by Hanna Hart
“Horseback riding, skiing, take them on a tour to go see the animals. Stuff like that. You know, get them out on the road and off their phones.”
“Those dang kids!” she teased.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m a grandpa in the body of a thirty-one-year-old. I’m not ashamed to admit it!”
“Admitting your problem is the first step to recovery,” she said.
The longer the evening went on, the easier it was to find things to talk about with Bennett. It truly was just like catching up with an old friend. The two talked about old friends in high school, divulged family drama—of which Bennett had plenty—and reminisced about past inside jokes from their relationship.
And strangely, it wasn’t awkward at all.
When the meal wrapped up, Bennett walked June out to her car. He leaned against the driver’s side door and bit his lip, looking entirely too thoughtful and way too attractive.
“Look, I know we didn’t exactly end things on a great note,” he said slowly, carefully.
“No, we didn’t,” she agreed.
“But I hope that doesn’t get in the way of us hanging out again because, to be honest, I’d like that.”
She set her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side as she said, “Oh yeah?”
“I can’t think of anybody better to spend my time with while I’m in Houston,” he declared. “We can do a Bennett and June reunion tour!”
“And what would that consist of?” she asked with a laugh.
He thought about it for a moment. “Our favorite places and biggest moments. Come on. Greatest hits!”
“And misses,” she snorted.
“And misses,” he agreed. “What do you say? I can’t do the tour alone; it would be biased. I need my co-host to put me in my place when I start rewriting history.”
June thought about it. She wanted to say no and stamp out the chemistry between them before it got out of hand, but she couldn’t help herself.
“I must be insane,” she said.
“Because you’re going to say yes?”
She craned her head back and stared up at the sun as it set over the wide Houston sky. “I should run screaming in the opposite direction!” she laughed.
“That’s a yes!” he cheered.
And he was right. It was a yes. She couldn’t help herself—she wanted to see him again.
Chapter Five
Bennett
While Bennett was at home for the next couple of weeks, he was making it his mission to spend more time with his sister Kennedy.
At first, this was mostly at the request of his mother, who had been shopping Kennedy around to move in with one of her brothers. Shannon said the youngest Brooks was going down a bad path and she was worried about her wellbeing.
Bennett brushed it off as his mother’s usual overprotectiveness, but the more time he spent talking with Kennedy, the more he started to wonder if there was some merit to Shannon’s worry.
Kennedy must have taken a shine to the attention because that morning, she’d invited Bennett to accompany her and her friends for a beach day roughly an hour’s drive away.
Before heading to pick up her friends, Bennett and Kennedy headed out to a local grocery store that had all of the best organic snacks that his sister was obsessed with.
The plan was to stock up on healthy junk food and grab lunches for the afternoon at the beach.
Bennett asked about her life and her plans, but Kennedy somehow managed to angle the conversation away from her personal life and into Bennett’s.
“So, you just…” Kennedy stalled, cocking her head on an angle as they walked down the cereal aisle of the grocery store together. “Had dinner together?”
“I’m telling you, it was like…BAM!” he said, clapping his hands together to emphasize his point.
“What’s bam?” she laughed. “Is that supposed to be the embodiment of magic?”
“Yes,” he snapped his fingers. “Magic. I don’t know, being around her just made me feel...something.”
“Something as in you like-like her?” she said as if she were a grade-schooler pressing a friend for information about their crush.
“I don’t know,” he said bashfully. “Something like that.”
“Oh my gosh, you’re insane! I can’t imagine pining after someone after like ten years. That’s crazy if you ask me,” she scoffed, throwing her long dark hair behind her shoulders. “You’re cracked!”
“Yeah,” he said, drawing out his vowels. “Get back to me when you’ve dated more than two guys in high school and let me know how it feels to run into someone you used to be crazy about.”
“I thought you were off love after everything happened with Yasmin?”
“Geez, I’m not in love with June,” he said with mild defense. “It was more like bittersweet excitement.”
“Now you’re starting to sound like Phoenix,” she said, and they both laughed.
Their country music star brother was notorious for over-thinking his every sentence. A speech from Phoenix was like hearing someone read poetry. Really, really annoying poetry.
Kennedy knocked a box of fruity marshmallow cereal into the cart and thought about the story he had just told her about his reunion with June the night before.
He could hear his sister’s flip-flops crack against the ground with every step she took. The shoes were so loud, it was almost laughable.
“Wasn’t it weird seeing her again?” she asked curiously. “What do you even talk about after all that time?”
“That’s the thing—it wasn’t weird at all. It felt completely natural.”
“If I ran into my ex, I’d want to rip his face off,” she snorted. “You’re lucky she only threw soup in your lap. Cold soup, too!”
“She didn’t do it on purpose,” he said.
Kennedy rolled heavily made-up brown eyes at him and teased, “I have my suspicions.”
“How did your night go, anyway? We haven’t talked much since the wedding.”
“Ah,” she said with a breath. “Sucky.”
“How come?”
“This guy I like just started seeing someone else,” she explained.
“Ah, I’m sorry. That is sucky.”
Kennedy shrugged, and they changed aisles. They were now in their prime-target area: chips, drinks, and weird snacks, like sugar-free candy, dried salt and vinegar snap peas, and organic baked chips, which Bennett was positive contained roughly the same amount of fat and calories as the fried ones.
“I sort of thought we had a thing going on,” his sister continued as she loaded the cart with chips. “I told him I liked him, he said he liked me, and now it just feels like he’s jerking me around.”
“I would say him dating someone else is probably a clear sign of his intentions,” he snorted.
“Oh, yeah?” Kennedy spun on her heel and set her hand on the end of the cart, stopping him from driving it any further. “If Dereck doesn’t like me, then why did he kiss me last night?”
“What? He kissed you?” he snapped, frowning deeply. “Where was his girlfriend?”
Kennedy offered a mischievous grin that he never again wanted to see from his sister. With a shrug and a high pitch, she said, “Somewhere else!”
“You shouldn’t do that.”
“Thanks for the advice, birdbrain,” she said smoothly. “But he kissed me, not the other way around!”
“He has a girlfriend. Don’t let him take advantage of you, okay? I know what guys want, and he doesn’t want to be your boyfriend, I can tell you that right now.”
In her best impression of their father, Kennedy mocked, “Men only want one thing!”
Bennett set his jaw. He didn’t want to be cynical, but he also didn’t want Kennedy to get used by this jerk.
“At your age?” he mused aloud. “Yeah. Guys only want one thing, and they’re not getting it from my little sister.”
Kennedy went to say something as they turned into the next aisle, but b
oth were taken by surprise as a little girl nearly came face to face with the front of the cart.
Startled, the little redhead tossed an enormous glass jar of peaches into the air. The peaches smashed on the ground with an clash and Bennett instinctively lunched forward and scooped the girl up off the floor.
“You okay?” he asked quickly. “You didn’t cut yourself, did you?”
“Oops!” came the high-pitched squeal from the little girl.
“Careful, little lady,” he said as she fussed in his arms. He walked to the end of the aisle and set her down carefully. “Don’t want you to step on any of the glass.”
The little girl was small-framed and only looked to be about four or five years old. She had wavy reddish-brown hair and wide brown eyes with impossibly dark lashes.
“My peaches!” the girl enunciated adorably.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t see you there,” he said bashfully.
“You should be more careful,” the girl lectured, and Kennedy began to laugh.
Kennedy knelt to meet the girl’s eyes. He nodded and intertwined his fingers in prayer form. “Yes, I should.”
“Well, good,” the little girl said. “Did you hurt yourself?”
“No, I’m okay,” he chuckled.
The girl offered Bennett a bright smile. She raised both brows and flung her pointer finger into the air as she announced, “Mama carries Band-Aids with her so, it’s okay if you’re hurt. She can help you. Mama!”
“No, it’s okay,” he said, wincing and waving his hands in decline. The last thing he needed was for some girl’s angry mother to come and yell at him for almost steamrolling her daughter.
“CLEANUP IN AISLE TWO!” came the loud voice over the overhead speakers.
“Mama!” the girl called out again.
Bennett heard a cart turning the corner quickly and was startled to see June standing behind it, looking down at the little girl. “Yes, baby?”
“Hey,” he said, his voice full of surprise.
June pulled the little girl up onto her hip and looked at Bennett with the same deer-in-the-headlights look he was probably giving her.
“Oh, hey!” she stammered awkwardly.
“We spilled the peaches,” the little girl said, leaning her head on June’s arm.
“Did we?” she repeated playfully.
“We had a little run-in,” Bennett said.
“Somebody wasn’t looking where they were going,” the little girl said, smiling as she pointed at Bennett.
June laughed and counseled, “Ember!”
Bennett’s smile faded as he watched June interact with the little girl, Ember. He exchanged eye-contact with Kennedy, who raised her brows and offered a confused shrug. It took him a minute to catch on, but as he watched June and Ember talking, he finally clued in.
June was Ember’s mother.
Even though the girl had called for her mother, he was initially under the impression that Ember must be Megan’s daughter and that June was her aunt. But, no.
Throwing his hands up into the air, Bennett approached the little girl and said, “Guilty as charged, ma’am! I am the destroyer of the peaches.”
“It’s okay,” the girl said with a sheepish smile.
“Are you going to call the police? Have them take me away for life?”
“No!” Ember said. Her tone indicated just how silly she thought Bennett was being. “Just don’t hurt any more peaches!”
He extended a hand to the girl and laughed, “You have my word. This will be my last negative peach encounter. Scout’s honor!”
“You know,” Kennedy piped up, jutting out a hip as she said, “if you had fresh peaches, you wouldn’t have had to worry about them smashing everywhere.”
“Yeah, they’re okay,” the girl said in a tired, almost bored tone. “But I like ‘em slimy!”
June drew her brows together with amusement and explained, “She has a texture thing. It’s weird. She loves slimy peaches, really mushy peas, stuff like that.”
Kennedy laughed. “She’ll make a fantastic ninety-year-old!”
June was amused by the comment. She looked his little sister over and said, “Wow, Kennedy! You look amazing! I feel like the last time I saw you, you were just a little kid. Oh, listen to me, now I sound like your grandma or something.”
“Nah, it’s cool. So last time I saw you, you definitely didn’t have a kid,” Kennedy—Miss. Captain Obvious—said. “Good job with the procreating.”
“Yeah,” June let out a nervous chuckle.
“So, she’s yours?” Bennett confirmed once more.
“Yeah. Yep,” she nodded.
“Oh,” he nodded awkwardly. “Just, you didn’t mention it the other day.”
“It’s a weird thing to slip into conversation. But yeah, this is Ember,” she said proudly, adjusting the little girl on her hip.
“So, you like interesting foods, huh? Like what are some of your favorites?” Kennedy asked, squatting down to get a better look at the girl.
“Um. Pomegranate!”
“Wow, mine too!” Kennedy said excitedly. “All of the little pink seeds are super fun to eat!”
“Or play with,” Ember added.
Kennedy looked up at June and said, “Hey, I like her style!”
“What about avocado?” Bennett asked, pulling one out of his cart and setting it in the girl’s hand. “Do you like this?”
“Ick! No!” Ember said.
“Aww, why not?” Kennedy pushed her bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout. “It’s so fun to eat. You can have it kind of hard in block form or all squishy and smashed on toast.”
Ember looked up at her mother in delighted confusion and asked, “She eats avocado on...toast?”
“Kennedy eats avocado on everything,” Bennett added.
“Yeah! It’s delicious. You can have it on toast, or in a taco. Do you like tacos?” Kennedy asked and Ember nodded. “`Atta girl! Oh, you know what else I love? Avocado in my pasta!”
“You eat it with spaghetti?” Ember giggled. “You’re weird.”
“No way! It’s so good,” his sister said.
“Plus, then your pasta gets all green and it’s really cool looking,” Bennett added.
The little girl’s eyes lit up with interest and she pulled at her mother’s arm, exclaiming, “Cool! Mama, can we try that?”
“Absolutely we can!” June said.
Kennedy stood back up and ran a hand through her hair. It was in moments like this that Bennett was glad to have his little sister around. She was a natural talker, just like Hunter. They could take to anyone regardless of age, interest, or gender and make the other person feel completely comfortable. Plus, she was big on kids.
“Hey,” Kennedy nodded toward June, “what are you guys up to after this?”
“Oh, um. Nothing, really,” she shrugged. “We were just gonna go to the park and make some lunch.”
“Me and my friends are headed down to the beach and my mom’s tasked this guy to tag along and make sure I stay out of trouble like I’m a kid or something,” Kennedy snorted, jutting a thumb out toward Bennett. “Did you guys want to come along? Catch what’s left of the summer?”
“We’re having a picnic. Thus, the ridiculous number of snacks in our cart right now,” Bennett added. “It’ll be fun.”
“Plus, you’ll give him someone to talk to since he couldn’t care less about my friends,” Kennedy said.
Not about to protest, Bennett made eyes at June and joked, “She isn’t wrong.”
“I don’t know,” June said tentatively. “What do you think, sweetheart? You feel like going for a swim?”
“Yes!” Ember cheered.
“Yes!” Kennedy repeated excitedly. “Awesome! We’re headed down to Decatur Beach in, like, forty minutes? You need a ride?”
“No, no. We can meet you there,” June said. “We’re gonna finish up here and go home to grab our swimsuits.” She paused, then added, “Are you sure we aren
’t interrupting?”
“Not a chance,” Bennett said. “You’re saving the day.”
After a few more moments of chit-chat, Bennett and Kennedy checked out at the front of the store. He had never realized how expensive it was to rot your teeth out until he paid for Kennedy’s grocery bill.
“Well, that was awesome!” Kennedy squealed as she jumped into his topless red range rover. “That kid is so cute, I could cry!”
“She was really cute,” Bennett agreed, still feeling a bit stunned. “Kinda weird that she didn’t say anything about her before.”
“Somebody’s not feeling the BAM anymore?” his sister mocked with an enthusiastic grin.
“No, I am,” he said, trying to sound neutral.
Kennedy turned in her seat to face him as he drove. Her expression was one of disbelief as she said, “It doesn’t bother you that she has a child?”
He gave the question real thought but kept coming back to the same answer. No, it didn’t.
“Not at all,” he confirmed. “She’s had her own life since we’ve been apart. She was married, she had other things going on. Just a little strange that she didn’t mention it earlier, that’s all.”
“Well, she probably didn’t expect to keep running into you,” his sister shrugged. “Besides, it probably isn’t fun to be like, ‘Oh yeah, since we last met, I had a kid, got a divorce, and lost my job.’ It’s not exactly something you want to rave to your ex about.”
“Fair enough,” he agreed.
“Doesn’t matter now,” she said playfully. “Secret’s out!”
Chapter Six
June
June’s heart was beating a mile a minute as she drove back to her apartment.
She couldn’t believe she’d run into Bennett again; she couldn’t believe he knew she had a daughter; she definitely couldn’t believe she was about to go swimming with him and his sister.
The Brooks were an inviting clan, so she wasn’t surprised that Kennedy had invited her to come along, but she was taken aback by how quickly the siblings took a shine to Ember.
