After spending an hour on the phone with Tom settling details of the trip to Colombia, I felt a ball of tension tighten in my gut and chest, and it had everything to do with a certain blond plaguing my thoughts. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what was bothering me, but when I came back into the house and found the coffee had been brewed but the house was empty, a deep sense of dread settled deep in my gut.

I didn’t really have time to focus on those feelings though because there was a lot to be done. I needed to pack and arrange a ride to the airport here and in Colombia, work out what I wanted to write and make arrangements to talk to some of the locals. I had a few days to get travel plans in order, but I also needed to place ads and make a few phone calls to guides I want to interview for Adventure Chasers. I had a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it all.

So of course the doorbell chose that moment to ring. With leaden legs and a distracted mind, I pulled the door open and bit back a groan. “Mom. What’s up?”

“Well, I figured since you were perfectly content to pretend like we weren’t living right next door for the time being, that I’d drop by. See what’s up,” she said, scanning the area behind me before pushing past me, circling the room with a nosy eye.

“Kenzi isn’t here,” I told her, full of frustration that I couldn’t pinpoint. Mom didn’t deserve my anger so I took a deep breath and turned to her concerned eyes.

“I know. I saw her leave a while ago. How is everything going around here?” Her tone said she thought there was more to the story than I said.

“Fine, Mom.” I followed her into the kitchen, dropping down in a chair. “Are you sure? She looked a little, I don’t know, disappointed when she left.”

I froze. “What does that mean?”

She gave me that mom look that said she thought I was an idiot. “It means, I’ve been disappointed by a man a time or two and I know what it looks like. So, what did you do?”

“Nothing.” At least nothing I knew of, anyway. And definitely nothing I wanted to tell my mom about. “What’s up?”

She grinned. “Oh nothing, I just heard something about a big celebratory kiss inside Organics by O’Brien, and something about a sign on the old Sterling property.”

Fucking small towns. You couldn’t toss a rock without the whole town talking about it for forty-eight hours straight. “Yep, both of those things are true.”

“And you’re still sticking with a ‘professional arrangement’?”

I sighed. “That’s all it is, Mom.” That was a big fat lie, but telling her more would only subject me to more interrogation. The woman would have been a great asset to the CIA, the way she gnawed at a bone until the marrow seeped out. “Look I have a trip to get ready for, but if you’re still in town when I get back, maybe we could all have dinner?”

“That would be lovely. Where are you guys going?” She smiled wistfully, the way she always did when my travels came up.

“Guys? It’s just me. My old boss, Tom, asked me to cover a small festival in Colombia. Kenzi isn’t going.”

She smacked her lips and stood, disappointment rolling off her in waves. “Then I guess you were right. Business only.” With an affronted sniff, she turned and left, leaving me in the cocoon of silence that I suddenly found suffocating.

I didn’t know exactly what the hell she was saying, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it. There was too much to do and not a lot of time to do it. First on my list, find Kenzi and let her know about Colombia. I showered and dressed, then spent another two hours being waylaid by phone calls from everyone and their mother asking about hiring opportunities for hiking guides, climbers, and even cave divers wanting to put their names in the hat for work opportunities. Colorado was crawling with adventurers, constantly looking for work that would keep them close to the action any season of the year.

As I left Kenzi’s house, typing more items on the constantly growing list on my phone, I smacked into someone with a deep chuckle I recognized. “Hey Matt, what’s up?”

His smile was strained and that immediately put me on edge. In addition to being a good friend, he was also a police officer which meant his visits could go either way. “Not much, just coming to see how things are going.” He looked back at the house with a question in his eyes.

“Things are going fine. I need to find Kenzi though, so let’s do this on the move.”

“Do what?”

I gave him a look. “Seriously, man? Your poker face is shit, always has been. What’s going on?”

“That’s what I’m here to find out,” he shot back ominously.

I sighed and slid into the passenger seat of Matt’s old ass truck, waiting for him to get the beast moving. “Will you stop speaking in code and tell me what the hell is going on?”

He sighed and took the quickest route to Main Street. Well, the only route because the town was so damn small, but he drove there quickly like he didn’t want to be in an enclosed space for too long. “Amber said Kenzi has a problem with her.”

“Seriously?” I glanced over at him, sure this had to be a joke. But Matt nodded, a grave look on his face. “And?”

Matt pulled into a newly empty spot and killed the engine. “And if you two are going to be a thing, they should probably get along.”

“Who said we’re a thing?”

Matt barked out a laugh. “Anyone with eyes. Besides, I know you two had something going on back in the day. Maybe it was just friendship or maybe it was more, but I saw you once. I came to see if you wanted to shoot some hoops and your mom said you were in the backyard. I went out and saw you and Kenzi, talking and laughing. Maybe even flirting.”

Shit. Matt had known the entire time? “How long?”

“Sophomore year.”

I laughed. “And you never said a thing?”

He shrugged and got out while I followed. “I figured if you wanted people to know you would stop hiding her. Eventually.”

I opened my mouth to deny the accusation, but his arched brow stopped me cold. Wasn’t that the same accusation Kenzi had made? I shrugged it off.

“We were friends,” I told him as we walked the short distance to her shop. “Nothing more.”

“Right.”

It rang hollow to my ears too, but I was sticking to my story, dammit. The wooden chimes sounded as Matt and I stepped inside the now empty shop, watching Kenzi and the young cashier restock items with smiles on their faces. “Be with you in a moment,” she called out.

I looked over at Matt. “Did you need more mascara to last the entire ten hour shift?”

“Very funny. Asshole,” he grinned and socked me in the shoulder, transporting me back a million years to high school. “I want to clear the air with Kenzi.”

“Clear the air about what,” she asked as she appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. There was no welcoming smile, no cheerful glint in her green eyes.

Matt sighed. “Amber.” Kenzi waited for more details. “She said you have a problem with her.”

Arms crossed defensively. “I do. She’s constantly rude and belittling me, making sure I know exactly what she thinks of me. So today, I returned the favor. Is that a problem, Officer?”

Matt blinked, as shocked as I was by her steely tone. “Uh, no. I just wanted to make sure everything was fine.”

“It is for me.” Her gaze bounced between us and I could see her already getting the wrong impression. “Did you guys need something else?”

Matt shook his head and mumbled a barely audible apology before beating a hasty exit from the shop. Kenzi’s gaze landed, expectantly, on mine.

“We need to talk,” I told her quietly and grabbed her arm. “Is there somewhere we can have some privacy?”

She pulled out of my grasp. The move was gentle, but the message, harsh. “Just say what you have to say, Chase.” Her voice held a note of resignation that I didn’t like. It sounded like she’d already given up on me. On us. Were we even an us?

I looked around the store, at the distinct lack of customers and groaned. “Please?”

“Fine. Follow me.” I tried not to look at her ass as she led me down a dimly lit hall that smelled like summer and sun and rain and flowers. It was instantly relaxing. She pushed a door that opened into a small room that looked like a spa and an office had a baby. “What’s up?”

The small wooden desk stood between us. “My old boss called and asked if I could do a quick assignment for him. In Colombia.” I waited for her anger, her excitement…something. All I got was a steely gaze. “I leave in a few days.”

“How many?”

“What?”

“How many days, Chase?” Her tone was impatient and disappointed, but what in the hell did she have to be disappointed about?

“The flight leaves on Sunday.”

“Okay,” she said, dropping down into the chair and turning her attention to the computer screen a few feet away.

“Okay?”

She didn’t move or say anything for such a long time, I thought maybe she wouldn’t say a damn thing. “What do you want me to say, Chase? You want me to be excited for you? Fine. This is so exciting for you, Chase! Congratulations!” Her words were fake and hollow, as sincere as a three dollar bill.

“What are you so angry about? I came here to tell you myself.”

“Instead of just leaving in the middle of the night? Well I guess I should thank god for small favors.” She shook her head, bitter and upset. “It never occurred to you to talk to me before you took this assignment that no one else in the world can do but you?”

I frowned. “Why would I check with you, Kenz? You’re not my girlfriend.”

She reared back as though I slapped her. “I guess I’m not your friend either, because we had a deal. I help you and you help me. But you got what you wanted so who gives a damn about anyone else, right?”

“What? No!”

She stood and walked across the room, yanking the door open and stomping out without another word. I felt the room start to spin and I couldn’t understand what in the hell had just happened. “Enjoy your trip!” Her words echoed down the hall seconds before those damn wooden chimes sounded again.

“Kenzi, wait!” I ran after her but the little raven haired woman blocked my path. “Move, please.” She shook her head, laughed and stepped aside but I swear I heard her call me a dipshit as I rushed out onto the street in search of the angry woman running away from me. “Kenzi!”

She didn’t stop or look over her shoulder, just marched ahead as though the conversation was over. It wasn’t fucking over.

“Dammit, Kenzi. What is your problem? You’re acting like a jealous, clingy girlfriend.”

This time she didn’t stop and she didn’t react. “It’s a good thing we’re nothing to each other then. I expect you’ll move your shit out before you leave?”

“If that’s what you want.”

She laughed bitterly. “Don’t pretend this is about what I want. What I needed, was for you to keep your end of the bargain and, I don’t know, maybe ask if the days you were gone weren’t important to me somehow.”

Shit. “That Farmer Fred deal?”

The look she sent me could have killed me on sight. “Don’t worry about it, Chase. It was stupid of me to think I could rely on you. Try not to get trampled by the bulls, or whatever.”

I stood, frozen on the sidewalk as she stomped away, angry and hurt and disappointed. I was an asshole. She’d gone above and beyond for me and like a selfish prick, I didn’t even think about what she needed.

“Shit!”

“Well I guess I can give up hope that you two finally realized how perfect you are for one another. How disappointing.”

I looked over and found my Mom glaring at me with a disappointed shake of her head. “Yeah well, take a number, Mom.”