“I’d love to, darlin’, but I’ve got to do some shopping. I’ll see you sometime this week when you come get another kitty cat.” April thought she could see relief in Kent’s eyes.

“Oh, all right,” Callie said. “At least I don’t have to wait until I’m thirty to see you again.”

Kent pushed his cart toward the parking lot with one hand and held Callie’s hand tightly with the other one. He was handsome, but it was his kind eyes that appealed to April. And then there was the fact that he was so sweet to his daughter. That says a lot, doesn’t it? she thought as she and Nessa made their way into the store.

“Wonder what happened to Callie’s mama,” Nessa said as they made their way through the automatic doors into the store.

“Stella says that she died when Callie was only a year old. Callie is a lucky little girl to have a father like she has.” April sighed. “He’s definitely one of those good guys—the kind Flynn wants to become.”

“I think he might like you,” Nessa told her.

April picked up a head of lettuce and two tomatoes and put them in the cart. “Then you’re thinking wrong. He’s a lawyer, for crying out loud. He would never be interested in someone like me.”

“Don’t underestimate yourself, Cousin. Besides, you can’t fool kids, and that little girl thinks you’re pretty enough to be her daddy’s girlfriend,” Nessa said.

April flushed at Nessa’s observation and then gasped. “Is that Jackson over there? And who in the hell is kissing him? I mean it’s just on the cheek, but it is a kiss.”

“I’m sure I don’t know, but he’s pushing the cart for her, so . . .” Nessa felt the world crumbling under her feet.

“It was just a cheek kiss. Maybe it’s a cousin or a friend. We don’t know all the people that he knows. It could be nothing. Just ask him about it,” April said.

Nessa appreciated April’s rationalization, but the way the tall brunette, who was wearing short shorts and high-heeled shoes, looked up at him left no doubt that she was a lot more than a friend or a cousin. “Let’s go to Kroger to do our shopping. I don’t want to run into him.”

“You did sleep with him, didn’t you?” April asked as she put the lettuce and tomatoes back and left the cart in the middle of an aisle.

“Third date.” Nessa blinked away the tears. She’d made a wrong decision again, and now things were going to be awkward between neighbors.

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Nessa laid her forehead on the steering wheel and let the tears flow freely. “Just another disappointment, and I’m used to those.”