No Time for Apologies (The No Brides Club Book 5)

by Jean C. Gordon

  Jon saw her eyes widen. Yep, watch her anytime, all the time, and never be bored.

  “Yes!” Kate fist pumped, phone in hand. She grabbed his arm with her other hand and squeezed. “I’ve been pre-approved for the mortgage on the apartment.”

  “Congratulations!”

  When she released his arm and he slid it across the back of her seat and squeezed her shoulder. “We have more to celebrate this weekend.”

  Kate grinned and let him keep his arm around her.

  Jon relaxed back in his seat and allowed the rhythm of the train to lull him. He shouldn’t have let Anthony’s actions and words this morning get to him and clutter his mind with garbage.

  He glanced at Kate texting the broker back. It was going to be a great weekend.

  Chapter 11

  The June sunlight through the kitchen window was almost blinding. No hint of the possible rain showers in the morning that had been forecast yesterday. Jon took a carton of eggs and a package of bacon out of the refrigerator. He’d been up at the crack of dawn, moved the cattle to today’s grazing area, and checked his email, both work and personal, and still no sounds of anyone else being awake. A door opened and closed in the hallway, followed by another door opening and closing.

  Someone was up. Jon reached into the cupboard for a mixing bowl, but waited on the scrambled eggs and bacon he’d been about to start. Maybe Kate didn’t like bacon and eggs. His grandfather had made her pancakes. He sipped his coffee.

  “Hi.” Kate stood in the kitchen doorway, dressed in jeans and a light blue t-shirt with some kind of lacy stuff around the front neckline. Her hair was down, loose around her shoulders, the way he liked it best.

  “Good morning. I was about to make scrambled eggs and bacon. That is if you like scrambled eggs.” He held his breath as if it really mattered whether she liked scrambled eggs or not and quickly released it when he felt stupid—not a feeling he was accustomed to, except when he was around Kate. “We have English muffins and bread for toast, too.”

  “Scrambled eggs and bacon sound great. I’ll grab a cup of coffee.”

  He stood still as she moved to squeeze between him and the table, remembering his somewhat tortuous subway ride with Kate so close in front of him. Once she’d passed by, Jon began cracking eggs into the bowl.

  “Can you hand me the half and half?” he asked when she finished fixing her coffee. Their fingers touched, shooting a tingle up his arm. In reaction, he grasped the carton until it began to crush in his hand. “If you want toast or a muffin, they’re in the bread box next to the coffee maker.”

  He relaxed as she moved a couple feet away from him and opened the bread box. Jon poured some half and half in the bowl and whipped the eggs harder than necessary with the fork. He had to man-up and stop reverting to his teenage self every time Kate got closer than a foot away from him.

  “What’s going on here?” his grandfather’s voice boomed from the doorway.

  Jon tensed. Grandpa couldn’t have been reading his mind, could he? Jon wouldn’t put anything past the old guy. He followed his grandfather’s gaze to Kate putting a muffin in the toaster next to the bread box.

  “You’re our guest, Kate. Jon shouldn’t be putting you to work.”

  Jon relaxed, stopped beating the eggs, and poured the mixture into the frying pan.

  “It’s no problem,” Kate said.

  Jon opened the bacon and turned on the stovetop griddle.

  His grandfather walked over. “You should put that bacon in the broiler. Dottie said it crisps up nicer and the excess fat drains off.”

  Jon bit back a smile, opened the broiler door of the stove and pulled out the broiler pan. “Well, if Dottie says so.” He began laying the bacon out on the pan.

  His grandfather crossed the room to the coffee maker. “Good thing you were up early. We’re going to have to leave at 7:50, instead of eight.”

  “Why’s that?” Jon asked.

  “We have to swing by and pick up Dottie. She wants to see the parade, and she couldn’t talk anyone in her family into going. No sense in her driving to Hudson by herself. I offered to take her.”

  His grandfather turned toward the coffeemaker to pour a cup and Jon caught Kate’s gaze over the older man’s bent head. “So like a double date,” Jon said.

  She grinned. He grinned back, warmed that he and Kate were on the same wavelength.

  “No,” his grandfather sputtered. “Like being neighborly. Shouldn’t you be getting that bacon in the broiler?”

  “On it,” Jon said, while Kate covered her mouth with her hand. She couldn’t disguise the laughter in her eyes, though.

  Two hours later, the four of them were seated in lawn chairs beside the street in Hudson near the end of the parade route. Jon had set his and Kate’s chairs up with the arms touching, so that when they sat, her right arm rested against his.

  “The parade’s coming.” Kate scooted forward in her chair and looked up the street. “I can hear the music.”

  Jon strained his ears and followed her gaze up the empty street.

  “There.” She pointed.

  Jon slid his arm over onto the edge of her chair’s armrest, palm up.

  “See.”

  Jon spotted the colors of the parade’s front banner. “I do now.”

  Kate grabbed for the front edge of the arm rest to slide back in her chair and he curled his fingers through hers.

  She squeezed his hand. Mission accomplished.

  The parade was in full view, coming up on them quickly. The local volunteer fire departments, high school bands, drum and bugle corps, veterans, little league ballplayers, girl and boy scouts, and local politicos marched by.

  “Listen,” Kate said. “There’s a bagpipe band coming. I love the sound of bagpipes. I’ve thought of learning how to play, like I have enough free time for lessons and practicing. Maybe someday.” Her voice trailed off.

  If only he could show Kate she could have a lot more in her life than work. Of course, it had taken almost losing is grandfather for him to see that.

  “Know what this reminds me of?” she asked.

  “No, tell me.”

  “The Fire Department Parade and Carnival in Genesee.” Kate turned to Jon’s grandfather and Dottie. “There are two parades, actually. The first night to open the carnival, there’s one like this one with volunteer fire companies from all over Western New York. The other is the second night with floats made by organizations and kids’ groups that are judged. Awards are given out at a ceremony afterwards. And there’s carnival rides and games for all ages.” She glanced over at Jon. “You remember.”

  She didn’t wait for an answer, but dove back into her explanation for his grandfather and Dottie. “One year, when my brother and I were crazy about dinosaurs and cavemen, we got some friends together, pooled all our money for the entry fee, and made a caveman float. We got second place for our age group.” She ended with a flourish.

  Watching Kates’s gestures and enthusiasm took the sting out of his non-answer to her you remember. He didn’t remember. He’d never been. When he was young, things like that were too crowded, noisy, and dirty for his parents. Besides, they were probably working. He couldn’t remember anyone ever inviting him as a teen.

  “I hope you’re not disappointed by our Flag Day celebration,” his grandfather said. “We don’t have much in the way of rides and carnival games.”

  “But there’s all kinds of food and crafts, and local businesses and organizations have booths. Not to mention a picturesque walking path along the riverfront, and if you want to stay that late, fireworks over the river at dusk. They put on a great show.” Jon snapped his mouth shut. He’d sounded like a cross between the celebration’s PR committee and a ten-year-old boy focused on food and fireworks.

  “I’m sure I’ll enjoy myself. Half the fun of these things is the people you’re with, and I can’t imagine a better group.” She squeezed his hand.

  He took the squeeze as a sign that
she didn’t think he was a babbling idiot. If he’d relax and let himself, he expected he’d have a good time, too. Beautiful day. A beautiful woman with him. No work pressures or demands or worries about his and Kate’s coworkers seeing them together, not having to hide his feelings in front of others. Today was just what he and Kate needed.

  Kate had been so comfortable sitting hand in hand with Jon that she hated to get up after the last of the parade passed by them. Living in the city for so long, she’d almost forgotten some of the simple small-town things she’d liked about Genesee. In a way, Jon had the best of both worlds here. He could easily get to things in the city and have the relaxing bucolic atmosphere of rural living when he was home. Although the train ride getting up here yesterday had seemed long, she could almost see herself making the commute. She shook the thought from her head. What was she thinking? She was about to buy her Tribeca apartment.

  “If you’re not ready for lunch then …” Jon started.

  “What?”

  “I asked if you wanted to get lunch or walk around some first and you shook your head.”

  “I was lost in thought. Why don’t we look around first, see what’s here, what booths we want to check out after lunch?”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Jon rose and tugged Kate to her feet with his still entwined hand. He was so close. She raised her head. Close enough to kiss her. And unlike at the Briarwood, there wasn’t anyone from work to see them. She leaned closer as if drawn by a magnetic force. Jon bent his head.

  “Dottie and I are going to catch up with the guys at the VFW booth,” his grandfather said.

  Kate and Jon jumped apart. No co-workers, but there was Pete.

  “You can take our chairs back to the car with yours, and we’ll connect with you later.”

  “Copy that,” Jon said.

  When Pete and Dottie were out of hearing range, Kate asked, “Did he do that on purpose?”

  “Probably.” Jon leaned over and gave her a lingering peck on the lips before gathering and folding the four chairs. Just as the zing of his surprise kiss was winding down, he wrapped his free hand around hers sending her nerve endings back into overdrive.

  A warm flood of contentment, infused her. If she didn’t watch it, she’d be purring like a cat.

  As if her musing was a trigger, the first booth they approached was the Columbia-Greene Humane Society’s.

  “Look, kittens!” Kate tugged Jon toward the Society’s tables of cages. “Let’s look at them first, before we do our walk around to see what else is here.”

  “Sure.” The corners of his mouth curved up.

  “It’s an adoption clinic,” she said. Stopping in front of the cages with cats, Kate realized she still held Jon’s hand. She loosened her grip and he tightened his. Okay. She left her hand where it was and smiled over her shoulder at Jon, catching him inches away, studying her. Kate cleared her dry throat. “Do you and Pete have a cat? I didn’t notice when I was at the house.”

  “We did.” Jon similarly cleared his throat and her heart skipped a beat.

  Either there was something going around causing dry throats, or their closeness was affecting Jon like it was affecting her.

  “Our cat died a few months ago,” he said. She was Grandma’s, lived to be 17.”

  “Living in the country, we always had a cat or two to keep the house mouse-free when I was growing up.” Kate stuck her finger in the cage and waited for one of the kittens to come over so she could pet its nose. “They’re so cute. You should get one.”

  “What about you?”

  Jon’s breath ticked her ear, making her shiver despite the warm summer air.

  “You said your building allows pets”

  Kate looked at the kittens wistfully.

  “Hi, are you interested in a kitten?”

  Kate pulled her gaze from the now-wrestling kittens and focused on the woman with a volunteer badge standing on the other side of the table. “They are adorable. But they’re babies. I wouldn’t feel right leaving one home alone all day while I work.” She looked back at Jon as if needing him to justify her not giving in to her longing to take one of the kittens. “You know my hours,”

  Instead of backing her up, he reached around her and wiggled his finger in the cage. One of the kittens tried to pounce on it. “I don’t know. This guy is pretty brave. He might be okay on his own during the day.”

  She shot him a thanks a lot look, as her opposition began to crumble.

  “How about an older cat? We have several.” The volunteer moved down the table to a pair of cages.

  “Check them out. You know you want to.” Jon stepped back so she could move down the table without bumping into him.

  Even though he was exasperating her with his prodding, she had to admit she did want to check out the cats. It would be nice to have something to come home to. But not as nice as having someone to come home to. Her stomach flip-flopped at her next thought of that someone being Jon, of coming home to him and one of the kittens, or a pair of kittens.

  She moved down the table to clear her mind before she did anything she’d regret later.

  The volunteer held an orange tiger cat in her arms. “This sweetie is one of a sister pair whose owner had to give them up when she was transferred to the UK for work.” She lifted the cat toward Kate. “Want to hold her?”

  Of course, she did. But would she want to hand her back?

  “Go for it.” Jon said.

  She did, reaching forward if only to put some distance between her and Jon, who stood uncomfortably close behind her again. Uncomfortably in a good way. A way that lifted her heart and made her want to smile, in addition to heightening all of her senses.

  “This girl’s name is Scarlet. She and her sister are used to being alone during the work day,” the volunteer said.

  The cat cuddled into her arms and she nuzzled the animal’s soft fur.

  Jon reached over her shoulder to pet the cat, too. His finger grazed Kate’s cheek, the roughness of his working man hands contrasting with the cat’s soft fur.

  “Would you like to hold her sister Crimson?” The volunteer lifted an identical cat from the cage.

  “You know you do,” Kate teased.

  Jon reached over and lifted the cat from the volunteer, putting some breathing room between the two of them. “So, Scarlet and Crimson?”

  “That’s right. If possible, we’d like to keep the two cats together.” The volunteer glanced from Kate and the cat she held to Jon and the cat in his arms, a glint of question in her gaze.

  “Oh, we’re not together,” Kate stuttered. “I mean we don’t live together.” Her mind flew back to her earlier thought of coming home to Jon before darting to wondering why she’d blurted their living arrangements. “We …” Where was that invisible support she’d felt from Jon before?

  He chuckled, stopping her mental stumble, redirecting it to irritation.

  “I think if we each adopted one of these beauties, we could manage to get them together regularly.”

  Kate’s irritation melted away. Jon spoke as if they were already a done deal, not just exploring whether they’d work as a couple. While as an independent career woman, she should object to Jon moving them forward like that, somehow she didn’t.

  “We won’t be leaving for quite awhile,” Jon said, “so we can’t take them now.”

  “You each need to fill out an application first, anyway, and we need to review them,” the volunteer said.

  Jon and Kate handed the cats back, filled out the pet adoption applications and gave them to the volunteer.

  “Be sure to stop back before five,” she said. “We’ll be starting to take everything down then.”

  Kate spent the afternoon pleasantly on pins and needles that she wanted to attribute to the anticipation of her new pet, but more likely was due to Jon keeping her hand firmly in his or his arm protectively around her shoulders as they visited every booth at the celebration. At 4:45, they headed
back to the Humane Society booth.

  “Here you are,” the volunteer greeted them. “Everything is set. I just need you to sign our pet adoption agreement and make your donation. Take a minute to read it.”

  Kate skimmed down the paper and signed at the bottom. She dug in her purse for her checkbook, looking up to see Jon hand over his credit card.

  “For both.”

  When Kate opened her mouth to protest, Jon placed his index finger over her lips. He took his time removing it, stilling her outside and inciting turmoil inside.

  “You can cover dinner,” he said.

  That warmed her almost as much as his touch had.

  The volunteer took their agreements and Jon’s card and returned with two cat carriers.

  Kate leaned over and peeked in the carriers. She straightened and smiled. Before she could tell him they’d have to do takeout for dinner because they couldn’t leave the cats in the car, Jon lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers. Everything but Jon’s touch, his solidness to her softness, zapped from her mind, as if there was nothing in the world but him, the warm sunshine on them and the fire inside her.

  After he’d broken the kiss and she’d recovered her ability to breathe, she asked “What was that for?”

  “Because I wanted to.” Jon lifted one of the cat carriers.

  Still dazed, Kate reached for the other cat carrier and a caught a motion out of the corner of her eye. A man staring at them. A man that her quick glance said was familiar, but who turned before she could identify him.

  Her stomach knotted in a fear she couldn’t identify.

  Jon couldn’t tell if he was relieved or irritated that his grandfather and Dottie caught up with him and Kate as they were leaving the Humane Society booth. Their kiss had rocked him to his foundation and added fuel to the argument that he was falling for Kate—hard. Falling in a way far beyond the torch he carried for her in high school. Beyond anything he’d experienced as an adult. But the way Kate had gone from the woman who’d seemed to melt into his kiss to the tense distant person walking beside him had rocked him, too, and not in a good way. He wanted to talk with her privately, but feared what she might say,