CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Marcus met Kate next to their rental car. She lifted her bandaged hands and said sheepishly. “You’ll have to drive. Turns out I’m not Tarzan after all.”
Marcus grabbed her and pulled her into a tight bear hug. His stubble rasped against her cheek. He smelled like a full day of sweat. Kate hadn’t felt so happy since before her father died.
Or so brave. “We should go out to dinner,” she said.
“Hell yeah,” Marcus agreed, separating from her. “I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse’s family and save him for dessert.”
“No, I mean dinner,” she said. “Like, dinner dinner.”
He blinked. His smile faded. For a brief, world-teetering moment, she thought she had ruined their friendship, and he was about to refuse.
Then he said, “Yeah. You’re right. We should.” He took a deep breath. “Cheryl’s leaving me. She texted me this morning. She said it’s a break, and she just needs time to center herself and figure out what she wants her future to look like, but it’s going to end with her leaving me.”
Kate wasn’t sure how to reply. Her elation at hearing him accept her invitation to a date was tempered greatly by his need to tell her about Cheryl right after.
On the other hand, if what he was saying was true, then neither of them needed to feel guilty. Kate wasn’t a homewrecker. Marcus wasn’t a cheater. They were just two people who had feelings for each other and finally had the opportunity and the courage to see where those feelings might lead.
She still wasn’t sure what to say, so she said what she’d want to hear if her husband was leaving her. “I’m sorry.”
Marcus nodded slowly. “Yeah. Me too.” Another world-teetering moment, but then he said, “It’s a good thing, though. I would have spent my entire life making both of us miserable by trying to fit my square peg into her round hole.” He grimaced. “Ouch. I could not have said that more awkwardly.”
“No, you really couldn’t have,” Kate said with a laugh. “But I understand. You loved Cheryl, and you tried hard to make her happy. It just didn’t work out.”
“No,” he agreed. “She needs a different man. And she’ll find him. She’s a good woman. I hope my constant complaining about her hasn’t made you think differently.”
“No, not at all.”
Which was true. Part of what made Kate so reluctant to act on her feelings was knowing that for all her flaws, Cheryl really wasn’t a bad person. She just wasn’t right for Marcus.
“As for me?” He smiled at her. “Well, I guess I have dinner to look forward to.”
His eyes made a promise, one that filled Kate with renewed hope and joy. It appeared her feelings were reciprocated after all. “Yes,” Kate agreed. “We both do.”
They shared a moment, just standing there under the too-bright lights of the courthouse. This one was world-teetering too, but the bit of ground Kate stood on was rock-steady.
Marcus ended that moment by looking over Kate’s shoulder and saying, “Also, I wasn’t kidding about the horse and his family, and we’ve got vultures incoming.
I like you and all, but I’m not going to spend an hour and forty-five talking to reporters, so I’m going to go get dinner.
If you want some food that isn’t part of a date, you should come with me. ”
Kate laughed. Her stomach growled, and it occurred to her that she’d eaten like crap the past few days. What else was new?
“I would love to eat,” she replied. “Anything but horse, though.”
“Well, I’ll drop you off somewhere on the way then. I’ve really got my heart set on caballo.”
He led her to the car while emergency responders busied themselves with the tedium of smoothing out the ripples after the rock dropped into the river. Kate’s river still had rapids ahead, but for the first time in a while, everything was smooth sailing.