13. Katerina
Katerina
Two Days Later
For forty-eight hours, the silence from the Prescotts had been absolute. It felt as if the entire family had simply ceased to exist, leaving me in a bizarre, hollow limbo.
So, I made my move. I called Mark and accepted the four-month emergency contract with Zurich, and received my flight information shortly after.
If I was going to bleed out over a life I thought I was building, I was going to do it thousands of miles away, surrounded by high-level sports medicine and a schedule so brutal I wouldn't have time to think.
Now, my living room was a minefield of open suitcases, vacuum-sealed bags, and bubble wrap.
I was kneeling on the floor, shoving a stack of sweaters into a duffel bag, when a knock echoed off the front door.
My heart did a traitorous, familiar jump. I stood up, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
Trent stood on the porch.
He looked like a man who had survived a crash landing.
The look from two days ago was completely gone.
Dark, bruised shadows sat heavy beneath his bloodshot eyes; his hair was a messy disaster, and his posture was so slumped he looked physically diminished.
Stripped of every ounce of pride, he just stood there, looking at me as if I were his last thread to sanity.
Then his gaze drifted past my shoulder, catching on the half-packed suitcases lining my hallway.
His face drained of colour. "Kat... what is all this?"
"I'm leaving," I said quietly, stepping back to let him in. "My flight is tonight."
"Tonight?" Trent rasped, his voice cracking as he stepped into the entryway, staring at the luggage like it was a physical threat.
"No... no, Kat, please. I… I was coming back, I was going to come straight back after I left my parents, but it felt like my universe blew up.
I spent two days driving around, just trying to get my head straight, so I didn't say the wrong thing to you... "
"Trent," I sighed, folding my arms. "You don't owe me an explanation for going silent. We aren't together."
"I do owe you!" he choked out, stepping closer, his hands shaking at his sides. "I owe you everything, Kat. I came here to tell you the truth. All of it."
He took a deep, shuddering breath, looking down at his boots before forcing his eyes up to meet mine.
"The test," Trent whispered, his jaw working as he fought through the shame. "The test I found in October... I know it wasn't yours."
I blinked, taking a slow step back. "What?"
"It was my mom's," he confessed, the words spilling out of him in a desperate, broken rush.
"She took it in your guest bathroom when she came over to drop off your favourite baked goods.
My dad had a vasectomy when Gid and I were little, Kat.
She panicked. She hid the test in your trash because she was scared to tell my dad, and then... and then I found it."
The words hung in the air between us, my mind trying to process the absolute absurdity of what he had just revealed.
"Your... mom's?" I repeated, my brain refusing to process the sentence. "Cynthia is pregnant?"
"Yes," Trent rasped, rubbing a hand over his face. "Her blood pressure dropped at your house because her pregnancy is high-risk. She finally broke down and confessed to my dad, and they told us. My dad did not know. Nobody had any idea."
I stared at him, my mind piecing together the timeline with sickening speed. The nausea Cynthia complained about months ago. Her dizzy spell on my couch.
"She took a test in my house... and you found it," I murmured, "That doesn't change the fact that you never asked me."
"I know," Trent choked out, tears finally spilling over his dark eyelashes.
"I know how stupid I was, Kat. I sat on that secret, convincing myself I was stepping up, being the man I was supposed to be...
and I built a whole fantasy around a lie.
I was so blind. I was so scared of losing you or doing the wrong thing that I destroyed the best thing that ever happened to me. "
He took another step toward me, his eyes begging for mercy.
"I love you, Kat. You are my best friend. You are the only woman I have ever loved, and I am so, so sorry that I didn't see what was right in front of me. I am so sorry I didn't just ask you."
I felt the painful ache in my chest expand, but I didn't move toward him. I kept my distance, my boundaries holding firm despite the tear tracking down his cheek.
"Trent... I am glad your mom is getting the medical care she needs," I breathed, my voice tight with emotion. "And I appreciate you finally telling me the truth. But this doesn't fix us."
His face fell. "Kat..."
"You didn't trust me," I reminded him, my voice trembling.
"You found a test in a trash can and spent three months treating me like a vessel for an obligation instead of a partner you trusted.
You proposed to me out of duty. Knowing the test belonged to your mom doesn't change the fact that what we had was an illusion. "
Trent swallowed hard, bowing his head as the truth crushed him. "I know how this looks," he whispered. “I'm so sorry I can't go to Zurich with you to prove what I am saying is true. I love you, Kat.”
I frowned slightly. "I didn't ask you to come."
"I know," he said, looking down at me with glassy eyes, "But I would have. I would have bought a ticket and followed you today if I could. But with my mom high-risk, my dad needs me and Gid to run the company so he can take care of her. I have to stay. But when do you get back?"
"The contract is for four months," I mumbled. "May."
"Can we stay in touch?" Trent asked, his tone laced with desperate hope. "Please, Kat. Let me earn this back. I want to work on us. I will be waiting right here when you get home."
I looked at him, at the exhaustion in his posture, the raw truth in his eyes, and the promise he was making. My heart didn't scream yes, but for the first time in weeks, it didn't scream run either.
"I have a flight to catch, Trent," I said gently. "I need to finish packing."
Three hours later, I was standing in my entryway beside my bags, waiting for my driver confirmation on my phone, when a knock sounded again. I opened the door to find Trent standing there. He had cleaned himself up, and his truck was idling in my driveway.
"Cancel the car," Trent said quietly, gesturing to the driveway. "Let me drive you to the airport."
I hesitated for a beat, staring at him. Then, I closed the app, picked up my heavy duffel, and handed it to him. "Okay."
The thirty-minute drive to the airport was quiet, filled with an awkward tension that neither of us knew how to break. But it wasn't hostile anymore. It was just... raw.
When he pulled up to the departures curb, Trent got out, unloaded my bags, and stood beside my luggage cart in the freezing winter wind.
"Can I get your address over there?" Trent asked, his hands shoved deep into his coat pockets. "I just... I want to know you're safe. Can I reach out?"
"I'll text you the address when I land," I said, zipping my jacket up to my chin. "And... yes. You can reach out."
A breath of relief escaped his lips. He reached inside his inner coat pocket and pulled out a cream-colored envelope. He held it out to me.
"This is for you," Trent said, his dark eyes holding mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. "Safe flight, Kat."
Before I could say anything, he leaned down, pressed a lingering, gentle kiss to the top of my head, and turned back to his truck. I watched him drive away until his taillights disappeared into the airport traffic.
Two hours later, I was sitting at Gate 54, a lukewarm coffee in my hand, watching the snow fall outside the massive glass windows.
I pulled Trent's letter out of my coat pocket. My name was written on the front in his bold, familiar handwriting. I unsealed the flap and pulled out the single sheet of paper inside.
Kat,
I know I failed you when you asked me when and why I fell in love with you. I panicked because the truth felt too big, and I was too stupid to realize that silence can be worse than saying the wrong thing.
I didn't fall in love with you when I thought you were carrying my baby. I fell in love with you months before that.
I fell in love with you on a random Tuesday in August, watching you stand in my kitchen in my oversized hoodie, arguing with me about the correct way to make garlic bread, laughing until you had to wipe tears from your eyes.
I fell in love with the way you hold your pen in your teeth when you're analyzing player injury reports. How your eyes twinkle when you are thinking something dark and sarcastic, and I cannot wait to hear your thoughts later.
I fell in love with the way you tuck into my side and fit perfectly. How you track me in your sleep like a heat-seeking missile when it is cold outside.
I love you for you, Kat. Long before the test, long before the ring. I was just too blind to show you properly.
Have a safe flight. I’ll be waiting.
— Trent
I pressed the letter against my chest, turned my head toward the window, and let the tears fall quietly into the snowy night.