Optimism. Funny how she was once again forcing herself to ignore the dark, turbulent emotions curling in her chest and rather focusing on what tomorrow would bring. Without a plan, she still wasn’t quite sure what that was going to be though.

Sitting on the front porch swing, painting her toenails and drinking iced tea seemed like the perfect way to pass a Friday afternoon. It wasn’t like she had anything pressing to do, considering she’d pretty much pushed every other job offer out when she originally agreed to do Gage’s renovation.

Bastard.

Kylie’s phone rang, startling her from her wandering thoughts. Glancing down at the caller id, she noticed it wasn’t the same number she’d been ignoring for the last couple of weeks. No, this time the caller was her sister and a genuine smile tipped her lips as she hit the talk button and held the phone to her ear.

“Hey, Jess,” she answered.

“Kylie! Oh my God! I can’t believe you answered the phone.”

Kylie giggled at her sister’s dramatic response. “Why wouldn’t I answer?”

“Well, let’s see. I tried calling you last week, no answer. I tried calling on Tuesday and again on Wednesday this week, nothing. Where’ve you been?”

“Right here,” she answered. Yes, there had been a few days she had ignored all calls that came in, so it was likely that she’d missed Jessie’s calls as well. Oops.

“Where’s here?” her sister asked.

“At home. Why?”

“No reason.”

Right. As if Jessie would ask if she didn’t need something. Since Kylie was just as protective of her baby sister as their father was, she immediately wondered if everything was all right. “You ok?”

“Peachy,” Jessie answered, sounding definitely not peachy.

“Where are you?” It was Kylie’s turn to question whereabouts.

“I’m at home,” she said softly. “But Dad’s not home. He’s been working a lot these days, and I don’t want to stay with Melissa so would you mind if I come visit?”

Kylie knew that Jessie had a hard time interacting with their father’s latest girlfriend even though they lived under the same roof. As far as Kylie was concerned, Melissa was a keeper and as long as she made Joe happy, she hoped he would eventually settle down for good with this one. But Jessie wasn’t keen on the idea of sharing their father’s love with anyone else, especially another girlfriend.

“You can come down.” Kylie loved when her sister visited. They didn’t get to spend nearly enough time together as it was.

With Jessie finishing up her last year of college, working for some big technology company in Dallas, she knew she had to jump at every available opportunity because her sister was a busy woman. Unless Jessie decided to move south, which Kylie didn’t see happening anytime soon, she wasn’t going to get to spend much time with her in the near future.

“Are you serious?” Jessie sounded relieved and quite sad all at the same time.

“Of course I am,” Kylie replied. “When are you coming?”

“I’ve got a week of vacation, and I sure could use some time away. So, if it’s cool with you, I’ll see you the first week of June?”

“Wow, I thought you meant soon. That’s a ways away.”

“I know, but I’ve got to wrap up a couple of things before I take off. I’ve got the time scheduled.”

“Well, you know you’re welcome anytime. I can’t wait to see you, Jess.”

“Thanks, Ky.”

“Sure thing, sweetie. Call me when you’re on your way down so I know to expect you.”

With that, Kylie hung up from her sister, setting her cell phone on the seat beside her and once again staring down at her toes. She grabbed the bottle of clear polish and gave each toe a once over as she replayed the conversation with her sister over again.

Why had she sounded so sad? Surely it wasn’t because Joe was gone because he was an airline pilot, it’s what he did. He was gone more than he was home, and this wouldn’t have been the first time Jessie was home alone with Melissa. The woman had lived with Kylie’s father for the better part of the last six months. Wait, no. Make that a year. Wow. They’d been living together for almost a year now. That had to be some sort of record for her dad – at least since Kylie’s mom left.

“You look like a country song.”

The deep tenor of that particular voice got her back up as soon as she recognized it, and Kylie looked up to see the voice’s owner walking up the path to her front porch. Or did they consider that swaggering? Either way, she didn’t want to keep looking at the way the man rocked a pair of jeans and boots. She was supposed to be pissed off at him.

It was a true testament to how far lost she was to her own thoughts that she hadn’t even heard his truck pull up. Kylie considered questioning why he was there, but then thought better of it. She had absolutely no desire to talk to him. Not today, not tomorrow. Not ever. So it didn’t matter what prompted him to waltz back up to her doorstep. In a minute, he was going to get up close and personal with her front door.

Glancing down at her toes to see if they were dry enough to allow her to walk without ruining what she’d spent the last thirty minutes on, Kylie knew she was going to take a chance if she did. Damn that man.

Why did he have to show up and ruin a perfectly good pedicure?

Daring to look up at Gage, Kylie met his penetrating gaze and refused to look away although the ache in her heart throbbed anew. “Why are you here?”

“To talk?”

“I’m pretty sure your actions speak louder than your words, Mr. Matthews. I have nothing more to say to you.”

One would’ve thought that her anger would have subsided because she’d had two and a half weeks to cool off. And that was after the solid week she’d spent taking her anger out on the cabinet she’d been restoring in her spare time. Needless to say, the cabinet wasn’t being restored anymore – it was now in pieces. On the floor of her garage.

But, remembering the incident and now seeing the man who was personally responsible for turning her world upside down only intensified the deep, black rage she’d been consumed with.

For a solid decade, Kylie had worked to banish all thoughts of Travis Walker from her heart and her mind, and for the last half, she had to think she’d done fairly well. In fact, even the worst of her lonely nights had been getting better. However, rather than the memories living in that tiny box collecting dust in the far recesses of her brain, Travis was now front and center in her mind. Seeing him, even briefly, caused her heart to ache all over again.

Based on his reaction to seeing her, Kylie was sure Travis hadn’t been through the traumatizing hell that she had when he walked out of her life without looking back. It hadn’t been as easy for her to get over him as it apparently was for him to get over her. That knowledge didn’t make the ache ease.

Knowing her mental health was on the line, Kylie had given herself over to the heartache that returned full force for the first few days after the debacle in Coyote Ridge. She had screamed and cried and stomped through the house, refusing to give in to the sadness, but rather embracing the anger. Seeing Travis face to face, she felt as though not a single day had passed, and walking away from him again without so much as two words between them was just as devastating as the last time. The only difference… she was the one doing the walking this time.

Ten years ago, she might’ve worried that her heart was too fragile to handle that sort of trauma. However, somewhere along the way, the scar tissue had hardened, encasing all of the scattered pieces and making her whole again. Maybe not entirely, but considerably better off than before.

That didn’t mean seeing him was easy. Far from it.

Travis looked the same, only a decade older, and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, the years had been kind to him. The only difference she had noted was that she didn’t witness the quick, easy going smile she remembered. Even without that seductive tilt of his lips and crinkle at the corner of his eyes, he was just as freakishly handsome as she remembered. Probably more so.

There had been a guardian angel present that day though. His name was Beau Bennett.

Gage was the one to drop her in the middle of hell, but Beau – a close friend of Travis’ brother from what he told her – had insisted on getting her out of there. He seemed just as angry on her behalf, and that had helped ease some of the pain for the interminably long drive back to her house in Killeen.

Beau was cute and surprisingly funny, and she got the impression he was trying to make her smile. Refusing to let anyone else see her fall apart, Kylie had pasted on a smile, laughed when appropriate and tried to enjoy herself because she had known even then that it was only a matter of time.

It was after he dropped her at the house, insisting on walking her to her door, that all of the memories from so long ago came flooding back in a rush. Wave upon wave of anger and pain had battered her, knocking her down and dragging her under until she wasn’t sure she could breathe anymore.

Still, nearly three weeks later, the lingering effects of the stunt Gage had pulled still irked her. Sort of like a month long hangover and no amount of aspirin was going to help it either.

But now, seeing him standing on the bottom step of her front porch, she was reminded of exactly who had brought the long buried misery to her doorstep all these years later. So if he was here to talk, she was pretty sure she couldn’t emotionally handle any more conversations with him.

“I’m sorry,” Gage said, his tone reflecting what sounded like remorse.