My first instinct is to look down at my feet while I think of how to turn him down nicely. I probably wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable with him right now if he hadn’t left that note on my car.
“I’m really flattered, Jake. It’s just that…I’m with Brogan now.”
His demeanor instantly changes. “Oh, still? I figured you wouldn’t be with a guy that’s going to step out on you like that.”
My protective instincts kick in and I have a fierce desire to defend Brogan from this guy’s opinion.
“I know what it looked like, but it was all a misunderstanding. He wasn’t cheating on me.”
Normally I wouldn’t feel the need to explain myself, but I went on the offensive when he made such a bold assumption about what I would or would not put up with from a guy.
“Cate. You can’t trust guys like him. He and his buddies use women as objects and throw them away. Not to mention how messed up his family is.”
He steps closer to me and puts his hand on my arm. I’m fuming right now and want nothing more than to walk away and leave him forever in my past.
“You don’t know anything about us and what we have. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get to my coffee shop.” I step around him and walk quickly down the sidewalk. I don’t look back to see what he’s doing. I’m so mad right now I could scream. I barely know this guy and after our interaction today, I have no desire to see him again.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Cate
I spend the rest of the day trying to work myself out of the funk I’ve been in since running into Jake. I need to shake it off. It’s obvious after seeing him this morning that he likes me and was hanging around town to figure out a way to ask me out.
I shouldn’t be surprised that he lashed out when I turned him down. I don’t remember him ever thinking much of Brogan in high school and it’s obvious his opinion hasn’t changed. It still makes me feel uncomfortable, though. It seems like he is going to the extreme trying to fit himself back into my life when he was never a big part of it to begin with.
Brogan won’t be home until tomorrow so I try to find ways to distract myself when I get home. I turn on the television and find the channel that’ll broadcast Brogan’s game tonight. I leave it on, pour myself a glass of white wine and snuggle in on the couch with my Sudoku book.
I’m trying really hard to push all thoughts of Jake out of my head, but it’s hard to do when I don’t have more distractions around here. I keep checking the television screen to see if I’ll get a glimpse of Brogan on the sidelines. He always looks so sexy when he’s focused and intent on the game.
I don’t worry about the accusations that Jake threw my way today. I know I doubted whether or not Brogan was the same person now that I had come to know over the years growing up. But our time together since he moved to Winterhaven has proven to me that he is the same person—even more comfortable in his skin now than he used to be.
I make it until a little after ten o’clock but I can’t keep my eyes open anymore. I turn everything off in the living room and head back to the bathroom to get ready for bed. In the bathroom I not only brush my teeth but also decide to floss.
After I wash my face I try out a cleansing mask to really make my skin look clear and healthy. It feels like a cool paste when I rub it over my cheeks. As soon as it’s on my skin I feel a bit of a tingle as the mask starts to work its magic. There’s a soothing eucalyptus scent. I breathe it in to help me relax.
All of this pampering makes me want to take a bath, but the tub is tiny and though I scrub it every week, it never really looks that clean to me. One day I want to have a huge whirlpool tub where Brogan and I can take baths together.
Once the mask is washed off, I rub a light lotion over my skin, put my pajamas on, and crawl into bed. I’m hoping the little bit of pampering will help clear my mind so I’ll be able to fall asleep. I don’t want to be thinking about Jake Ballard when I close my eyes.
I wake up to the ding of my cell phone on my nightstand. When I open my eyes the light is streaming in through the windows. I’m pleasantly surprised that I slept so well last night. I reach over and grab my phone, checking the screen to see who texted me.
The text is from Brogan.
Good morning beautiful.
Have you seen this article?
Check it out. WTF!
He attached the link so I click on it. I’m redirected to an article written by Jonathan Norton, Brogan’s least favorite journalist. It’s an opinion article and today he has written about women who chase football players. He calls them gold diggers and whores for the spotlight.
The entire article is about the culture of professional sports and how some women chase the fame as much as the men. Basically he says no real relationships can be cultivated in this toxic environment. As soon as I finish reading the article I jump out of bed and grab my laptop.
I search the name Jonathan Norton. The articles he has written pop up, but there isn’t a biography or picture of him. Next I decide to search Jake Ballard. Again there isn’t anything that connects Jake to these articles, but I have a feeling in my gut that he has something to do with this.
I pick up my phone and call Brogan. He picks up on the second ring.
“Hey, baby! We’ll be leaving the hotel soon. I can’t wait to see you.”
“I know! I’m excited to see you, too. But listen, I read the article you sent me and this might sound crazy, but I think Jake Ballard has something to do with these articles.”
“What? What makes you think that?”
“I was walking to work yesterday and Jake showed up, right on the sidewalk. He asked me out and when I told him I was with you, he got upset and said he didn’t think I’d be the type of girl to put up with my boyfriend stepping out on me. Or something along those lines. You get it.”
“Jesus, he showed up like that? What’s this guy’s deal? He puts that note on your car and now he shows up as soon as I leave town?”
“It makes sense though, doesn’t it? Maybe he’s the one who has been writing these things about you. To try to ruin your reputation.”
“You can bet your sweet ass that I’m going to hire someone to look into it and figure out what’s going on with this guy.”
“I think you should. It’s strange and I don’t want to have any more run-ins with him.”
“I’m on it, babe. Don’t worry.”
“Okay, I’ll try not to. When do you think you’ll be home?”
“Probably late afternoon. Are you working today?”
“I’m supposed to.”
“Okay. I’m going to talk to my lawyer and he’ll get this all figured out.”
“Thanks. Love you.”
“I love you, too.”
***
It’s three days later when Brogan’s lawyer calls with some answers. I’m in the kitchen making dinner when Brogan walks out of the bedroom.
“You were right, Catey,” he says as he puts his phone down on the counter. “Jonathan Norton is Jake Ballard. He writes under a pen name. He’s the asshole that has written these bullshit articles about me.”
“Holy shit! I can’t believe it,” I say, covering my mouth with my hands. “So what can we do about it?”
“We can get a restraining order against him for one thing. Hopefully when people find out he has a restraining order against him because of the lies he makes up about people, he’ll be discredited as a journalist.”
“This is so crazy! I mean, I hardly knew Jake in high school. It seems so strange that he would hold onto a crush so hard and then try to ruin your life in the process. He must have known all along how I felt about you and didn’t like the competition.”
“Whatever his reasons, I don’t think he’s completely rational. I want him out of our lives and my lawyer is working on making that happen.”
All of the sudden my thoughts flash back to the day we went hiking and Jake showed up there as well.
“Do you think Jake
is the one who messed with my car?”
“What makes you think that?”
“He was there, hanging around the park. He kept me company while I was waiting for you to get there.”
The look on Brogan’s face is a mix between anger, concern and panic.
“Jesus, I don’t even want to think about what might have happened if I wasn’t here. What if I would have been out of town for a game?”
“Luckily nothing happened. And all of these situations will work in our favor towards that restraining order.”
He wraps his arms around me and pulls me close. I cling to his waist and let him hold me. It’s all I need to know that everything is going to be okay.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Brogan
“I think this little trip away for the day is what the doctor ordered,” I say to Cate as we drive along the interstate, heading back home to Highland for a visit with my mom.
Things have been hectic and throwing this mess with Jake into the mix has created more stress for both of us. We were granted the restraining order and haven’t heard from Jake since. Nor have there been anymore articles written about me or Cate.
Our little weekend getaway serves two purposes: one, we get to spend the whole weekend together without work or interruptions, and two, we definitely need to celebrate our victory with getting the restraining order and getting rid of this creep.
We are planning on spending time with my mom, but I also decided to book a room in a really nice hotel for the weekend so we don’t have to share the small bed in my childhood room again. And, knowing that we couldn’t do anything because my mom was in the next room made me want Cate so much it was almost painful.
We stop at the hotel first and check in. I’ve booked one of the insanely nice rooms for the weekend. As soon as we get inside we walk through looking in all of the rooms. The windows are floor to ceiling and show an amazing view of the city.
Cate is drawn to the bathroom. The whirlpool tub catches her attention right away. When I walk into the bathroom she is sitting on the edge of the tub opening each of the little bottles and smelling what’s inside. She looks up and smiles at me when I walk in.
“We’re going to need to try out this tub,” she says.
“Are you kidding me? This tub is the reason I got this room. We’re going to spend all night in this tub.”
“Good,” she says, screwing the top back on the bubble bath and setting it back on the side of the tub. “But first things first, what time is your mom expecting us for dinner?”
“We should head over. Rain check on the bubble bath?”
“You got it.”
It isn’t a long drive from the hotel to my mom’s house, only about thirty minutes. The front door is unlocked and when we step inside we smell the most delicious scents coming from the kitchen. Spaghetti or lasagna—or something along those lines—must be baking away with a pan of garlic bread sharing the rack in the oven.
“Mom?” I call as I close the door behind us.
She comes walking into the room a minute later. “Brogan, Cate,” she says while giving us both welcoming hugs.
Cate hands her the wine we brought. “Something smells so good! You have always been such a good cook, Mrs. Lockwood,” Cate says.
“It’s Jean, and it’s that I watch way too many cooking shows. It’s like an addiction! So I’m glad you’re here. I need some test subjects to try out my new recipes!”
“We’re happy to take on that job, mom,” I say, walking into the kitchen. “How about a glass of wine?” I hold up the bottle of wine to entice them into having a drink.
“Yes,” they both say simultaneously.
I walk to the cupboard that still holds the glasses after all of these years and reach way up to the top shelf, pulling down two. I fill them both halfway and hand one to my mom and then Cate. I pull a beer out of the six-pack that I brought and immediately put the bottle to my lips and take a long drink of the cold, refreshing liquid.
“How are things going, mom?” I ask.
“Oh, they’re really good. Just keeping myself busy like always.” She sits on the stool by the counter, setting her wine in front of her and gently swirling it around the glass.
“Good. Are you still happy at work? Because you know you don’t have to work anymore if you don’t want to,” I say.
“You’re sweet, Brogan. But I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I wasn’t still working. I have cut back on my hours, but I like the people I work with so that makes it fun.”
“Maybe you should try a dating site, Jean. You might meet someone really nice that you have a lot in common with,” Cate says.
“Ah, I don’t know about that. There could be some real creeps online,” I say.
“Oh, Brogan, tons of people do that now. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about,” Cate says.
“Oh, you two. I’m fine. All of the drama with your father was enough to last a lifetime.”
I laugh and take a drink of my beer. I’m glad to see she has a sense of humor about it after all of these years. Obviously they had quite the tumultuous relationship. But I want her to be happy and I don’t like the thought of her being here alone.
“Okay, we’ll leave it alone. But there’s always a place for you in Winterhaven if you ever feel like you’d like to be closer to us.”
“I appreciate that. You’re a good son, honey.” She gets up off the stool and gives me a hug. Heading over to the fridge, she opens it and takes out a salad. “I have a few more things to get ready and then dinner will be all set.”
“Can I help you with anything?” Cate asks.
“Oh no, you relax and drink your wine.”
“Actually, if we have a few minutes before dinner, I wanted to show you something in the backyard,” I say to Cate.
“Okay!” she says.
“We’ll be back in a little bit, mom,” I say.
I take Cate’s hand and we walk through the patio door into the backyard.
“Wait right here for a minute,” I say and take off toward the garage.
A minute later I’m back with a small shovel in my hands.
“What are you up to?” Cate says.
“You’ll see.”
I grab her hand again and lead her to the empty lot behind the house. When we get to the huge hickory tree that marks the location of our old fort, I motion to the large rock next to the tree.
“Have a seat, beautiful,” I say.
I search around through the overgrown bushes, looking for the raspberry bush that marks the spot where we buried our memories in a time capsule ten years ago. Once I find the spot, I step on the edge of the shovel and push it into the dirt. The ground is already loose so with a few turns of the dirt I feel the tip hit the container.
I throw the shovel aside and push my hands in, grabbing the lid of the container and pulling it from the ground.
“I thought it was time we opened our time capsule,” I say as I brush the dirt from the sides of the jar and walk it over to where Cate is sitting.
“Oh my gosh! I forgot about that,” she says, a look of wonder on her face.
The lid is stuck on tightly, but after a few tries it starts to move. Once I have the lid free, I pull out the first bag and hand it to Cate.
“This is what I put in,” I say.
She takes the bag and opens it. I pull the other bag out of the container and open it.
“Do you remember what you put in?” I ask her.
“Yes, I do. There was a theme to the things I put in. I thought of things that could represent how fate brought us together from the very beginning.”
I pull out the three things Cate put in all those years ago. There’s two locker tags with our first and last names, from way back when we started school together, a picture of us playing together in the backyard when we were young and I had moved with my family to the neighborhood, and a pressed flower.
“See, not only did we live next door to ea
ch other, our last names were right next to each other in the alphabet so we were always next to each other in school. Our lockers, our line spots, many times our desks…it seems like fate. And this flower, you picked it from right over there,” I point to the wildflowers growing further into the field by our special spot in the empty lot. “You gave it to me after the first night you crawled through my window and slept on the floor to get away from your parent’s fighting.”
“Wow, I don’t know what to say besides how glad I am that you felt that way. I thought I really screwed things up with you.”
“That is true but I knew you needed time to figure things out. And you found your way back to me.”
I lean over and kiss her beautiful lips.
“Your turn,” I say.
She opens the bag and pulls out the first thing I put in all those years ago. The first is a copy of one of my high school report cards.
“I owe most of my passing grades in school to you. You’re beautiful and incredibly smart. So, thank you,” I say, kissing her one more time.
Next she pulls out the boutonniere I wore to prom. “I know I messed up not asking you to prom, you were obviously the one I wanted to be with, but for me, it was still one of my best memories. That was the first time we kissed and I knew at that moment that you were the one and only for me.”
The third thing in the bag is a teddy bear.
“What is this for?”
“Well, I bought it for you, to give to you, probably in middle school. But I was too embarrassed to give it to you so I never did. I was never good at telling you how I felt about you. Maybe because you meant so much. I don’t know, I was an idiot.”
We laugh together and it’s one of the more perfect moments in my life. The sky is a brilliant shade of orange as the sun begins to set. It’s cold so we’re sitting as close together as possible to share our warmth. After all of these years, I think she finally understands what she means to me.
A Devoted Heart (The Heart's Temptation Series Book 2) Page 18
