Chapter 22 Kari
TWENTY-TWO
KARI
“Do you think we got everything covered?” Isa was beyond excited about Joselyn’s upcoming birthday party. We had been on the phone for over an hour discussing it. Jos would be having a Frozen-themed birthday to beat all birthdays. Ever.
“Are you serious? You just discussed getting a snow machine rental. Yeah, think you got it all covered,” I laughed. “She’s going to be so excited, Isa.”
“I hope so but I don’t know if she can be any more excited than I am,” she laughed. “So I’ve talked your ear off! Tell me what’s going on with you.”
I took a deep breath and tried to figure out what to say. “Things are good over here. Just working, trying to help Jada get ready for the baby, stuff like that.”
“I noticed there was no mention of Max in there. Everything alright?”
“Yeah,” I said, drawing out the last syllable. “We had a bit of a rough night last night. Nothing to do with him, of course. Just...stuff.”
“Girl, if you need to talk, I’m here. All my girlfriends are back in Texas and I miss that chitchat girly stuff. We need to schedule pedicures or something.”
“I’d like that,” I laughed at her southern twang.
It was just like her—honest and adorable.
“Hey, my phone has been pinging me for the last ten minutes with texts. Max had to go to a late lunch with a guy from work and I was supposed to go to Cane’s, but something came up and I’m not sure what. I probably need to go check on things.”
“No worries. Thank you for all your help. Call me this week and we’ll go do something fun on Pierce’s credit card.”
“Will do,” I giggled. “Bye, Isa.”
“Later, love.”
I flipped to my texts and had three from a number I didn’t know. I clicked the message and one, two, three pictures loaded on my screen.
Max was getting out of his truck in the first one.
The second one loaded and showed him walking into a restaurant with a woman.
She was tall, almost as tall as he was, with long, light-colored hair.
She had on a dress with a floral print and heels.
..and she was smiling up at Max and him down to her.
The third showed him holding the door open for her as she walked into a restaurant.
Maisano’s.
Another text popped up.
Sender: Look what Max is up to this afternoon.
Max
I checked my phone again. Still no reply from Kari.
I pulled into my subdivision and wondered what was going on with everyone in my life. I left Cane a message and he didn’t call me back. I called Kari and sent her a couple of texts and she failed to respond to either one.
What the hell?
The only person that had answered me was Samantha.
She was on her way to meet with Blaine to discuss the night before.
It was strange that we were both tied up in these other two people’s lives, but the world was a crazy-ass place.
Our conversation had been brief, but Sam had said something that really bothered me.
“Blaine knew about Kari not being able to have kids. You didn’t? That surprises me.”
It hadn’t crossed my mind like that, but it was true and had taken root deep in the back of my brain. Kari had obviously trusted Blaine with the intimate details of her life and not me. And that hurt like a bitch.
A real fucking bitch.
A neighbor and his son were shooting hoops on the corner of my street and I waved as I drove past. I cracked a smile and hoped it looked real because my mind was focusing on things that made me anything but happy.
Shortly after, I pulled into my driveway, trying not to let myself get all amped up.
I hopped out of the truck and went into the house. I shut the door behind me and listened.
Silence.
“Kari?” I called, setting my keys in the dish by the door.
I heard the water kick on in the kitchen, so I headed in there. She was sipping from a glass facing the back yard.
“Hey, you,” I said.
She looked at me over the glass, her lashes dark and full.
“How was your day?” I kissed her on the top of her head tentatively. She didn’t react normally—no wrapping of her arms around me, no flirty bats of her eyes. No sassy remarks or teasing lines.
I swallowed passed the fast-forming lump in my throat.
She’s had time to process everything, to really understand what she’s feeling. It’s probably just hitting her that she saw Blaine again. What if she’s second guessing things with me now?
Shit.
She sat the glass down on the counter and walked to the table. “It was good,” she said, her voice controlled, even. “How was yours?”
“Busy. I got lots done at the office this morning and then talked to Grady about this job in Tempe for next week,” I said warily, bracing myself for what was to come.
She didn’t turn to face me, didn’t say anything.
“What’s going on?” A nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach started in, not letting me ignore it. Something was going on with her and I was almost sure I was right.
She knew she wasn’t in love with me, after all. Not the way I loved her.
Not in the way she had once loved Blaine.
Mother. Fucker.
She picked up her phone, her fingers racing across the keys. I wanted to grab her and make her look at me and remember who I was to her.
What he did to her.
What I would do for her.
But I didn’t. I stood in place, watching her play on her phone. I swallowed roughly, fighting back tears for the first time in a long time.
A few seconds later, my phone went off in my pocket. Thinking maybe it was Cane, I pulled it out to see Kari’s name flashing with an incoming text. Curious and a little confused, I opened the text.
Jillian Grady and I were on the screen.
“What the hell is this?” I asked, puzzled. “Where’d you get this?”
“Someone sent it to me,” she said, pausing before my phone flashed again. “And these, too.”
“Why?”
She sat her phone on the table and faced me, her eyes nervous. “I have no idea.”
“Look, I don’t know what’s goin’ on, Kari, but that was Jillian Grady and me going into lunch. Her husband met us a few minutes later.” I scrubbed my hands down the length of my face, trying to figure out who and why someone sent pictures to Kari. “Who sent you those?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know the number.”
“I just...” I let my mouth hang open as I released a breath. “I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “That was a business lunch? That woman works in construction? Because she looks like a model.”
“She’s very pretty, I won’t deny ya that. But she’s also a shark. She’s married to Wade Grady, a subcontractor that was good friends with Cane’s father. She’s sharp as a tack and handles all of Wade’s business.”
I saw the apprehension leave her face, the softness of her features that I loved reappear. “So that’s it?”
“That’s it. I’m not sure what else it was supposed to be.”
Her shoulders slacked. “So who sent those to me? Who would do that?”
“I have no idea. But it’s a waste of their time. Cane was supposed to meet them, actually, but he had to take off because something happened. Speaking of which, do you know what’s going on?”
She shook her head. “No. He just called here and told me that I didn’t need to come over this afternoon. He sounded really weird, though. I figure maybe Jada will call me later. He did tell me it had nothing to do with her, though.”
“But if it isn’t her or the company, because I would know if it was, then what could it be?”
She gave me a frown and walked over to the sofa and sat down, curling herself up in the blanket from the back. Her phone buzzed on the table and I picked it up to take it to her. I glanced at the screen.
Unknown: Please, talk to me.
“Who’s this?” I asked, handing her the phone. My jaw pulsed with irritation because I knew damn good and well who it was.
She looked at the screen and sat upright. “Nobody.”
“Really?” I asked, sitting beside her and stretching one arm along the back of the couch. Her nonchalance and the way she was avoiding looking at me made the knot in my stomach wind tighter.
Her phone buzzed again and she didn’t look at it, completely ignoring it. “Should we call Cane and Jada?” she asked, trying to divert my attention.
“We can. But I want to know who’s texting you.”
She swallowed roughly before looking up at me. “Blaine.”
“What?” I asked a little louder than I intended. Even though I knew it was him, the sound of it coming out of her mouth was still a blast. “What the hell for?”
“He called today and I—”
“He called you today?” I suddenly knew what real jealousy felt like. If I thought I felt it the day she went for coffee with the doctor, I was wrong. This was it. This burning, itching, come-out-of-my-damn-skin feeling was it.
I got up and headed to the fridge, pausing to read Kari’s sticky before opening it and grabbing a beer. “You didn’t think to tell me?”
“You were at lunch with the pretty blonde,” she said, throwing the adjective I used for Jillian back at me. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Don’t even go there, Kar.”
She stood up quickly, shooting me an irritated look. “What? You were at lunch with Jillian while I was helping Isa plan Joselyn’s birthday party and getting pictures of you and Jillian sent to me. Sorry if I forgot to take time out to tell you about the little interruption in my day.”
I took a drink of the cool liquid, watching her over the top of the bottle. Her eyes darted around the room, her phone clutched in her hands. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth.
But what, exactly, is she worried about? What did that asshole say to her? Did he get in her head?
“What did he have to say?” I asked.
“Nothing, really.”
“You want me to believe that? That the man you agreed to marry calls you after however long and he had nothing to say. I’m not stupid.” The longer we debated it, the madder I got.
Why won’t she just tell me!?
“I don’t know why you’re acting like I insulted you by not telling you!” she shouted.
I kicked back a drink, feeling the fizz slip smoothly down my throat. “You want to know why I’m a little insulted as to why you didn’t tell me that the guy you were engaged to, were pregnant by, the guy you told all your secrets to called you?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Oh, sweetheart, it is. Think about it from my perspective for a second. I had to make a fool out of myself to get you to move in with me. You won’t marry me.
You won’t tell me things about you. But Blaine—you got engaged to.
You were gonna move across the damn country with him!
You told him all the things I had to find out by pure happenstance.
Then he calls you and I’m supposed to not be at all irked by that? Nah, sweetheart. Fuck that.”
Her jaw dropped.
I took another long pull of my beer.
The things that had begun to take root in my mind when I walked in the house were getting watered. Blaine was back...the love of her life was back.
“I can’t believe you just said that to me,” she breathed out.
“I love ya, Kar. I’ve loved you for a long time, probably since the first time I saw ya. But I’m starting to wonder if this is a one-sided thing, if I’m not some fill-in for Blaine because he walked away and I hate that. I hate that.”
A little gasp escaped her lips. “I can’t believe you’d ever think that.”
“What am I supposed to think?” I asked quietly.
I didn’t want her to cry, but I didn’t want to be second best to some other guy, either.
“I’ve had to fight tooth and nail to get us where we are now.
And then I see that you handed everything over to someone else.
And now he’s back and...” I pulled the lid of my hat down over my eyes.
“And what? You think I want him? I can’t stand him! I wish he’d fall off the face of the planet. Don’t you see that?”
I tilted my head back and looked at her. She was perfection if I’d ever seen it. A cute button nose. High cheekbones and an olive complexion. Lips I wanted to kiss ‘til the end of time.
“I see someone I love that I hope loves me the same. I’ve never given you a reason to not trust me.
I’ve never given you any inclination that I’d walk away but you hold back from me.
That is what hurts, Kari. Not that he called you.
None of that shit. The fact that you don’t trust me.
You won’t give me your heart. Like you did him.
” I shook my head slowly. “That. Fucking. Hurts.”
She ran up the stairs and, for the first time, I didn’t chase her.