Chapter 18
The three women sat at the kitchen table the next morning and stared at each other over their coffee mugs, none of them saying a word. Kat’s phone lay at the center of the table, where she’d placed it after playing the voice message on speakerphone.
“What are you going to do?” Val finally asked, her hair sticking up around her face from sleep.
That was the big question. While Kat had been out at the Marine Corps ball last night, falling in love with another soldier, her late fiancé’s mother had called and left her a voicemail, asking her to call her back. Saying they needed to talk.
Kat shook her head, holding her coffee mug close to her lips. “I’m not sure,” she said. “I haven’t seen Rita since the funeral.” Which was shitty in and of itself. She should’ve been there for the woman who was set to be her future mother-in-law. Seeing Rita had seemed too hard, though. She’d needed to stay strong, the way John would’ve wanted her to be. Except now, looking back, avoiding Rita had been weak.
Julie reached for one of the cheese Danishes that Val had made earlier in the morning and took a bite, her eyes rolling back in her head as she did. Licking her lips, she agreed. “You have to call her back. That’s the only thing to do.”
Kat nodded numbly. The right thing was always the harder thing. It’d be so much easier to pretend like she’d never gotten the message. She was moving on, getting stronger, falling in love—the last thing she needed was to get dragged back into the past. “You’re right.” She looked between her friend and her sister. “Rita sounded good, right?”
“Oh, yeah,” Julie agreed, licking her fingers now, too. “Cheerful even. She probably just wants to make sure you’re okay.”
“You think?” Kat asked, hearing the hopeful lift in her tone of voice. “After two years?”
“Or she wants to make sure you’re still pining over her son. Make sure you’re not sporting the after-sex glow.” Val’s brows waggled. “Which you are, by the way.”
Kat’s heart dropped. “The after-sex glow?”
Val snickered. “You’ve been sporting the look for the past couple weeks. Did you think no one noticed?”
Julie nodded again, reaching for another Danish. How did her sister get blessed with such a good metabolism, and Kat didn’t?
“It’s true,” Julie said, between chews. “I’m kind of jealous, actually. I have to do an hour of yoga for my skin to look that way.”
Kat didn’t protest this time. The jig was up. She had been sporting the after-sex glow, and a completely different kind of glow that she hadn’t even recognized. She was happy. Not just surviving and proving to everyone around her that she was strong. No. She was doing well in her job as principal of Seaside, no matter what a handful of people might argue. Her sister was home and getting along with her best friend. And she was dating a man who could possibly turn into something more.
“Why are you smiling?” Val asked, waving a hand in front of her to get her attention. “Did you decide what you’re going to do about the voicemail?”
Kat blinked and looked at the phone again. “Julie’s right. The only thing to do is call Rita back and find out what she wants. It’s probably nothing.”
Val picked up the phone and handed it over. “No time like the present. And we’ve got your back. Do it right now. It’ll be just like ripping off a Band-Aid—quick and easy.”
At this, Julie nodded again. Kat frowned at the two of them. From sworn enemies to practically clones, minus the fact that one was endlessly perky and the other eternally sarcastic.
Kat sucked in a deep breath and smiled at the support system sitting around her kitchen table. She could do this. She could totally do this.
Her insides twisted as she looked at the phone. “I can’t,” she said, standing and moving away from the kitchen table. “Not right now.” She forced a smile and looked at her sister and friend again. “But I will. Later. Right now, I promised Micah that I’d meet him and Ben for pizza after Ben is discharged from the hospital. I need a shower and clothes, and…” Courage, like the scarecrow.
“You’re stalling,” Val said, matter-of-factly.
Hell, yeah, I’m stalling. But it’d been two years. What was another few hours? She’d call tonight, Kat promised herself. She wouldn’t sleep until she’d returned that call. With a nod, she excused herself to go get ready to meet Micah and Ben. They were her future. Her past could wait.
—
Ben waved at his occupational therapist, a young woman with long blond hair and milky white skin. He hadn’t minded this woman stretching his left arm, whereas he usually put up a fight with Micah.
Micah pushed his wheelchair down the hall toward the elevator, ready to say goodbye and good riddance to the hospital for now. It’d been a long twelve hours.
“Where’s Principal Chandler?” Ben asked, craning his neck to glance at Micah behind him. “Shouldn’t she be with you?”
Micah grinned as he pressed the down arrow for the elevator. Just hearing her name these days was enough to make him smile. And it felt good—damn good. The doors to the elevator opened and he pushed Ben inside. “Why would she be with me?” he asked.
“Because you guys fell in love last night, right?”
Micah’s heart clenched. “It takes a lot more than one date to make two people fall in love, son.”
“I know that,” Ben said with an exaggerated tone. “But you guys have spent time together at the Friendship Club. And this was actually your second date. The first one was to the Veterans’ Center.”
“Are you keeping tabs on me?” Micah once-overed Ben as the elevator jerked to a stop. “We had a nice time, okay? And Principal Chandler called this morning to see how you were doing. We’re having lunch with her when we leave here. How’s that? Satisfied?”
Ben’s right arm punched the air as he cheered. “I knew the Marine Corps ball would seal the deal. Women like dancing. It’s very romantic.”
Tousling his son’s hair, Micah laughed. “They also like know-it-all third graders, apparently. Or at least Kimberly Flowers does.” Micah bent forward to watch Ben’s cheeks redden, and smiled to himself.
“She’s cool, that’s all. Even if she did draw those pictures of me. I know that’s just how girls flirt.”
Micah pushed the wheelchair out of the front entrance of the hospital and stopped, walking around to meet Ben’s face. “Kimberly drew those pictures?” he asked, not sure he understood his son correctly.
Ben nodded, his gaze dropping a little. “Don’t worry, Dad. She said she was sorry. She even drew one of me wearing a superhero cape to make up for it, so…” He shrugged, swiping at his unruly hair and meeting Micah’s gaze again. “Don’t say anything to her, okay? We’re…friends now.”
“Friends?” Micah studied Ben’s face. Ben had a friend. He nodded and returned to pushing Ben’s chair, navigating through the parking lot toward his Jeep Cherokee in the back. No wonder Ben hadn’t ratted out his bully. He had a crush on her. And she apparently had one on him, too. Which was good news, despite the tightening of his gut. His son was growing up.
After helping Ben into the Jeep, Micah started the engine and pulled out of the hospital parking lot. The ride was unusually quiet, considering Ben’s mood. Micah’s gaze jumped to the rearview mirror. “Everything okay back there?”
“Did you…tell Mom I was in the hospital?” Ben finally asked.
Micah gave his head a hard shake. “She’s in the desert, buddy. I tried, but…” He didn’t need to finish his sentence. “I’ll try again later. Just to let her know you’re okay.”
Ben shrugged, his right shoulder going higher than his weaker left arm. “No big deal. I’m fine now.”
Micah watched from the rearview as Ben stared out the back passenger window. He was fine physically maybe. But emotionally, Ben’s mother was across the world and unavailable to even know what was going on with her only child. That wasn’t fine.
Pulling into the parking lot for Kirk’s Pizza House, Micah said, “What do you say we go see Principal Chandler and have pizza?”
A slow smile crawled across Ben’s pale face. “The hospital food wasn’t good. I am kind of hungry. And I’m sure Principal Chandler wants to see for herself how I’m doing today.”
Micah nodded. “I’ll bet she does.” He scanned the crowded lot for Kat’s car, hoping she’d remembered. Their conversation had been rushed this morning and it would be easy for it to slip her mind. Spotting the black Mazda, a small rush of adrenaline shot through him. She’d come, just like she said she would. That was Kat, true to her word, dependable, and…his.
She waved as Ben wheeled his chair toward her. Ben didn’t beg Micah to push him when Kat was around. He was Mr. Independent. In fact, since school had started, he’d gotten to value his independence a lot more.
“Well, you look like you’re feeling much better this morning,” Kat said, meeting Ben’s high five.
“One thousand percent better.” Ben took his place beside her and rolled up to the front entrance of Kirk’s Pizza House, leaving Micah to walk behind them, watching the two together, as casual as a mother and child would be—something Ben had never truly experienced.
Micah’s heart gave a hard squeeze.
Don’t mess this up, his mind growled. For you or Ben. Because from where he was standing, things were working out perfectly.
—
An hour later, Kat walked out of Kirk’s Pizza House feeling better than she had this morning.
“You’re sure you can’t come to our house?” Ben asked, his honey-colored eyes pleading with her as he wheeled beside her.
She shook her head. She had things to do, like stare at her phone and try to muster her courage to return Rita’s call. “I can’t. But I’ll see you at school tomorrow, okay?”
“Ben needs to be resting anyway. Doctor’s orders. Right, buddy?” Micah’s gaze moved from Ben’s to hers, and her whole body warmed. She’d much rather be spending the afternoon with him. They’d been interrupted after they’d left the ball last night, and her body was begging to finish what they’d started.
“Right,” Ben said, the enthusiasm drained from his voice.
No kid wanted to be told to rest.
Kat laughed lightly, feeling compelled to lean in to the sexy man in front of her. To kiss him. They were in the awkward stage of going public with something that had been their own little secret for the last few weeks. Micah was still a parent of one of her students and some people would undoubtedly talk. Those people were talking about her anyway, though. About her past and how they thought she was doing as the school’s principal. She might as well give them something juicier to talk about.
“I hope you’re not going to the school,” Micah said, stepping closer to her as they stood beside her car. “All work and no play,” he teased, reminding her of when they’d first met. They’d definitely advanced beyond that point.
She smiled, looking up at him now. “No. Just a little work at home in my bed tonight. Principals need their rest, too,” she said loud enough for Ben to hear.
Micah nodded, then angled Ben’s chair away from them and took yet another step closer to her. “Close your eyes, little man,” he called behind him, soliciting a whine from Ben.
“Aww!”
When Ben had dutifully obeyed, Micah bent and softly kissed her lips, cradling a hand behind her head.
In public. For all of Seaside to see.
“You guys are kissing. I know it,” Ben said, desperately trying to turn and see them. “I can hear the kissing sounds.”
Pulling back, Kat laughed, her insides lit up like one of the Christmas trees of her childhood.
Micah smiled at her, slow and easy, seemingly unbothered by their public display. Yeah, screw anyone who wanted to talk. Kissing him had felt good—too good for it to ever be bad. “Get your rest. I’ll call you later,” he said, holding her gaze for a long moment. His was a phone call she’d look forward to. The other one she needed to make—not so much.
Stooping beside the wheelchair, she kissed Ben’s cheek, making a loud smack with her lips just to tease him. “You need to get your rest, too. Principal’s orders.”
A dimpled grin replaced his frown. “I will. I’m helping out after school tomorrow, so it’ll be a long day,” he said, sounding like a little adult.
“That’s right.”
Micah reached for her hand, sweeping his thumb along the back and sending shivers up her spine before stepping forward and opening her car door for her. The gesture felt different than any he’d ever done. The kiss and the way he was looking at her felt different, too. No strings attached was definitely turning into something more. It’d turned into something more a long time ago.
“ ’Bye,” she said, pulling her car door shut as girlish excitement bubbled up inside of her. She’d expected that last night would change things between them. Expected that being at another military event with Micah would make her see him differently, that it’d remind her that he was something she never wanted to be a part of again.
Watching him with his son now, though, she definitely wanted to be a part of his life. Marine or not, it didn’t matter. What mattered was the man.
—
Later that night, after staring at her phone with her finger hovering over the redial button, Kat tossed it on the pillow beside her and reached for a stack of papers for work. She couldn’t very well call Rita with Micah on the brain. Much better to have a brain dulled by paperwork for that conversation.
A knock on her door made her look up from the papers. “Come in.”
Julie opened the door and leaned against the doorway. “Hey. Just checking on you. Making sure you’re all right.”
“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” Kat asked a little too quickly, a telltale sign that she wasn’t okay. The weight of Rita’s phone call was gnawing at her.
Julie gave her an assessing look. “Oh, I don’t know. John’s mother called you last night.”
Kat shrugged, wishing she felt as nonchalant about it as she tried to pretend she was. “I’m sure it’s no big deal.”
Julie’s gaze moved to the phone beside her. “Which means you haven’t called her back yet.”
Kat shook her head. “Nope. Not yet. But I will. Just as soon as I finish this stuff up.”
Julie’s eyes narrowed. “It’s already past nine.”
Checking the watch on her wrist, Kat grimaced. “I guess you’re right. Tomorrow then. I’ll call her tomorrow.”
Julie’s gaze told her she wasn’t buying it. “Val said you’ve been invited to a support group at the Veterans’ Center. That might be something to think about.”
“Why?” Kat asked. “You haven’t been here, Julie, but I’m fine. Better than fine. You’re sleeping in the master bedroom that John and I shared. And this ring has moved off my finger.” Kat pulled the chain around her neck to show her sister. “There is absolutely no need to worry about me, okay?”
“There never is,” Julie said flatly.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Julie took a step inside the room. “It just means that you’re always so in control. So together. It’s human to fall apart sometimes, sis.”
Kat tilted her head. She knew her sister was just trying to help, and she appreciated the concern. But she was fine—most days. Softening her voice, she said, “I have fallen apart, and I’ve pieced myself back together. Truly. I will call Rita back tomorrow. Time just slipped away from me today.”
Julie nodded. “Okay.” She started to walk out and then turned. “I’m about to watch a movie on TV. Want to join me?”
“A black-and-white romance?” Kat asked warily.
“Yeah, so?” Julie asked, feigning insult as she crossed her arms at her chest.
Kat laughed. “Maybe next time. Thanks, though. I’m really glad you’re home.”
Julie smiled. “Me, too.”
“And next time I fall apart, I will definitely call you.”
“You’ve put me back together so many times. I’d love to pay you back one day. Good night.” She winked, and then shut Kat’s bedroom door.
“Good night.” Kat stared at her closed door for a long moment. She hadn’t lied. Everything was going perfect right now, better than perfect. And she was fine. She didn’t need to go to a support group to handle her issues, because she didn’t have any that she couldn’t handle on her own.
So, why hadn’t she called Rita back? And why was there still an unopened box of John’s things sitting on top of her dresser?