In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae

Author:Courtney Kae [Kae, Courtney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2022-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

My phone buzzes when I park, and I’m grateful for the distraction. Maybe I’ll sit here and scroll social media for the rest of my life. Maybe I’ll drink the gasoline from my tank instead of walking up to that door.

A notification makes my thumb freeze over my screen. It’s from Rachel.

I blink fast. The first text from her . . . since high school. I should screenshot this. Frame it.

Our nearness from last night still tingles my skin, along with the closeness I conjured on my own, not even an hour ago. My face heats as I pull up her message.

Come by this afternoon? There’s something I’d like to talk about.

Wow, vague much? Maybe she’s uncomfortable about last night? Maybe she wants to try that kiss again. My anxiety will have a bash with this until I find out.

Best not to allow too much time to decipher the possibilities. I write back:

Be there asap

It gives me the jolt I need to get my ass out of my car and up the wooden steps.

But when I reach the door, I freeze. The bold blue font of ROSS REAL ESTATE stares at me like an omen from the past. Dad never added his first name, because he wanted me to join the firm, be a father-daughter house-selling duo. But he didn’t put up a fight when I left for LA. Maybe that dream of his left with Christy.

I shake my head and shove through the door as if smearing the letters off a foggy mirror.

Great. Another place that sits like it hasn’t been touched since I was a teen.

Dad’s desk still faces the front half of the office, his printer setup behind it.

I cross the hardwood floor to the two leather armchairs closer to the entrance. They face each other, a coffee table between them littered with magazines of local homes for sale and vacation properties for rent—but then I halt. There’s a collection of publications that feature articles from events I’ve done: Cali fornia Wedding Day, The Knot, LA Bridal, LA Mag, Ceremony Magazine. I run a finger over the first, an art deco–style engagement party in Palm Springs. The first real event that made much buzz before the LA Times feature. Heat rushes to my face. He saved all these. He cared.

All the questions from Jim Reed flood back. I don’t know what Dad’s been up to. I should. I want to.

“Be right with you,” Dad’s voice calls from the hallway that branches off at the back of the office.

I drop the magazine and jam my hands in my coat pockets, like I’ve been caught snooping through his mail. Very cool. Very casual.

He enters the room, arms piled with manila folders.

When he balances them on his desk, he spots me, and the look on his face puts another lump in my throat. Like he’s thrilled I’m here but trying not to let it show too much. So different from the way he watched me from the porch when I left home seven years ago.

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