Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
By the time I landed at a field a couple of blocks away from my mother’s place, I’d learned to open my eyes in the helicopter.
My fingers were white from gripping the bottom of my seat almost the entire way.
I didn’t have Colin to distract me this time, and I doubted the very serious pilot wanted to have a chat.
Not that I wanted to distract anyone I was depending on for survival in any way whatsoever.
As I pulled my suitcase along the sidewalk, I wondered if I should have called my mother beforehand. She might easily have been at any of the neighbors’ apartments, a restaurant, or any other entertainment venue.
When I reached her apartment door, I figured I’d try knocking, but the sound of music by the pool gave me the idea I’d likely find her there.
Sure enough, no one answered the door. I slipped into the tiny plot of garden that she’d been allotted, found the stone with the built-in hide-a-key, and let myself into the apartment.
I’d felt at home there for the past few months, but today was different. I noticed she’d printed and framed new pictures. Most were of us together, but there were others of her and her new friends. My parents’ wedding photo remained front and center, just as it had in our old house.
With a loud sigh, I peeked through the back door window, where a view of the pool area revealed a group dancing around the pool. My mother’s mix of blond and silver hair shone in the sunlight, and I giggled to myself as she attempted to do a line dance.
It was a couple of hours before my mom came home. In the meantime, I helped myself to leftover lasagna and watched almost all of the Bridesmaids movie in an attempt to laugh away my problems.
“What the—! Katie! What are you doing here?” She dropped her towel and tote bag on the floor by the door and rushed over to hug me. Her wide-brimmed sun hat hit me in the eye.
“Ouch, Mom.”
She whipped it off, grabbed me by my shoulders, and tried to will me to speak with her expressive eyes. “What happened, sweetie?”
I told her most of it, leaving out the sexy bits, though I was pretty sure she’d have been happy to listen to that too. I also left out Blake and my subsequent hypothermia episode.
“Well, that’s disappointing, isn’t it? You think things are going well, and then you find out someone’s true colors. It’s good you found out now that he’s not trustworthy. He would always have put his job before you. That’s how these rich men are. Afraid of losing their money.”
I was aware all of this was meant to be comforting, but it landed wrong. My gut told me that something she said wasn’t ringing true.
I shoved these thoughts away. It was impossible for me to be with someone who’d tricked me into dating them. Even if he really had developed any real feelings for me, which he obviously hadn’t, as was clear from the way he’d vacated the island without so much as a goodbye.
It had all been a ruse. He’d finally gotten a good lead on who’d been sabotaging the agency, and his need for me was over. I’d played the part he’d cast for me. The thought made me sick, so I sat up and took a couple of deep breaths.
“I’m going to stay here for a few days, if that’s okay,” I said.
“What about work? You’re not quitting, are you? You can’t let this ruin what you’ve built.” She tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear.
“No, I’ll call in sick. I’m not quitting just yet, but it won’t hurt to see what’s available out here.”
Her smile was a mixture of love, pity, and hurt.
I checked my phone for what felt like the millionth time. No texts. No calls.
I texted Grant that I’d be out for a few days and to inform Maggie. Afterward, I turned off my phone. I had no one I wanted to talk to right then. The only irrational exception was Colin, and it would be best if I simply removed that temptation by putting my phone out of reach.
My mother and I spent a couple of days shopping, getting massages, hanging out by the pool, and playing card games with her friends. At night, though, her friends wanted to party.
“Katie, you didn’t come out last night, but I really think you should tonight. There’s a bigger group. You can come back early if you want, but something livelier might be fun for you,” she said as she went through her closet looking for her outfit for the evening.
“Mom, you don’t want me at a bar with you. What if you meet a man? You don’t want your daughter cramping your style.”
She laughed. “Oh, please. A man! I’ve met plenty of men, but every one of them is just a friend. No one could ever be half the man your father was to me.”
“You’re not lonely?” I asked.
“Lonely? Do I look lonely?”
I surveyed her room, full of mementos from nights out with friends and community parties by the pool. Cowboy hats, beaded necklaces, fedoras, funny sunglasses.
“I guess not,” I conceded.
“I’m having a great time. The only person I’m ever lonely for is your father. But there’s nothing I can do about that. When I miss him, I talk to him. He’s around, checking up on me. I’m sure he checks up on you too, sweetie.”
My throat tightened, but I tried to swallow my emotions away.
“Fine. I’ll go,” I said, afraid I’d have to admit that I was the lonely one.
“Oh, goody! Ok, you can wear that new dress we bought yesterday,” she informed me as she walked into her bathroom.
“Well, that’s settled,” I said out loud to myself. Apparently I’d be wearing the new knee-length sage-colored dress to a bar with my mom.
Had I ever been more pathetic than when I walked into the bar and half a dozen people twice my age greeted me like I was an old friend? I tried to be friendly and appreciative, but really, I should have just stayed behind to wallow.
None of the distractions of the past few days had had their intended effect.
Colin was still forefront on my mind. An image of his intense eyes would flash in my head randomly throughout the day.
A phantom kiss would play on my lips. The memory of his fingers traveling over my body was enough to give me goosebumps.
And the beautiful things he’d said to me—words that I now ached to remember because they weren’t true…
My mother tried ordering some of her favorite tropical drinks, but this wasn’t that sort of bar.
She settled on a Blue Long Island Iced Tea, which she’d probably nurse for the whole evening.
My mother wasn’t a big drinker, but she loved to be part of the crowd.
Tonight that meant drinking and, eventually, singing.
The bar opened up the mic for karaoke, and my mother’s friends quickly made a beeline for the signup sheet. I, however, abstained. I’d made enough of a fool of myself in the past week, and my goal was to finish that evening with a bit of grace.
My mother had other plans. She returned from signing up to the high-top table where I’d parked my purse (and therefore myself). And she wasn’t alone.
“This is my daughter, Katelynn, whom I was telling you about. Katie, this is Ben. He’s Roni’s nephew,” my mother said to a terrified-looking Ben and me.
“Hi,” I said with a chipper tone, hoping that might make at least one of us feel more at ease.
His eye twitched as he responded with a “Hi” of his own.
“Do you visit Roni often? I just love her,” I said. My mom backed away slowly. I saw her joining Roni, and both of them looked over our way with expectant looks.
“Not really,” Ben replied. “I mostly see her at Thanksgiving, but my girlfriend is at a work conference nearby. She’s at a dinner with some important people in her field right now.”
“Oh!” I was relieved to hear this wasn’t a setup, but then bummed out when I deduced all of my mom’s friends must be pitying me because I’d been heartbroken. “That’s cool that you got to come along with her.”
“I’ve been mostly spending time with my aunt because my girlfriend’s been so busy. Some time at the beach.” His emphasis on the word girlfriend almost made me laugh out loud. The warnings not to get any romantic ideas could not have been any clearer.
Don’t worry, buddy. I won’t be jumping into your lap.
“That’s nice. I’m here visiting my mom for a few days as I’m swearing off men for a while. But I suppose you’re safe to hang around since you’re taken.”
His newly relaxed smile had me giggling, and once I’d reassured him that I wouldn’t drag him into some dark corner and have him question the ethics of having a drink with someone who wasn’t his girlfriend, we were able to chat about the beach town, the retirement community, and our jobs.
He showed me pictures of his girlfriend and their new puppy.
As I gave a fair amount of oohs and awws over the adorable pet, the karaoke was in full swing, and it was my mother’s turn.
She had picked a song I’d grown up listening to with her. When she called me onstage to join her, I hung my head down, gave Ben a pleading look, and winced when he started clapping.
I took a deep breath and embraced the moment, jogging up to the improvised stage. My mother put her arm around me, and I slid my arm around her waist. We belted out the tune in the only way we’d ever done it—full force and no holding back.
As we got to the last verse, a figure entered the bar and made me do a double-take. Sure enough, as I got to the final high note (which I was sure I’d butchered), Grant made his way to the bar, leaned back on it, and watched as we finished.
Racing over to him after the thunderous applause and whistles, I couldn’t imagine why Grant was there.
“Hey,” he said, reaching over to grab the beer the bartender had just slid over.
“Hey? What are you doing here?”
He looked around and then fixed his eyes on me. “I’m glad to see you’ve survived your illness.”
“I needed some time to recuperate. Besides, if Maggie can disappear for a week, I can call in sick.”
“You’re going to be gone the whole week?” he asked.
“Maybe. Maybe I don’t go back.”
“Hmm. Listen, K, Colin told me you told him everything. I gave him the keys we found. He told me to back off and let him handle the rest of the investigation. What do you think?”
“I don’t think anything. Nothing to do with me anymore.” I planted my hands on my hips. “You came all the way out here to talk about that?”
“I came out here because your phone kept going to voicemail, and I was worried. After Maggie’s disappearing act, I didn’t love the pattern. But seeing you up there singing your heart out, I see all is well.” He took a long swig of his beer.
“All is not well. Now that we know Colin had nothing to do with Maggie’s disappearance, he’s probably the perfect man. But I found out he only asked me out because he suspected me of sharing company information with our competitors.”
Grant raised an eyebrow. “He told you that? That’s not what it seemed like to me when he asked me if I was in love with you.”
I almost fell to the ground. Grant jumped forward and caught me.
“Maybe you aren’t okay. Colin asked me to keep quiet about the investigation, and then came out and asked me that question. No lead-up, no follow-up after I answered.”
I’d gotten my footing back and stood on my own. “What did you say?” My heart hammered against my chest.
He leaned back against the bar again. “I told him I am not in love with you.”
I sighed with relief. I’d tried to keep Grant at arm’s length all these years, but I wasn’t entirely sure what his answer would be.
“But, K, why would he ask me that if he didn’t care about you?”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure why, but he doesn’t. He was upset because I’d been investigating him.”
“So you were both investigating each other. It’s very funny, really.”
“It’d be funny if I hadn’t fallen for him,” I said. A tear slid down my cheek before I could stop it.
Grant pulled me in and hugged me. “You both omitted a few truths. You checked each other out. Something was going on, and there is a guilty party somewhere. I think it’s only natural that we were all suspicious and questioned people who were new to us.”
“You’re making it sound so reasonable,” I laughed. I wasn’t used to hearing Grant talk so sensibly. “I can forgive him up to a certain point. But I don’t understand why he didn’t tell me before we…well, you know. Before we got intimate.”
Grant’s face clouded over, and his jaw tensed. For a second, I was skeptical of his “not in love” answer.
He seemed to wrestle with something and finally said, “You should turn your phone back on and have a conversation with him.”
A smile grew on my face, and I put a hand on my hip. “When did you become so reasonable?”
He shrugged and pretended to dust off his shoulders.
“Well,” I started, “I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but I appreciate you taking the time to come and check up on me. If you give up all the sexual harassment, we can be real friends.”
“I’ll give the innuendoes a break. I only tease you, you know,” he said, eyes twinkling.
“Oh, I know. And you’ve only been a slight annoyance. But give it a rest, will you? And delete that video of me in Maggie’s office!”
He gave me a mock salute, pulled up the video, let it play one last time, and then deleted it. Then he said, “I had better start on my drive back so I can get some rest tonight.”
“Sorry you made such a long drive for no reason.”
“It was worth it,” he said with a smile that didn’t exactly reach his eyes.
The rest of the night felt lighter. Nothing had changed, but Grant’s admission that he wasn’t harboring any romantic feelings for me was a relief, though I wasn’t sure I was convinced.
What I couldn’t stop thinking about was why Colin had asked him that. It had no bearing on the investigation. It had no bearing on our jobs. Was it possible he had true feelings for me? I didn’t want to hope because I was familiar with the experience of having your hopes cut down in an instant.
Ben and I swapped failed love stories until he got a text that his girlfriend was done with her networking event.
“Treat her right,” I warned him.
“Absolutely. She might be the one,” he said. He gave me a brief nod and left to find his aunt, who’d just finished her own rendition of I Will Survive.
Back at my mom’s, I told her I’d head home the next day. She told me she’d miss me terribly, but I saw the look of delight on her face.
The bus drop-off was just a block and a half from my apartment in the city, and I went inside, showered, and got ready to at least work half a day on Thursday.
When I walked in at noon, Monica and Jessica popped their heads up as if they’d been waiting for my arrival.
“You heard?” Monica asked.
I stood close to their desks. “Heard what?”
“Maggie was let go,” Jessica squealed, her voice shooting up an octave. “You didn’t know?” she added, eyes wide.
“I didn’t,” I admitted.
Whatever I thought I was walking back into, it wasn’t this.