This chapter picks up as Owen and Kennedy are driving back to Parker House. It’s sort of the second half of the same scene. Together, these chapters are too long so I broke them up. Happy reading!

The drive was short, and Owen quickly pulled into the driveway at Parker House. He drove up to the garage and unloaded her bike. That done, she almost regretted having invited him to lunch. She wanted to relax, and it was hard to do with him there. Once inside they found the kitchen deserted and Kate setting lunch up outside on the deck. Kate seemed pleased to see Owen with her and immediately bustled about getting another place setting.

Kate set out a plate of fruit including the last of the ripe strawberries, chicken-salad sandwiches and ice tea, the good kind from actual tea and not tea flavored powder. Owen inhaled his first sandwich and was on a second when Kennedy caught the beguiled look on Kate’s face as she watched him eat.  It was the perfect way to endear oneself to any cook, but especially to Kate. She liked to feed and nurture; plants, people, it didn’t matter. When she offered Owen some to take home and he accepted, it was a sealed deal; he was officially Kate-approved.

After lunch Beth was trying to wrestle a lawn chair out of the garage and Owen came to her rescue. He offered to take the rest of them out and earned an approving smile from Beth. Kennedy gave him a look to let him know she was on to him. Brown-noser. Eventually she reminded him they’d have to go to Mrs. Hughes’. Beth had quizzed him at lunch about his project and what they planned to do. Her great-aunt had told him he’d need more than a few drawings to win over Mrs. Hughes and Kennedy couldn’t help but agree.

Mercifully neither Kate nor Beth asked Owen about his fat lip and luckily it didn’t look like his nose was the worse for wear from having a door smashed into his face. The less questions about their afternoon, the better. As Kennedy walked him to the car, she gave him a close inspection and realized that if he showed up at Mrs. Hughes looking like that, with his t-shirt and trousers she might just laugh at him. He caught her looking and raised an eyebrow.

“No offense, but you look a little ragged. She’s likely to notice.”

“Good, maybe she’ll feel sorry for me and leave the Elm Street development alone.”

            “Not a chance. Seriously though, you’re going like that?” She pointed to his t-shirt.

“Yep, speaking of which, it’s already late in the day. Why don’t you let me drive you over and then back instead of taking your bike and meeting there? If you have a few hours of work left I can find something to do in town and swing back around for you.”

Kennedy was going to turn this down, but she’d love to have a ride back so that she could take a shower and lay out in the sun. He had brought out those deck chairs and the thought of lazing around in the sun was seriously tempting. The bike ride to Mrs. Hughes wasn’t long at all, but saving the time and the effort of biking back would give her more time to be lazy and decompress from her emotional roller-coaster of a day. He must have been watching her face since he said “Get in the car then.” With no reasonable excuse for saying no, she did as he asked.

Mrs. Hughes got quite a laugh out of Owen and the story of how he got the fat lip. She didn’t need to know the full details, how the sight of the blood triggered an emotional breakdown and Kennedy had almost fainted and later balled like a baby on his shoulder so she’d left all that out. In truth, that still stung a bit. She hated being weak. Owen hadn’t said a word. Instead, he’d focused on the offer he had for Mrs. Hughes.  

“I’ll take that deal or rather that challenge you are offering Mr. Caldwell.” she held out her hand and Owen shook it looking a bit surprised.

            “And you understand that their decision is final. If they give my project the green light, I’m asking you to take no further action, to let it go.” Owen seemed suspicious of her agreement.

“Yes Mr. Caldwell. I did grasp that, and I am agreeing to it.” Mrs. Hughes said loftily. Then she dismissed him from her presence by saying. “Kennedy I’ll need you to stay for a few minutes if you don’t mind. Thank you Mr. Caldwell. I’ll see you at the meeting.”

“Kennedy, I’ll wait outside and give you a ride home.” Owen headed to the door.

“No need, I will give her a ride home if she needs one.” Mrs. Hughes answered cheerfully.  Owen looked a bit annoyed, but said goodbye, turned and left.

Mrs. Hughes had Kennedy sit down with her there in the study instead of showing Owen out which was a little unusual. Without Rebecca there normally they would have at least walked him to the door. “Okay, now exactly what is he up to?”

Kennedy was puzzled since Owen had been completely upfront. “Just what he says. He’s going to have those drawings made up and go before the planning board. He’s agreed to let that be the final word”

            “Why would he risk it?”

“I don’t think he sees it as a risk. He said he already had a promise from the town on the building permit. It was informal, but he said it’s never been a problem before. He sees the meeting as more of a rubber stamp. Honestly though, he thinks anyone who looks at it from his point of view will agree with him.”

            “What’s your opinion of him?”

Kennedy had to pause to think of how to respond. She wasn’t sure that opinion was fully formed. “He’s hard to read. I think he can be arrogant and he can also be nice, but, I barely know him.” She wondered why Mrs. Hughes was asking since he grew up here. She had to have known him for years. “If you’re asking because you’re wondering how to win at that meeting – use emotion. I don’t think he’s very in touch with his. He’ll be all about the numbers.”

            “Excellent advice. And will you accept some in return?” Mrs. Hughes asked. “I can see that he is attracted to you, probably more than a little. You need to be careful of Owen Caldwell. The only way a man develops a reputation like his is through repetition.”

She didn’t much care for the Owen she’d met the night of the party, but the Owen she met today, that man she liked. “Reputation?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

            “Cold-hearted, calculated, and careless. Renee Witten isn’t the first woman to grind an axe for Mr. Caldwell.”

 “Well, it doesn’t matter to me anyway. I doubt I’ll be seeing much of him. It’s not like we’re friends.” And that was true… and not true all the same. She did like him, or at least a version of him. The stony-faced, bossy version of him, no. But the kind and considerate version, the man with the subtle sense of humor, the twinkling eyes, she could easily be friends with him. She might even have started down that road today. Talking to Mrs. Hughes about him felt almost disloyal.

Her boss left the room and Kennedy couldn’t help but feel bad for Owen. Here Mrs. Hughes was basically trashing the man the moment he was out of the house. That really wasn’t like her. She didn’t gossip. And why would she orchestrate them meeting at Elm Street today and then warn Kennedy off? The woman could be mysterious, but this was a bit much.

She thought Owen was attracted to her? More than a little? A small thrill of excitement registered before she squashed it. She was self-aware enough to acknowledge that she was attracted him as well, more than a little. But it was all so pointless. Owen was conceited and who can fall for someone already in love with themselves?

**********************************************************

Owen had paused long enough. He didn’t need to hear anymore. He knew he shouldn’t have eavesdropped and now he was paying for it. Cold-hearted, calculated? He thought. No. He couldn’t say he was that. He was guarded, not heartless. He must have a heart since right now it felt like Kennedy had stomped on it.

He understood Mrs. Hughes’ opinion of him, she didn’t know him personally, but today he felt like he and Kennedy had started something. He thought he’d gotten through a bit and maybe repaired what he had broken that first night. She’d been on his mind ever since and he was hoping for a shot to fix things and maybe take it further. He thought he’d done that today.

Apparently that first mistake with her was going to last, despite her having forgiven him. He should forget about her, write her off as a hopeless cause, but he couldn’t. Even now, hearing her say they weren’t even friends had no impact on his interest in her. Every new encounter with her only made it worse. Usually it was the other way around, but with Kennedy, he felt like each time they saw each other another connection was formed; something else to tie him to her.

He felt it yesterday as he had walked away and spotted her standing in the window looking like a grown up Alice in Wonderland. She seemed other-worldly and there was something powerfully attractive about that for him. Being with her today had sealed his fate. There was no way to fight the feelings she drew out of him without even knowing it.

Kennedy Davies was just about the last woman on the planet he wanted to be emotionally attached to. The primary reason being that she hated him, although that may have now faded at least to a strong dislike. Then there was how Will was likely to feel about it. It didn’t make any sense. Kennedy was dangerous to his mental health. Right now, he needed his brain focused on work, not spinning in a circle, hung up on someone he couldn’t have.

As he drove away, he decided he’d have to go see Will since the jackass wasn’t taking his calls. Owen headed over to the bakery knowing this wasn’t likely to go well. Will was going to react negatively to him showing up and would probably end up decking him. Not an appealing thought since Will was both taller and stronger. One night two years ago they had an argument that got a little out of hand and Will knocked him on his ass. It was over something stupid neither of them remembered, probably because they were both drunk, but Owen remembered how much it hurt.

Will was ex-Army, served multiple deployments overseas, something he never spoke about, ever. When he landed back in the states and spent all of three days at home with his family before he put a different pack and boots on and hiked the Appalachian Trail straight up to Maine. Owen liked to hike and he liked the mountains, but there was no way in hell he could have managed that trek. He couldn’t have hacked the Army either. Will was built of different stuff. Harder stuff. Something Owen needed to remember.

He pulled up at Southern Comfort and headed in to find Dani and Ava manning the counter. He tried to smile at them, but as usual Ava blushed and looked at her toes and Dani gave him the evil eye. He smiled at her anyway, mostly to annoy her. “Will in?” he asked. Dani pointed out back. Owen slipped behind the counter, through the prep area, and into the back room. Will was crouched in front of a row of boxes, opening one. It must be the supply order. Owen knocked on the side of the door to get his attention, but Will didn’t look up.

Clearly the man had seen him and was still pissed. “You can hit me if it makes you feel better, but I want you to hear me out first.”

            “Get talking then.” Will didn’t bother to look up from his work.

Owen cleared his throat. “First, she is not your girlfriend which you made the point of telling me. Second, why did you bring her when you knew what that party is like? Third, it is on you for walking away when she knew no one there. There was nothing I could do when Renee starting making trouble that wouldn’t have made the whole situation worse, and lastly I’ve already apologized to her and she has forgiven me.”

Will stood up and Owen braced himself for his second hit of the day. Will didn’t hit him though, he drew up short. “What happened to your face?”

Owen had almost forgotten. “Kennedy. She hit me with a door, and before you get it twisted, she did it by accident. We were both out at the Elm Street project. She was taking photos for Mrs. Hughes and was coming out of the shack as I was headed in. She practically knocked me out if that makes you feel any better. I got one hell of fat lip and my nose bled like crazy.”

Rather than laughing, Will looked concerned and asked. “Did she freak out?”

Owen shook his head. “No, but I did make her let me drive her home. She… I think it was seeing the blood.” He knew damn well it was seeing the blood, but he wasn’t sure how much she talked to Will about her mother’s death and going into it with him felt disloyal for some reason.

            “Man, seeing that would have done her in. She has these nightmares.” he trailed off. Then added angrily, “This is why I wanted you to leave her alone. She isn’t like those ice princesses you date. She is fragile Owen. She can’t handle the kind of drama you bring.”

He held his hands up. “I swear I didn’t plan on it, any of it. It just happened.”

            “Will you leave her alone now?” Will asked.

Owen paused, wanting to say ‘yes’ knowing he couldn’t. Instead, he shook his head.

“You can’t. Not her and it’s not because I want her myself, I don’t. That girl is like a sister to me.”

“Why do you automatically assume I’m going to hurt her? So far it’s been the other way around.” He gingerly touched his fat lip.

            “She was messed up by her mother’s death. She had a sheltered childhood; just her and her mom.  She might be smart and act like she’s worldly, but she isn’t…” He seemed to be struggling for the words. “She is totally vulnerable, and innocent in every way. College was the first time that girl even had friends. She isn’t going to be able to handle a guy like you.” He sat down on one of the boxes he had yet to unload and stared up at Owen.

“A guy like me?”

Will shrugged.

“I suppose I deserve that, but you know me…”

Will didn’t respond.

“There is no way I would consciously choose to hurt her. I am not looking for a hook up here. Kennedy’s got under my skin, I can’t explain it.”

Will sighed and leaned his head on the shelf behind him. “It’s a family trait.”

Owen had to agree, he felt the truth of it to his core. This was beyond any infatuation, it was something new, something he hadn’t experienced before. There was that intense attraction, but also a powerful impulse to care for her all at the same time.  After today he felt like he’d move heaven and earth to make her happy and there was no way he could walk away, he couldn’t.

            “She’s not in your league.” Will insisted.

“No, not in any way.” Owen replied. “I’m not asking you to be happy or to even get off my back. I’m telling you I can’t walk away. I wish I could. This is the exact wrong time to be hung up on someone. I can’t help it though. I don’t want this to be a thing between you and me. You’re my friend Will. One I don’t want to lose.”

Will slumped his shoulders. “Tell me you aren’t going to break her heart. She couldn’t handle it Owen, she really couldn’t.”

“I am not going to break her heart. Right now, she doesn’t even like me; actually I think she hates me. She probably never will like me. But if she decides to change her mind–”

            “No offense buddy, but I hope she doesn’t.” Will interrupted and went back to opening his boxes.

Owen absorbed that hit and understood it wasn’t meant to hurt him. Will believed that Owen, at his core, was a player, incapable of loving someone. He might be right. Owen hoped he wasn’t. Either way he wanted this over with. “Are we good?”

Will looked up at him again. “Yah, I guess. One last thing? If you do break her heart, I’m going to kill you.” He said this with a tone that Owen understood wasn’t joking.

“I’d give you the gun myself.” He answered.

Will slowly smiled. “Who says I’d use a gun?”

Image Credit: Egor Komarov Via Unsplash