Chapter 29 – Catalina #3
I laugh, the sound sharp and surprising, even to me.
“Right? He did it on purpose. I just know he did. The whole hospital knew I was taking a break from being on full time staff to work for the Series. It’s just like him to assert himself there to make some kind of point with one of my athletes.
It’s almost like he knew I had feelings for Jensen, too. ”
“You’ll never be able to prove it,” she says, not missing a beat. “But I believe you. He’s a worm. Maybe he could sense Jensen’s feeling for you, and got jealous?”
I drag my tongue across my teeth, tasting red wine and bitterness. Maybe.
“It’s like he just… needed to prove that no matter what I do, or how far I go, he’s still better.”
“When he’s absolutely not,” Dani adds immediately.
I huff a breath. “I don’t even care about that anymore. It was never about being better than him.”
She nods slowly. “I know. But it was always about that for him. Hard to live with a man who secretly hates you.”
That lands square in my chest because it’s something I always suspected. If Davis didn’t hate me, he certainly resented me over the last few years. You don’t cheat on your fiancée without feeling some sort of dislike.
“So,” she says gently, changing tack. “You like Jensen, then? Like, like him?”
I twist my mouth to the side. “Do you think I’m crazy for finding his whole personality wildly attractive?”
Her smile softens. “You’re asking the woman who married small-town America’s ‘Most Eligible Cowboy Bachelor’ last month.”
I snort because yes—Lawson absolutely won that ridiculous title before Dani ever dated him. To be fair, he’s not a cowboy, but he looks like one. He’s a chicken farmer who runs the marketing and sales division in denim and a hat.
“I mean,” she continues, grinning, “I get the appeal. The whole rough and untamed thing is hot. And Jensen’s definitely got it. That man is huge. How was it?”
I squeeze my eyes shut and laugh. It’s lighter this time. “It was incredible.”
She hums softly.
“What is wrong with him? He apologized, and I was so rude to him instead of explaining why I was so upset like an adult. I should have been mature and told him who Davis is. And despite all that, he’s still thinking about me. He painted his nails to match me…”
“He what?”
“… And he came here tonight when he should be in Charlotte. And now he’s out there looking…”
“Feral for you?” Dani finishes my sentence.
I nod and throw up my hands. “Yes! Most men would give up and think I’m too much work.”
She snorts. “That’s what it’s like being with a blue-collar guy. Honestly, our parents did us a disservice raising us in California. These farmers and cowboys?” She shakes her head. “Relentless once they’ve decided they want a woman. They’re something else.” She drops her head.
“Catalina, Lawson never gets tired. You can’t wear the guy out. And he’s older than me by almost a decade! I swear he’s come five times in a night!”
I laugh again, and Dani beams at me. “See? That looks good on you. Laughter.” Then she sobers slightly.
“Can we put the whole Jensen thing on hold for a minute? We’ll make a plan for how you’re going to apologize to him, and have a real, honest discussion soon.
More importantly, I heard about the surgery. You’re going back to San Jose?”
I nod. “After the ride tomorrow night.”
“Good,” she says firmly. “Finish that. You don’t have to have your entire future figured out right now. Handle the surgery and then we’ll go from there.”
I let out a slow breath. “You’re right.”
She loops her arm through mine turning us back toward the restaurant.
"Okay." She pulls back just enough to look at me.
"Here's what we're going to do. We're going back in there, and we're going to have a good night.
You're going to ignore the tension between you and Jensen—yes, everyone can see it; no, no one is going to say anything even though it’s thicker than butter—and you're going to be present.
With family. That's all tonight has to be. "
She tucks a curl behind my ear affectionately.
"Tomorrow there's the semi-finals. Hayes, Lawson, Regan and I will all be in Charlotte watching you work.
Then there's Olivia's surgery, and that little girl needs the best version of you to show up in the OR.
The one who doesn't second-guess herself, the one I know is still in there underneath all of this.
" She gives my arms a small squeeze. "So that's the list. Tonight. The semis. Olivia. In that order."
"And Jensen?"
She gives me a look that says she knows I like him more than I’ve let on.
"I think you've already forgiven him. I think you knew that before you even finished telling me the story." She shrugs simply. "Tell him that. But forgiving him and deciding what comes next are two different conversations, and you don't have to have the second one tonight."
I breathe out slowly. Nod. Because broken down like that—tonight, the semis, Olivia’s redo surgery—it's just a list. And I know how to work a list. I can get through a checklist flawlessly.
The rest I'll figure out when I get there.