Life After Perfect

by Nancy Naigle

Katy said, “She’s very fragile physically and emotionally, isn’t she?”

  He nodded, and opened the truck door for her.

  Katy got in and pulled her seat belt across her body and clicked it. Adrenaline pumped through her veins so hard that she could hear the thump-thump thumping in her head—the big bass kick-drum variety that seemed to vibrate all the way to her fingertips. Kind of like the last moments before you are locked into a big roller coaster at a Busch Gardens amusement park. She sure hoped tonight wasn’t going to leave her with that sick, scary, screaming feeling you got afterward. She was more of a bumper car kind of girl, really.

  He started the truck and pulled out to the main road.

  Why the heck was she so nervous? He wasn’t an ax murderer. Not if everyone in the town knew and loved him. She tried to relax. “I met someone who works at the Blue Skies Cafe the other day.”

  “Angie?”

  “Yeah. How’d you guess?”

  He pulled around the back of the restaurant. “Angie knows Naomi. This place has great food, but it’s also a quick walk from the medical center. Beats cooking for one.”

  “I can understand that.” Only she hadn’t thought about just cooking for one. Until now. And now that he’d mentioned it, she realized she’d be figuring out a whole lot more about cooking for one soon. Popcorn for dinner every night if she wanted it. Take that, meat-and-potatoes guy!

  She followed him inside and it seemed like everyone in the place turned and looked at them when they entered.

  “We can sit right here,” he said, motioning to the first booth they came to.

  “It’s nice. I love the stained glass.” She sat with her back to the other customers. “I bet it’s lovely in the afternoon.”

  “It is.”

  The woman that she’d met at the inn walked up to the table and her face lit up when she saw her. “Katy. So nice to see you here.” Angie glanced over at Derek. “And you’re here with one of my very favorite people.”

  “You really do know everyone in town,” Katy said to Derek.

  “Oh, yeah. Everyone knows everyone around here. Best part about living here.” Angie tapped her pen on Derek’s side of the table. “I know Derek wants sweet tea. What’s your pleasure?”

  “I’ll have the same.”

  “Got it. Two sweet teas.” Angie turned and grabbed two menus and put them on the table. “Special tonight is a bacon-wrapped fillet, baby red potatoes, and broccoli. There’s always the fried chicken, and my personal favorite, the beefalo. Derek has had everything on the menu, more times than he’ll probably admit. I’ll be back in a jiff.”

  “Thanks, Angie,” Derek said.

  Katy opened the menu. “She’s so nice.”

  “Good people, and she’s right. I know the menu by heart. So what are you in the mood for?”

  She scanned the menu and then closed it in front of her.

  “You already know what you want?”

  “Fried chicken. A no-brainer.”

  “Me too.”

  He was easy to be with, and a gentleman. She liked that. There was no pressure, but she had to be straight up with him right now. He’d confided in her, but she was still holding her situation close to the vest and that wasn’t fair.

  “You know, Derek . . .” She swallowed, willing the strength to say it without sounding crazy. “I need to tell you. To be sure you know.” This wasn’t easy. “I don’t do what we did the other night—you know—going out on the town alone, because I—”

  “Katy. I know you’re a lady. Please don’t worry about that. It was an unusual circumstance, but it worked out. You don’t have to explain. Really.”

  And “nothing happened” seemed to be the unspoken words. Oh, but she did still need to tell him. Nothing sexual happened, but it was an intimate night. No husband would want to hear that his wife had lain in the arms of another man, even if they were fully clothed. The fact remained she was married and she couldn’t keep that a secret from him.

  Angie slid the two sweet teas onto the table, turned to the counter and swept a tray into her arm, and then whisked down to another table to serve the meals.

  She made it look easy. Katy knew different. She’d tried her hand at waitressing during college and that had been one huge disaster. Instead she’d ended up taking a third-shift data-entry job processing donations for a huge online church network. They even had optical scanners; her job was simply to correct the letters the machine couldn’t read. It had been tedious, but it had paid well and she couldn’t spill anything or drop plates.

  Derek leaned across the table. “Angie and I went to school together. She’s a single mom. Her son, Billy, is great. Probably the only good thing she got out of her marriage. Her ex was a shit, always jumping from job to job and running around on her while she was trying to keep food on the table and raise Billy. I don’t understand how anyone can be unfaithful.”

  She swallowed back a dose of her own medicine. How was she supposed to explain her situation after that? And did her behavior just sink her to Ron’s level? Maybe nothing had happened, but still she hadn’t been completely honest, either.

  “I was so glad when she kicked him to the curb—she’s the hardest-working girl I know.”

  Katy suddenly admired Angie. Not just for her work ethic, or that she was nice, but she’d been cheated on too, and she seemed to have all the confidence in the world. Katy wondered if she’d ever feel that way again.

  Angie hustled over to their table.

  “Are you the only one working the tables tonight?” Katy asked.

  She tugged her ink pen and pad from the apron pocket and nodded. “Won’t hear me complaining. Makes the night go by faster and I could use the double-tip night. My car broke down. That’s why I was driving the restaurant car the other day.” She smiled. “What’ll y’all have?”

  Katy gave Derek a nod. “Local’s choice.”

  Angie raised a brow and kind of smiled. “Okay. So?”

  Derek said, “We’ll both do the fried chicken tonight.”

  Angie tapped her pen in the air like that was the winning choice. “Two fried chickens. But next time you come, Katy, you have got to get Ol’ Man Johnson’s CB&B.” She leaned down and translated for Katy. “Carolina Beefalo and Browns.”

  “Beefalo? Browns? That sounds like football teams to me.”

  Angie laughed. “You’re right! Hadn’t thought of that before. But no, it’s his cool twist on hash browns that will make it hard for you to ever order anything different.” She raised her order pad into the air. “Hand to God, and the beefalo is grown local up the road. I’ll take you out to Criss Cross Farm one day if you like,” Angie said. “My boy loves going to see those animals.”

  Katy wondered if the high school chums were pulling her leg. “I’ve never heard of a beefalo. Are you serious?”

  “Oh yeah. I’m off on Thursday. If that storm doesn’t bring buckets of rain our way, I’ll take you to see them.”

  Two weeks ago she probably wouldn’t have even asked what a beefalo was, but here, closer to nature and the quiet, going to see them seemed like a really cool thing to do. Ron would die if he knew she was going to go to a farm. On purpose. And maybe that’s what made it even more appealing. “Perfect. You’re on.”

  Derek leaned back in the booth, watching the two of them talk. “Did you just steal my date, Angie?”

  Date? Oh, God. That just sent red flags snapping in the wind. She couldn’t date. She was married. Katy tried to hide the wave of anxiety that hit her behind a laugh that came out way too loud, and made her even more anxious.

  Angie put her hand on her hip and leveled a stare at Derek. “You, my friend, can pray for rain and make your own plans with her.”

  “You can be my rain date,” Katy said.

  Derek pulled out his phone and studied the screen. Then he
looked up and said, “Yeah. Okay. I’ll take that.” He turned his phone toward the girls. “Eighty percent chance of thunderstorms on Thursday. I think the odds are with me.”

  “Actually, I think the odds are with me,” Katy said. “I win either way.”

  The restaurant was busy; it stayed that way all the way until closing time, and she and Derek were still sitting there when it did.

  Angie locked the front door and turned off the OPEN sign in the front window. “I might have to ask y’all to come in every night. I think this was the best night we’ve had in a while,” she said.

  “I thought we’d stay and give you a ride home,” Derek said.

  Angie walked over to the table. “Y’all don’t have to do that. I can walk.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Katy said. “It’s no trouble at all.”

  “Well, then at least let me get y’all some dessert while I finish up here.”

  “Deal,” Derek said.

  Katy said, “We’ll split one.”

  “I’ll make it a big piece then.” A few moments later she walked back out with a hunk of pie big enough for two, and two forks. She freshened their coffee and then went through the tasks to close down for the night.

  Ol’ Man Johnson came out and slid into the booth next to Katy. “Where’d you find this pretty thing, Derek?”

  “At the Blackberry Festival.”

  The old man gave a doubtful look.

  “True,” Katy said.

  “Well, I’m going to have to close up shop and go next year. Did you enjoy your dinner?”

  “Very much,” Katy said. “Everything was delicious.”

  “Good. Hope I’ll see you back in here again then.”

  “Oh you will. I hear I have to try the beefalo and browns. I can’t leave town without trying that.”

  “Not without being sorry.” Ol’ Man Johnson stood and bowed slightly. “Until next time.”

  He walked out the back door and Angie came around the corner with a wad of money in her hands. “This night was amazing.”

  Derek peeled off a twenty and stuck it on top of her pile. “Thanks for the dessert.”

  “Awww. You don’t have to do that.”

  “I’m trying to impress my date,” he said, and then he looked at Katy.

  A part of her reveled in the attention. She didn’t know if anything would ever come of it, but it was a sure sign that there were good men out there, and Ron’s reputation wasn’t holding up very well.

  Angie locked up and they piled into Derek’s truck. “Did Derek tell you all my bad habits?” she asked.

  Katy laughed.

  “No, but I did tell her you were pretty awesome and even better now that you kicked that cheating shit of a husband to the curb.”

  Katy’s gut twisted, because even if Angie had already kicked her husband to the curb, it still had to hurt to revisit that betrayal.

  “I think he thinks that’s a compliment,” Angie said. “Thanks for airing my dirty laundry to my new friend, Derek.” She tapped Katy on the shoulder. “He’s right, though. My ex was, is, a jerk. Gave me the best gift ever in my son, so I wouldn’t undo the experience for anything, but for the life of me, I still don’t know what went wrong.”

  “Don’t waste your energy rationalizing what your ex did. There’s never a reason to go outside of the relationship no matter what problems there are. It’s not your fault.” And as the words came out of her mouth, she suddenly realized that it was a lot easier to give advice than to take it, because doggone if she wasn’t wondering exactly what could have driven Ron to do such a thing. “Give it time.”

  “It’s been two years. I can say this—I don’t think it matters how much time you give it. I think it’s what you do with the time. That first year it was like I was in neutral. Maybe I was waiting for him to come back and tell me he couldn’t live without us. I don’t know. But once I quit waiting, letting time pass, things got better.”

  Neutral. That was a good way to explain it. Because although Katy wasn’t a “stick your head in the sand” kind of a girl, not thinking about the situation and letting Shaleigh handle it had felt like a better way to go. But the advice was sound. She probably needed to be careful not to wait for something she knew she didn’t want anyway.

  “You’re one of the strongest women I know, Angie,” Derek said.

  “Thanks, sweetie.” She mussed a hand in his hair. “He has to say that. I know all of his secrets,” she teased.

  “We’re here,” Derek said. “Get out before you tell any of them.”

  Angie got out and Derek waited until she got inside the front door. “Thanks for letting me take the detour, Katy. It’s a completely safe town, but that girl works so hard. I hate to think of her walking all the way home after a full day’s work.”

  “No problem. I’m glad we did it.”

  He backtracked and took Katy back to the inn. There was no awkward almost-kiss. Instead, he walked her to the door, and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek with a pleasant “Let’s do this again.”

  She watched his headlights disappear down the dark lane. Doing that again would be nice. And she could, but it was weird to go from married to not with no notice. But then she better at least let him know what was going on in her life. It was only going to get harder the more time that passed.

  In her room, she undressed and got into bed. She toyed with her phone before laying it on the nightstand. She lay there in the quiet. It had been a nice evening. A busy day full of a lot of different emotions, but good all the same.

  She picked up her phone and clicked on the phone icon. The message from Ron still showed as unplayed.

  She held her finger steady over the button, and then she pressed it.

  “Katherine.”

  The way he said her name always had the same effect on her. Like he’d been waiting all day to say it. The way he dragged the syllables unrushed—kind of like the way he kissed her. Slow and wholly. Even now . . . knowing what he’d done, that simple word—her name—made her acutely aware of the increase in her heart rate. Damn him.

  But what followed the sweet roll of her name from his lips was less alluring.

  “What the hell?” His voice sounded tight. “You think you can just up and leave? Handle things without so much as a word to me? I’m not one of your projects. I get a say in this, too.” His voice held an edge as sharp as a samurai sword.

  “I know she’s your friend, but you really called that bitch Shaleigh? You know her reputation. She’s a man-eater. She hates men. She’ll ruin my reputation. What are you thinking? If you weren’t off flying around the country half of the time, this would have never happened. It doesn’t mean anything. You need to come back home and we need to discuss this. You can’t ruin everything we’ve built. Although you did a pretty damn good job ruining my birthday present, by the way. What the hell is going on in that head of yours? Katherine. Listen, we have the perfect life. You leaving is just f—. It’s crazy.”

  Oh, yeah he was mad. Almost dropped the f-bomb on her right there and he knew how she hated that.

  “Katherine. Baby. You’re upset. I get it. Let me explain. Come home. Don’t let Shaleigh turn this into something ugly. I love you. You know that.”

  She replayed the message four times.

  “Don’t let Shaleigh turn this into something ugly?” She could barely repeat his words without a snicker of disgust. “You made it ugly, Ron. You.”

  Katy got up early and accessed her online banking to make sure all of her bills were paid. Since she wouldn’t have a paycheck the next few weeks, she needed to be sure she was careful with what she spent.

  Feeling good about the early-hour accomplishment, she joined Naomi for coffee.

  “Naomi, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind if I did a little of the cooking in that amazing kitchen of yours
, as long as it’s just you, me, and Kelly Jo.”

  “Don’t be silly. You are a paying guest in this house. That wouldn’t be right.”

  “But it would be fun for me, and quite honestly, you are not charging near enough for the hospitality and quality you provide.”

  “It’s plenty enough,” Naomi said.

  “Please? Really. I’d enjoy it. Or we could cook some things together, maybe. That would be fun.” And maybe that whole cooking-for-one thing had made her feel a little itchy. Cooking for others is what made cooking enjoyable.

  “I do have some special recipes that someone needs to learn, especially now that Kelly Jo won’t be the one to carry on that legacy.” She looked away for a moment, and Katy, though sad, felt honored to be able to stand next to Naomi and be a surrogate in some small way.

  “We have a deal then?”

  Naomi looked a little hesitant, but said, “Yes. We have a deal. You’re more like family than a guest already anyway. Make yourself at home in my kitchen.”

  Katy could hardly wait. “Do you like quiche? I make an amazing quiche.”

  “I do,” Naomi said.

  “Great.” Katy jumped up from the table. “I’m going to make a list of what I need. Have you had breakfast?”

  “No, but don’t go running off to the grocery store. Look in the fridge and pantry first. I keep it stocked. If you’re going to cook, at least use my groceries.”

  It turned out Naomi was not exaggerating about the grocery situation. If there was ever a famine, this was the place to be stuck. No one would go hungry for months.

  While the quiche baked, Katy cut fresh fruit into a bowl. It was fun to cook in a kitchen like this. She felt a little like a contestant on one of those fancy food competition shows. There’d been a time when Katy cooked every night. She used to be a pretty good cook, in fact, but over the years, as Ron’s and her careers had advanced, their schedules just got too hectic and her specialty had turned into reservations and takeout.

  Katy went ahead and set the table for the three of them, hoping Kelly Jo would feel up to coming into the dining room with the help of the walker. Maybe with a nice setting, the ladies would feel a little perkier.