25. Chapter 24 Katrina
A pril 2024
Friday comes quickly, which is aided by the massive to-do list I have for the club. I arrive even earlier than I normally do that morning, ready to tackle the day by prioritizing the tasks before us.
“I don’t know what else needs to happen, but we need to get the wiring in the main pool done today.” I’m standing on the deck talking to the electrician, Dave, while some of the other guys are making sure everything is ready for the installation of the new pool set for Monday morning. “This has been delayed long enough and it can’t wait any longer. I refuse to let this be the reason we fall behind.”
Dave nods, looking down at his phone. “That shouldn’t be a problem. I think we can have it done by lunch, boss.”
My phone buzzes on top of the clipboard in my hand. I glance down and frown at the screen. Why on earth is my mother calling me?
“Do you need to get that?” Dave asks.
“Yeah.” I look back up at him. “Let me know if you guys need anything from me to make this happen, okay?”
Dave nods, waving me away as he yells out to one of his guys. Knowing I have a good crew who are more than capable of doing their jobs, I step off to the side to answer the call. “Mom? What’s wrong?”
Her laugh echoes in my ear. “That’s a strange way to answer the phone, Katrina. Why on earth would anything be wrong?”
I let out a shaky breath, allowing my fear to fade away. “You don’t call me that often, Mom, so it worried me.”
“Well, now you’re just being dramatic. I call you all the time.”
“What did you need, Mom?” I ask, deciding not to argue with her over this. We’ll always see things like this differently. “I’m at work.”
“They can live without you while you talk to your mother.”
If I tried something like that with her, she’d go into a fit about how people die when she’s distracted. Then again, what she does has always been more important than anything I have going on.
Bryce approaches me, seemingly about to ask me something. When he sees I’m on the phone, he hangs back. Wanting an excuse to end whatever this call will be as soon as I need to, I shake my head and wave him forward. I hold up two fingers, signaling this call will be over soon. “I’m really busy, Mom.”
His eyes widen comically, but he doesn’t run away. Instead, he patiently waits for me to finish and I’m grateful for the excuse his presence gives me if I need it.
“I just spoke with William,” she says, tersely. I mentally curse. I should have known this conversation was coming. “What do you think you’re doing, Katrina? How dare you end the relationship and break that boy’s heart.”
“Oh, please,” I scoff. “I did not break his heart, and if he told you I did, he’s just looking for attention.”
“What he said is between me and him. I don’t think you’re understanding my point, Katrina. Why would you end things? I spent weeks talking about you, telling him how wonderful you are despite all your flaws, and he still asked you out. You shouldn’t just throw something like that away.”
“Despite all my flaws?” My shoulders tense at her words, wondering if this is the conversation we’re finally about to have. “And what flaws would those be, Mom?”
The question catches her off guard, and she stumbles around for an answer. “Oh, well, you know. No one is perfect, Katrina, least of all you.”
“Oh, I know that,” I reply back. “I never pretended to be perfect. I’m just curious what flaws you’d deem something he needs to get past in order to date me?”
“Holy shit,” Bryce groans beside me.
I wonder if he gets it, at least on some level. I hope no one has ever said anything cruel to him about Josie or their relationship, but I know what that is like. Bryce is still somewhat in the public eye, and people can be coldhearted and cruel. Sometimes even the people who are supposed to love us.
“Katrina, you know what flaws I’m talking about,” she snaps. “I don’t need to say them.”
My mother is Hollywood perfection. She’s tall with a slim, lithe figure that comes from years of working out and watching what she eats. Her metabolism must be through the roof, or something. Whatever it is that helps her be that way, I didn’t seem to inherit the gene, and it’s something she’s constantly pointed out to me.
“Yeah, Mom, I do. I’ve always known,” I bite out. “All those times my dessert plate got replaced with a salad and you’d make pointed remarks to seamstresses about needing to let something out. I’ve always known.”
I’m half expecting Bryce to tear the phone out of my hands and throw it across the room based on the pure fury in his eyes. Honestly, I’m considering just handing it over to him.
“I’m an adult,” I remind her. “I don’t need to validate my choices to you. Will had real flaws—harmful flaws—but the ones you see in me are superficial. Thank you for finding a boyfriend for me, it’s added a lot of great talking points with my therapist. I’m sure this conversation will come up next time I have an appointment with them.”
“You’re going to regret this, Katrina,” she warns. “You’re never going to find someone who will—”
“Hey, Katrina!” Bryce’s voice is loud, surely can be heard on the other end of the phone. I don’t know if he could hear what she was saying, or if he could just read it on my face, but I am grateful for him in that moment. “I need to talk to you.”
“Mom, I really have to go.” I can hear her starting to argue, but I just end the call, taking a deep breath before looking at Bryce. “Thank you for that.”
“I could only hear your end, but your mother sounds like a piece of work.”
He doesn’t even know the half of it. “What did you need?”
“I was just coming over to see if you wanted some coffee. I’m going to run out and get some.”
“Yes,” I breathe out, smiling at him. “All the coffee, please. I’ll need it to get through today.”
“Nothing can be worse than that.” He motions to my phone. “Just think, at least the end of the day has something that’ll make you happy.”
It’s weird, talking to him about my date with Carter, but he has a point. It is going to make me happy. “Honestly, it’s the thing that’s keeping me going today.”
Bryce laughs, turning to head back toward the entrance so he can go get the coffee. He’s right, though, it really can’t get worse after that.
I collapse into the chair in Bryce’s office with a loud groan. Literally everything that could have gone wrong today did. I’ve been running around this entire property since eight o’clock this morning, putting out one fire after the other. I don’t even know what time it is.
I reach up to wiggle the mouse, bringing Bryce’s computer to life. With tired eyes, I squint at the screen until my eyes can focus on the numbers and—
“Fuck!”
In a second, I’m standing and scrambling to grab my phone to dial Carter’s number. It rings as I scramble to gather my things, praying he won’t be too mad at me. It’s taken almost two weeks to get our schedules lined up for our first official date. He even drove out here, and now I’ve worked straight past fashionably late and am dangerously edging toward standing him up.
The ringing cuts off. “Ah, so you are alive.”
He’s teasing. I can tell by the lilt in his tone, but the words still hit me hard. “I am so sorry, Carter. I’ve had the day from hell, starting with a phone call from my mother, but I’m leaving right now. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Well, that’ll be awkward for you,” he replies, “because I’m not at the restaurant.”
The hope that’s been fluttering around in my stomach for the last ten days comes to a screeching halt. I’ve blown it by getting too caught up in work, and now he’s about to let me down. I’m sure he’ll tell me it’s a timing issue, and it’s not my fault. Or the god awful, It’s me, not you. I don’t want to hear any of that.
“Bryce called me earlier.” Carter’s deep, soothing voice continues, and maybe I’m not getting dumped. “We’ll get back to the phone call from your mother, but he told me that everything was going wrong today. He wanted to give me a heads up that you might not get out of there on time.”
It’s not Bryce’s place to do that, but I can't help but feel grateful for my friend. It makes sense; it’s what this group does—all look out for one another. “I kept meaning to text or call you, but something kept coming up. I didn’t even know it was this late until a minute ago.”
“You don’t need to apologize. Things happen. I’m a flexible guy who’s willing to adjust plans when I need to.”
That’s not something I’m sure I’ll get used to, at least not fully. Will needed a plan and when someone deviated from the original plan, or everything was ruined. Everything we did together came with a calculated reason and, in the rare moments it didn’t, Will was usually more focused on something else.
But Carter is more than willing to meet me halfway. Not only meet me there, but completely change directions to be what I need him to be. I’ve never been someone’s priority before. Never been with someone who wants to spend time with me simply because I’m me.
“Kat?” He sounds worried as he pulls me out of my thoughts. There’s no reason to be focusing on what I had, especially when something so wonderful is standing before me. Or, at least, on the other side of a phone. “Are you still there?”
“Yeah,” I assure him. “Sorry, I just got caught up in my own head for a second, but I’m here.”
He hums, a comforting sound of understanding. “If you’re still up for that date, I’d love it if you could meet me on the pool deck.”
I glance down into the pool through the window in Bryce’s office; it’s pitch-black in there and there is no movement. “Carter, I can see the pool and you’re not out there.”
“It has been a long day,” he teases. “We have two, remember?”
“Well, you didn’t specify,” I tease back with a grumble.
He laughs. “I have a surprise for you.”
“I’ll be right out,” I promise, not waiting for a response before I hang up the phone.
I take a second to fix my reflection in my camera, wishing I’d taken even a moment to put on some tinted moisturizer. The bare-faced look would have to do since he was waiting.
I don’t know what I was expecting to find when I stepped through the doors onto the deck, but it wasn’t what I found.
It was like a scene out of a movie. Battery-operated candles spread across the deck, casting a warm glow that reflects across the water. There’s a massive pile of blankets on the edge of the deck, and a picnic is laid across the blanket.
Carter stands off to the side, smiling at me. His green eyes sparkle in the dim light. “I figured if you can’t make it to the restaurant, I’d bring the restaurant to you.”
Grinning, I close the distance between us, greeting him with a kiss on his cheek. His hands find my hips, pulling me closer as I take in the scene around me. “How did you pull this together so quickly? When did you have time to cook?”
“Oh, no, I definitely didn’t cook,” he immediately replies. “That’s a skill I have never mastered. I’m good at ordering takeout, though, and the restaurant we were going to offers takeout. Josie had some recommendations for the things she thought you’d like, so I got a bit of everything.”
My gaze turns back to the spread he’d laid out, my palms turning sweaty at the obvious sign of how badly he wanted to make this happen. He didn’t get mad when the plans changed; he adapted and came up with something I love more than a typical dinner at a fancy restaurant.
I don’t know what Carter and I will look like together, but I have a feeling this is it.
“I know it’s not a beautiful restaurant,” Carter says, motioning to the blanket, “but I hope you’ll be okay with a compromise.”
Unable to hide my wide smile, I press it against his in a simple kiss. A dumbfounded look takes over his features as I pull back. “This is better than a fancy dinner.”
His surprise is replaced with the grin that always makes me weak in the knees. “Then what are we waiting for?”
I allow Carter to take my hand and lead me into the middle of the blanket, the two of us getting comfortable. There’s a cool breeze coming off the water, but it feels good after running around all day. As Carter opens the food containers, I inhale a deep breath, looking up at the sky. I can’t see stars in the middle of the city, but the smell of chlorine, even as it mixes with the food, and the gentle lapping of the water brings a sense of relaxation to me.
This is going to be the most perfect date I’ve ever been on.