4. Chapter 3 Katrina
N ovember and December 2023
“Hello, ladies,” Liam greets, sliding into the empty chair across from me. “Mind if I join you?”
“Can we say no if you’re already sitting down?” Nadine teases, earning a playful glare from him. “Don’t look at me like that! I can still be a jerk if you want me to.”
“You a jerk? Never.”
As their playful banter continues, I watch with a small smile on my face. They don’t need me to participate. The two of them have been heading toward something since they first met. Neither of them is willing to make the first move. For now, I get to enjoy watching it all unfold. I don’t intervene, confident that one day they’ll figure it out on their own.
We might have to wait a lifetime for it to happen, though.
“We’re finalizing the plans for the Columbia project next week.” Liam pulls me back into the conversation moments later, unwrapping his burrito as he does. “Then everything should be good on my end, until something inevitably comes up.”
I don’t even try to hide my surprise. “Wow, that was fast. Did they not want to make a lot of changes?”
In all actuality, it’s not that surprising. How many ways can you change designs for a swimming complex? Besides, Liam is damn good at his job. I’d be more surprised if they did have a lot.
“Not too many,” he admits. “Some things we had to compromise functionality over design on, but I’m used to that happening.”
I make a face at the mention of my least favorite aspect of the job. There’s nothing worse than having a beautiful design torn to shreds because the structure of the building won’t allow it to happen. Usually, I’m the one giving Liam news like that. It’s kind of nice not to be the bad guy this time around.
“Wow, and I haven’t even gotten in there yet.” It’s my turn to tease him as I stab at my salad with my fork. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just his burrito looks—and smells—better. “Just wait until that happens.”
Groaning, he turns to Nadine. “Do you see what she does to me? Kat loves to ruin my best plans. I’ll never forget the first time we worked together. She was in there for one day and I had to change my whole design.”
I gasp, pointing at him with my fork. “That is not my fault! You didn’t even attempt to see if that was load bearing, and it clearly was. It was the first thing I noticed when I walked in the door. After that, everything else unraveled.”
Nadine grins, looking between us. “To me, it sounds like Kat is good at her job.”
I beam at her. “Thank you!”
Liam playfully rolls his eyes. “I should have known you’d take her side.”
“Women need to stick together!” She nudges me with her elbow, and I nod in agreement. “Especially in a men’s club like this.”
He shakes his head. “Do not lump me in with those assholes, please.” He knows neither one of us ever would. He’s nothing like the rest of the guys who work here. Which should be obvious because he’s eating with us, not with them. “In all seriousness, Kat, their changes aren’t that big of a deal and have more to do with their functionality than the buildings. Which is probably a good thing, because we’re kind of out of our element here, right?”
Still picking at my salad, I frown at him. “How do you mean?”
“Neither one of us knows what to do with a pool! I have no idea what a training center ran by professional swimmers needs. Sure, I can do research, but it’s not the same thing as actually knowing.”
I look at him like he’s crazy. “What are you talking about? You’ve worked on sports complexes before.”
“Baseball stadiums and football fields, not a pool,” he argues.
“All they need is a pool, and you already said that.” I wave him off. “The rest is detail. Right, Nadine?”
“Actually, there are a lot of things a well-equipped natatorium would need that you might not be thinking of.”
Her tone is so quiet, so reserved, that I’m not sure I even heard anything she said, but then the realization dawns on me that she knows something about this sport. At least, something more than both Liam and I combined. He and I exchange a look of surprise. Then I focus back on Nadine, who’s focused on her lunch.
“What are we missing, Nadine?” I press, wanting whatever wisdom she can offer us.
“And how do you know anything about this?” Liam adds, his surprise more evident in his tone than mine. “Are you a swimming fan or something?”
Looking up, she looks between the two of us and nods. “I used to swim in high school and college. I do some volunteer coaching and lessons at the community center downtown.”
When I look back at Liam, I can see it clear as day. The incoming insult, meant to be a joke, is visible on his face before it can come tumbling out of his mouth. I try to catch his eye, clear my throat—anything to stop him before he makes a huge mistake.
But it’s too late.
His brow arches as he takes in her body, looking her up and down as if he is seeing her for the first time. “You used to swim? What happened?”
I kick him in the shin, ensuring the slight heel of my bootie is the thing making impact from under the table. He hisses, glaring at me.
“Damn, Kat,” he whines, bending down to rub his leg. “What the hell was that for?”
I nod to Nadine, but the damage has already been done. In the time it took me to kick him, she’s stood and gathered all her stuff. Her head is ducked, but I can see the heat coating her cheeks. Realization dawns on Liam’s features as he stands, attempting to stop her. She barely looks at him as she takes a step to the side and walks back toward her desk.
Leaning back in my seat with my arms crossed over my chest as I glare at the only good guy in this whole damn building.
His shoulders sag as he takes his seat again. “Kat, please don’t. I know, okay, and I’m sorry.”
“I’m not the person you should be apologizing to.” My tone is icy, my view of Liam changing right before my eyes. “Fatphobia isn’t funny, and it’s not cute.”
He looks like he’s ready to make an excuse or say something to argue with me, but he doesn’t. “I know,” he sighs out instead. “And I know I owe her an apology. I promise I’ll make it up to her.”
“If she lets you,” I challenge back, standing to gather my things. “You were supposed to be the one who’s different, Liam.”
“I am! I messed up,” he pleads. “Are you seriously that mad at me, Kat?”
I shake my head. “Not mad, disappointed.”
I’m disappointed in the way I am when people turn out to be something other than what I thought them to be. Disappointed to know my friend was crushing on a man who could make cruel jokes. I don’t want her in a relationship like that, don’t want her in a relationship like the one I have. I can handle mine, because I’ve developed thick skin, but I never want her to have to do that.
“You know, it’s really not that hard to not be a dick,” I tell him. “You’ve done such a good job up until now.”
“I’m going to make this up to her—prove to you both that I’m not that kind of guy,” he insists. “I made a mistake.”
I shrug. “Mistakes have consequences, Liam, and now you have to face them.”
T here’s soft music playing as I stand at the stove, focusing on the chicken breasts I’m searing in the pan. My boyfriend, Will, sits at the island, reading something on his phone. He hasn’t said much since he got to my apartment, except asking when dinner will be ready. I’d barely been home for five minutes when he walked in asking the question, so my response had been a little snippy. I should have known it’d cause him to go quiet.
In less than two months, I’ll be heading to Columbia for the next six months and I haven’t told him yet. I know him well enough to know he’s going to be mad. Angry about how I made the decision without talking to him, but we haven’t seen much of each other in the last few weeks, so I’m not sure when I would have had time to say anything.
Besides, it’s not like I’m going to a different state. Columbia is less than two hours away from Charleston, which is an easy distance to visit each other. Although, I have the feeling I’ll be the one making the drive the most often, as Will’s job as a resident at the best hospital in the city keeps him occupied. It’s not like I’m moving away. I’ll still have my tiny guest house on the back half of Thomas and my mom’s lot, and he’ll still have his apartment.
We could do long distance. Hell, sometimes I feel like most of our relationship has been long distance, despite living in the same city. We’ve never been the couple who constantly need to be around one another.
“I have some news I want to share with you!” The smile on my face is as big as it can be when I glance over at Will, who doesn’t give a single indication he’s heard me. “Hello? Earth to Will?”
At my raised voice, his gaze snaps up from the phone with a scowl. “Yes, Katrina? I was reading something.”
Every fiber of my being is itching to start a fight with him, but I resist and keep on smiling. “And I’m trying to have a date night with you. Couples usually use this time to talk and catch up with life.”
“Don’t be a petulant child.” He, surprisingly, puts his phone down to give me his full attention. “What is it you want to tell me?”
I’m more used to his condescending remarks than I should be, but they still sting. He uses them all the time, almost like they’re his love language. Every time he says one, I hear the old cliché about how if a boy is mean to you, it’s because he likes you. Will obviously likes me. We’ve been together for two years, but I was hoping he’d eventually stop talking to me this way.
“Thomas has given me a new project to oversee,” I explain, turning the temperature down on the chicken. “And it’s a big one this time. It’ll take several months.”
Now I have his undivided attention. “Yeah? What is it?”
“A natatorium.” The word, which I didn’t even know existed until a couple of weeks ago, still feels weird on my tongue, making it painfully obvious I don’t know what I’m talking about. “You used to swim in college, right?”
“I had a scholarship.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal. Which is fine, because maybe it’s not a big deal to get a scholarship for swimming. I don’t know anything about the sport. It’s not something Will keeps up with, at least not to my knowledge, and I only found out about it because I came across a medal while cleaning. “Who’s the design lead on the project?”
“Liam.” The scowl is back, and I sigh. “I don’t understand what your problem with him is. He’s only ever been nice to you and he’s literally the only decent guy I work with.”
“He’s too invested in you and hasn’t gotten the hint to back off.”
The notion that Will feels threatened by Liam is laughable to me. Especially because he’s clearly into Nadine, if he can get his foot out of his mouth and make it up to her.
“That’s ridiculous. He’s not into me or anything like that, trust me. We work together, and we do it well. He’ll finish the design aspect and I’ll be in Columbia to oversee the project.”
“How long will you be in Columbia?”
“They gave us seven months, but we’d ideally like it to be six,” I say.
“You’ll be building as the Olympics are happening?” Will asks. I shrug because I guess. I’m not even sure when the Olympics are. I just know they’re sometime soon. “Do you know who’s opening the natatorium? They must not be competing now.”
“Apparently they’re both Olympians,” I explain, flipping one of the chicken breasts in the pan. “One of them, Bryce, is retired. The other one, Carter, is going to Paris, or something.”
“It won’t be guaranteed until June.” I’m not sure what Will means by that, exactly, but he’s interested in what I’m saying now. “Are you talking about Bryce Clark and Carter Abrams?”
My jaw drops open. Do all swimmers know each other? “Wait, are you friends with Olympians?”
He rolls his eyes like I’d asked something ridiculous. Who knows? Maybe I did. “That’s not how it works, Katrina. We’re not friends. I swam against them in college. So, our paths crossed that way.”
“Do you not like them? I haven’t met them yet. Are they nice?” I was suddenly desperate to know something, anything, about the people I’d be working with for half a year. “Liam says they’re cool, and they’ve seemed nice—”
“I don’t know, Katrina!” he snaps, jaw clenched. “I haven’t seen them in eight years, and we never talked. We were rivals.”
I know better than to keep pestering him, I do, but this is a side of Will I’ve never seen. The snark and annoyance, yes, but not the side that’s willingly talking about swimming. Something he’s always seemed a little embarrassed to be part of. “Come on, Will, there has to be something you can tell me.”
“They’re jocks, Katrina.” He rolls his eyes. “They never had a plan to be anything but a professional athlete, no drive to make anything more of themselves. It looks like they accomplished that, but I’m sure they’re as shallow as they’ve always been. I’m going to take a shower now.”
He’s out of his chair so quickly I barely have time to register what he says before he’s already heading toward the bathroom. I glance down at the chicken that’s done. “But dinner is literally done, Will.”
“I’ll eat when I’m done,” he calls back. “Don’t wait for me.”
Something in me crumbles as I hear the door shut behind him. Looking over at the table I’d set up, I realize it was, once again, for nothing. It doesn’t matter how hard I try to rekindle whatever flame we once had, he would be there to blow it out. Date night means nothing more to him than a chance to have someone else feed him. There’s no connection anymore and I’m not sure how to get it back.
Maybe this project in Columbia came at the perfect time. This time—and distance—apart might be good for us. It could be what we need to save our relationship.
I arrive in Columbia on the twenty-sixth of December, which gives me more than enough time to get settled in my rental before we break ground on January second. I’m meeting with Bryce and Carter on the twenty-ninth to go over the schedule and do the walkthrough with the two of them from a contractor’s perspective. Everything I would normally do during this free time has already been done. The demo crew is going to be on-site bright and early on the second. I’ve triple checked with all my subcontractors for the first phase, and I have Liam’s plans memorized, complete with areas I worry we might run into trouble.
Which means I have a few of days to relax.
My rental is a cute little townhome, not too far from the pool, and I’m instantly pulled into the quaintness of it. Unsurprisingly, it’s much bigger than anything I would need. I knew Nadine would find me a nice place, complete with a room for Liam should he need to be on-site for anything. I’m going to be more than comfortable for the next several months.
Hell, there might even be a part of me that never wants to leave.
Once I put my stuff down, I snap some photos of the place and send them to Nadine and Will. To Nadine, I compliment her on her choices and thank her for making sure I had a place I’d feel comfortable in. To Will, I want my boyfriend to see the nice place I’m staying at, stressing that he can come and spend some nights with me. He responds with how it would depend on his schedule. I’ve been with Will long enough to know that means no. If I want to see him, I’m going to have to go and see him in Charleston. He won’t be coming to me.
Lying back against the couch, I’m overcome with the reality that this is the first time I’ve ever been alone. All through college, I lived at home with Thomas and my mother. Now, as an adult with a job at my stepfather’s company, I’m still living on their property, where my mother can appear out of nowhere to comment on my life. At work, Thomas has only ever given me local jobs. So, for the first time, I am truly on my own in a city I don’t know.
The fear creeps in then, making me realize that if something were to happen, the people I’m closest to are two hours away, minimum. At nearly thirty, this is a feeling I should have experienced by now, but it’s all new to me. The eerie quiet, the reality that no one will appear at my front door unannounced. Part of me hates it, part of me is terrified of it.
But there’s another part of me, a bigger part, I think, that is loving it. Independence is something I’ve longed to have my whole life but have been denied time and time again. The realization of how big this chance is dawns on me. Not only am I proving myself from a work standpoint, but I’m also proving to my family that I can be on my own. I don’t have to have someone to depend on.
It’s scary, sure, but it’s more of a thrill than anything else, and I owe it to myself to take this opportunity for what it is.