Campaigning for Love by K.D. Fleming

in, pouncing on a chance for payback. “You cooked. It’s only fair I clean up. I may not be handy with a stove, but I’m pretty good with hot soapy water.” He winked for good measure. The rat.
    His response to her ungrateful glare was a smug smile when he took her plate and stacked it on top of his. She followed him into the kitchen but kept her back turned while she made the hot chocolate and he did the dishes. The atmosphere in the room was less than warm and she headed for the study faster than she wanted.
    She carried the tray over to a table near Uncle Charles’s old recliner. “I brought marshmallows.”
    “Your aunt Melvia won’t let me have any. Since she’s gone, I’ll have three, please.”
    She smiled at the twinkle in his eye and added a fourth for good measure.
    “Uncle Charles, I know what you’re going to say. It wasn’t fair when I didn’t tell Nick anything about myself. But I’m not comfortable sharing things about myself with others, especially him. You don’t know everything about my past.”
    “You have a lot of things going on in your life right now. You just lost your mother. Part of why I made you come here this weekend was so you’d rest. You’ve been burying yourself in your work. Use this weekend for what I intended. Give yourself time to remember Alice, to find peace and say goodbye to her.”
    He squeezed her hand. “She loved you so much. She was proud of all you’ve accomplished. But she wouldn’t be happy knowing you’re using those acts of charity to hide out from life, even the bad parts of it. You’re no coward, so why are you doing it?”
    “I experience the bad part of life every day. You see what we deal with in family court. I’m trying to keep as many children as I can from going through what I did. They need to know someone cares about them.” She could justify everything she did. It was no one’s business if she buried herself in her work as an escape from the loneliness that nipped at her heels, its bleakness waiting to claim her, swallow her up in its blackness.
    “If you don’t let yourself feel, even the hurt of losing someone you love, you can’t heal. You won’t be able to move on. You’ll always be running from who you are, from what made you who you are.”
    He set his cup down. “Katherine, you mean the world to me. With Alice gone, you’re stuck with me and my meddling ways. Give Nick a chance. He isn’t the same boy you knew years ago any more than you’re the same girl. Don’t cheat yourself out of making a friend just because you’re scared you’ll get hurt again.”
    Her gaze clashed with his. “I don’t want to be his friend. I don’t want to be his anything. He’ll finish his time in family court and be out of my life for good.” She rose and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for caring enough about me to interfere, though.”
    The warmth of his concern and the cold weight of his request followed her out the door. He thought Nick had changed. That his respectful, responsible act was sincere. She knew better. He wanted the judge to back him for his candidacy. And the easiest way to win the judge’s approval was befriending her.
    Not this time. Nick Delaney’s days of using her to get ahead were over.

Chapter 5
    T he next morning, a knock on her door woke Katherine from a sound sleep. When she peeked out into the hall, she found a breakfast tray on the floor with muffins, croissants, juice and coffee. She opened the door wider and looked across the hall. Nick’s door stood wide open and he was nowhere in sight. She carried the tray inside and closed the door with her foot.
    After her en suite breakfast and a quick shower, she went downstairs in search of the men. The kitchen was empty. She wandered around, searching the rest of the house. Nick was on the back porch with a mug of coffee and the morning paper, his feet propped up.
    She stopped in the doorway, unsure he’d welcome her company. “Are you who I should thank for