Clash of Hearts (Wild Hearts, Contemporary Romance Book 2)

by Nancy Adams

  Allen shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe you ought to talk to her about that, and see. She seems to think you and the doctor might be good for each other.” His face softened. “Katie, I'm not trying to talk you into anything, but I don't want you to be afraid to feel something again, just because of what Darren did to you. Think it over, and you'll make the right choice. You always do.”

  Katie Lou rolled her eyes again. “Yeah, that's what I keep hearing. I'm glad you all have so much confidence in my decision-making abilities, because I sure don't!”

  Judy had been watching the exchange carefully, and gave Katie a hug, then turned to give one to her husband, as well. “My girls are pretty smart,” she said, “both of them. I think they get it from their parents, Allen, don't you?”

  Allen snorted. “I think maybe they get some of it from you, but I don't know about me. Far as I'm concerned, I always seem to do exactly the wrong thing, and usually at the wrong moment.” His face darkened, then. “And speaking of wrong moments, I also had a visit from Darren's father today. He came to see me at lunchtime, caught me at Merv's. I sent him a copy of the report on the car, and he could see that it makes Darren liable; being a lawyer, he naturally figures you're going to be filing a lawsuit, so he wanted to ask me if you had a figure in mind, an amount you might be willing to settle for.”

  Katie's eyes were suddenly wide. “Me? Settle for? You mean, they want to offer me money to shut up about it?”

  Allen grinned and nodded. “Yeah, that's pretty much what it sounded like to me, too.”

  Katie Lou shook her head. “Well, it's not like I was planning to go running to anyone and tell them how my fiancé wrecked his car and crippled me, then dumped me, right? That would make me look pretty pathetic, so I don't know what they're so worried about.”

  “Well, I'd imagine they're worried about what it would do to his political ambitions, if you did,” Allen said. “Think about it, Honey; if the word about this got out, it could make him look pretty bad, don't you think? Might be hard to get people to vote for a man who would do such a thing.”

  “No, it wouldn't,” Judy said. “Ted Kennedy got away with killing the girl he was having an affair with, and still got elected over and over again. Read your history books, sometime.”

  Allen shrugged. “Darren isn't a Kennedy,” he said, “and he hasn't already been in office for years, or had two brothers assassinated. I don't think there's a real comparison. Anyway, the point is that if you were really thinking of filing a suit, like we talked about last night, then you need to decide how much you want, and whether or not you're willing to settle out of court.”

  Katie sat there and looked at him for a moment, then turned to look at her mother. “Mom? Any suggestions?”

  Judy shook her head. “If it was up to me, I'd say to let God handle it, but that doesn't mean this isn't a way He might provide the money for you to start your counseling practice. I think you need to come up with your own answer on this.”

  Katie Lou turned to the table and leaned her head in her hands. “I don't know,” she said. “I actually was kind of thinking of asking for just enough to open a practice, but that doesn't make any sense, not really. In my business classes, they told us over and over that we should always secure enough financing to be sure we can stay open for at least three years. If I consider all the costs involved, that would mean I'd probably need a couple hundred thousand.” She looked up at her father. “Do you think they'd consider that?”

  Allen thought for a moment about James Allsip, whom he'd known most of his life. If there was one thing he knew about the man, it was that he didn't let anything stand in the way of getting what he wanted. “I think he probably would jump at it,” he said, “because I think they're expecting you to want a lot more. And he mentioned negotiating, so I'd say ask for more than that, and let him come back with a lower counter offer.”

  Katie shrugged. “Okay,” she said, “let's hit 'em for half a million, and they'll probably get us to the two hundred thousand mark, don't you think? I remember listening to Darren talk about settling cases, and that's the way it sounded to me.”

  Allen grinned. “That's my girl,” he said. “Want me to call him now?”

  Katie Lou sat there and looked at him for a moment, then broke into a grin. “Why not?” she asked. “I keep saying I want to turn this into something positive, and use it to start a counseling practice to help people who are going through what I've gone through. If Darren wants to buy me off, then let's let him.”

  Judy sat down with them and touched Katie's hand. “Honey, are you sure about this?”

  Katie nodded. “Yeah, Mom, I think I am. This isn't about revenge, or getting back at Darren for breaking up with me, I promise you. On the other hand, if I'm going to turn this lemon into lemonade, I need the money it takes to do it, and this is one way to get it without having to go into debt. I put my whole life on hold when I agreed to marry Darren, or I'd probably already be in practice, somewhere. I was expecting to let him support us, so I hadn't gone any further toward making a career of my own. I think maybe this is a way for both of us to let go and get some closure out of this.”

  Judy smiled and shrugged. “Okay, then, as long as you’re sure,” she said. She got up and went back to making their dinner, while Allen took out his phone.

  He dialed a number and waited a moment, then said, “James? Allen Brennan. Listen, I talked to Katie Lou, and she's willing to settle this outside of court. She's looking at actually taking this experience and turning it into something positive; I guess you know, she got her degree in psychology, and was planning to go into counseling before she and Darren got engaged. Well, she's decided to go ahead and do that, by offering counseling to people who've been through things like she has, and she sat down and looked at what she'd need to set up a business around it...” He stopped talking and listened for a moment. “Right, well, she was thinking around half a million dollars. That should give her enough to operate for a few years and let the practice get up and running.” He listened again for a moment, and then his eyebrows went up. “Well, hang on a minute, and I'll ask her.” He hit the mute button on his phone and turned to look at Katie Lou. “Sweetheart, he says he thinks that's a wonderful idea, but he thinks half a million is a bit too high; he said if you'd be willing to accept it, then he'd be willing to agree to three hundred and fifty thousand, and could have the paperwork and check all ready by tomorrow afternoon.”

  Katie's eyes almost bugged out of her head, and she swallowed, hard. “Um—okay,” she said. “I can go along with that. Or should I try to argue?”

  Allen grinned. “In this case, Honey, I'm gonna suggest you take the money and run. You sure you're okay with it?”

  Katie nodded. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “I really am.”

  Allen unmuted the phone. “James? She says she thinks it should be four hundred thousand, but if that's as far you'll go, she'll take it. Uh-huh—okay, three o’clock, I'll have her there. See you then.” He ended the call and turned to Katie. “Well, Sweetheart—as of three o'clock tomorrow afternoon, you're going to be three hundred and fifty thousand dollars richer than you are right now.”

  6

  "Are you serious?" Kylie asked when she got home. "Katie, that's incredible!"

  "I know, right? I was blown away when Daddy said they offered that much, I couldn't believe it at first. But then, you know, I thought about it, and if all they're worried about is Darren's political ambitions, then I could see why they want to keep me quiet. I mean, it can't look good that he wrecked his car, crippled his fiancée, and then dumped her for being crippled. I can see why that might be bad for his career, and I'm sure there's going to be paperwork for me to sign that promises I'll never talk about it again. Okay, well, that's fine with me; it's not exactly something I like to talk about, anyway."

  "So, what's your first step? For opening your practice, I mean?"

  "Well, I'm going to have to look into a few things, but I'll have to take
the state test for my license. I'll probably have to go to Springfield for that; I'll call tomorrow and find out when and where. Will you take me?"

  "Of course I will!" Kylie said. "All you've got to do is let me know, I'm ready to go whenever you need me to. And what about after that?"

  Katie Lou shrugged. "Oh, I don't know," she said. "You know, at lunch today, we were all talking about me opening my practice right in with Rob, right? Of course, none of us really thought it would be happening right away, so I'm not sure just how serious he really was about it."

  "Katie," Kylie said, "I was there. He was serious, take my word for it. His face lit up like a neon sign when I suggested it."

  Katie tilted her head down, but looked up at her sister from the corners of her eyes. "Daddy says you told him that you think Rob has a crush on me."

  "Well, duh," Kylie said. "If you can't see it, you're the only one! Even Anna sees it. She keeps looking over at me to see if I'm getting jealous, but now we’re winking at each other. Katie, I'm not going to say I don't think Rob is hot, I do. The trouble is, he's got all his attention focused on you, both professional and romantic. I think the only reason he asked me to go to the dance with him is because he was afraid you'd refuse, or that you'd be uncomfortable if you did go. As a matter of fact, I'm going to tell him tomorrow that I just can't do it."

  Katie looked up at her, and stared. "Kylie, are you sure? I mean, he's all you've talked about for the last couple of weeks, and I sure don't want you getting mad at me over a guy."

  Kylie laughed, a delightful, happy laugh. "Katie, relax, I'm not going to get mad at you. Look, both of us have just been through a bad time with a guy. Granted, yours is worse, but that doesn't mean mine wasn't a disaster for me, right? Well, I think I was just sort of on the rebound, and so I got all excited about the first great-looking guy I saw. It's not your fault that he got one look at you and fell head over heels in love!"

  "In love?" Katie squeaked. "I think it's a little early to say anything about love, don't you?"

  "Obviously you're not paying enough attention to the way Rob Christopher looks at you. Katie, that guy has it so bad for you that it's almost oozing out of his ears. Now, you can try to tell yourself that isn't true all you want to, but trust me, others can see it just fine. Mainly me and his sister. We see it very clearly."

  Katie Lou sat there in silence for a moment, just looking at her sister. They were in the kitchen, sitting at the table all alone. Their parents had gone to bed earlier, but Kylie had not gotten home until almost eleven. Katie Lou had still been up, watching a movie on television, when her sister came in. She'd gotten up on her feet with Willie, and hurried into the kitchen so they could talk. She’d wanted to tell her sister about the settlement offer, and see what Kylie thought about it.

  "Kylie," Katie Lou said, "look, yeah, Rob is a great-looking guy, and I think he's a wonderful man. The thing is, I'm not sure that I'm really ready for a relationship."

  Kylie rolled her eyes. "Oh, good grief, who said anything about a relationship? I'm not saying you should ask the guy to marry you, and if he were to ask you right now, you'd be an idiot if you said yes. All I'm saying is that you should let yourself get to know him, see how things might go. Maybe you and he are perfect for each other, and maybe you're not. You'll never know if you don't give it a chance, and you don't have to rush into anything in any case."

  Katie Lou smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she said. "As long as I know it's not going to cause any problem between us. You've been crushing pretty hard on him, and I don't want that to be an issue between me and my baby sister."

  "Then you can relax, because it won't be. Look, I'm serious, it's not an issue. It suddenly hit me today that my crush was more on the idea of dating a doctor than it was on Rob Christopher. I'm like you, I think he's great, but I don't really think he's the right one for me."

  Katie leaned over and hugged her little sister, and the two of them giggled together like they used to when they were young. "Well," Katie said, "I'll admit I can't wait to tell him about this. I actually did like the idea of setting up a practice with him, and maybe part of that was because I like the idea of seeing him every day."

  "You think? Come on, you're a woman, of course you like the idea of looking at that hunk of man every day. If you didn't, I'd be worried sick about you!"

  The two girls went on to bed, knowing they each had a big day ahead of them. Morning, they both knew, would come pretty quickly, and sure enough, it showed up right on schedule. They were up and breakfasted with their parents, then got dressed and ready to go to the day’s physical therapy session.

  “Oh, I'm nervous,” Katie said, as she put Willie the Walker into the trunk of her sister's car. She'd been delighted when Allen had told her that Kylie was staying at the shop to finish putting the Riviera back together. She loved riding in her sister's classic car, and secretly wished she were capable of building one herself. "I know Rob sounded enthusiastic about the idea yesterday, but I'm just not sure whether he really meant that, or just didn't want to hurt my feelings."

  "Trust me, darlin'," Kylie said, "he liked the idea. I think he likes the idea of looking at you every day as much as you like to think about looking at him. Face it, kiddo, you're beautiful, he's a man; this works out the way it's supposed to. Read about Adam and Eve, this is the way God designed it.”

  "Well, we'll know soon enough," Katie said. "Have you, um, thought any more about…"

  Kylie giggled. "Yeah, I'm going to tell him that I can't make it on Saturday. And I'm going to suggest that he ask you."

  "Me? Oh, come on, I'm not ready for that!"

  "Don't start with me, girl," Kylie said. "Look, you need to find out if you two really are attracted to each other, and probably before you become business partners. A simple date to a dance is a good way to do that. And besides, you're up on your feet on that walker, so I'm pretty sure you could manage a dance or two this weekend, especially with a man like Rob. Don't you think? Now, I'm going to make this suggestion, so don't you dare let me down and refuse to go. Got that?"

  Katie giggled despite herself. "Okay, okay, I've got it. Besides, he'll probably chicken out if you suggest he ask me. I've got a feeling he might be a little self-conscious, out there dancing with a crippled girl."

  "Back that down," Kylie said. "You're not crippled. I don't want to hear you saying that about yourself again, do you understand me? Goodness, you're the one who's supposed to be a counselor, surely you know better than to put a label on yourself that’s only gonna hurt you, don't you?"

  Katie held up both hands to ward off more chastisement. "You're right, you're right," she said. "I shouldn't do that, and yes, I know better. I'm just nervous, Kylie, that's all. Bear with me, okay?"

  "Well, you can relax some, because we're almost there. Remember back in school, when you had to get up in front of the class and give a speech or something, how you're always nervous and it always turns out that the nervousness was worse than the reality, right? Well, this is like that. As soon as you see him, all that nervousness will be gone and you can just spit it out. Oh, look, here's the parking lot."

  Kylie was right, Katie knew, and sure enough, the jitters in her stomach seemed to be fading away as soon as the car was parked. She got out and used the door of the car to help her get to her feet, then leaned on the side of the car as she made her way back to the trunk. Kylie opened it up, but when she started to reach in to grab the walker, Katie told her to stop.

  "That's mine," she said, "and a symbol of my independence. Let me get him out, please?"

  Kylie grinned and stood back as Katie reached in and lifted the walker out. She noticed that Katie had her right hip firmly planted against the bumper of the car, which made her stable as she lifted the walker out and unfolded it.

  Once Katie had the walker out and ready to go, she started off towards the front door of the clinic. Kylie had to rush to catch up after shutting the trunk, and she giggled as she hurried
along. It was kind of obvious to her that her big sister, Katie, was a little bit excited on that particular morning.

  They rolled through the front door, and Anna looked up and saw them. Her face lit up in a big smile, and Kylie knew it was a reaction to the smile that Katie must have been wearing.

  "Well, well," Anna said, "what's got Miss Katie Lou in such a good mood this morning?"

  "I'm just sort of excited," Katie said, "because it looks like I'm going to be able to open my counseling practice a lot sooner than we expected."

  "Oh, really?" Rob said, as he entered the room. Katie glanced at him and noticed that he seemed rather pleased with her announcement. "How's that?"

  "Well, if you must know," Katie said facetiously, "that no-good lawyer ex-fiancé of mine had his father call my father in an attempt to keep me from filing a lawsuit over the wreck and everything else, and they've offered me a settlement, a rather substantial amount of money that will allow me to get my license and cover the expenses of the business for quite some time. That's actually got me pretty excited."

  Rob's eyes went wide, and his smile was wider. "Yeah, I can see why! That's really cool! So, when can I expect you to report for your first day? We did come to an agreement about you opening your practice here, right? I distinctly remember we came to an agreement about that yesterday. Don't you?"

  Katie laughed, and Anna snickered. "I don't know if she remembers it or not," Anna said, "but I know it's all you talked about the rest of the day yesterday and all night last night!" She looked at Katie. "Katie Lou, I'm serious, you are all he has talked about. He loves the idea, he really does."