Bluegrass State of Mind (15 page)

Miss Daisy came out with a slice of
chocolate silk pie and a big bowl of what looked to be bread under
whipped cream, sitting in some kind of creamy sauce.

"Another round of Daisy Mae's special
iced tea, please!" Paige giggled.

"Coming right up, as long as you
promise to not drive. And don't get into any strange man's car. One
of the boys will walk you home. I could call Noodle. He'd escort
you."

"Cross my heart and hope to die,"
Paige said making an X over her heart and looking at Miss Daisy
will all the seriousness in the world.

Kenna snorted, "Did you say Noodle?
Noodle would walk us home?" She succumbed to another round of the
giggles.

"That's one of our trusty Deputies.
I'll go get you another round, but just because you had to deal
with Whitney, bless your heart." Miss Daisy went back to the
kitchen where Miss Violet had anticipated the need and made a whole
pitcher that was quickly brought out the table.

Kenna looked at the bread pudding and
decided to give it a try while Paige was pouring another round of
drinks. She scooped up a piece, making sure to include some whipped
cream and a good coating of sauce.

"Oh my god!" Kenna blurted out. Paige,
June and most of the cafe turned to her, "This is so good. I have
never had anything so good. This definitely makes up for having to
meet Whitney." The patrons laughed and Kenna took another sip of
her now full glass before plunging in to the rest of the bread
pudding.

"So, now that you're liquored up and
starting on desserts, tell me what happened when you met the wicked
witch from D.C.," Paige said as she topped off Kenna's glass of
iced tea.

Kenna leaned forward and whispered,
"It was so embarrassing."

"Speak up, dear. We can't hear you."
An anonymous older lady's voice said from the depths of the cafe.
Kenna looked out of the booth and found the whole cafe had gone
quiet and were all looking at her expectantly.

"All of you want to know? Why?" she
addressed the crowd.

"We'll just find out later, hon. So
you might as well tell us. Besides, most of us have had our own
run-ins with Whitney." Miss Violet said as she came out of the
kitchen and took a seat at a table.

Kenna took another big gulp of her
spiked iced tea, "Fine. You all want to know?"

As the entire crowd nodded, she slid
out of the booth and stood up, swaying slightly. Wow, that ice tea
really packed a punch.

"Okay, so here goes the whole
embarrassing story." She heard chairs scrape the floor and turn to
her. Silverware was laid down, food pushed aside all to focus on
her. A piece of her hair had escaped from behind her ear and she
shoved it back in place. "Will was my first crush. We met and spent
a week together in Liverpool, New York. My grandma and his were
best friends at the retirement village. Miss Alda read all of her
letters from home to my grandma, and then she told me all about
them. I was half in love with Will when, one summer I was almost
thirteen and he was fifteen. We met while we visiting our grandmas.
To make a long story short, he was my first kiss and it was
amazing."

She heard some ‘oohs’ and 'aahs' go up
from her crowd.

"Then our grandmothers interrupted and
it kinda killed the mood." When the crowd laughed, she took another
sip of her drink.

"Anyway, almost seventeen years have
passed and as we already established, I needed some help moving
into a new town." More chuckles arose from those who were there the
night they interrogated her. "And thanks to many of you, I now have
the job I so desperately wanted."

Cheering went up and she took another
drink, the iced tea leaving her pleasantly tingly. "Well, I arrived
and Will brought me here for dinner, as you all know. But did you
all know that he walked me back to Miss Lily's. I thought he was
going to kiss me and I was going to let him. Then I find out about
Whitney and am totally confused as to why he's making a pass at me.
Then I met Whitney and I don't want to ever again."

She realized she was rambling but
couldn't stop, "So I go to the sales with June today and we are
talking to Betsy and William. They are so nice. They make me miss
my parents, but in a good way that reminds me of them. Anyway,
sorry, back to the story. Everyone stops talking and they look
right behind me. Before I can turn around, I get hit in the
shoulder by this really nice Coach bag. Miss Supermodel starts
accusing me of trying to replace her and moving on Will's parents.
Then she accused me of being after Will's money. She even called me
a ‘squatty little tramp’."

There were angry murmurs and Kenna
felt a little better.

From the crowd someone called out,
"But what about Will?" People nodded approval of the
question.

"What about him. I left and he was
with Whitney. He's married and I am not a squatty little tramp who
breaks up marriages. I don't care if he was my first kiss and if he
thinks it's okay to put the moves on me. I refuse, no matter how
much I dislike his wife." She sighed and climbed back into her
booth. The crowd was silent, maybe she said too much.

Paige turned to her, "Honey, don't you
know? Whitney is..."

"He's coming!" Daisy put down her
phone, "Will's on his way. He just left Lily Rae's. He was there
looking for Kenna and she directed him down here. He'll be here any
minute! Everyone, act casually."

Kenna buried her face in her hands and
shook her head. She was thinking of banging it against the table
when the bell tinkled over the door. Please, please, please, let it
be someone else, Kenna thought. Anyone else… well, maybe not
Whitney. But anyone else would be fine. She knew she was wasting
her wishes though. The place was still dead quiet and she had goose
bumps. Her nerves always went into high drive when he was near.
Could anyone die of embarrassment? She heard his boot steps get
louder as he came closer.

"Kenna!" Paige whispered sharply and
kicked her under the table. "You need to know that Whitney
is..."

"Hi, Kenna." Will had arrived and when
Kenna looked up she first saw Paige doing a little wave and
pointing to her ring finger and than making some other
motion.

"Hi, Will. Did you have a good day at
the sales?" There, nice and polite she thought.

"I heard about Whitney. I am so sorry.
She is not a nice person anymore. It seemed as soon as I married
her, her true greedy self came out." He was now at the front of the
table with his back to Paige and June looking right at her. Paige
was waving wildly and doing something that looked like cutting her
throat. Kenna shook her head and focused back on Will.

"It's okay. You don't have to
apologize for your wife, Will. I don't hold you to her
actions."

"But that's just it, she's not my
wife. Well, not my wife anymore." Will looked relieved and
hopeful.

Kenna was just confused, "What?" was
all that she could muster up.

"We've been divorced for two years. My
mother thought you had the impression that we are still married,
but we're not. I am happily divorced and am not seeing anyone. I am
completely free, free to ask if I can walk you home so we can talk
some more." He looked at her and she felt her heart speed
up.

Paige exhaled, threw her hands up and
flopped against the back of the booth. June and the rest of the
patrons sat nodding their heads and smiling and then went back to
their dinners. Apparently all was right in the world
again.

"So, you're really not married?" She
couldn't believe it, all the guilt she had been suffering, all the
pulling back. All because she thought she was wrecking a
marriage.

"I am really not married, and now the
only woman I want to be with is you. Will you let me walk you
home?" He looked so nervous. He was usually so confident that she
couldn't stop from reaching out and taking his hand in
hers.

"Sure. I'd like to go home now." Will
smiled and squeezed her hand. He let her step in front of him as
they walked towards the door. As Will reached to open the front
door for her, she looked back and saw June high five Paige. She
shook her head at them and then shook for a completely different
reason as she felt Will's hand slide along her waist and pulled her
against his side.

Will guided her across the street and
too soon they were on Miss Lily's porch. Will cleared his throat
and brought her to stop turning her to face him. "I know I am not
royalty, and I know I come with baggage in the form of a nasty
ex-wife. But what I want to know is… do I have a chance? Kenna, do
I have any chance to be with you?"

Her heart was thudding so loudly, she
knew he had to hear it. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
He didn't think he had a chance with her. Will, who was her first
kiss and was so kind, so caring. He looked after his parents, the
farm and all the employees. He coached kids for free, helping them
achieve their dreams. And he thought he wasn't good enough for her
because he wasn't royalty.

Kenna smiled slowly and took a step
toward him, placing her hand on the ridges of his abs, gently
running it up his chest and around the back of his neck. She took
another step closer and pulled his head down to hers. She gently
touched her lips to his and tasted his shock. It only took a second
for him to comprehend her meaning. She felt one arm come around her
waist and the other reaching up her back to pull her flush against
him. He deepened the kiss and Kenna was lost to the feeling of her
breasts pressed against his chest and his erection pressing against
her stomach. His fingers were dancing down her spine as he opened
her mouth further and found her tongue with his. She didn't know
how long the kiss went on and felt the vast space between them as
he pulled away. A slight moan came from her. She opened her eyes
and realized the porch light has been turned on. Miss Lily was at
the window by the door with her broom looking out at
them.

Will rested his forehead against hers,
"We've been busted." This time, both laughed and saw the curtain
fall back as they heard Miss Lily open the front door.

As Kenna got ready for bed that night,
she thought about all that Will had told her. That Whitney showed
up at the sales and had wanted half of all the money Will had
earned. She didn't seem to care that money went to the payment of
his employees, training of horses, payment of vets, trainers,
jockeys, and the upkeep of the farm. Nope, she just wanted money.
It also didn't matter to her that they had been divorced for two
years and their settlement was all she would ever get from
him.

Will had told her the reason she was
so greedy for his money was that he had listened to his mother
about getting a prenup. His parents said they would leave the farm
to charity before giving it to him if he didn't protect the revenue
and property of the farm. They had also pressured him into a clause
protecting all the money he had made prior to marriage. And
finally, they made Whitney agree to a cash payout in the event of
divorce.

Whitney had been sweet, attentive, and
talked on and on about wanting children, which Will told her he
wanted. The thought of Will as a father brought a sense of peace
within Kenna, especially if she was the mother. But she decided not
to look at that too closely right now. One week after Will and
Whitney returned from the honeymoon, she approached him with a
reality tv deal, similar to other athletes and their wives. The
show would revolve around how hard it is to be the wife of a
pro-athlete. They would pay to have her redecorate his bachelor
pad. They asked to put him in situations where women were throwing
themselves at him so Whitney could talk about infidelity among
players. And worst of all, they wanted to set up cameras all over
the house, in the cars, and even in the locker room at the stadium.
When he had told her there was no shot in hell of him agreeing to
this, he began to see the shift from sweet girl next door to greedy
bitch. She whined, pouted, and spent ungodly amounts of money until
he had to close his credit cards. They had only been married six
months when Will got news of his father’s heart attack. It had been
the easiest choice he ever made. He let the front office know it
was going to be his last season and he started packing up to move
back home to take over the family farm.

Whitney had asked for a divorce the
second he told her he was retiring and moving back to Kentucky. He
finished the season out with a Super Bowl appearance. The next
week, he handed over one hundred thousand dollars to Whiney in
front of a judge to finalize the divorce. He told Kenna that he had
never been happier. It had taken a couple years, but he had learned
how to run the farm. He was able to profit on what his father
started. The result of his work combined with his dad's efforts
produced Spires Landing, a colt his dad bred, but was ready to sell
because he was slightly smaller than others. Something had drawn
him to Will and Will decided to outvote his dad. Will began
training the horse to race. Turned out, Spires Landing was small,
but quick. Very similar to Smarty Jones, a very popular horse that
nearly won the Triple Crown. And like Smarty Jones, Spires Landing
turned out to be a Derby winner and near Triple Crown champion.
Last year Will had turned the runt into a Derby winner, and was
only one race from winning the Triple Crown. Spires Landing had
come in second at the Belmont in New York by a nose. Affirmed was
the last horse to win the Triple Crown in 1978, and this year Will
hoped to finish what Spires Landing started last year.