"But not his mom."
"Nope." She sighed. "Not sure how this is going to work out."
"You handled that really well, Katie," he said quietly.
"Um, thanks. Hopefully I didn't piss her off."
He shook his head. "You're kind of like a therapist as well as a wedding planner."
She laughed. "Maybe sometimes."
He just smiled, but his eyes were warm on her. "Eat your bagel and I'll drive you home."
Chapter 16
"So, how was the date?"
Katelyn held her phone in her hand, her earbuds in as she strode along West Erie Street after her meeting that afternoon, talking to Rachel. "It was … good."
"Good? That's it?"
"Okay, better than good. Honestly, I don't know how to describe it. In some ways it was like we'd never been apart. But then we'd learn something new about each other. He's changed, in some ways. I guess so have I."
"That would be pretty normal, I think."
"True."
"As long as he's changed in good ways."
"Yes. It's good." She sighed. "I had so much fun, Rach. I stayed all night at his place."
"That's … good?"
"I guess it is. I still feel a little hesitant about it, but … maybe this will be okay."
It was scary, but she had to be honest and admit that she still believed in love. She'd always believed in love. She wanted love in her life-to love someone beyond everything and to have that in return. She'd wanted it so much she'd agreed to marry three men, hoping she could have that with them. When they hadn't worked out, she'd given up thinking she could have it. She still wasn't sure if this was it … if she and Tanner could have that … but a bud of hope was blooming inside her, slowly unfurling.
"I hope so," Rachel said softly. "I don't want you to be hurt again."
"I don't want that either." It had hurt so much when he'd left, and that was the scary part, because he'd been honest with her. There are no guarantees.
Well, nothing in life was guaranteed, as she well knew. So even though she wanted to hope, wanted to believe, she was keeping her heart in check and being cautious.
"When are you seeing him again?"
Katelyn turned the corner onto Michigan and dodged a group of people obstructing the sidewalk. "Not for a while," she said glumly. "They leave today on a road trip … Minneapolis, Winnipeg, Edmonton. They get back Sunday."
"Ah."
"It's fine. I have that Valentine's wedding Saturday, so I'm busy this week and Saturday. Also, I have work to do on the launch party for Sidney Frayne. And it's probably best that we don't rush things."
"I agree. So no hot yoga this Saturday, I guess?"
"Sadly, no. What about a late Friday yoga class?"
"I can do that. Then we could do happy hour."
Katelyn laughed, stopping at a red light, waiting to cross Michigan. "That makes perfect sense to me. Talk to you later this week, then."
"You bet."
She did have work to do, and it was so good to be busy. It wasn't lost on her that a lot of her business lately had come from Lovey Armstrong … her wedding, the subsequent baby shower, now Sidney Frayne sending business her way. Sidney had also mentioned a wedding, not until the summer, and she said it would be small, a lot smaller than Lovey and Marc's … but still, it was work. And Katelyn was happy.
And she couldn't help feeling happy about Tanner.
-
The Aces flew home from Edmonton right after the game on Saturday night, arriving in Chicago in the early hours of the morning local time. Tanner headed straight home and crashed until nearly noon, since they had a day off, happy to be back and sleeping in his own bed.
The trip had been good overall, with three wins, one of them in overtime. He'd also been pranked by some of the guys when they were in Winnipeg. He still couldn't believe he'd fallen for it. He was a veteran, for Chrissake, not some wet-beneath-the-jock rookie.
One of the guys had called his cellphone and claimed to be a reporter from a local newspaper. Who the hell knew what the newspapers were in Winnipeg? So he'd answered a bunch of questions, starting with the obvious, then becoming tiresome questions about the trade rumors and the status of his contract negotiations. Maybe that was how they got him, because everyone and their uncle were asking him those questions lately. He'd kept his patience, given his stock answers, responded to the questions, and then the guy'd asked if he could pose one more question. Tanner'd said sure. "Have you ever seen the movie The Wedding Planner?" the reporter asked.