Chapter 6

Dec

I'd heard screams. The kind that curdled your blood and made you instantly envision the worst-case scenario. But none of the blood-on-the-ground, intruder-smashed-a-window, or giant-spider-alert scenarios held a candle to opening that bathroom door and seeing Kenna with a neon halo of hair around her head and a blow-dryer that threatened to dry the sweat on my brow. The T-shirt hung off one shoulder and the shorts showed off miles of milky-white shapely legs. Her toes, however, were painted fire-engine red, a detail that stuck in my brain.

"What the hell did you do to yourself?"

It was out of my mouth before I could pull it back in. The way her beautiful face crumbled made me feel like an asshole. She threw the hair dryer in the sink—a health hazard that actually had me worried—and put her hands on top of her head. As if two little hands could cover all that neon yellow that moved like a beacon as she charged out of the bathroom. Her ass said Sunshine Key, but her dark mood read Danger.

"Arghh!" The strangled cry had me opening my mouth to apologize, but she spun on her bare feet in the middle of the bedroom and cut me off.

Her eyes were wild, the irises dilated in a fit of rage. Her hands left her head to fling out to the sides. God help me for noticing when it was entirely inappropriate, but her breasts jiggled below the thin shirt. The woman was not wearing a bra and she clearly hadn't learned yet how to dial down the arctic air-conditioning that Maeve had preferred.

"I'm supposed to be getting my life together!" she shrieked. I winced at both the decibel and the clear heartbreak in her tone. "My husband was cheating on me. Did you know that? College sweethearts and the bastard was sleeping with my coworker. He didn't even have the balls to tell me. I found out from the jeweler where he bought her a diamond bracelet for Christmas."

"What did he get you?"

Again with the dumbass comments. I really needed to keep my mouth shut. This woman was dealing with some shit.

Kenna inhaled, her breasts pressing against the constraints of that hideous shirt. "A Kindle."

I grimaced.

"Yeah." She shook her head. "And it gets worse. That coworker just gave a presentation, beating me out of the promotion to manager." Her eyes went a little too wide to be sane. "While she was wearing the bracelet!"

"Fucker," I muttered, wondering what was wrong with the guy, while also thanking my lucky stars for not succumbing to the pressures of marriage. I'd managed to hit forty and not tie myself down to the disfunction of a forever relationship.

"So, the woman sleeping with my husband is now my boss. I went postal in the boardroom, because who wouldn't, and now I'm on an unpaid leave."

I nodded, wondering if her silence was now my cue to speak. Or was this information dump rhetorical? "At least that's over, yeah?"

Kenna's face split with a grin that turned into the kind of laugh you'd hear on a horror flick. "Oh, that's funny. No, of course not. Then my aunt died, my car got robbed of its tires while I was broken down on the side of the road, and my jackass husband served me with divorce papers. And now he's frozen our joint accounts so even if I wanted to have an emotional crisis and buy a G-wagon to compensate, I couldn't."

Damn. That was a lot. No wonder the woman was barely dangling onto the coattails of life. "A G-wagon? I'd splurge on a Ferrari when faced with a jackass ex, but that's just me."

Kenna raised an eyebrow—auburn, not bleached blonde—and I saw the error in my ways. "Missing the point, Mr. Boggs."

"Dec, please. You just told me all the dirty details of your recent history. I feel we've earned a first-name basis."

She nodded and a lock of yellow-blonde hair slipped in front of her face. She blew it out of the way. "Kenna."

I hitched my thumb over my shoulder. "How about I make you a cup of tea? Maeve swore that was the answer to all that ailed you."

Kenna sighed, shoulders dropping. "I wish I'd gotten to know Aunt Maeve better. But the tea sounds great. I'll be down in a second."

I headed out of her room and down the stairs, getting the teapot on the stovetop and the mugs sorted before I saw the packet of papers on the dining room table. I noted the name of the lawyer's office and shot off a picture to Mel. There was no guarantee he could do anything about those frozen accounts, but for the sake of the mental health of my next-door neighbor, I had to try. The teapot began to whistle. I poured the boiling hot water over the tea bags and added a healthy dollop of honey to my mug.

Kenna came down, her hair now in a ponytail and one of Maeve's old Tampa Bay Rays hats jammed on her head. Pretty sure she had a bra on now too, but I wasn't going to look to double-check.

I took the mugs to the table and had a seat. Kenna sat across from me and blew on her tea before taking a tentative sip. The silence was awkward, but I couldn't think of a single thing to fill it. Sure, I could talk about the weather or the tea, but it seemed Kenna was beyond small talk. What did one say to a virtual stranger in the midst of an emotional breakdown? My thumb tapped the handle of my mug, in time with the seconds ticking away on Maeve's old cuckoo clock.

"I was thinking of calling up Char Becker."

Kenna lifted her head, a trickle of hope in those red-rimmed blue eyes. I grunted softly. Being nice was hard sometimes. Okay, all the time. But this woman needed some kindness, and I was the only person she knew in this town.

"Char owns the hair salon in Sunshine Key and about the nicest person you'll ever meet. How about we get you in to see her to fix this?" I waved my hand around in the general direction of her head.

Kenna's gaze dropped back down to her mug. "I can't. No bank accounts, remember?"

The offer was easy. It was only money. "It's on me."

Kenna's head shot up. "No."

I frowned. Here I was being nice for once and she was throwing it in my face? "All right. How about a loan?"

"No."

I gritted my teeth and tried like hell to keep my voice even. "An advance, then. On the boat club profits."

She hesitated, but I could see she wanted to say yes. I had the sudden urge to laugh, just remembering that shock of hair and the raised blow-dryer. When her hair wasn't bleached neon or plastered to her head in the rain, Kenna was an attractive woman. Not that that had anything to do with my offer.

"Come on, Kenna. We need to go into the boat club soon and get our arms around what we're dealing with. I can't walk in there with you lookin' like that."

Her eyes narrowed. "Thank you so much. Your kindness is really helping right now."

I didn't respond to her sarcasm. I just pulled out my phone and sent a text to Char about any openings for a color disaster correction in the next day or two. She dinged me back within minutes with a slot tomorrow morning. Everything slowed down in the summer, including the local hair salon. Many of the locals headed for cooler climates during the wettest, hottest months, but it was my favorite time of the year in Sunshine Key. We mostly had the key to ourselves. No tourists. No prying eyes. And the fish practically jumped into my boat.

Kenna took a sip of her tea, her gaze darting to my phone and then back to my face. Clearly, she wanted this appointment, she was just too stubborn to come right out and say it. I slid the phone in my pocket and took a long, slow sip of tea, letting the seconds pass. I could sit here all day and torment this woman.

Kenna finally exploded. "Well?"

I gently rested the mug back on the table. "Oh, you wanted the appointment?" I asked innocently.

Kenna's eyes narrowed and I could have sworn I saw steam coming from her ears and not the mug of hot tea. "Yes, Dec. I'd like to not glow in the dark for the rest of my life."

My lips wobbled, on the verge of smiling. Good to know she could be funny too. All I'd seen so far was weeping and raging.

"Tomorrow at eight. I'll give you a ride and then head out on my boat. When you're done, we can swing by the boat club and introduce you to the staff. See what it takes to run the place. Sound good?"

Kenna straightened her shoulders as if having a plan was giving her confidence. I batted away the part of me that felt like her knight in shining armor for coming up with that plan. Kenna was definitely a damsel in distress, but I didn't play the knight. Ever.

"Yes, thank you."

I nodded once and stood up, scraping the chair across the wood floor. "I'll see you tomorrow, then. Oh, and don't call her Charlene. She hates that."

With that helpful warning (ask me how I knew Char hated her full name), I headed out, grateful Kenna hadn't exploded into tears again, or decided to take out her rage on me. As I stepped over the hedges and back onto my property, I pulled my phone out and dialed Mel.

"What's this about a divorce?" he asked without a greeting.

I sighed and stepped inside my house, the air-conditioning at a normal level. "Kenna is apparently going through a divorce and said her ex froze their bank accounts. Says she can't spend a dime. Is that legal?"

Mel harrumphed. "Could be, but with a good lawyer on her side, she can fight it. It wasn't ordered by a judge?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"I'll lob over a letter and see if they scare easy. Without a court order, they can't enforce the freeze, and they definitely can't deny her living expenses."

"Thanks, Mel. Just bill me for your time."

"You sure?"

I looked around my house. It looked so dull compared to the wildness of Maeve's place. Some might describe it as cold or lifeless. Maeve sure had. "Yeah, I'm sure."

We hung up with Mel's promise to get right on it. I grabbed my keys and shook my head at myself. What was I doing stepping into Kenna's life and trying to fix things? I'd learned a long time ago that it was better to keep my head down and focus on my own family. Everything else was a distraction from what mattered most.

There was just something about Kenna that wouldn't let me sit on the sidelines. She was like a runaway cat that had matted fur and ribs sticking out. I'd be heartless to leave her on the side of the road. It was simply a sense of humanitarian aid to help her out in her time of need. Anybody else would do the same.

I spent the rest of the day with Pops. Throughout our dinner watching the Rays game at Dad Bod Watering Hole, I kept turning it around and around in my head. I didn't like how Kenna had gotten under my skin, and I'd be doubly sure tomorrow to keep her at a distance. That was the only way to deal with her. Cold, but cordial. Polite, but aloof. I simply didn't have the luxury of connecting with anyone beyond a surface level these days.

The last thing I needed was an outsider stumbling upon my secret and ruining the peace I'd found here in Sunshine Key.

Harley: Heard you've been spending time with the new woman in town. You holding out on me?

Me: Please. You know me better than that.

Harley: I certainly do, which is why I find it curious you haven't introduced me yet. Is she hot?

Me: Haven't thought about her that way. She's kind of a mess, actually. I'm just trying to help her figure out Maeve's estate so she can be on her way.

Harley: I'm sorry. Did you relinquish your man card the second you hit forty? Of course you've looked at her that way. Is she old? Young? Oh! A sexy cougar? I've been thinking I need to date an older woman…

Me: She's not looking to get involved with anyone, dumbass.

Harley: Ooh! You know her dating status?? I hear wedding bells…

Me: Fuck off.

Harley: I know you have the better vocals, but damn, that personality could use some work, bestie boo.

Me: Good night.

Harley: Truth hurts, don't it?