Vashti Alcindor-Grisham, forever the peacemaker, had let them know she was best friend to them both and wouldn’t take sides. Nor would she allow either of them to pit her against the other. So whenever Vashti was invited to one of his cookouts, Kaegan sent Bryce an invitation, as well, to keep the peace. Vashti’s motto was There Are Things That Happen In The Past That Are Best Left There.
Bryce figured she could make things easier on Kaegan by not coming, but then, why should she? He certainly didn’t try making things easier for her by coming into her parents’ café regularly. Kaegan would arrive every morning at the Witherspoon Café for blueberry muffins and coffee, knowing she would be there and, more likely than not, be the one to wait on him.
It wouldn’t be so bad if she could forget what he once meant to her. It had been ten years since their breakup. She wasn’t twenty-two anymore. Since then she’d dated, but what she’d shared with Kaegan had been special. At least she’d thought it had been. He’d been her first in a number of things and on so many levels. That was why the pain of their breakup still managed to linger even after all this time.
And it hadn’t helped matters when he’d returned to the cove four years ago with a chip on his shoulder, still believing he was the one who’d been wronged. She’d decided to show him that he wasn’t the only one who could carry around a chip, and at this stage of the game he could believe whatever he wanted about her. All those years ago she’d tried proving her innocence and he hadn’t wanted to listen to what she had to say, so what he thought now didn’t matter.
Coming to his parties let him know she could be in the same room with him and feel absolutely nothing. She figured he was determined to prove the same thing to her, which was probably why he frequented the café every day.
Okay, she knew there was another reason why he patronized the café. He might not like her, but he loved her parents and they loved him. He was good friends with her two older brothers. But they didn’t know the whole story. She’d never told anyone what had happened between them to end things. In fact, she’d only just told Vashti last year.
One night when Vashti’s husband, Sawyer, was out of town, Bryce had stopped by her best friend’s home. Once Vashti had put her newborn son, Cutter, to bed, they’d opened a bottle of wine and put on a sappy movie, and Bryce had told Vashti everything.
She could recall her conversation from that night like it had been yesterday...
“KAEGAN AND I decided we wanted to be more than friends while you were gone to that home for unwed mothers to have your baby, Vash. That’s when we became girlfriend and boyfriend.”
Vashti nodded. “But he left here two years before we finished school and rarely came back. How did the two of you keep the relationship going?”
Bryce took a sip of her wine. “You recall my mom’s youngest sister, Janice?”
“The one who moved from Canada to live in DC?”
“Yes. I would make the trip by catching the bus to see her and would spend time with Kaegan, as well, since he was stationed in Maryland.”
Vashti seemed to mull over that admission. “I remember in our senior year how you would occasionally take the bus on the weekends to visit your aunt. I can’t believe you never told me what you were doing and where you were going,” Vashti said in an accusing tone.
“I wanted to tell you, Vash, but you were in your own little world during that time. You were still grieving after losing your baby. The last thing I wanted to do was overwhelm you with my happiness when you were so unhappy...”
THAT SAME NIGHT she’d also told Vashti the reason she and Kaegan had broken up. Instead of the sympathy Bryce had expected, Vashti claimed she could see both sides and felt they were letting their stubbornness get in the way of them sitting down and talking through their issues.
As far as Bryce was concerned, there was nothing to talk about. His lack of trust in her was unforgivable. Had he believed in her and known she could never betray him, none of this would have happened. A part of her wished the hurt he’d caused could somehow eradicate her attraction to him. It didn’t. Whenever she saw him she had to put up with seeing a man who turned feminine heads wherever he went. Including hers.
Kaegan was part of the Pointe-au-Chien Native American tribe. He was ultrahandsome and the mass of silky black hair that flowed around his shoulders made him look wild, untamed and absolutely gorgeous. She recalled the times she would part his hair down the middle and braid it for him, making him look even more alluring.
Usually he wore it in a ponytail, but not tonight. Bryce recalled telling him just what seeing all that hair flowing around his face did to her. How hot it made her feel. How so turned-on she would get. That had been years ago, but she, of all people, knew Kaegan never forgot a thing. That made her wonder if he’d worn it down purposely to make her remember.
Over the years his features had matured. He no longer had the look of the cute boy she’d fallen in love with so many years ago. His eyes appeared to have darkened somewhat but were perfect for his brown skin tone. His high cheekbones had always been his most captivating asset. They still were. Even with that dimple in his chin that couldn’t be ignored. The dimple became even more defined whenever he smiled, which was rare when he saw her. She had a tendency to elicit his frowns.
She would be the first to admit that a younger Kaegan Chambray had been a heartthrob, but the older version of that heartthrob was now just too breathtaking for words. Whether she liked him or not, she had to give him that. Deciding she’d both scowled at him and lusted after him long enough, she glanced around.
Two years ago, Kaegan had torn down the house he and his parents had lived in to build this one. She knew the painful memories within the walls of his childhood home. His father had been an alcoholic. Most of the time, he managed to stay sober during the week to run his business. But on the weekends he would drink himself into a stupor.
It was during those times Kaegan would use the small boat he kept hidden away in the underbrush of the bayou and escape through the swamps to a place he considered his hideaway, a deserted, uninhabitable island called Eagle Bend Inlet. Bryce had feared for his safety, worrying that one of those huge alligators was going to eat him alive.
She continued to study his home. She’d never been given a grand tour, like a number of others, but she liked the parts she’d seen. It was right on the bayou, on land that had been in the Chambray family for generations. She could imagine waking up here every morning to such a gorgeous view. According to Vashti, due to the risk of hurricanes, Kaegan had built a home that could withstand up to four-hundred-mile-an-hour winds. And the tilt of the foundation, which wasn’t even noticeable, was a deterrence to flooding.
She thought the place was huge for just one man but he’d always said that one day he would grow up and build a mansion...for them. Well, he had certainly built a monstrosity of a house, but it hadn’t been with her in mind. When he’d returned to town it had been quite obvious he hadn’t wanted her in his life any more than she wanted him in hers.
“Here you are.”
She turned to greet Vashti. “Yes, here I am on a Friday night. I could be somewhere else, you know, and would be if
