25. Catherine
Chapter twenty-five
Catherine
I almost snorted at the insinuation that Noah just wanted to talk. He had wanted to talk last night, and it had ended in my heart practically shattering when Tiffany cut into our dance. Why did he think that I would open myself up again to that kind of hurt?
“Shouldn’t you be getting ready to star gaze with Tiffany?” I asked, though I could hear the bitterness I had tried to keep out of my voice.
Maybe Noah couldn’t hear it. However, I figured he could when I saw the light leave his eyes for a moment. Just a moment, though, because as soon as he realized what I was waiting for, it returned.
“She’s gone. She got a lift to the airport this morning, and she’s going home,” he said. “Mom put her up rather than make her sleep on the floor at the airport. But I’d like to explain what happened if you’ll just give me a chance.”
I pursed my lips. This didn’t feel right to me. Why would she come to see Noah if she only needed a place to stay overnight? There were hotels in Indigo Lake, and I didn’t think the town was that much of a must-see this time of year for the rooms to be all sold out.
Then again, we had been lucky to find a room at the bed and breakfast for the night. Perhaps she had tried to get a room at the hotel first.
“Why don’t you come stargaze with me? For at least a little while?” Noah asked.
“I suppose that’s possible…” I said reluctantly. “Especially now that Tiffany’s not here. But you owe me that explanation.”
We walked outside, but to get to the beach, we had to take a short drive. It didn’t take long, despite my heart thumping with each minute we were in his truck together. Upon arriving at the beach, we found that about half of the people had just walked from the church building down the walkway. Noah must have had an idea of where he was going to take me.
He parked in the lot. All the benches were taken, so he laid a blanket on the walkway, as others had done. He draped another over us when we sat down.
“What happened with Tiffany?”
I couldn’t keep the curiosity in any longer. I had to know what had happened. If there was any salvaging of what we might have had, I expected him to be open, honest, and realistic about what had happened between him and Tiffany.
“Tiffany got stranded. That much was real,” Noah started. “But she called Mary to find out where I would be while she was in town. When she heard I would be at the dance, I suppose she figured it would be the best way to corner me into talking to her. That’s exactly what happened. Catherine, she was a rebound after Rose and I broke up.”
I pursed my lips again. If she was a rebound, why was she so stuck on him? Did she not realize that she was just the rebound from a longer relationship that he had been in?
“And her way of introducing herself to me?” I asked.
“She was hoping to talk me into getting back together with her,” Noah responded. “That was why she said it that way and why she cut in how she did, I think. I didn’t ask her. I didn’t want to know, honestly. But I can promise you that I never had any intention of taking her back.”
This caught me off-guard. How could he be so sure that he had no intention of taking her back? From what I had seen of her, she may not have appreciated him as much as anyone else could have if she was so willing to embarrass him on the dance floor like that, but she certainly had personality in spades. And he had once told me, years ago, that he liked a woman with a bold personality.
“And, how can you say that so surely?” I asked. “There’s a lot that could happen in life, Noah. What if you regret that choice?”
He took my hand, and though my instinct was to pull away, something about his touch reassured me that I didn’t need to. He looked surprised that I didn’t pull away. In all honesty, so was I. But I was curious to hear his response.
“Catherine, I will never regret letting Tiffany go because I would regret letting you go again so much more,” he started. “Over the time we’ve been home together this Christmas, I’ve realized that my feelings for you in high school haven’t gone away. They’ve matured and grown with me. I love you, Catherine St. James.”
My heart leaped, and a bright blush started on my cheeks. My first instinct was to look up at the stars, which we were supposed to be doing, but I couldn’t pull myself away from his eyes. In high school, I was able to figure out when he was being sincere by simply looking into his eyes. They had a shine to them that wouldn’t show if he was trying to hide something or if he was being insincere about his reasons. That was how I had caught him trying to surprise me many times.
It seemed the rule still held; there was still a shine in his eyes. He was as sincere as he could be with me. Confirming it only made my blush brighter and hotter.
“Catherine? Are you all right?”
I nodded.
“Yeah. Just… a little in shock.”
I pulled my hand away and lay down on the blanket, now looking up at the stars.
“Shock? Why so?”
He lay down beside me.
“In all our talks while we’ve been home together this year, I never imagined you would say that to me. That you love me. It reminds me of high school. We used to say that all the time.”
I didn’t know what else to say. There were a thousand different feelings rushing around my head right now. I wanted to tell him that I loved him, but I didn’t know that I would feel comfortable saying it now that he was saying it so soon after everything that had happened with Tiffany. I wanted to know for sure that he wasn’t saying it just to keep his options open, to know that he hadn’t said the same thing to Tiffany.
He had been on the porch with her, after all, earlier this morning.
“Oh. I see.” Noah didn’t seem too interested in pressing me for more details. “If you want to try and make our relationship work, I’m willing to do anything, Catherine. If that means I have to navigate the time difference, then I’ll navigate the time difference. If it means that you want me to visit California, I can do that. Just give me some inkling of what I need to do.”
I was about to tell him I wasn’t sure what I needed from him when I noticed that my family was packing up to leave. Chris had already gotten into the car and was driving away. My parents were packing into the truck. They simply motioned for me to come over.
“I-I… I’m sorry, Noah, but this deserves more time than I have. I have to go,” I said. “Thank you for at least clearing the air with what happened between you and Tiffany.”
I started to stand up. He helped me, and then walked me to the truck.
“I understand. Have a good Christmas Eve, Catherine.”
Before he left, he pressed a kiss to my cheek. The blush on my cheeks got even hotter as he walked away without another word. I simply got up into the truck. My parents started to drive out of the parking lot. Then, I noticed that it wasn’t just my family leaving; there were clouds in the sky. It looked as if more snow was coming, and most of the people were getting ready to leave.
“That was sweet of Noah to do,” Mom said. “Walking you to the truck with a kiss on the cheek. Didn’t he use to do that when you were dating in high school?”
“Yeah. Yeah, he did.”
I was quiet for the rest of the ride home. Though I had initially planned to ride home with Chris, maybe it was better that I was with my parents. They didn’t seem to want to press the issue. Chris, on the other hand, would’ve wanted to know everything he could about what I was doing with Noah West and whether or not Noah had a woman on the side.
I would never be the reason a couple broke up. I hoped. But that was possibly what Chris would think if I told him about what had happened last night before I could preface it with the fact that Noah had done his best to get her out of his life as soon as possible. He hadn’t even told me where she had slept in his parents’ house, but I gathered from how he spoke of her that he had insisted she sleep in a guest room.
They had a guest room. That much, I remembered clearly. When he brought friends home, they had slept in there.
We arrived home shortly thereafter, and I walked inside. I did glance over at the West’s driveway. We had beaten Noah and his family home. That gave me a little hope that I would be able to go to bed without any interference.
Once inside, I found Chris in the living room.
“Took you long enough. What were you talking about with Noah?” He asked. “Don’t pretend like you weren’t blushing like a rising sun. I could see it under that streetlight.”
“We were straightening out a misunderstanding,” I said. “Chris, I’m not in the mood to be interrogated. Besides, aren’t you exhausted from how much traveling you’ve done?”
Chris shrugged.
“I had a single, three-hour layover. I’m fine,” he said, waving his hand. “Besides, I’m used to getting up that early. Have to for my job. I’ll be ready for bed in about an hour. Can almost guarantee it with the time difference.”
I nodded slowly.
“Well, in the meantime, why don’t we play a game?” Mom suggested as she walked into the living room.
We played cards for an hour, not really keeping score. Once Chris was ready to head to bed, I realized it was almost midnight. It was probably time for all of us to go to bed.
***
The next morning, I woke up to find that it had indeed snowed. There was a fresh layer of puffy, sparkling snow on the window ledge.
I headed downstairs and found a note waiting on the entryway table. It was addressed to me. Out of curiosity, I picked it up.
Please meet me out in the treehouse this morning. I need to talk to you, Catherine. -Noah