Just a Kiss: The Bradfords, Book 5 (5 page)

“There are rumors about him?”

“Just one.”

“When did these start?” It was hard to believe that she would have been able to avoid hearing rumors about Kevin. Grover, Nebraska was a town of eight hundred and twenty-six people. And she ran the only restaurant in town. If it happened in or around Grover—or even if it
maybe
happened in or around Grover—she heard about it. And if Kevin Campbell was mentioned, she definitely paid attention.

“This morning. Breakfast rush.”

Ah,
rush
had been the key word there. Monica handled the kitchen and counter since Eve couldn’t even make a good ham sandwich. That left Eve to manage the books and staff and to fill in waiting tables when needed. Heather Dawson, their main waitress had quit yesterday—not really her fault, jail sentences did get in the way of work, after all—and so Eve had been running around crazy all morning. She’d barely had time to serve food and keep the coffee hot. She hadn’t had time for chatting. Of course, most of her customers would have rather chatted and spread gossip than eaten, but Eve had fed them anyway.

“Do I want to know?” she asked as she retrieved the broom and dustpan to clean up the glass. Really, Monica should know better than to toss his name out there like that. Monica was the only person in town—in the
world
—besides her and Kevin to know everything about their relationship. Unless of course he’d told a bunch of people. Still she was certain no one in Grover knew because she would have definitely heard about
that
.

“Absolutely not,” Monica said, whacking three more potatoes into bite sized squares. “But I have to see your reaction.”

Absolutely not
. Great. She couldn’t wait to hear it.

“What is it?”

“They’re saying Kevin is Drew Dawson’s father.”

Everything seemed to freeze. Including Eve’s blood.

She couldn’t hear anything—not the clock ticking, not the hiss of the water boiling on the stove, not the clink of glassware—nothing. Everything had gone totally silent.

The only thing registering was one word that kept repeating in her mind, over and over.

No.

She saw Monica’s lips moving and saw her friend’s concerned frown. Monica put her knife down and came around the corner of the island where she was preparing the potatoes. When she reached Eve she grasped her upper arms and shook.

“Eve?”

Her voice came through the haze and Eve stared at her. “Yeah?” she whispered.

“You okay?”

Eve shook her head.
No
. If Kevin was Drew’s dad… If he’d slept with Heather… If he was…

No. She couldn’t handle it. She’d have to sell the restaurant. She’d have to move.

She knew Heather. Heather had worked for her for three years. They were even sort of friends, kind of. And she knew Drew. Drew came with Heather for the morning shift every day and ate breakfast before Heather walked him over to school. He was a great kid. Bright, too mature for his age, a little quiet, but always polite and…quiet. Especially compared to most of the other kids who came in. She really liked that about him.

She’d asked him a few questions here and there but his nose was always buried in a book. And they were thick books. She didn’t know much about ten-year-old kids but she didn’t think most of them spent their free time reading about the World Wars.

But genius or not, cute or not, he could
not
be Kevin’s son.

She could not deal with that.

He did look like him, though, now that she thought about it…

“Eve!” Monica shook her hard. “Breathe!”

Eve took a deep breath in through her nose and let it out as instructed. Then she focused on her friend. “No way,” she finally said.

“No way? Kevin’s not Drew’s dad?”

“No. No way.” Maybe if she kept saying it over and over it would magically be true. “When would that have happened anyway? He’s never here. He hasn’t been back here in nine years.” Nine years, five months and seventeen days.

“You sure?” Monica was evidently convinced that Eve wasn’t going to fall over and let go of her. “How do you know?”

Her grandmother told her every time he came home to visit, because he’d stop in the restaurant to see her. Grandma Sherry had loved Kevin. She was the only one in Eve’s family who did. She was also the only one in Eve’s family who knew how much Eve had loved him.

She felt a sharp jab of pain in her chest. As usual when she thought of Kevin.
Really
thought of him.

He’d been The One. Even at age eighteen she’d known. And she’d messed up. And he’d walked away.

Grandma Sherry had been gone for a year now, but now that Eve was here at the restaurant every day she would have definitely noticed him stopping in.

“You really don’t think it’s possible?” Monica’s tone indicated that she, on the other hand, thought it was completely possible.

Eve started to shake her head, then she pressed her lips together. Of course it was
possible
. Heather and Kevin knew each other. They were about the same age. Heather was beautiful and Kevin was hot—he always had been.

Nine years ago was the last time she’d seen him in person—and he had been hot even from across the town square—but she’d seen pictures in the paper and on TV from time to time after that.

He was six-four, two hundred and fifty pounds of pure muscle. He had looked like a star football player when he’d been seventeen and he certainly hadn’t gotten smaller or less sculpted as he’d matured. He had dark hair that he had always worn short and dark eyes that were somewhere between coffee colored and dark chocolate colored. What had always made her really tingle, though, were his hands. They were huge and rough from hard work and football, but he’d been gentle with them. Especially with her. He’d always touched her as if she was fragile and needed special care.

She shivered just remembering it.

He was a big-time Nebraska football player. In this state, and particularly in the small town he called home, that put him on par with Brad Pitt or George Clooney. Kevin was a celebrity in Nebraska, having been the leading defensive player on a two-time National Championship team. That meant charity golf tournaments, visits to kids in the hospital, donations to the athletic department at both the University and Grover High. It was safe to say that he made it into the papers on a fairly regular basis.

Sure, it was possible that Heather and Kevin had hooked up.

But even as she admitted that, she knew that Drew couldn’t be his kid. Drew’s dad hadn’t been around. That couldn’t be Kevin. He’d never do something like that.

He might charm a young girl into trusting him, he might make that girl fall completely in love with him, he might convince her to elope with him. He might also turn his back at the first sign of adversity, break her heart and then sleep with every other female in the county. But he’d never abandon his kid.

Then again, what the hell did she know? It had been fourteen years and she still wasn’t over him. Clearly she wasn’t very bright.

“Drew’s not his kid,” she said, partly because she really did believe that and partly because it was a much better than curling up into a fetal position in the corner and crying for the next couple of months.

“Well, there’s only one way to know for sure,” Monica said, returning to her potatoes.

“What’s that?”

“Ask him.”

Eve let out a snort. “Sure, you bet. I’ll do that the next time I see him.” Then she headed for the dining room.

“I think there’s an important piece of information that is not getting the proper attention here,” Dooley said.

No one looked up from their menus.

Kevin was filled with gratitude that his friends were here…with a touch of trepidation thrown in.

This morning wasn’t going to be easier or less crazy than last night had been.

The night before seemed like a blur. They’d been called out to a possible heart attack before anyone could come in to cover him, so, surprisingly, Kevin’s mom and dad had gone back to Grover to show Mrs. Rosner the house so she could do the preliminary home assessment and recommend the emergency placement. They had then packed up and hit the road, not intending to come back until long after things with Heather and Drew were settled.

By the time the crew made it back to St. Anthony’s, Dani had Drew curled up with her on the couch in the break room, fast asleep. She described the heart-breaking scene in which Heather had said goodbye and Kevin couldn’t help but feel relieved he’d missed it. Sam had comforted Dani and Kevin had awkwardly settled down next to Drew.

Before he could get comfortable, they were then called out again to a nursing home where a patient had coded. When they got back, Morgan, Dooley’s fiancé, was curled up with Drew.

“Dang, your little brother has slept with more women tonight than you have in years,” Sam said, slapping him on the back.

Kevin was grateful that Drew was wiped out. He slept through the rest of the shift and through Kevin carrying him to the car and driving him to Grover. He’d put Drew in his old room with the twin bed before he’d finally crashed for a few hours in the guest room. He’d slept restlessly but at least wasn’t functioning on no sleep now the next morning.

He’d awakened and realized that not only did he not have any idea what Drew ate or if he had any food allergies, but his parents had no kid food in the house anyway.

Then he’d heard the knock on the door.

Sam, Mac and Dooley stood on the porch and a pickup full of his stuff sat in the driveway.

He’d actually teared up. They’d gone to his house, packed as much as they could—they’d loaded his entire dresser into the truck rather than touching his underwear—and then driven over an hour to bring it to him.

And they’d brought donuts.

After feeding Drew, the kid brushed his teeth and hair—with no help wanted or needed apparently—and dressed. Kevin was also thankful that Heather had intended to drop Drew off with Steve, because he had a suitcase with him full of clothes, books and a stuffed frog.

Now Drew was at school and Kevin and the guys were seated in a booth at the restaurant for a real breakfast. Kevin needed to see Eve more than he needed eggs and pancakes, but he needed those too. He was hunched down with a cap on his head and was carefully avoiding talking too loud or making eye contact with anyone until the waitress came over.

He was a minor celebrity in Grover because of his football days. In Nebraska, once a Husker, always a hero. And he really didn’t want to get into conversation with any of the old guys on the contrasts between Coach Osborn and Coach Pelini. He also didn’t want to sign any autographs. Mostly because the guys always thought that was hilarious and razzed him unmercifully, but also because he wanted to find Eve and have this conversation as soon as possible.

The more football fans who knew he was in town, the longer it would be before he could get to Eve. Rehashing old games from the glory days was always on the table as possible Grover conversation, but rehashing old games with one of the players was a not-to-be-missed event. The last time he’d gone out in public in Grover, they’d clogged up the bank lobby for over an hour as people came and no one left.

“Okay, I realize that it was dramatic last night,” Dooley said. “But come on… Now we can talk about it, right?”

“The Kevin has an illegitimate kid part or the Kevin is married part?” Mac asked, turning the menu to the burger section even though it was nine a.m.

“Keep your voices down,” Kevin warned. He was less worried about someone hearing
illegitimate kid
or
married
and more worried they’d hear his name. “And I don’t have an illegitimate kid,” he added. Like it would do any good.

He knew they were amused. Of the group at the table, he was the
least
likely to suddenly turn up with a wife and kid out of the blue. But he hadn’t really. Not
really.

“The part where
Kevin
, the good, upstanding Christian boy,” Dooley said, “is secretly married to a girl named
Eve
.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. He had been waiting for this. He was proud of Dooley for holding off this long.

The irony had hit him even before he was a Christian. In fact, it had seemed even funnier then. He was madly in love with a girl named Eve. To him she was the first and only woman and being with her was like being in paradise. He totally got Adam’s dilemma and his willingness to be led astray by a woman. He would have readily followed Eve into Hell itself.

Sam leaned back in the booth. “I’m not sure what I’m more stunned by—Kevin having a not-quite-ex-wife or you knowing something about the Bible.”

“Har, har,” Dooley returned.

Sam finally grinned. “But I’ll give you that it’s pretty funny.”

“It
is
,” Dooley agreed. “It really is.”

Mac was smirking too. “I have to admit that it seems a little hard to believe. And perfect at the same time.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. The whole story—his dad, Heather, jail, rehab, Drew, temporary guardianship—didn’t faze them. They were focusing on Eve.