Chapter 4
Karma had a funny sense of timing and Kinley had a knack for catching it — often. With her eyes on Jace, ducking ever so slightly, she had put her foot on the gas, intending to sneak out of her parking spot undetected, direction opposite the good doctor. With the benefit of being half a dozen cars down, slipping out should have been a cinch…if only she hadn’t mistakenly put her car in reverse. The pole she backed into didn’t help matters either...
Her attempt at a clandestine move under the radar ended in a crashing clatter, drawing the gathered crowd’s attention. Kinley was now one of those unfortunate souls who managed to wreck her car in a wide-open parking lot. Lucky for her, the crowd from the other fender bender already had their phones out, documenting the previous excitement. Now they were all on her, and she was probably already trending on Facebook. Thank you, small town USA.
Jace noticed Kinley sitting in her car as he passed the general store on his way to Reading Grounds for a coffee and pastries for the ladies in his office. He contemplated knocking on Kinley’s window to check on her and see that she was okay, but she had made things clear the previous night. She was just sitting there, staring, looking as lost as she had the night before at the bar.
Thinking better of it, he left her to her thoughts and continued into the coffee house and bookstore. Jace was respecting her decision to keep things informal and just that one night. Less than twelve hours had passed since he left her at her door, their sweet, meaningful kiss still tingling his lips and distracting his every thought. Kinley was intoxicating — all the more reason to move on. He didn’t know if he could leave her twice.
How he ended up in the dance studio in the middle of the night with the beautiful stranger was beyond him. He knew better — he was a doctor for God’s sake — and the risks involved were enormous, yet he did it anyway. Jace had been in a bad way, lonely, and Kinley was the muse that pulled him from his low-key pity party.
Though he agreed it was just a one-time, scratch-an-itch meet-up, Jace could quite easily be convinced to scratch that itch as often as Kinley called on him. Jace knew little about Kinley, just the few details she had shared and what he could find sleuthing through her Facebook account. Yeah, he did that.
He understood Kinley’s insistence to keep things simple, and no relationships, after thirty or so minutes of roaming through her page. Kinley was a sharer — with a broken heart. Jace knew about her injury and what it meant for her career, but Facebook told him there was more fallout to that ankle injury than losing her career. She lost her fiancé too.
Social media was great that way. Not only did it show a change in relationship status from engaged to single, it also told him who the newly single gentleman in New York was: her boss. From what Jace could gather, Kinley was no longer of use for the Broadway production, therefore she was no longer of use to him. Asshole.
Jace didn’t regret being Kinley’s rebound or revenge guy, whichever she was aiming for. There was something intriguing about her — sweet and pure. Late night hook-ups didn’t usually earn a person such accolades, but this was different. Despite the loose nature of their entanglement, Jace couldn’t help but be drawn to Kinley.
Everyone knew everyone in Pine Valley, at least by a single degree of separation. It was easy to find out about those you may not know or had only heard of. The town bragged about its celebrity dancer off in New York making a big name for herself. Kinley was painted as a town favorite, America’s sweetheart, if you will. It was unfair, almost, giving her such praise and cementing an expectation she could no longer sustain.
Kinley had referred to herself as washed-up, and her expression and body language combined with a newly broken heart made it pretty obvious no one was holding her to that expectation more than she was. The more he learned about Kinley, the guiltier he felt. She was the kind of girl you took home to mom and planned forevers with — not took to the closest dark place to rock her world.
What had he been thinking? What did that say about him? Jace thought he could pull off the one-night stand deal, but clearly, he couldn’t. As much as he wanted to say he was committed to the single life, it wasn’t for him, especially after Kinley. Was it possible to be so attracted to someone after a thirty-minute conversation in a bar and a quickie next door? A hot quickie…
He obviously had some old emotional crap to sort through. He could reclaim his man card when he was finished. Jace was feeling like a vulnerable sap, full of sensitive feels, and that just wasn’t him. He felt like punching himself in the face and saying, man up, pussy! That should do it.
A loud crash of metal on metal pulled him from his thoughts as he completed his purchase at Reading Grounds. By the time he made it outside, a small crowd was forming in front of the store…and a fender bender. Jace’s first reaction was see if everyone was okay — that was the doctor in him — but he was met with laughter and handshakes instead of injuries. Crisis averted.
Jace stood there longer than necessary, his sights loosely on the fender bender in the front of the store, using it as an excuse to spy on the beautiful brunette still backed into a parking spot and sitting in her car. What could Kinley be thinking about? Was it him? Them? Why did she seem so distraught — was the previous night that bad for her? He began to feel a bit insecure and self-conscious when he saw her look in his direction and duck down.
His ego got completely shot when her urgent desire to get the hell out of there became obvious. In her rush to leave unseen, she backed right into the pole anchored behind her parking spot before tearing out of there like a bat out of hell.
Yep, Kinley was avoiding him.
“Poor thing can’t seem to catch a break.” A sweet voice he’d recognize anywhere came from behind him. “After what Evelyn put on that computer face thing of hers — you know, where she puts all the pictures she takes with her phone? I’m surprised to see you out here, Doctor Detweiler.”
Cady O’Reilly, one of the elder ladies in town, leader of the old bitty brigade and chief of mischief, stood behind him, a sympathetic look thrown his way. Cady and her gray-haired lady friends had a finger on the pulse of Pine Valley. If it was happening within a hundred-mile radius of town, the ladies knew it, and were probably behind it. The prying ladies were always good intentioned and respected by the town’s people. The exception being Evelyn Shirley. The town feared her.
“I’m sorry…did I miss something, Cady?” Jace was trying to piece things together with the little bits of information shared. He already had a nervous chill. Evelyn, and her Facebook habit, mingling with his and Kinley’s names couldn’t be good.
Cady chuckled, seeing the wheels turn and anxiety fester. She let him off the hook quickly like a ripped off Band-aid. “You’re all over that Facebook, dear. Evelyn has pictures of you and Kinley posted for the whole town to see.”
Pictures. Facebook. Evelyn. Jace did a face palm sigh, less embarrassed for himself than he was worried for Kinley. Were they pictures of them at the bar? Leaving the bar? God forbid, in the dance studio? Was that even legal to post? Jace’s morning just went to shit in a hot second. No wonder Kinley didn’t get out of her car. She was the talk of the town again — and not in a good way this time. So was he.
“I have to say, Doctor Detweiler, you do make a mighty handsome couple. You would be quite perfect together in fact,” Cady said with a wink. “Good choice, she’s a sweet girl. The ladies and I are cheering for you.”
“Wait. What? Cheering for what?” Jace gave Cady a sideways look. “I’m not sure you saw what you think you saw…”
Cady offered a knowing grin. “Oh, c’mon, Jace.”
Oh, it was Jace now.
“It’s plain as day,” Cady went on, wrapping herself in a daydreamy embrace. “You and Kinley in a sultry embrace, lip-locked, and clearly enjoying each other. Good for you, go for it! She’s a dear girl, you’ll be excellent for each other.”
“Really? You think so?” Jace questioned. This had to be a sign from the universe…or she saw them the night before. “Wait! No, don’t do that!”
“Do what? Jace, darling? Are you okay?” Innocence was Cady’s plea, but Jace wasn’t buying it. Especially when she rested the back of her hand to his forehead, feeling for a temperature.
“That! You’re doing that…thing you do.” Jace started flailing a free hand around as though painting a picture. “You like Kinley, you like me, and you think we need to be together so you’re…doing that thing!”
“Oh, Jace, honey. I had nothing to do with you and Kinley being together in front of the dance studio in the middle of the night. That was all you, dear.” Cady gave Jace a wink and pat to the shoulder before walking away.
Touché…