit, Kay’s enthusiasm has me muttering between heated kisses, “Fuck, I wish we could go back inside right now.”

Kay lets out a little moan that does nothing to make me want to stop. But before I end up lifting her pretty summer-green dress, pulling down her panties, and f*cking her against the side of the car, I pull away.