Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(99)

The first day of the New Year had Anna and I back on a plane, going home. Mom and Dad saw us both off at the gate. Mom sobbing while she hugged her girls, Dad telling us that we were welcome to come back any time we wanted, for however long we wanted. He even told me that Kellan could visit again sometime too, since he was a decent man and had obeyed the house rules.

I didn’t tell Dad that Kellan and I had broken his rules on that very first night. I also didn’t mention that every night after that, I’d snuck downstairs to cuddle with Kellan on the plastic-coated couch. And technically that hadn’t been breaking the rules, since Dad’s only stipulation was that Kellan couldn’t come up to my room. He’d never said anything about me going down to him.

I also didn’t mention that fact to Mom, since Kellan and I had caved once or twice on that couch and she had specifically asked for that not to happen in her house. I couldn’t help it, though. Sometimes my common sense flew right out the window when Kellan touched me. Okay, most of the time it did.

When our plane touched down on the west coast, my heart dropped a little. At least back in Ohio, I was closer to where Kellan was, as he continued his touring by the east coast. Now that I was back at home, the country had never seemed so large. I cursed the vastness of it all.

Stepping into Pete’s that night, since the work-free part of my winter vacation was over, I was assaulted nearly instantly. A cute, perky blonde 277



threw her arms around me. “Kiera! You’re back!” Pulling back, Jenny beamed up at me. “We missed you so much.”

I laughed as I hugged her, warmed by her welcome. “I missed you guys too.” As we separated, a flash of sparkle around her neck caught my eye. Fingering the pendant against her skin, a gold heart with a diamond floating in the center of it, I smiled. “This is really pretty. Is it from Evan?”

Jenny picked it up and giggled. “Yeah.” She pointed to the silver guitar I always wore tucked under my clothes. “Now we kind of match, right?”

I smiled and nodded, lightly tracing the shape of the guitar under my shirt. Jenny flicked a finger at the ring I was unconsciously showing her.

A knowing smile on her face, she asked, “That from Kellan?” Seeing that she clearly already knew it was, I looked down at it and nodded. She sighed as she pulled my hand over to examine it. Shaking her head she told me, “Yeah, Evan told me about these. He was there when Kellan picked them out.” She peeked up at me, her blue eyes bright. “Kellan wears one too, right?”

I nodded again, fingering the elegant band around my finger. “Yeah, his is plain silver. It’s simple, it suits him…it’s really nice.” My voice got a little dreamy on me and Jenny smiled, dropping my hand. “That boy never ceases to surprise me,” she murmured. “I honestly didn’t think he had it in him to be so committed to one person.” She shrugged, hugging me again. “Well, I’m glad it’s you that he loves.” Starting to walk away, she shook her head and rolled her eyes. “If I had to constantly hang around some of the girls he’s been with, I think I’d shoot myself.” She smirked and laughed, then seemed to realize what she’d said and stopped walking. “Oh, I didn’t mean to bring up…you know…he’s just…there were some that…”

She sighed and shrugged, looking really embarrassed. I forced myself to laugh and shrug my shoulders. “I know. I know what he was. It’s okay, Jenny. Don’t worry about it.”





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She relaxed a little, tossing out an apology before scampering off to work. I inhaled a deep breath and let it go. His past flings were no great secret. It nearly seemed like there was a group of them that held weekly meetings, comparing notes. Oh, he did that with you too! How amazing for the both of us!

I smirked at myself, imaging Rita as the president of the club and Candy as the vice president. Rain could be the treasurer…mechanic girl could be the secretary. Rolling my eyes, I headed to the back room to start getting ready for work. Filling up that imaginary club’s imaginary positions had been way too easy.

Before I knew it, I was back into my old routine. School started back up again and I had all new classes for the new quarter. Still going for my Bachelor of Arts with a major in English, my classes were heavy on literature…and homework. I enrolled in a class that I was sure was going to be as challenging as my Critical Practices class—Studies in Expository Writing. Under my guidance counselor’s advice, I also signed up for a course on the Theory and Practice of Teaching Writing. She said that learning to teach someone else was also a good way to learn something yourself. I agreed, although the thought of standing in front of class giving lectures made me want to pee my pants. But I could do it if I had to.

If Kellan had gotten through the challenges in his life, I could surely get through my far more trivial woes.

On the bright side, I now had Friday afternoons off. True, I’d mainly be studying, but a bright side is a bright side. That and my ethics class was over. And no more ethics meant no more Candy. And she apparently was not focusing on English as her major; she didn’t show up in any of my new classes.

Cheyenne did, though. The outgoing woman slung her arm around me when she showed up in my poetry class. Only briefly asking how my rock star boyfriend was, she streamed on and on about her holiday break. I listened eagerly, glad that I had a life and connections outside of Kellan. That, for once, focusing on him wasn’t all I had. Like Mom feared with Anna, I didn’t want to rely on one thing for my happiness. That wasn’t to say that Kellan didn’t give me the most joy, he did, but there were other pockets of contentment that I drew strength from too.