Small-Town Girl. Jessica Keller

suggest that.

      “What kind of cologne do you wear?”

      “I don’t.”

      She gave him a look that said she thought he was lying. Brice held up his hands. “Bar soap. I promise that’s the extent of it.”

      “Well, that’s some great bar soap. I’m telling you.” She pulled the coat tight around her and crossed her arms to keep it closed. “What now?”

      “Now we head back to town and go our separate ways.” If Kendall had dated a lot, then she couldn’t be innocent about how she was making him feel and think right now. She’d chosen that outfit knowing she was attractive in it. Knowing he’d have a hard time not being interested in her after spending time alone together.

      “Can I come over by the controls with you?”

      “Suit yourself.”

      She followed him to the control area and leaned against the booth, watching him steer. If he had been in a better mood, he would have taught her how to handle the controls and let her steer it for a few minutes, but the evening was shaded by his thoughts now.

      What type of woman was Kendall? Really? At times she seemed completely genuine and innocent, but then she told him she was a serial dater. What did a man do with that sort of information? He’d jumped at a business proposition without knowing her, and now his word bound him to hosting weekly cruises with her.

      He could still say no to her dating service, but even now he knew he wouldn’t. Oh, he’d like to. But he wasn’t a fool. Kendall was right. People would pay good money to take their significant other out on a private cruise and eat dinner under the stars. In the summer, he might be able to make more off that type of a business than he did from his shipments. Which really scraped his nerves.

      They docked the boat and tied it up. He meant for them to part ways at that point, but Kendall hung around and waited for him to close everything down.

      “Need any help?” she called from the pier.

      “I’m good. You can hang on to my coat and give it back some other time if you want to head out.”

      “I’ll wait for you.”

      Brice stopped stalling and finished by locking the boat. He jumped to the pier and fell into step with Kendall.

      Kendall bumped her shoulder into him, playfully. “Thanks for taking me out tonight. That was really beautiful. I feel like—” She froze in place and it took Brice a second to stop walking and turn back toward her to see why she’d stopped. Kendall’s face contorted as if she was in pain.

      Brice forgot that he wasn’t going to get close to her and rushed back to her side, grabbing her elbows. “What’s wrong?”

      Her nostrils flared as she sucked in two deep breaths. Then she locked eyes with him. “Will you hold my hand and not let go, even if things get weird?”

      “Weird?”

      “Will you?”

      “Yes.” He offered his hand. She slipped hers into his and they laced their fingers together as if they’d been holding hands that way for years. Her hand was shaking. Hard.

      He gave her a reassuring squeeze as his mind spun trying to think of a medical condition she could have. “You can trust me. If you want to tell me what’s wrong, I’ll listen.”

      Kendall cleared her throat. “I saw you duck behind that boat at the end of the pier. You might as well come out now.”

      Whom was she talking to?

      Brice pulled Kendall up short. Goose Harbor was normally a very safe place, but crime wasn’t known to spare any town. If someone lurked nearby, why hadn’t she alerted him right away? Brice moved so he was angled a bit in front of Kendall.

      A petite woman stepped out of the shadows. “I see you wasted no time finding a new man to cling to. How long will this one stick with you, Kenny? I’m thinking he looks like a runner with maybe a week or two in him max. Mark my words—he won’t stick with you for long.”

      Brice volleyed his gaze between the two women. “Who—”

      Kendall tightened her hold on his hand. “What do you want, Mom?”

      Well, she sure hadn’t lied about things getting weird.

       Chapter Three

      Kendall clenched her teeth and tried to calm down. One. Two. Three. She let air hiss out of her mouth slowly.

      Her mother never responded to subtle hints, only clear, to-the-point statements. But Kendall wanted to be careful what she said in front of Brice because he hardly knew her. She didn’t want him to judge her harshly based on this interaction. The adult child and parent relationship was a difficult one to navigate. She knew she needed to respect and honor her mother, but that didn’t mean obeying her any longer. Especially when her mother’s moral code was so different than Kendall’s own. But what did that all look like when acted out in real life? It was hard to know. Especially with an emotionally imbalanced mother thrown into the mix.

      Mom staggered forward a few feet. Drunk. “I need some money. As much as you can spare.” Her words slurred a bit. “You’ll help your mom out, won’t you?”

      A big part of Kendall’s reason for leaving Kentucky had been to get away from her mother. The woman had been a constant drain on Kendall’s savings, even after Kendall moved out of their trailer as a teenager. Not to mention the number of times her mother had stumbled into the country club, causing trouble for her. How had Mom found her so quickly? Kendall had left Kentucky without a trace. No forwarding address. No friends to leave information with. Had Mom followed her from the get-go and hung back, waiting until just the right moment? Well, what a moment to pick. Embarrassing her in front of her new friend while they were trying to plan a business venture together. He’d probably back out now, and Kendall couldn’t blame him.

      Still, she dug her nails into the back of Brice’s hand. Poor man. “You need to go back home. I don’t have any money to spare.” Brice probably thought she was being a mean person, sending her mother away. If only he knew everything that had led up to this moment, maybe he’d understand. Maybe he’d take her side.

      As if he could read her mind, Brice offered her hand an encouraging squeeze. At the touch, something inside her stomach unknotted. Kendall straightened her spine.

      “No money to spare?” Her mother’s eyebrows arched. “I’ve got to say, I don’t know if I believe you, Kenny.”

      “I’m not sure how you found me, but you need to go back home. I have to start fresh here. Don’t you see that?” Kendall pleaded. “It’s my only chance.”

      “If you don’t have money, then you must be getting it from somewhere—or someone—else. Is this the man paying your bills?” She pointed at Brice. “He won’t keep you long. You realize that, don’t you? I can see now he’s too good for you. He’ll tire of you quickly. Like they all do.”

      The muscles in Brice’s arm coiled. Was he offended? More than likely, he was angry at Kendall for forcing him to be a part of this conversation.

      Kendall’s throat clamped up. While she didn’t put much stock in anything her mom said, the woman knew exactly where to place a jab. But she knew better than to take Mom’s words too much to heart. How could a daughter have faith in a parent who couldn’t ever find money to pay the electric bills but had found plenty to purchase Gucci handbags and Christian Louboutin shoes and go on beachside vacations while her child sat at home shivering because unpaid bills had let the heat get cut off?

      Kendall shook her thoughts from the past away. Revisiting negative memories from her childhood was like taking swigs of slow-burning poison—stupid and damaging. Besides, Mom was all she had. The woman might have been