The Summer Deal (Wildstone #5)(78)

She was a glass-half-empty type of girl.

But it wasn’t her doctor, the hospital, or Deck, who’d probably removed her as his emergency contact since she was such a bitch.

Best Sister on the Planet was calling.

She stared at the phone for another full ring, not sure she was up for this. Because her sister was definitely a glass-half-full kind of girl. She swiped to answer, but before she could say anything, Brynn beat her to it.

“I found him,” she said, voice shaking with excitement.

“Who?” Kinsey asked.

“Dad.”

She froze.

“Kinsey?”

“I must be hearing things,” she said in the voice she used to warn people she was considering committing murder, the same voice that said she already knew where she was going to hide the body. “Because I distinctly remember telling you we weren’t going to look for him.”

“Yes,” Brynn said, using the same voice right back at her. “But since you’re not the boss of me, I figured it was better to ask for forgiveness instead of permission.” She laughed. Laughed. “Come on, Kins, this is great news. Admit it.”

She would do no such thing. “I have to go.”

“Okay, but don’t you want to know where I found him? Bakersfield! Can you believe it? This whole time he’s only been a few hours away.”

Not only could Kinsey believe it, she’d been to his place in Bakersfield. And she didn’t want Brynn there. She didn’t want Brynn anywhere near him.

“It’s Thursday,” Brynn said. “You know what that means, right?”

“That tomorrow is Friday?”

“Yes, smart-ass. We’ll leave right after work. We’ll drive out there, and if he’s not home, we can get a hotel and make a night of it, then try again on Saturday morning. We have the whole weekend to catch him. Road trip!”

Kinsey stopped breathing. “No. Brynn—”

“I wish I had called one of those reality shows that track people looking for their birth families. We’d make such a good episode, don’t you think? We’re going to get our happy ending, Kins! Anyway, I’m hanging up now, before you can tell me all the reasons why this is a bad idea.” And then she did just that and disconnected.

Kinsey carefully sat on the sand, pulled her knees to her chest, dropped her forehead to her knees, and . . . missed Deck. Missed his comforting presence, his calm, his adventurous spirit, but most of all she missed how he made her feel safe. She needed him right now. He would know what to do.

She also loved him, almost beyond bearing. And that was her own burden to bear.





Chapter 23


For the first time in Kinsey’s life, she woke up the next morning wanting to feel sick so that she could postpone the stupid road trip.

So of course she felt great.

Karma was such a bitch.

The problem was that she knew that with or without her Brynn was going.

And Kinsey couldn’t let her do it alone.

She had a text from Brynn saying: Pack before work, we leave right after!

Whatever. She purposefully didn’t pack a bag until she got home from work. Opening an overnight duffel, she started with pj’s. She’d been sleeping in a shirt she’d pilfered from Deck, one she hadn’t washed because she was pathetic and wanted to have his scent on her. Carefully folding the T-shirt, she tucked it into the bag like it was her finest possession. Which it was.

With a big exhale of grief, she did as she’d done a hundred thousand times since she walked away from him. She picked up her phone and brought up his contact info, her thumb hovering over his number.

She wanted to hear his voice more than she wanted her next breath.

Then she thought about why she’d let him go. Because as much as she loved him, as much as she ached to be with him, she knew he felt the same about her. So in the only way she knew how, she was protecting him, she reminded herself. Only one of them needed to feel this heartbreak.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she headed down the stairs. Through the living room window she could see Eli and Brynn by her car. They stood close, barely any space between them, but Eli pulled her closer still. They kissed, his hands slowly sliding up her slim thighs, vanishing beneath the hem of her sundress. With Eli’s mirrored shades and Brynn’s brightly colored clothing, they could have been on the cover of any summer magazine in the land and sold a gazillion copies.

Kinsey wanted to be totally and completely annoyed by the PDA, but even from here she could see how much Eli adored her sister. With a sigh, she strode out the front door.

They were still kissing, and now Brynn had wrapped her arms around Eli’s neck and appeared to be trying to climb him like a tree. “Thought we were on a schedule,” Kinsey called out, waving her phone. “Ticktock.”

Brynn broke free with a grin, so blissful it almost hurt to look at her.

Eli was much slower to pull back, gazing down at Brynn like maybe she was the most important thing on the planet to him.

“We’ll need to stop for snacks.” Brynn smiled up into Eli’s face. “Lots of snacks.”

“I thought I was your snack,” he said.

Kinsey rolled her eyes, but Brynn laughed, a low, husky sound that spoke of sexy memories and an easy, natural connection.