She went into school to teach every day with a secret smile, and she came home looking forward to seeing Keith in the evening. He’d sometimes come to dinner and sometimes just hang out with her and Eva before bedtime. He’d stay after Eva went to sleep, and they’d stay up talking or watching TV. He’d put his arm around her or hold her hand. He’d kiss her good night. He wouldn’t make any moves to go further even though Serena was tempted a lot more than she would have expected. It felt sweet and safe and easy, and she was scared of breaking their luck by pushing things forward into sex.
Right now things were too good. Too simple. She couldn’t imagine they’d last long without some sort of stress or angst or conflict, and she was terrified about what would happen then.
On Wednesday, she and Keith drove out to Azalea because Ri Kensington had invited them and some of their other friends to dinner. Taylor was there and Amanda and her fiancé, Robert. Ri’s brother, Charles, came as well. He was a good-looking man with a perpetually sober expression and a serious approach to life. He’d been working on a novel for the past year, and Serena enjoyed hearing about it.
She had a good time at the dinner, and she felt like she had a naughty secret, sitting next to Keith and knowing that she’d gotten sexy with him less than a week ago.
They ate at a casual, local diner in the small town. The food wasn’t fancy, but it was good. They were finishing dessert and Amanda was entertaining them all with tales of her spoiled, rather silly mother’s interference with the wedding plans when two men stopped by the table to say hello.
Serena smiled through the small talk that followed. Both men looked to be in their late thirties or forties. One was the county’s sheriff, and the other was rumpled and laid-back and introduced only as Fitz.
They didn’t stay at the table long, and as they were leaving, Taylor murmured, “That is one good-looking sheriff.”
Serena chuckled with the others at the dry comment, but her eyes flew over to the man who’d just left.
Amanda said, “The other guy isn’t bad-looking either, in a kind of rumpled, ungroomed way.”
“Hey,” Robert objected, his eyebrows arching dramatically in feigned resentment.
Serena laughed again, but she scanned the retreating men. They were both attractive. She could see that now. But she hadn’t even noticed when she’d first seen them.
They hadn’t made any sort of impression.
She glanced over at Keith and her heart softened undeniably.
He was the only man who had any sort of impact on her.
What the hell? When had that happened?
“They’re both married,” Ri said, her big blue eyes smiling in that irresistible way they always did. “Very happily married. Sorry, Taylor.”
Taylor made a face. “Oh well. There go my plans to seduce and destroy.” Serena loved her friend’s wry, deadpan humor. Taylor took a sip of her water and said without even looking over at him, “I see you making your disapproving face, Charles.”
Charles blinked, which was a dramatic reaction for him. But he said in his deep, unexpressive tone, “I wasn’t making a face.”
Taylor turned to him at last. “You were thinking a face. I could feel it from my side of the table.”
“If you say so.”
Taylor’s eyes narrowed, and the two of them stared at each other for a moment in a silent challenge.
Serena was amused and fascinated by this bit of byplay, and she waited to see what would happen next.
Taylor was the one to break the gaze first. “If you want to give off a better impression of a human being, you might consider cracking a smile every now and then.”
Charles clearly wasn’t offended. Everyone who knew Taylor understood what she was like. But his eyebrows pulled together in a little frown, like he was taking her comment seriously. “I smile.”
“Not much. You should try it more or else you’ll be at risk of people confusing you with the head of an FBI profiler unit, haunted by all your years of catching serial killers.”
The table broke out into laughter at that, and even Charles’s lips turned up just slightly.
Taylor clearly believed she’d scored a victory, and Serena rather thought she had as well.
ON FRIDAY, SERENA TOOK Eva over to her mother’s, where her daughter was staying for the weekend so Serena could focus on bridesmaid’s duties for Amanda’s wedding. Then she had to run home to shower and change and get ready for the rehearsal, which started at six with the dinner following.
Because the afternoon and evening was so busy and Keith wasn’t part of the bridal party, she didn’t get to see him at all.
She missed him.
A lot.
It was frankly ridiculous.
She’d spent yesterday evening with him. He’d stayed late at her place, so it was less than twenty-four hours ago that she’d seen him. But it felt like deprivation. She kept checking her phone and sending him little texts and waiting for his responses. He’d gone out to get a beer with some friends after work and then gone home for a restful evening.
Serena loved Amanda and the rest of her school friends, and she was happy to be part of this wedding weekend—which was as fun and easygoing as any wedding that involved Amanda’s mother was capable of being. But she’d still rather be at home with Keith.
The rehearsal dinner was at a really good local Italian restaurant, and it was still going at eleven in the evening. Serena only had one glass of champagne since she had a low tolerance and didn’t want to get tipsy, but she enjoyed the salad, steak, pasta, and tiramisu. She had a good time with Taylor, who offered hilarious, grumpy commentary about everything and everyone. And was delighted to see Amanda and Robert so obviously happy.
But Serena was glad when one of the other bridesmaids said she had to be getting home since it gave her a clear path to leave too.
When she got back to her apartment building, she lingered in the hallway, torn between her door and Keith’s.
She really shouldn’t knock on his door. He’d had an early evening, so he could very well be in bed already. They’d see each other tomorrow at the wedding. There was absolutely no reason to pay a visit at this time of night just so she could see his face.
She wasn’t silly like that.
She’d never been that kind of person.
She wasn’t sure what was getting into her lately.
She knocked on his door.
He opened it in about thirty seconds, the most adorable grin on his face. “You’re finally back,” he said, stepping out of the doorway to let her in.
“Yes. People were having fun, so it ran long.” She ran her eyes up and down his body from his bare feet to his rumpled hair. He wore a pair of cotton pajama pants and an old gray T-shirt. “Were you in bed?”
“Nope. Waiting up for you.”
“You didn’t have to do that.” She could feel her cheeks flushing with pleasure. “What if I’d thought you were asleep and didn’t stop by?”
“I would have heard when you got home and knocked on your door instead.” He was still smiling in that way that made her heart overflow with feeling. He reached out and pulled her into a soft hug. “You look gorgeous, by the way.”
She wore a simple, sleek navy-blue dress and silver silk cardigan. It was the outfit she always wore to dress-up dinners like this one since it suited almost any context. She looked down at herself and gave a little shrug. “I might look all right, but I feel hot and tired and like I smell garlicky.”