Battling the Best Man: A Harmony Falls Novel, Book 2 (Crimson Romance) (17 page)

Wren whipped the cape around her back, adding it to her strange Viking ensemble. “If I’d have had this collection in high school, I’d have been legendary.”

Kory chuckled, because Wren was already legendary. There wasn’t another girl in their graduating class whose prom dress had been made out of duct tape.

“Do you ever take this stuff home and wear it for…?” Wren whistled.

Alice looked up, blinking, her expression innocent enough, but Kory knew better.

“Maybe,” Alice said.

Kory smirked. “Of course she does.”

Wren bobbed her bushy brows.

All three of them burst into laughter.

“And now that I have money, they are dry-cleaned thoroughly before they’re returned,” Alice said.

The laughter stopped, giving way to
ewww’s
.

“T.M.I.” Wren removed the cape, but kept the horns.

Alice waved away the concerns. “Oh, grow up. I don’t wear the stuff during…you know.”

A buzzer sounded overhead. “Probably mail,” Wren said, moving toward the door. “Be right back.”

Alice continued to lift items from the pile at her feet and scribble in her binder while Wren’s platform heels clanged against the metal steps, growing quieter and quieter. When the sound disappeared, the pen stopped moving.

“Is everything okay between you and Will?” Alice asked.

Kory bent forward and picked up a poodle skirt, running her hand over the fuzzy applique. She knew the questions would start sooner or later. Wren being here only prolonged the inevitable conversation. But Kory wasn’t here to talk about Will. That would only complicate a situation that was already way too complicated.

“I’m leaving,” Kory announced. Quicker seemed less painful.

“When?”

“Next week.”

“Why?”

“It’s time.”

“Kory, look at me.”

It was harder than she expected it to be. And even after she looked up, she couldn’t hold Alice’s bright blue gaze for fear of doing something stupid, like crying without a good reason.

“Is it because of Will?”

Kory shook her head, swallowing down the strange brew of emotions, threatening her composure. “No. Chicago is where I belong.”

And then Alice was beside her, sitting on the same plastic container, arm around her shoulders, opposite hand smoothing her leg. “You know, I could argue that.”

“I’m sure you could.”

There was so much comfort in being here with her. Neither one of them had a sister. This was as close as they would get. Maybe it was even better. They didn’t share a family, so they could help each other keep family drama in perspective.

“Did you know my father wanted to be an architect?” Of course Alice didn’t know, but Kory asked it all the same, unable to control the urge to tell Alice everything.

“No, but I could see him doing that. He loves construction.”

Kory nodded. But construction wasn’t the same as architecture. Repairing and replacing roofs wasn’t sketching the Space Needle. She wondered where he’d be now if… “They got pregnant with me, so he didn’t go to architecture school. Isn’t that sad?”

“No,” Alice said, squeezing Kory against her chest. “I say they created something even better than a cold, hard building.”

“They thought about aborting me.” There. She said it. It hurt much less than she feared it would, which was good. Maybe that was what she was trying to prove by initiating this conversation in the first place. She still had control of the situation, control of her feelings.

Alice’s silence was thick, but quick, and then she squeezed Kory again, adding, “I’m glad they didn’t.”

For some warped reason, that made Kory laugh. “Me, too.”

This time, the silence was more comfortable, and lasted longer, long enough for Alice to drop her head to Kory’s shoulder for a few shared breaths.

“Are you mad or sad about it?” Alice finally asked.

“Neither. I’m surprised. Who wouldn’t be? But it explains a lot, why they always were so determined that I succeed. It makes me want to work even harder. For them.” Alice leaned forward, and Kory felt the weight of her stare. “For me, too.”

“Is that even possible? You already work so hard. Don’t you ever get tired of it?”

Kory balked. “No.” Which was a lie. The pace she kept in Chicago left her downright exhausted. She did get tired of moving from point A to point B in a blur. But all she’d ever wanted was to become a doctor in a major city at a world-class hospital. Complaining about achieving it was absurd.

“You are super human.”

Nah.
She was just doing what she planned to do. Her father was the one who was super human, suffering a major stroke and losing life as he knew it, but still finding reason to smile. Emotions knotted in Kory’s chest, and she looked away before Alice could see the beginnings of tears. Leaving him, letting go of his care, was going to be the hardest part of leave Harmony Falls.

The clanging of Wren’s heels up the metal steps couldn’t have come at a better time.

With one more squeeze and a pat to Kory’s back, Alice stood. “I support you in whatever you do. You know that. But I’m going to miss you,” she said.

I’ll miss you, too
, Kory thought, but she couldn’t say the words, not if she wanted to get out of town without looking back. There were already enough hurdles.

And she was sick to her stomach thinking about dealing with the biggest one tonight.

Will stood in the quiet kitchen, Molly at his side, knowing music would quell his nerves, but Kory might not appreciate his usual selections after last night. He passed on the opera and paced in silence instead.

The hot, spicy aromas of pepperoni, sausage, and onions filled the air, making his stomach grumble, but he didn’t dare take the smallest bite. He suspected the minute anything solid hit the quivering muscle he’d puke. Nervous didn’t begin to cut it. Hands sweaty, mouth dry, one would’ve thought he was getting ready to propose marriage.

His heart suddenly raced as his brain flashed a random scene of him sliding a ring onto Kory’s finger. He was getting ahead of himself, and he needed to sit. The nerves and hunger were obviously wearing him thin.

Falling into the nearest chair, Will snagged a deli chip from a bowl and forced himself to eat it. Marriage was not on his agenda, and it wasn’t on Kory’s either. He liked her, more than he ever expected to like anyone, but marriage required love, the kind that made people ignore the pain that came from investing everything they had into one measly thing. He wasn’t capable of that. He was a businessman. Diversification was how he succeeded.

Then why do you want her to stay?
He looked at Molly as if she’d proposed the question, knowing full well it was the voice in his head. He grabbed another chip, trying to ignore it, but the words kept pushing their way to the forefront of his mind.

He thought while he chewed.

“I want her to stay, because I like spending time with her. I feel less lonely when she’s around.”

Molly whimpered.

Will reached out, offering her a chip as consolation. “You keep me company, too, but it’s a different kind of company.”

Memories of the last time Kory kept him company bombarded him. His face heated along with a stirring below his belt. He’d certainly miss
that
kind of company with Kory gone. It had been a long time since he had regular sex. Nodding, he reached for another chip. Aside from her success at the nursing home, that had to be the main reason he was so hell bent on making her stay.

He sat with the thought for a minute, expecting it to calm his nerves, because if he failed to keep her here and he managed to find a competent replacement medical director, then he could move on with his life pretty easily. Couldn’t he? His leg bounced frantically, and in short order he’d polished off the whole bowl of chips.

“Shit,” he murmured, standing and crossing the kitchen to refill the stainless steel bowl with whatever crumbs of deli chips remained in the opened bag.

The doorbell sounded, giving him a jolt, and when Molly barked a reply, Will’s nerves shattered. “Quiet,” he snapped, and then immediately wished it back.

The dog stared at him with droopy, dark eyes, the kind that said she was sorry for angering him.
Stupid
, he thought, dropping to his knees and pulling her close.

“You’re a good girl.” And maybe she would be his only girl by the end of the evening. He better not forget it.

Molly licked his cheek.

Together, they walked to the door and let Kory in.

• • •

It took Will so long to answer the door, Kory almost turned around. But she refused to add the word “coward” to her resume. Giving him notice, even if it wasn’t the lengthy notice he required, was the right thing to do.

She’d planned a speech of sorts. She knew what she wanted to say. But the minute he opened the door and smiled at her, all thought wiped away.

“Hey, you,” he said, pausing for a moment to take her in before he stepped back and swung open the door.

She purposefully hadn’t primped for the evening, not that Kory was the primping kind. Somehow she felt better driving over here in the business-casual clothes she’d worn to work and the attorney’s office—without a brush to her hair or makeup on her face. But the way Will looked at her, she knew it didn’t matter one bit to him what she was wearing. He was just happy to see her.

Her stomach lurched.

She nodded, and attempted to return his smile as she walked into the house. It felt fake, insulting even. Why would she smile at him when she knew the words she was about to say would upset him?

“Listen, about last night at the party.” He closed the door and faced her.

Kory shook her head. The party seemed like a distant memory, considering all that had happened since.

“Let’s not look back, Will.” She couldn’t. She wouldn’t.

He stared at her, an inquisitive tilt to his head, and then he smiled again, rubbing his hands together. “Okay, then let’s look ahead. Come here.”

With a hitch of his index finger he urged her to follow, and despite the warning in her head, she did. In all her mental run-throughs of this meeting, she imagined delivering the news in his living room, and then leaving on a tsunami of his anger and hurt. Maybe even being thrown out. She didn’t expect…

Dinner spread over the farmhouse table in his kitchen.

“I thought about setting up in the dining room, but that seemed too formal for what’s being served.”

The spicy scent of pizza nipped the lining of her nose. Her mouth watered, and she stepped closer for a better look.

It was a strange array of food. Deli chips… Hot dogs… Italian beef sandwiches… Her gaze snapped back to the deep-dish pizza in the center of the table.
Chicago.
She didn’t think it was an accident the menu and location were related. She just couldn’t understand why. Did he know she was returning to Chicago in a matter of days? Was this some twisted punishment meant to trump her announcement?

Kory exhaled. “I don’t understand.”

Will’s smile was shaky. “Yeah. I was afraid of that. It seems incredibly stupid now.” He roughed his face in his hands. “Okay, so here goes.” He leveled her with warm brown eyes. “Everything Chicago has to offer you, I can offer you right here. The food, the friendships, the job opportunities.” He stopped, opened his mouth and inhaled, nodding as he did, like he was reaffirming everything he said while he waited for her to agree.

But Kory was speechless, and her hands were trembling as she watched him turn to tug a manila envelope from beneath a plate. “Valley is starting a physical medicine residency program, and you’ve been invited to apply for the directorship.” He offered a quick smile as he fanned the envelope in the space between them. “Go ahead. Take it. Read it. I think you’ll be impressed with what they’re trying to do.”

Check mate.

An ice-cold nausea chilled her bones, freezing her hands to her sides. This was part of the challenge to make her stay, wasn’t it? Somehow Will found out she was leaving and he prepared all of this as his last, desperate move. She did a quick mental rundown of everyone she’d spoken to: her parents, her fellowship director, the attorney, Alice. She couldn’t imagine any of those people betraying her confidence.

Again the envelope waved, taunting her. And then worse, a quiet thought entered her head. Maybe he was asking her to stay simply because he wanted her to stay—because he wanted her.

A shaky exhale rushed across her lips. She’d waited a lifetime to be wanted like that. Of course, it would happen now, when the timing was all wrong, and there was nothing she could do about it. She belonged in Chicago. No matter what Will’s intentions were or what the contents of his envelope said.

Shaking her head, Kory refused the envelope. “I can’t, Will. You know I can’t.”

“How do you know you can’t? You haven’t even looked at it.” When she didn’t whisper a word let alone move a muscle to take the information, he smacked the envelope against the palm of his hand and sighed. “Let’s eat. The food is getting cold.”

He sat. It was a good thing, because if he didn’t already know her resignation was coming, he was about to find out.

Kory wrung her hands and choked down a mouthful of air. “I’m resigning, Will. Effective immediately.”

His hand, lifting a spatula loaded with stringy-cheese pizza, dripping pepperoni and sausage stopped mid-air. He didn’t move. His stillness added to the quiet in the room until Molly’s soft snoring was all Kory could hear. She never thought she would miss the ominous opera background noise that played like a soundtrack in his office but she did.

“I’m returning to Chicago in one week,” she said.

He set the spatula on the table, and then he looked at her through narrowed eyes. The lips she’d enjoyed almost every evening for the last two months twisted.

“You agreed to give me thirty days’ notice.” The words were slow, calm, but exceedingly grim.

She was prepared for him to be upset. After all, he was a businessman who’d just been handed unexpected news that would negatively impact his bottom line. But preparing for ugliness and facing it were two very different things.