“Want to walk around with us while I show her the dogs, Kels?” Kurt asked.
Kelsey’s ribs unlocked a bit at Kurt’s words and the sound of her name on his tongue. She met his gaze, and relief flooded her. It was soft and pleading.
Whatever this girl meant to him, Kurt was clearly not putting Kelsey on the back burner. Maybe Tess’s arrival added to the already complex muddle of their relationship, and maybe it didn’t. The only way to find out was to keep in the running.
“Sure.” She looked Megan’s way. “Megan, want to come with us? I know we’ve got a lot to do, so I won’t be long.”
“Go for it. I’ll hang here with Pepper since I’m already knee-deep in this mess.”
“Sure. If lunch is ready, tell Ida I won’t be long.”
As they headed back toward Sabrina’s house, Kurt’s hand closed reassuringly over the small of Kelsey’s back, making the whole experience a little bit easier.
* * *
Kurt wished that at least once over the last month he’d brought Tess up to Kelsey. But Tess had been in Europe and there’d never been a strong reason. She’d left her big Italian-American family behind in a huff and was working on a farm was all that Rob had shared with him. That and it was difficult to get in touch with her.
Kurt had been knocking out rotted plaster by a leaky window and trying not to think about the envelope he’d left at his mom’s or the chaotic mess of nightmares he’d had last night, when out of nowhere Rob was texting him to come outside and check out the stray he’d picked up.
He had no delusions that Kelsey might’ve missed their greeting, and he hated to guess what she’d thought. What she hadn’t heard was Tess’s muffled sob of “My grandpa died, and I wasn’t here to say goodbye.”
Even knowing Tess so well, Kurt only had an inkling of the pain that must have caused her. Her family was tight knit, smothering as she’d often referred to them. He had no clue what had happened to make her run off. But he knew how it felt to be overseas and to lose one of the most important people in your world.
Hell, that was probably why Rob had brought her over like this without any notice. But Rob hadn’t been thinking how pathetic Kurt’s conversation skills were, especially when it came to something so personal. However much he might like to, Kurt had no idea how to console her. The one thing he could do was talk dogs. He was glad when Kelsey joined them and even gladder when the conversation settled into one that was easy and comfortable.
Kurt hadn’t seen Tess in forever. She’d gone from a gangly teen to a woman in her midtwenties who most guys would find it hard not to look twice at. But Tess was Tess, and no matter how life or years had separated them, he cared about her as much as he had the last time he’d seen her eight or nine years ago. He’d traveled to St. Louis from the post with William. While his grandfather went about whatever business had brought him to the city, Kurt had met Tess for lunch at her aunt’s sandwich shop on the Hill, a cozy Italian neighborhood he’d been meaning to take Kelsey to whenever there was a quiet hour. He’d been in his late teens and giving serious thought to enlisting. Tess was two years younger, still in high school and not at all interested in military life.
And back then, before they’d reconnected over lunch, he’d been wondering if, since they had so much in common, he’d ever think of her as more than the sister he’d never had. When he’d seen her and they started talking, the answer back then was just as obvious as it was now.
He’d walk through hell and back for her, but he’d never think of her as more than a would-be sister.
And out of all of this, what moved him the most was that somehow, without ever being told any of it, Kelsey had picked up on the important stuff. Her at-first-tense shoulders relaxed, and she fell back into her warm and inviting ways. With every dog they introduced Tess to, Kelsey told simple stories that made Tess laugh and brought the color back to her tearstained cheeks.
It was one of the things that moved Kurt most about Kelsey, the way words always came so easily to her. By the time Tess had been introduced to all the dogs and fallen desperately in love with Frankie, Kelsey was inviting her over to Ida’s for lunch and to help finish assembling the wedding favors.
Tess looked to Rob before answering, probably remembering that even when it wasn’t warranted, Rob was always in a hurry.
“I wish I could, but I promised to help at the warehouse this afternoon. I’d love a tour of that shelter of yours soon though. When you have the time.”
“Are you staying in town for a while?” Kurt asked.
Tess gave a slight shrug of one shoulder. “I don’t know. Maybe. I left my friends in a hurry, but right now I think my grandma needs me.”
“If you stick around, you know Rob’ll put you to work.”
“If I stay, I’m going to want to be busy. I’ll keep you posted. Rob gave me your number.”
They headed down the stairs and out to the circular drive. Tess hugged Kurt hard, her thin body and wool sweater pressing into him, then hugged Kelsey without losing a beat. “It was nice to meet you, Kelsey. I
