Chapter 35 Kari
THIRTY-FIVE
KARI
Payson had been the best weekend of my life. I called my father and Jada on the way back to the Valley and they were both ecstatic.
Max called his mother and she demanded to talk to me. She welcomed me into the family, making me simultaneously uncomfortable and yet so amazingly content. He then called Pierce and Isa and Isa had insisted we start planning a party.
The way the Quinn’s saw family was hard to wrap my brain around.
They welcomed me with open arms, no questions asked.
After our mother died when we were young, Jada and I only had our father—that was it.
No grandparents. No aunts and uncles. No cousins.
So this new way of looking at it was going to take getting used to, but I had a feeling I’d adjust quickly.
It was nice being a part of something bigger than myself, of knowing these people cared about me and were excited to have me around.
I never expected to feel so okay about something like that, but I did.
Before I left for work on Monday, Jada stopped by the house.
She wanted to see the ring and get every last crumb of a detail about the proposal.
We sat in the living room while I relived the moment of Max starting to ask me and me cutting him off.
Jada was aggravated that I didn’t let him get the question out.
“But he had asked me a million times and I said no. I just needed him to cut to the chase and he was rambling,” I said matter-of-factly.
“You ruined his moment! You should have at least let the poor guy ask!” Jada said.
“He asked me again later. And made me repeat it over and over...or maybe that was just me saying ‘yes’ when I was getting off. Either way.”
“Oh my gosh,” Jada said, shaking her head. “Do you have any decency?”
“Nope,” I said, with a pop on the p. “So, anyway, I’m getting married now and you’re having a baby. Let’s talk baby shower.”
She sat her water bottle down. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings or Heather’s or Mandi’s, but I really don’t want one.
I’ve talked to Cane about it. We have everything we could ever want and if I need something, I can go buy it.
If you want to buy little things or something to celebrate, that’s fine, but I don’t want to register or anything like that.
It feels...weird. I know what it feels like to go to those things and be on a budget and now.
..” She smiled almost sadly. “Now I have money. A lot of it. And I don’t want anyone buying me these expensive things.
If they want to send something, they can send it because they saw it and thought we’d like it, if that makes sense. ”
I loved her heart. Jada was sweet and considerate and this was exactly the kind of thing I expected out of her, although I was sad I wouldn’t get to throw her a shower.
“I get it. I really do.”
“You can even have them make a donation to a women’s shelter. What about the one Mom volunteered at?”
“That’s a good idea,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ll put something together.” I took a drink of my water. “How are you feeling?”
Her face lit up, making her glow brighter. She was the prettiest pregnant woman I’d ever seen. A part of me hated that I’d never get to see myself all swollen and blimpish, my ankles as big as elephants, like Jada was at the moment.
Stop it. You have more than you could ever wish for.
“I’m really good. I feel great now that the morning sickness has kind of stopped. But I’m ready to see my toes again. I complained about it last night and Cane volunteered to paint my toenails. I told him no way,” she giggled.
“Yeah, let’s go get a pedicure and keep Cane out of it. That’s weird.”
“Right?” she laughed. “Okay, I gotta go. I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon and you have to go to work, right?”
I nodded and stood, pulling her hand and helping her get to her feet. “Just a few weeks left, sister.”
“Just a few weeks left.”
Kari
“Today’s been one-of-a-kind,” Connor said, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
“It sure has and I’m ready to go home. I’m just exhausted.” I dug through my pocket for some Tylenol. My entire body ached and I wanted to feel good when I got home to Max to celebrate. I opened the pocket of the lining and pulled out a sticky note.
You are my happy.
I giggled and shoved it back inside, forgetting about the pain reliever.
“Want some coffee?” Connor asked, stirring a red stick around in his cup. The corner of his mouth was upturned, making him look young and mischievous. He was incredibly handsome.
I turned up my nose. “That stuff smells rancid.”
He took a big gulp and smiled. “It’s fine by me.”
“If you turn up in the ER, I’ll let them know what happened,” I laughed. I reached for a bottle of water and the light caught the diamond.
“Ah, what’s this?” Connor asked, nodding to my hand. “Someone had an eventful weekend, it appears.”
I blushed, feeling almost giddy. “I did. Max proposed.”
He grinned back, watching me with interest. “I’m assuming you said yes.”
“I did. I finally did.”
“Finally?”
“He’s been asking for months,” I laughed.
“What changed your mind?” He took a sip of his coffee and waited patiently.
He was a bit of an asshole, I’d seen that firsthand, but that was usually when someone wasn’t listening or was making a decision that was uninformed.
Most times he was kind and he was very smart—we just got along.
We clicked like we’d known each other forever. I couldn’t explain it.
I twisted the cap off my bottle. “It was just time. Things just sort of fell in place. I think once you know, you know. Sounds stupid, but it’s true. Hey, how’s your mother?”
He took a deep breath. “She’s alright, learning how to deal with her condition. I just got the results from her last exam yesterday and I expected it to look better than it does.”
“I’m sorry. Anything I can do?”
He took another drink. “Thank you. There’s really nothing we can do. I have her on the best treatment plan and I’m monitoring everything I can.”
“Just do everything you can and let me know if I can help out somehow.”
“I’ve been trying to make sure she has everything lined up—paperwork, insurances, things like that. I’m trying to get her to write a will and get her medical end-of-life care lined out. Not that she’s dying today, but I’ve seen things change in a matter of days. I know you’ve seen that, too.”
“Absolutely.”
“I’m trying to get her to work out all her loose ends. You know, tie everything up that she has dangling out there.”
“It’s just you though, right? I mean, you don’t have to consult with brothers or sisters or anything?”
“Yeah. She does have another son somewhere. I thought she might want to try to find him. I mean, I think it would be a good thing for her to have some sort of closure. She never really talked about him at all. I found out he existed by finding a picture of him when I was younger. He was standing in the middle of a sand pile with a big yellow Tonka truck. I thought it might be me because he looked like me, but I didn’t have a truck like that.
And of course I took the picture to my mom and told her I wanted to know where that truck was!
” he laughed. “Then she explained that he was my brother but he lived with his father. And she just brushed me off if I ever brought it up again, so finally I just stopped.”
“So she never saw him at all?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. I really know nothing about any of it, but I think she should try to fix that part of her life. Then again, he might hate her. I don’t know. Hard to tell. I just hope she tries, for her sake.”
I watched him sip his drink again, so in control, so thoughtful. “You know, a lot of people would discourage that meeting. He might come in and want your inheritance.”
Connor laughed. “I have enough of my own. If he would need it that badly, then I’d split it with him. It’s just money.”
“I really respect that.”
“Life is all about the way you look at it. The same situation can look completely different if you change your perception. I can look at it and say, ‘Yeah, I want the money and my mom to myself’ and be greedy like that. Do what’s best for me.
Or I can look at it from her perspective and say, ‘It might make a difference in her life to know what happened to her other kid’.
I just don’t want to be the reason that doesn’t happen. ”
Max
It had been a typical Monday with shit getting slung every which way, except the fact that I was dealing with it all with a legitimate fiancée at home.
The grin hadn’t left my face since Kari agreed to marry me.
We settled back in the house on Sunday and spent the day just smiling at each other.
I’m sure if anyone was looking in the windows, we looked dumb as shit.
Part of me was afraid of talkin’ too much, that I’d say something that would change her mind.
Not that I’d let her get away with changing it, because I wouldn’t.
We hadn’t really talked much about actually getting married. I knew Jada brought it up to her, but I didn’t want to put too much on her in one weekend. The more I thought about it, though, the more I thought that we needed to get it done soon. I’d waited what felt like a lifetime already.
Just as I was going to send Kari a text to that extent, Cane burst through my office door, unannounced.
You’d think the bastard owned the place or something.
“What do we have here?” He smirked as he waltzed into my office and made himself at home in the seat across from me.
“Someone tryin’ to work. I know that’s a foreign concept to you, Alexander, but—”
“Fuck you,” he said, then smiled brightly. “My buddy is getting married. It’s about damn time.”
“You can say that again,” I muttered.
Cane tossed his head back and laughed. “Do you have a date yet? Jada said Kari didn’t want to wait.”
“Wait for what?” a voice said from the doorway.
Cane turned his head and I looked up to see Sam standing there. She had a notepad pressed against her chest, her eyes darting between us. “Kari doesn’t want to wait for what?” she repeated.
Cane looked at me out of the corner of his eye, the corner of his lip upturned.
Oh, hell.
“Kari doesn’t want to wait to get married,” he said with a smile.
Sam’s eyes grew wider before she recovered her composure. “Well, I’m sure that as soon as she finds someone that wants to marry her, it’ll happen fast.” She took a couple of steps towards my desk before Cane’s words rooted her in place.
“She did. Max and Kari are getting married.”
You could almost taste the pleasure Cane got from telling her that. He leaned back in his chair, enjoying the show.
Sam looked at me, her jaw dropping. “You what?”
“Kari and I are gettin’ married, Sam.” I gauged her reaction. Her lips had a smile that didn’t quite touch her eyes. Her eyes twinkled, but not with anything that appeared to be good. Her eyes met mine and she studied me for a minute before standing straight and letting loose.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” she exclaimed, anger seeping through her words.
Cane let out a laugh and I shot him a look that he pretended not to see.
“No, not joking,” he said, his attention focused squarely on Sam. “Kari is so fucking excited and Max,” he winked at me before looking back at what appeared to be his opponent, “well, Max here has been waiting on this for a long time.”
Sam appeared to be in shock, still taking in the little bit of news she apparently wasn’t expecting.
“I can’t believe this,” she muttered, turning to face me.
“Is that why you ignored all of my calls this weekend? Is that why you sent me to voicemail every time I called you?” She narrowed her eyes, the shock wearing off.
“After the first four voicemails, yeah—I got tired of listening to your bullshit,” I said, taking a deep breath. “What’s gotten into you?”
“What’s gotten into me?” she all but shouted.
“After everything I told you the other night and you walked away, like you always do, Blaine broke up with me.” Her voice quieted, tension simmering in the air at his name.
“He broke up with me because he’s in love with Kari.
Said he’d go to all lengths to get her back. Nothing would stop him.”
“You’re so full of shit,” Cane laughed.
She whirled around. “Me?”
“Yes, you, little Samantha West. Full. Of. Shit.”
She gasped in offense.
“Sam,” I started, trying to wrap my brain around her actions, “I’m not worried about Blaine trying to take Kari away. We’re getting married soon. Relax.”
“I’m not going to relax! What if he does something to me?”
Cane stood quickly, taking us all by surprise. “Even if this vomit running from that mouth of yours is true, which I highly doubt, it isn’t about you. Blaine doesn’t want you—he’s not going to do anything to you. Stop being the fucking victim and stop trying to manipulate everyone.”
“I’m not,” she breathed out, her bottom lip quivering. “I’m scared for all of us.”
Cane and I exchanged a look and I stood, too. “Then you should get some distance between you and me and this whole situation.”
Her eyebrows arched at my suggestion, definitely not what she was looking for.
“I really can’t justify having you work here anymore, anyway. We were gonna talk about that this afternoon. I’ll have Hilah get your checks together and we can mail them or I’ll have them couriered to you.”
“You’re firing me? Max, please. You need me...”
“You’ve done a great job and I’ll give you a reference. But you’re gonna need to find another job, okay?”
Running her hands down her dress and looking from Cane to me and back to Cane again, she looked like a little lost girl. It made me remember the moments of our childhood, a set of memories that would always include her.
“No, it’s not okay! You are being ridiculous, thinking you can just run off with that bitch.”
I took a step towards her, feeling more violent towards a lady than I cared to feel. I clenched my hands at my side, feeling Cane watch me, ready to step in.
“Listen, Sam. I’ve tried to be nice and if I’m bein’ honest, that’s probably part of your problem. But enough’s enough. Get out. Now.”
“Max—”
“Out, Sam. I’ve let this go on long enough. I don’t know what’s goin’ on in that head of yours, but it isn’t my problem. Get out of my office and get Kari’s name out of your mouth. Hear me?”
“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe you.” Her gaze was heavy on my chest as her breathing got more harsh, her lips thinning out in a firm line. “You think you can walk all over me, ignore me, pretend like I’m no one to you—you’re wrong. Dead wrong.”