Her lip quivered and she said, “Tell him I’m sorry.” A tear trickled from her eye. She looked in the rearview mirror, preparing to make a U-turn to return to the house when a dark shape rolled in behind her on the shoulder.
“You can tell him yourself, kitten.”
Two thumps marked the sound of doors closing, and then they were there, smiling down at her. They’d been in the Hummer rolling down the state highway trying to catch up to her the whole time, so Kemp had heard the whole conversation.
She pulled on her door handle, but nothing happened. Embarrassed, she fumbled with the ignition and the door lock mechanism. This was an instant replay of the day she met them as she went all “fumble fingers” trying to open the door to Kemp’s Escalade.
Kemp tapped on the window and said, “Press the button in the other direction.”
“My own car and I can’t get the doors to unlock,” she muttered to herself. Finally she got the door to unlock, and Kemp pulled it open. She stepped from the car and threw herself into their arms.
“I’m sorry I left. I got upset.” She kissed them both, uncaring who saw as they drove by.
“I’m sorry you were hurt, darlin’. It pained me to see you on the stairs, looking like you’d been sent to your room. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
“It’s okay. I just want it to be all right between us. I won’t leave like that again. It was an immature knee-jerk reaction. I thought she was there to reclaim her place.”
“That’s not possible, kitten. You fill our hearts and there’s no room for any other woman.”
Kemp’s phone rang, and he removed it from his pocket and put his finger to his other ear so he could hear. His conversation was short and appeared to be bad news.
Ace looked at Kemp as he returned to them. “What is it?”
Kemp looked like he was gritting his teeth and then said, “A new blog post just got published. You’re not going to believe this.”
Ace sighed and said, “We’re already running late for where we were supposed to be this morning.”
Summer said, “Can I call a ‘do-over’ to this crap of a day?” Both men chuckled and hugged her hard.
Summer grabbed her wireless tablet and stepped carefully over to the passenger side of the Hummer. Ace opened the door for her and helped her up into the seat, and they waited while she pulled up her Internet browser and found the bookmark for the blogsite.
She pressed her fingers to her lips when the blogsite finished loading and nearly dropped the tablet on the floorboard. She dimly heard Kemp’s phone ring again, but they both stood there with her gazing at the image and the headline.
Outrageous Behavior at Discretion!
The image was a crystal-clear photograph of the three of them together last night, in the throes of passion, their bodies joined together.
Her fingers trembled as she scrolled down the screen. In the article, the blogger suggested that the act was Summer’s payment for the new security system installed at the shop. The rest of the blog consisted of the usual hatefulness.
She scrolled for comments, but none had been posted yet.
“Hit the refresh icon, darlin’. I’m curious what people think.”
“How would you know if they’d had a security system installed unless you were watching their shop yourself, you pervert?”
“I know for a fact that gazebo is built in their backyard inside a privacy fence. What Miss Heston does in her free time is her business!”
“Shameful. Just shameful and ungodly!”
“I’m a God-fearing Christian woman but I’ll tell you something for certain, you fruitcake! I have kids at home and this blogsite is supposed to be safe for me to open with them around. I’m un-following your blog and not admitting to anybody I ever followed it in the first place. You’ve gone over the line.”
“Wow. And how long has it been up?” she asked as she scrolled back up to the article. “Ten minutes.” She scrolled back to the picture, got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, and then looked at the two of them. “It’s going to be all over.” Anybody could save that photograph before it was taken down. It would be all over the Internet.
They looked horrified, and then it dawned on her. “Don’t go there, guys. I know we were indiscreet, but I don’t regret last night for anything and I never will. It was a wonderful experience I wouldn’t trade for anything. I’d just rather it wasn’t shared with the whole world.”
Kemp’s phone rang again.
“Yeah. Okay. Call Jake and ask him to hang out at the shop today. We’ll be right there.”