Anger burned in the pit of his gut and he let it rip. “You said that before, you know. That night in Atlantic City. Like you think this was some spur-of-the-moment thing for me. Like you fucked me right that first night, and now I’m pussy-whipped and decided we should be together forever.”
She ignored him, scrambling desperately to gather her stuff from the floor, but he pressed on.
“That’s so far from the truth. I came back here for you, Cat. Because I’ve always known we’d make a great couple. Since we were teenagers. I was just waiting for you to grow up and realize it, too.”
She was already out the door when he called after her.
“My mistake was thinking you ever would.”
Chapter Thirteen
Cat revved the snowmobile hard and gave Galen a gloved thumbs-up when he looked back to see if she was set to go. She was more than ready for their trek up the little mountain. Maybe it would clear her head. Nothing else had lately. Hell, who was she kidding? The only thing that could clear her head today would be a lobotomy. Because today? Today, Shane was going back to California.
An ache settled in her chest, so heavy it took her breath away.
She’d found out the day before, entirely by accident, when she’d run into his mother at the grocery store. Lacey had seen him over the past two weeks, but according to her friend, Shane hadn’t said a word about leaving. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to explain to anyone why he’d had a change of heart, but she knew why.
She swallowed the lump in her throat that seemed almost constant lately. Every time she thought of him, she found herself close to tears.
She watched dispassionately as her brother shot forward, heading up the gleaming white hill. Hitting the gas, she lurched forward and started at a steady clip a short distance behind him. The sun glinted off the hard-packed snow and made the whole place shimmer like it had been frosted in crushed diamonds.
But even the stunning view barely penetrated the fog of despair.
This was the first time she’d left her house except to go to work since she’d seen Shane last. She was already two weeks behind on her designs, and if she didn’t get some inspiration and start producing soon, she was going to be in serious trouble. Everything seemed just a little less important now than it had before, and she wondered what would happen if she didn’t turn in her pieces. And forget checking things off her bucket list. All the adventures she’d planned over the rest of her vacation had paled in comparison to the reality of being with Shane.
It was those kinds of observations that had Lacey clucking around her like a mother hen. Cat could tell how relieved her friend had been when she’d agreed to this outing. She seemed hopeful that it signaled that Cat was coming out of her funk, but in fact, placating Lacey and Galen had really been the only reason Cat had gone.
Shit was so far from okay.
Still, she vowed to squeeze some peace out of the day. Lacey had stayed behind at the Thomas lake house and was working on a chicken potpie for their lunch. It had been years since they’d gone snowmobiling, and at the very least, maybe she could turn her brain off for a while and not hurt for a change. No matter how much she wanted to be with Shane, it didn’t change the fact that eventually, she’d wind up resenting him if she allowed him to change her.
She’d slowed down some while she’d been thinking, and now sped up to close the distance between her and Galen, needing the speed and the icy air stinging her cheeks.
She’d just taken a tight corner when a white rabbit shot out in front of her. Her heart leaped from her chest and, instinctively, she jerked the handlebars hard to the right to avoid it. She recognized her mistake instantly, but it was too late. The pine stump loomed as she plowed toward it, almost in slow motion. The impact shook every bone in her body, and then she was airborne. Over the handlebars, flying. Her arms pinwheeled and she scrambled for purchase, but the ground came up fast. She braced herself, covering her head with her arms.
She landed a like a sack of stones a dozen feet away and nausea swept over her. Her ears buzzed like a thousand bees were descending. Dimly, she heard the growl of the other engine coming closer. Galen would flip if he saw her like this. She rolled to her side and tried to stand, to let him know she was okay, but a shooting pain raced up her leg and she fell back in a crumpled heap.
Well, shit.
An hour and a half later, after a humiliating ride back to the cottage on the back of Galen’s snowmobile, she lay sprawled on a hospital bed in a paper-thin gown, waiting for the ER doctor to come back with her X-ray results. Truth was, she didn’t need any results to tell her she’d broken her ankle. Again.