Finding Home Again (Catalina Cove)

by Brenda Jackson

  It was a long shot, but it was a long shot worth taking. That meant he had to step up his game. But first, of course, he had to get her to forgive him. That was the most important thing to him right now.

  “Yes, I’ll take twenty tickets this year.”

  “Wow! Twenty tickets! Your support is definitely appreciated, Kaegan. Thanks.”

  He ended his call with Samantha Jenkins and went to the coffeepot thinking maybe he should go to the ball this year. There was a first time for everything. After pouring a cup, he moved to the window and looked out.

  Kaegan knew Vashti was right. There was nothing wrong with sparking memories, but he and Bryce needed to get to know each other again to cultivate new ones, as well.

  They were no longer in their teens, or young and in love. Now they were both in their thirties. It was time they saw things with new sets of eyes. Those belonging to mature adults. They couldn’t change the past, but they could control their future. It would be up to him to help her see that and get her to believe in them again.

  He knew why the pain of what he thought was her betrayal had hurt him so much. Because he had loved her so deeply. He could honestly say that other than his mother, Bryce was the only woman he’d ever loved. He had loved her and had never stopped loving her. Even when he’d thought bad of her there was something that still pulled at him. And that something had kept him going to the Witherspoon Café every morning because he knew she would be there.

  Kaegan also knew that no matter how long he lived in Catalina Cove, it would never be home to him without Bryce. When he’d lived here before he had considered it home because she’d made it so for him. He’d been back awhile now, but a part of him hadn’t truly thought of it as home. It would take Bryce to help him find home again.

  She was the only one who could do it.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “KAEGAN, THERE’S SOMEONE to see you.”

  Kaegan looked at Willa, who’d stuck her head in the door. “Who is it, Wil?”

  “Bryce Witherspoon.”

  He looked at his watch. She would have gotten her flowers by now. The third arrangement he’d sent her. “Okay, send her in. And go ahead and take your lunch now.”

  “I just came from lunch.”

  “Take another one.” The last thing he wanted was his employees being privy to anything Bryce might say. Although he had his own office, he knew voices carried. Faith Harris, his other office worker, had taken the day off, and Toby Franklin was on vacation.

  Willa smiled. “You won’t get an argument out of me. I think I’ll go back to that dress shop and buy me something to wear to a party I’m going to this weekend.”

  “Do whatever rocks your boat,” he said, standing. “Please send Bryce in.”

  He came around to sit on the edge of his desk and had to swallow twice when Bryce walked in. He reached behind him to grab his coffee cup and take a sip since his throat had gotten dry.

  She’d walked into his office with her head held high, lips tight and a mass of hair around her shoulders. She didn’t look happy, he thought, as his gaze roamed over her. She was wearing a printed dress, with a stylish navy blue jacket and navy blue pumps. She looked so damn good.

  He stood. “Bryce, this is a surprise. I missed seeing you at your parents’ café during lunch the last few Wednesdays. Your mom reminded me about those real-estate classes you started taking in New Orleans.” There—he’d let her know he noticed her absence, as well as the fact he’d asked about her.

  She squared her shoulders. “We need to talk, Kaegan.”

  “Go ahead, Bryce. I’m all yours.”

  He doubted she knew just how much he meant that. In his heart he was hers and always would be. He’d had a few weeks to dwell on what he wanted out of his life and he’d decided he wanted Bryce. He was well aware accomplishing such a thing wouldn’t be easy. First, he had to earn back her trust, and he was working daily thinking of ways to do that. He wouldn’t rush her. As far as he knew, although she dated, she wasn’t involved in a serious relationship. He intended to make sure nothing changed with the latter. He would do whatever was needed to make things up to her. He knew now what he should have known all along. She was his past as well as his future.

  “I want to talk to you about the flowers.”

  “What about them?”

  “They are beautiful and all, and I want to thank you for them. However, you don’t need to keep sending them. You’ve told me that you’re sorry.”

  He nodded. “Yes, but you’ve yet to say you’ve forgiven me.”

  She frowned at him. “Fine, Kaegan. I forgive you. Please stop sending the flowers.”

  “So we’re friends again?”

  “No. We could never be friends.”

  He’d figured they could start with friendship while he proved that he was worthy of more. That he wanted more between them. “Why not?”

  “I don’t want you as my friend. Friends trust each other. They believe in each other and they are there for one another. Samuel was my friend and you tried making it into something dirty.”

  He sighed deeply. “I regret that and my only excuse is that I didn’t know the nature of your relationship with him.”

  “I tried telling you, but even if I hadn’t tried, it should not have mattered. You should have trusted in the nature and depth of my relationship with you. My love. My commitment. Remember doing this?” she said, holding up the nick on the third finger of her right hand. “That should have told you how much I valued not only what you and I shared, but what you, me and Vashti meant to each other. But especially with what you and I shared. I would never have betrayed you. You should have known that.”

  He rubbed his hands down his face as he leaned against the desk. “I know, but when I saw you wrap your arms around Samuel’s neck, I thought the worst.”

  “I placed a kiss on his cheek and that was all.”

  He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I didn’t stay around to see where you would kiss him. I just knew that you would. When I saw you lean up toward him on tippy toes, I turned and walked away. I thought I had seen enough. Surely you can see how I could have misunderstood the situation.”

  She shook her head. “No, I don’t see. You should have trusted me.”

  “I didn’t know he was gay. He was a star athlete and adored by all the girls at school.”

  “It was a front he put on for others. No one knew but me. When he found out you had broken off with me because of him, he felt guilty and told me to tell you the truth. That’s why I caught the bus to see you. But that’s all water under the bridge now because you didn’t want to hear anything I had to say. And then there was that woman...”

  “I didn’t sleep with her that night, Bryce. I only left with her to make you think I would. I wanted to hurt you the way I thought you had hurt me.”

  “You succeeded in hurting me, Kaegan. It took me years to get over you and move on with my life. And then you returned to Catalina Cove, still believing the worst about me.” She drew in a deep breath. “None of it matters anymore. I only came here today to say that I forgive you, so you can stop sending the flowers.”

  She turned and walked out of his office.

  * * *

  “ARE YOU OKAY, BRYCE?”

  Bryce looked over at her mother. “I’m fine, Mom. Why do you ask?”

  “You’ve been quiet.”

  Yes, she had been. After leaving Kaegan’s office, she had gone home and changed clothes and come to the café to help out. She’d known Ry had taken the day off to attend one of Lil Ry’s football games and her parents would be shorthanded with the afternoon and dinner crowd. Her father had worked with Duke in the kitchen, and Bryce and her mother had waited on tables.

  It had gotten busy very quickly. This was the first chance they’d gotten to talk, but she wouldn’t
tell her mother anything. The last thing she needed was her parents worrying about her...and they would. Regardless that she was thirty-two, she was still the baby in the family. Her family liked Kaegan, and because they didn’t know all the details of why she and Kaegan had broken up, they merely saw it as a communication problem.

  She knew the way her parents’ minds worked. In Kaegan they saw the young man who’d looked out for their daughter while growing up. He’d appeared on their doorstep every morning to walk her to school and back, from the time she’d been in first grade to when he’d left town for the marines.

  Then there was the time her father liked reminding her, and anyone else who cared to listen, how Kaegan had all but saved her life during a bad hurricane. Luckily the massive storm had deviated from its course, otherwise it probably would have destroyed the cove. But water surges had still impacted the town. And when she had gotten caught up in it, when she had been out helping others to evacuate, it had been a sixteen-year-old Kaegan who’d maneuvered one of his father’s boats through the streets of Catalina Cove to rescue her. Why was she remembering that now? She wasn’t sure, but she was determined to banish all thoughts of Kaegan from her mind.

  Behind her she heard the café door open, alerting her of new arrivals. Her mother smiled at her and said, “I’ll let you take care of him, Bryce.”

  She frowned, turned around and looked right into Kaegan’s eyes. So much for banishing him from her thoughts. She looked back at her mother. “No problem.”

  She left and greeted Kaegan. “Hello, Kaegan,” she said, as if she hadn’t seen him earlier that day. As if she hadn’t told him that they could never share a friendship again.

  “Hello, Bryce. Good seeing you.”

  “Why?” she asked, as she led him to an empty table.

  “Just is.”

  When he sat down, she handed him a menu. “You want a beer to start things off?”

  “Yes.”

  She walked off while thinking she had to get a grip where he was concerned. More than ever she was looking forward to meeting Jeremy Skinner for coffee next week. Jeremy had called a few days ago and they realized he’d be in New Orleans the day of her class. Bryce had suggested meeting up for that cup of coffee she owed him. She needed to place her concentration on any man other than Kaegan.

  Moments later, when she returned with his beer, she couldn’t help but notice he had rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to expose strong hairy arms. Arms that used to wrap around her. Hold her tight. Arms her fingers used to stroke.

  The memories had forbidden desire trickling down her spine. For crying out loud, that was the last thing she needed, but obviously, her body didn’t know that.

  She placed the beer in front of him. For some reason her hands were shaking and the beer nearly sloshed out of the glass. Kaegan reached out and covered her hands with his to steady the beer mug. “Easy,” he murmured in a low, throaty tone.

  As far as she was concerned, there was nothing easy about waiting on him, and definitely nothing easy about the warm hand covering hers on a cold glass. She shouldn’t feel heat from that, but she did. “I’m good now, Kaegan. You can take your hand away.”

  He did so slowly and she removed hers. Then for some reason she just stood there and watched him lift the glass and take his first sip. There was something erotic about seeing him do that. Something so arousing. And when he put down his beer mug, he glanced up at her and licked his lips. “That was good and just what I needed.”

  Bryce was certain what she needed was to have her head examined. She should cross the room and tell her mother to finish waiting on Kaegan, but that meant she would have to explain why. Clearing her throat, she said, “Do you know what you’d like to have this evening, Kaegan?”

  “Yes. I’ll have pork chops—marinated, boneless center-cut, the way I like them—smothered in gravy with dirty rice, red beans, okra and corn. And don’t forget the corn bread.”

  She wondered where he intended to put all that food. “I won’t forget the corn bread.” And knowing her parents, they would send extra.

  “And for starters I’d like a bowl of she-crab soup.”

  “Fine.” She turned to walk off when he said her name. She whirled back around. “What, Kaegan?”

  “I’ll be wanting dessert later.”

  Then as she watched him, he picked up his beer mug and took a sip while she was held captive by his dark brown eyes. Was he using code words on her? Code words they’d created years ago? Words only the two of them knew the true meaning of? She’d known exactly what he’d meant when he said he wanted dessert later. Those were the times when she’d been his dessert.

  She lifted her chin and, without saying anything, turned and walked off.

  * * *

  “I THINK IT’S time we have a good talk, don’t you think?”

  Kaegan lifted his gaze to find Chester Witherspoon sliding into the seat across from him. “It’s about time for you to close the café, isn’t it, Mr. Chester?”

  “Already done. Duke’s dropping his mom off home. Bryce just left and Ry took the evening off.”

  “Oh.” Kaegan had finished eating but was hanging around, hoping he would get a chance to talk to Bryce, maybe even walk her to her car. He hadn’t known she’d left already. With everyone gone and Kaegan the only customer, it seemed that Mr. Witherspoon had planned the perfect opportunity for them to have a private talk.

  Chester Witherspoon was a big hulk of a man, but for some reason Kaegan had never feared him. Probably because he had such a friendly attitude and liked giving huge bear hugs.

  “You hurt my daughter,” Chester said bluntly.

  Kaegan hadn’t expected that. There was no accusation in the words. There wasn’t even a question. It was a matter-of-fact statement, which demanded a matter-of-fact answer. So he gave one. “Yes, sir, I did. I was wrong to think at some point she betrayed me. I only found out the truth a few weeks ago.”

  The older man nodded. “I never knew the reason the two of you broke up, Kaegan. Bryce never said and her mother and I weren’t ones to pry. We figured sooner or later she would tell us everything, but she never did. I guess for her it was better to keep it to herself. All we knew was that whatever happened between the two of you had left her crushed. At one point her brothers wanted to come find you and demand to know what happened, but Debbie and I convinced them to leave it alone and not take sides...especially when Bryce wasn’t telling us anything.”

  The older man shifted in his seat and then said, “I would admit that when you moved back to town I was tempted to do just what I’m doing now. Have a man-to-man conversation with you and find out what the hell happened when I knew just how much you had loved Bryce. Debbie felt since you and Bryce were adults that we shouldn’t pry. I’ve seen what could happen when parents stick their noses into their grown children’s affairs. Had I listened to Debbie’s parents, we would never have married. Debbie and I believed you truly loved our daughter and whatever was keeping you apart was a huge misunderstanding.”

  Kaegan nodded. “Yes, it was mainly on my part.”

  Chester didn’t say anything for a long while, and then he said, “I can only assume you’re taking the necessary steps to win her back...or at least you’re trying.”

  “Yes, I’m trying. But at the moment, she doesn’t even want us to be friends.”

  Chester nodded as he stared into Kaegan’s eyes. “Don’t give up trying. Hopefully, she’ll eventually come around. I never told you but I messed up with Debbie some years ago.”

  Kaegan quirked an eyebrow. “You did?”

  “Yes. Before we married. I had made plans to break up...at her parents’ suggestion. They claimed she would never embrace the idea of leaving Canada to live in the United States. I believed them. I’d begun missing my family and no longer had negative thoughts about going to war. I was ready to fight for
my country if needed. Only thing, Debbie was pregnant and I didn’t know it. She didn’t intend to tell me, either, because she knew if she had, I would have married her. Since I hadn’t asked her to marry me before then, she felt I would have married her because of the baby and not because I loved her.”

  Kaegan nodded. “How did you find out she was pregnant?”

  “I overheard a conversation between her and her best friend. I got mad because she hadn’t planned to tell me. That she would let me leave and not know she carried my child. I thought what she planned to do was unforgivable. Then there was another major issue. She was a Canadian girl who I thought would never move away with me to the States. That was a lie her parents told. But still, trying to get her to believe that I loved her was nearly impossible.”

  “How did you get her to change her mind about marrying you?”

  The older man smiled. “It took a while. But I convinced her I couldn’t live without her, and if she wouldn’t go with me, then I would continue to make Canada my home. That’s when I found out it never had been about her leaving Canada. But still, since I do know how much she loves her homeland, I promised to take her back to Canada to visit her family as often as reasonably possible. It made her parents happy. Made them tolerable.”

  The man paused and then said, “Bryce thinks she has every reason not to trust you and be your friend again. You need to make her understand one thing.”

  “What?”

  “The two of you being friends isn’t an option. You got a nick on your finger to prove it.”

  At Kaegan’s surprised expression, Chester said, “Yes, I know about that, too, since it was my knife that was used. I missed it and then one day it miraculously returned to my toolbox. And then there was the fact that you, Vashti and Bryce were all walking around with a bandage on the same finger.”