Her head started to pound and blood rushed to her ears.
“Hey, are you okay?” Evan stepped into the hallway, his form backlit from the light in the living room. His blond hair looked like a halo around his head. His voice was maple syrup poured over her skin. The heat from her embarrassment, her anger, dissipated.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Everything is fine.”
“Are you sure? It didn’t sound like everything is okay.” He took a small step forward but did not come into her personal space. “You’re crying, Cat.”
It was the first time he had ever used her name. She reached up a hesitant hand and brushed the tears from her cheeks.
“I guess I am.”
“Did Hudson hurt you?” Evan’s voice lowered and Catalina met his eyes. His usually light blue eyes seemed black in the dim light of the hallway.
“I’m okay. He…he was trying…” She choked on a sob. Evan growled through his clenched teeth and turned on his heel away from her. “No, please. It’s okay.” Catalina reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder lightly. His skin was white hot under her fingers.
He turned slightly and looked at her over his shoulder. He gently placed a hand on hers and squeezed. Then he took her hand fully in his and faced her.
“He should never treat you like that, Cat.” He spoke softly, like she was an injured animal and he was afraid of scaring her off. “You deserve more than that.”
He turned quickly and rushed out of the front door, pulling his jacket on around him.
The next day, Hudson came over to her house with his tail tucked under his metaphorical ass. He had two black eyes and a broken nose. At first, she was worried that he had totaled his car or something. But he hugged her and apologized profusely. He got down on his knees in Catalina’s mother’s front yard and begged her to forgive him. He cried and said that he didn’t deserve her.
She forgave him over a few days. He never tried to pressure her into sex again, and she hadn’t really spoken with Evan again until he showed up in her house a few days ago.
The picture fell from her fingertips when she heard a knock on the door. It was already ten o’clock. She must have been stuck in her reverie for a few hours. She stood and opened the front door a crack, poking her head out to answer it.
“Oh,” she said when she saw Evan standing on the small front porch of her modest house. His head quickly snapped up. His smile was brilliant and his eyes looked bright. The sun was shining outside, but for a moment, Catalina saw the sunbeam straight out of his smile.
“Hey. I’m sorry I’m late. I got off work and I brought you something as a peace offering.” He held up a white paper bag with Bower’s Bakery written on the front of it in red script.
She frowned and said sarcastically, “No cinnamon rolls?”
He laughed shortly. “No, sorry. I didn’t know you liked those. These are hoagie rolls. I thought I would make lunch.”
“Yeah, that sounds nice, but the cinnamon rolls are my favorite, especially from Bower’s.” She stepped aside and let him cross the doorway.
“Hoagies will have to do for this time, but I promise next time I won’t show up without your favorite rolls.” He started toward the kitchen but stopped when he saw the pictures spread out on the coffee table. He dropped the hand holding the bag of rolls to his side. “Oh, were you busy? I didn’t mean to interrupt.” He leaned over a bit to peek at the photos.
“I was looking through some old stuff. I found some pictures from when we were in high school and some stuff of Olivia’s when she was a baby.”
“I don’t want to get in the middle of your personal stuff. I can give you some space if you want.”
“No, it’s okay. I was actually looking at some pictures with you in them.” She quickly walked over to the coffee table and handed him a few of the pictures from the party, some from their high school graduation.
He sat down on the couch and began flipping through the stack. He smirked at the ones with him, Gene, and Hudson. He stopped short when he saw the picture of Hudson and Catalina.
“I remember,” she whispered, settling down on the cushion next to him but making sure that she kept her distance.
“Yeah. They were good times,” he said and cleared his throat.
“No. I meant that I remember about that night, about Hud.” She choked up a bit, but she tried to give him a small smile. Evan craned his neck a bit to look her in the eyes.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.” He smiled back at her, their secret making his eyes dazzle.
“Don’t play coy with me, Evan. I know you gave Hudson that broken nose.”
He blinked at her blankly and cracked open his smile.
“Okay, yeah. There’s no use in hiding it now. Hud was a good man, but he needed to be reminded of it from time to time.” Evan ran his fingers over the edge of the photo.
“Why did you do it?” She leaned over to stack up some of the loose photos.
“I knew he hurt you. That wasn’t fair,” Evan said matter-of-factly.
“You didn’t have to stand up for me. You hardly knew me.” She fidgeted, biting her bottom lip and pulling the top layer of skin off of it. It stung and she could taste blood in her mouth.
Why would he put himself in that situation to piss off his best friend, to get in a fight for her?
Evan scrunched his eyebrows together and pursed his lips.
“I knew you. I know you,” he said.
“We weren’t very friendly. You hardly talked to me.” She kept flipping through the photos in her hands, not really looking at them.
“That doesn’t mean I didn’t notice you. I remember everything.” He wrinkled his nose. “I didn’t mean for that to sound as creepy as it did.”
Heat crept up her neck and onto her face, and she looked at him through her hair which hung in her face, shielding her from his gaze.
“It wasn’t creepy. It sounded sweet.”
She smiled and pointed at the group photo in his hands. Gillian was standing in the front since she was shortest, her Peter Pan hair poking in all directions, her hands on her hips. Hudson had one arm around Evan and one arm around Catalina. Catalina’s face looked bloated. She was already pregnant with Olivia, passing on college to pick up a job at the bank. Hudson had started working at his uncle’s auto body shop in town. Evan had gotten into Penn State on a baseball scholarship, his curly hair poking out of the graduation cap. Gene and Bonnie were wrapped up in each other’s arms, faces pushed up against each other. Bonnie’s eyes were closed, but she looked blissful.
“You were a good friend to Hudson. You are a good friend.”
“Thanks. That means a lot to me. I know we weren’t close, but I hope you can learn to trust me after…everything. I know it hasn’t been easy.”
“I heard that it hasn’t been easy on you either,” she said.
He sighed. “I haven’t been myself lately. It helps to get out of the house though.”
“Well, we should probably work on lunch then.”
*
When he saw her shifting through the pictures, he almost turned on his heel and left. It brought back too many memories.
He had tried to date in high school, but he couldn’t keep his focus for more than a few weeks with any girl. They all seemed nice, and they were pleasant dates, but none of them seemed to spark the passion in him he felt while near Catalina. But she and Hudson belonged together. He couldn’t even say anything about it. He had hunted Hudson down, seeing red from watching Catalina cry alone in the darkened hallway, and punched his best friend’s lights out. He warned him never to do that to her again, to be a good man by her, and, as far as Evan knew, he was until the day he died.
Hudson was gone now and Catalina was left behind. Evan was quiet, wrapped up in his thoughts while he cut the rolls, slathered them with mustard and mayonnaise, and laid lunch meat in them.
“You seem distracted,” Catalina said as she cut tomatoes.
“Yeah, I g
uess,” he said.
The knife continued to click on the cutting board.
“You don’t have to stay.”
“Hmm?” He reached over and grabbed some of the tomatoes to place on top of the meat. Catalina started slicing lettuce.
“You don’t have to be here, you know.”
He stilled his movements.
“Do you think that I don’t want to be here?”
“You seem awkward. I don’t want you to here if you don’t want to be.”
“Do you want me here? I know Bonnie and Gillian didn’t really pass this by you, but you aren’t a prisoner. I am here to be a friend.”
Catalina pursed her lips. Her eyes looked wet when they met his.
“You were Hudson’s friend. I’m sorry,” she said.
He nodded. Catalina’s shoulders were hunched down and her head was downcast. He thought about placing his hand on her shoulder but didn’t. Instead, he studied the slope of her neck. Her olive skin was smooth, and it basically called out to him to drag his finger down across her spine.
Catalina’s shoulders started to shake in a silent sob that she was trying to swallow down.
Evan pulled her into his chest and she wrapped her thin arms around his waist. Her tears started coming then and he brushed his hand over her dark, curly hair, smoothing it over the back of her head. She smelled like Granny Smith apples and vanilla. At that moment, all he ever wanted to bake was apple pies for the rest of his life.
Catalina’s tears soaked through his tee shirt, and her thin hands clutched at his back. He rubbed her back slowly in large circles.
“I’m sorry for you, too. He was a best friend to both of us,” Evan croaked out.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“So, are you my babysitter for today?” Catalina greeted Bonnie when she let her in the house for her Friday shift. A revolving door of her friends had made the last few days pass quickly. Asa was asleep in the car seat that Bonnie slung over her forearm.
“Actually, no. I have a couple of errands to run today. I thought you could use a day to yourself, or you can come with me, if you feel up to it.” It might be nice to get out in public, see other people, maybe stop by the grocery store to pick up food for the house, but the thought of getting in the car again made her break out in cold sweats.
“No. I think I’m okay here today. I have some cleaning I need to do. I should probably make some phone calls.”
Bonnie gently placed the car seat down next to the kitchen table and peeked in on her sleeping son.
“So, I have to ask you something, and I don’t want to stress you out, but it’s really important to me that you consider it.”
Catalina drew her eyebrows together.
“Okay…what is it?”
“Gene and I are having a little get together tomorrow at our place. Everybody will be there, and I would really love it if you and Olivia are there too. Gil already said that she’d come get you guys, but I want to make sure you are ready.”
“Erm…I don’t know. I mean, it’s kind of a last-minute notice…”
“I know. I know. But I thought that if I gave you too many days’ notice, you would overthink it and end up not coming.”
“Yeah. Well, I think it’s pretty sudden.”
“It’s—it would mean a lot to me that you were there. I mean, Marie will be there, too, and it will be kid friendly. A close friend thing. You haven’t seen all of us since…I mean, in a while.”
“I’ll think about it,” Catalina said, shrugging her shoulders.
*
Gillian rounded her up that morning, shaking Catalina and Olivia out of their pajamas and literally pulling the cereal bowl from Catalina’s fingers. Olivia bounced up and down in excitement. She wanted to wear a party dress and a big pink bow in her braids.
They drove over to Bonnie and Gene’s house while Olivia chattered away to Gillian about school, her favorite television show, and how her new favorite color was purple, but she still loved the color pink. Catalina tried her best to focus on the car carpet under her shoes. Her feet were sweating in her boots.
Bonnie greeted them at the door with chubby Asa on her hip. Catalina gently pinched Asa’s thigh and he giggled.
“I’m so glad that you guys came,” Bonnie gushed as she ushered them all inside.
“It’s not like I had much of a choice,” Catalina murmured.
Gillian barked out a laugh. “We’re here. Look, Liv’s already settling in.” Indeed, Olivia was sitting on Evan’s lap while he watched a football game on the television. He gave her a tight squeeze. She laughed loudly
“They look mighty cozy.” Gillian pointed at them and she leaned over to give Bonnie a quick kiss on the cheek. “Where’s the beer, Bon? It’s not a party until I get some booze in me.”
Bonnie rolled her eyes and pointed them to the kitchen.
“You know where it is. Help yourself. Hey, Cat, you ok?” Bonnie asked, shifting Asa to her other hip. “You’re looking a little green around the gills.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I better go say hi to Gene. I haven’t seen him in a while.”
Catalina found him in the kitchen. Gene was shorter than Evan or Hudson. He was older, should have graduated before them, but he got kept behind because he was so girl crazy. Gene was handsome and he knew it, but he never played around. Once he met Bonnie, he was a goner. His dark skin was a perfect complement to Bonnie’s pale Irish complexion. Asa was going to grow up to have a shock of red hair but a beautiful copper skin tone.
“I’m so glad you came, Cat. I haven’t seen you in forever. I’m sorry. I’ve been working so much lately.” Gene wrapped his arms around Catalina’s shoulders. She felt as if he absorbed a bit of her into him. He gently rubbed circles in her back.
“Don’t be sorry. I’m happy to see you,” she said.
“Yes! Yes! Please don’t be a stranger around here.” He pulled away from her and held his hand on her shoulders. “You look tired, Cat.”
“Well, thanks for that.” She snorted.
“Why don’t you tell her how awful she looks some more, Gene?” Gillian said when she came through the kitchen door.
“It was an observation,” he said sheepishly.
“I think you look great. Green’s your color. Don’t you think, Olivia?” Evan called from the other side of the room. He and Olivia had started to play an intense game of thumb wars. They had a running tally of wins versus losses.
“Mommy always looks beautiful.” Olivia beamed.
Catalina shifted on her feet. “Thanks, baby.”
“Oy! Look at pretty boy laying on the sweet stuff.” Gillian wiggled her eyebrows at Evan. He blushed deeply.
“We’re waiting on Marie. She’s getting off of work, but the food should be done soon. Can you check on it, Gene?”
“Sure thing, babe,” Gene said as he blew a kiss at Bonnie. He disappeared into the kitchen.
Catalina ended up by the long table of chips and dip. She crunched on some baby carrots and rubbed her fingers on her jeans. Olivia bounced around the living room, singing to Asa who was banging into furniture in his baby walker.
Bonnie let Marie in, who was still wearing her scrubs.
“Yay! You’re here. Now we can eat!” Olivia yelled when her aunt walked in. Catalina tried to shush her.
“Yay! Let’s eat!” Gene said, bringing food out from the kitchen.
Evan wordlessly started helping. Gillian was already settled in at the dining room table, a beer on the table in front of her. She raised her eyebrows at Catalina and pointed to the seat next to her.
“Cat, don’t be a stranger. You must be starving,” Gillian said.
Catalina slid into the seat next Gillian. Bonnie and Gene sat next to each other with Asa in a high chair between them. Marie sat on the other side of Catalina and reached over to squeeze Catalina’s hand.
“Hey, sis. You doing okay?” Marie asked with her eyebrows scrunched together.
“You guys don’t have to
keep asking me that,” Catalina replied.
Gillian got Olivia settled in next to her so when Evan came back from the kitchen with a bowl of rolls in his hand, he ended up sitting across from Catalina by default.
Gene raised his water glass to the group.
“Okay, guys. I’m so glad that you could all make it. I wanted to say that we love you, and we’re so excited to share our good news with you, all at once.” Gene cleared his throat. Bonnie looked to him and her face softened. Catalina could feel the love Bonnie had for her husband in her eyes. Catalina almost teared up—once she had looked at someone like that. She had once loved a husband like that.
“I’m pregnant!” Bonnie yelled out with a huge smile on her face.
“Oh my God, Bonnie. I swear you guys are rabbits!” Gillian laughed from across the table.
“Congrats! That’s awesome. I’m so happy for you guys,” Evan said and clinked his glass with Gene’s. He clapped his hand on Gene’s shoulder. “That’s great, Bonnie.” He stood up and gave Bonnie a little hug before sitting back again.
“What does pregnant mean?” Olivia asked from her seat, picking at the food on her plate.
“Oh, honey, that means that Bonnie has a baby in her belly and Asa’s going to be a big brother,” Marie explained. “Congrats guys!”
Catalina stared at the dinner rolls in the bowl in front of her. A drip of sweat fell from the side of her water glass. She could hardly hear from the pounding of her heart in her chest. Silence fell over the group. She could feel their eyes on her.
“Momma, you okay?” Olivia’s little voice cut through the white noise in Catalina’s head.
“I’m okay, ladybug. Congrats, guys.” She managed to try a little smile in Bonnie’s direction. Bonnie nodded.
“I know it’s kind of sudden, but we wanted the kids to be close,” she started to explain.
“Oh please, Bon. You don’t have to explain it to us. We love you. We’re so happy for you, and Gene, too.” Gillian lifted her beer into the air in front of her. “Good luck you two. At this rate, you’ll end up with a full baseball team.” Gillian winked at Bonnie. She tilted her beer back to pour it down her throat. Catalina pushed her water glass in the air, smiled toward everyone and took a drink. Even Olivia giggled and followed suit, tipping her glass of chocolate milk and spilling a little on the tablecloth.
Recovery Road Page 5
