The first thing she saw upon entering was Ken on the far side of the restaurant, leaning against a wall and talking to his ex-wife.
For just a moment she was jealous. Jealous that Katie had a history with Ken that she would never share. They had family. Children. Not just a no-strings-attached rebound. And for a few seconds, she hated that fact.
She managed to brush it away almost immediately since it was an unworthy and immature way of thinking and she didn’t like to indulge that side of herself.
His eyes moved to her face as she walked in, and their gazes met for just a little too long. It was weird and intense and unexpected. Then she smiled, flushed, and managed to look away.
She couldn’t look at him too much like that while she was there, or someone would definitely notice.
Skye was there with the rest of her large family, and Ria and Belinda were sitting in a booth with Fitz standing nearby, obviously doing his best to get on Belinda’s nerves.
Since Skye looked busy, Madeline went over to sit next to Ria.
She had a good time for about an hour, eating and chatting with her friends. Then she got up to go to the bathroom and almost tripped on a pair of little feet as she was returning.
Catching herself, she looked down and saw that Heather Harley—Ken’s older daughter—was sitting on the floor by herself away from the crowds and reading.
“Oops,” Madeline said with a smile since the girl was doing what she might have done herself. “Sorry about that. Did I hurt you?”
“No,” Heather said with a sober expression. “But you made me lose my place.”
“I’m sorry. What are you reading?”
Heather was a cute girl with long brown braids and blue eyes just like Ken’s. She had a few freckles on her nose. She lifted the book she was reading.
Madeline frowned. “I’ve never read that one. What is it about?”
Heather eyed her suspiciously for a moment until she evidently reassured herself that Madeline really wanted to know. Then she explained that the book was about a girl in colonial times. She’d gotten it on her trip to Williamsburg a couple of weeks ago.
Madeline was happy to talk about books to anyone at any time, so she lowered herself to the floor beside the girl and asked a bunch of questions.
After a few minutes, Jessie came over to join them. She was a wild child—racing with the little boys and often the loudest one in a room. But she wanted to know what Heather and Madeline were talking about. Not caring about the book, Jessie instead interrogated Madeline about where she lived, who her best friends were, and why she wasn’t dating Josh anymore.
Madeline fielded the questions easily, laughing at the pure shamelessness of the girl. It didn’t take long until it was quite clear to her that she liked both of these girls a lot, and it had nothing to do with the fact that they were Ken’s daughters. She wasn’t sure what to make of that fact, but she tried not to let it worry her.
She was allowed to like little girls in town. It didn’t mean they were special to her.
And it definitely didn’t mean that Ken was special to her.
Because he couldn’t be. Not unless she was ready for everything to get hard and stressful and complicated again.
KEN HAD STAYED IN THE same place for most of the evening, chatting with everyone who stopped by to say hello to him. He tried to enjoy the company. The food and drink. The festive mood. But he was distracted by thoughts of Madeline.
He couldn’t stop looking at her, wondering what she was thinking, wishing she would come over and say a few words to him.
That wouldn’t be inappropriate, would it? It wasn’t like the entire world would immediately know what was going on between them if she happened to say hi.
He’d been champing at the bit more and more every day, wanting to get closer to Madeline but knowing he’d destroy everything the moment he tried.
It wasn’t a great way to live, but it was better than living without her.
But the worst thing was when Madeline had come out of the bathroom and started talking to Heather about fifteen minutes ago. The girl was shy. Not particularly open with people she didn’t know. But Madeline had no problem getting her to open up. The two were having a good talk about something—probably the book Heather was reading—and then Jessie had gone over to join in.
Ken’s heart ached in his chest as he watched her talk to his daughters. The girls liked her. That much was clear. And it really seemed like Madeline might like them. She wasn’t faking. Ken was a pretty good judge of people, and he knew Madeline really well by now. He was sure he’d be able to tell if she was just being polite or making up to them as a strategy. She was smiling authentically, her gray eyes warm and invested.
He wanted her to like his daughters.
He wanted her to love them.
He wanted her to love him too.
The knowledge hit him like a truck, nearly knocking him off his feet. He’d known his feelings were too caught up in her. He’d known from the beginning that he wanted more than she was willing to offer. He’d known for a while now that he was in too deep.
But he’d never let himself acknowledge exactly what had happened.
He’d fallen in love with her.
When all she’d ever wanted from him was rebound sex.
“You okay?” a soft voice came from behind him.
Caught off guard, he jerked dramatically and turned to see Katie leaning against the wall beside him. She was an attractive woman with brown hair, brown eyes, and freckles.
“Yeah,” he said, controlling his thoughts quickly. “Fine. Why?”
“Because you’re pining a little too much, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want anyone else to see that.”
Ken blinked.
