“Don’t you want to take the furniture with you?”
She looked around the small but gorgeous living area and sighed. “Eventually, maybe. Tyson says I can bring anything I want as long as it doesn’t have pink in it.”
She smiled and ran her hands over a homemade quilt next to her.
My nose crinkled. “That’s salmon, not pink.”
She chuckled, and when she looked at me, her blue eyes were lit with humor. “That’s exactly what I told Tyson. He’s not buying it.”
“Men.” I smirked.
“Speaking of men,” she said, leaning forward. “Tell me more about you and Declan.”
I felt my cheeks and neck heat and looked out the window. It’d been so long since I’d had friends who allowed me to dish about guys. Not since college. Heck, it’d been since college that there’d been a guy I wanted to discuss.
Before I could answer, Blue said, “I’m surprised you’re interested in my apartment.”
At my confused expression, she stood up and headed toward the kitchen. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re here. And if you want this place, trust me, it’s all yours. I just thought things were going well for you at Declan’s place.”
“They are.”
And they were.
Yet there was something about being at his house, and being in his bed, where he’d wanted me every night since we returned from Chicago a few days ago, that had me terrified.
I just left one horrible, nasty marriage, only to fall in bed with the first guy that came along.
He was a great guy. The kind of guy I wanted, but some mornings I woke up and wondered if I needed to take a step back.
Be by myself for a while.
I explained this to Gabriella, hesitantly at first, since she was dating one of Declan’s best friends, but the words began to flow quickly with the encouragement of her understanding and compassionate gaze.
When I was done, she simply slid me a glass of the Pinot Noir that she’d uncorked and allowed to breathe while I spoke, and then poured her own.
“I get it. I do,” she said after taking a sip. “Yet I also know that the first time Tyson and I ran into each other this spring, I knew he was the one for me. We were separated for months, partly due to my own stubbornness, and while we’re fine now, I still sometimes wonder where we’d be if I hadn’t just believed in what I felt for him.”
“I guess the problem is the last time I felt anything good for a man, it didn’t end so well.” I took a sip of my wine and glanced away from her. There was a difference between compassion and pity, and I didn’t want to risk seeing the pity that might be in her gaze. “Besides,” I continued, “You and Tyson had a history. He was your high school boyfriend, too.”
“True. You and Declan are different, but that doesn’t mean you two aren’t also the same, in other ways.”
“We’re not in love. It’s too soon.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Is it?”
Yes. Absolutely. I’d known Declan for, like, a minute. Less than a month, in real time.
Still, I couldn’t imagine there was anything else I could I learn about him that I didn’t already know. Not when it came to the type of guy he was, how he handled problems, how he cared for women and the people in his life.
A warmth suffused me, making my skin itch.
It would have been nice to blame the feeling on a sudden sulfite allergy due to the red wine.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on perspective, I knew that Gabriella was right.
We hadn’t known each other for that long, and perhaps it was too soon for us to be declaring our love for one another…
But that didn’t mean I wasn’t, at the very least, beginning to fall in love with him.
The thought was sobering and I set my glass down on the countertop.
“What do you think about the apartment?” Blue asked, breaking my train of thought. “Do you want to move in?”
I looked around the apartment, and imagined myself coming home after a full night of work at Fireside Grill, or after a date with Declan.
I imagined him bringing me here after a date and us having a lazy Sunday morning before he went to work, relaxing in the large, soft bed I’d seen earlier, or watching the news with coffee mugs in our hands, feet entwined as we curled up next to each other on the couch.
My imagination painted a perfect picture…with only one blemish.
If I moved into this apartment, it meant saying goodbye to Declan at the end of dates and watching him walk away, leaving me all alone.
And while it was small and cozy and warm…it wasn’t the same as being at his house, knowing that when he came home and I was asleep, he’d be crawling into bed behind me, pulling me into his arms and against his chest.
A soft smile tipped the ends of my lips up and I looked back at Gabriella, whispering, “I’m going to have to think about it.”
Her smile was large and wide. “I thought you might.”
“I should probably get going,” I said, just as my phone began ringing in my purse. “I have to be at Fireside in a few minutes to help Declan with payroll.”
I reached into my purse and curled my fingers around my phone, assuming the caller was Declan, and answered without looking. “Hey there.”
A voice that made my blood chill and my jaw drop replied, “Well, hello to you, too, Katrina.”
“What do you want?” I snapped.
I heard Kevin’s sickening chuckle, and I flinched.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Blue reach for her phone.
I started shaking my head, telling her to stop, when Kevin said, “You’re smarter than I ever gave you credit for, Katrina, but I’m tired of this game of cat and mouse. You’ve thrown your hissy fit, but it’s time to return home.”
“Yeah…I think it’s him,” I heard Blue saying in the kitchen. While I was looking at her, she covered the phone and whispered, “Tyson says keep him on the phone as long as you can.”
I nodded, feeling my hands tremble. “I’m not coming back to Kentucky, Kevin. In fact, I met with a lawyer yesterday. I’m filing for divorce.”
“Yeah, call Dec, too,” Blue said, and set her phone down.
I flashed her big eyes and mouthed, “No.”
She shrugged and continued listening to my conversation.
“You will do no such thing, Katrina Morgenson. You’ve sold your car, you’ve made your point. Now get home and face the consequences of your foolish decision.”
Oh, God. My car.
He knew.
Of course he knew.
Tears sprang to my eyes and I saw Gabriella walking toward me, arms outstretched. I stepped back, shaking my head.
“This isn’t a tantrum, Kevin,” I stated calmly, more calmly than I was currently feeling with a riot of emotions coursing through me.
Fear.
Anger.
Hatred burned brighter than either of them, though.
“I also haven’t lied.” And I hadn’t.
Yesterday, I had a meeting with Tyson’s grandfather, who specializes in family law. He agreed to find an attorney in Kentucky who could handle my divorce.
“I will not ever be returning to Kentucky, nor will I be returning to you. I don’t know how you got this number, Kevin, but lose it. If you find me, you’ll regret it. You can’t hurt me again.”
His cold laugh made me cringe. “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, Katrina. You’re mine. You became mine the day we were married, the day you took my name, and I can do anything I want to you, whenever I want.”
“Then come find me, asshole. And show me what you’ve got.”
I threw the phone down, and watched as Blue picked it up. I watched as she pressed the button to end the call and set it back down.
“Four minutes and twenty-eight seconds,” she murmured before looking at me. “Long enough that Tyson should be able to track it.” I barely registered any of what she said before she pulled me into her arms and held me tight. “Are you okay? That was intense.”
My entire body was roiled with shakes and shivers. My arms hung loose at my sides and I was unable to answer her.
Was I okay?
I just threw down the gauntlet for the world’s most evil man.
He’d find me.
And I had no doubt that when he did, he would try to make me regret the words I’d just spoken.
“You swore?” Declan’s look of surprise would have made me laugh under other circumstances.
I’d just listened while Gabriella told Declan everything that happened during my phone call, after he showed up at her apartment, almost breaking the door down with his bare fists. As soon as he saw me, I was scooped up in his arms and carried to the couch, where he sat down with me on his lap.
He said one word, directed at Blue, that word being “Explain,” before she did exactly as she’d been commanded.
His arms around me flinched and tightened. One of his hands ran through my hair.
I was still trying to replay the conversation in my mind, because I wasn’t even sure if Blue was exaggerating for effect, or if I truly did swear.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I think I did.”
“Proud of you,” he said and pressed his lips against my forehead.
As much as I wanted to relish the feeling of being in his arms, along with the comfort and strength they provided, I wanted to forget about this. I wanted to do everything I possibly could to not only erase the memory of Kevin’s phone call, but his entire history from my life.