Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
It should have been the best of mornings, and in its way it was.
Tate and Cat had taken a giant step in cementing their relationship and the second chance the universe had given them, and last night had been better than he could have ever hoped. They were officially back together and in love.
He couldn’t have predicted this a few weeks ago, but now he couldn’t imagine his life without her in it. Every day was better when he spent it with her.
But the specter of someone wanting to kill Josh hung over them like a dark cloud on a summer day. So far, there had been two attempts on Josh’s life.
Two lousy and rather amateurish attempts. They’d been so inept it was beginning to bug Tate. How many tries did this person need to kill their target?
“I hope you’re hungry,” he said to Cat, who was sitting in the passenger seat of his car as they headed to his home. “I’m going to cook you breakfast before I go into work for the day.”
“We’re not going to the bar?”
“Nope, I’m taking you to my place. If we go into the tavern, I’m going to get sucked into work immediately, and I want to relax, shower, and have something to eat before that happens.”
“You have a house?”
Tate had to quell the urge to laugh at the question.
“Cat, where do you think I live?”
“I guess…above the tavern.”
“I do have an apartment up there,” he explained.
“And I sometimes spend the night there if I work late. But I have a house. I have for years. It’s a little out of the way, but I like it.
It’s quiet out here, and there aren’t many neighbors or noise.
I get enough of people at the bar. I need my downtime. ”
He turned down the lane that led to his home, a canopy of trees on each side. Already, he could feel his tension dissolving and his mood lightening. It was here that he could truly relax.
Tate was proud of his home, although he was usually far too busy to entertain or throw big parties. He’d taken his time furnishing it, which meant that some of the rooms had been empty for a time until he’d figured out what he wanted to do with them.
He pulled into the garage and hopped out to offer a hand to Cat, but she’d beaten him to the punch. He unlocked the door and led them into the kitchen.
“This is nice,” she exclaimed. “Mid-century modern and yet…not at the same time. I like it.”
“It’s a sort of mix of things I like,” Tate explained. “Mid-century modern, farmhouse, Shaker style. I threw them all in here with a bunch of colors I liked and crossed my fingers that it would work.”
“It works,” Cat said, her gaze running over the kitchen with its simple lines. Tate didn’t like fuss, and he definitely didn’t like clutter. “I think I’m in love. The blue and green palette really pulls it all together.”
“Thank you. I like it, too. I just wish I were here more to enjoy it.”
“You should get someone to help you manage the bar,” Cat remarked. “You work too much.”
Before now, Tate hadn’t minded that much. It had kept his body and mind busy, not dwelling on things it shouldn’t.
But now that he and Cat were giving their relationship a second chance, help at the tavern sounded like an excellent idea. He wanted to be able to devote time to being together, whether it was going out and having fun or staying in and simply relaxing.
In his mind’s eye, Tate could already see Cat fitting right into his home, the two of them fixing dinner together or even sitting on the back patio on a warm summer night watching the fireflies light up the darkness.
There was plenty of room in the bedroom closet and on the bathroom vanity.
There was even a spot for her car in the garage.
Was he crazy thinking about Cat moving in? They’d only just reunited, but he was thinking that they’d already wasted too many years. If it were anyone else in the world, he would have told himself to slow the hell down. But with this woman, he couldn’t move fast enough.
She, on the other hand, might be spooked if he offered her the other half of his garage and the prime spot on the couch. Living together was a big commitment, and she hadn’t given him any indications that she was looking to do that with him. After all, she was looking to buy her own house.
“You’ve done an amazing job here,” Cat said, walking around the living room and looking out of the front window. “It is quiet out here. How much land do you have here?”
“Ten acres,” Tate replied. “How about I show you the backyard?”
They stepped out of the double doors off the kitchen, and he moved aside so she could get a better look. It wasn’t quite as impressive as it would be in the summer when the pool was open, but it was still lovely with all the trees beginning to turn bright colors of yellow, red, and orange.
“You have a pool? A pool? Tate, it’s cold eight months of the year in Illinois.”
He pointed to the in-ground hot tub off to the left.
“That’s what the jacuzzi is for,” he replied with a grin. “But the pool is totally worth it on a hot summer day.”
“This house is perfect,” Cat declared. “It has everything. Absolutely everything.”
“It didn’t when I built it. It took time to get it here.”
“Are you suggesting that I might be impatient?” she asked, one brow raised in question.
“I’m not suggesting it, sweetheart. I’m saying it out loud. You lack patience. Now, how about some breakfast? I’m starving.”
“I have plenty of patience,” Cat argued, hands on hips. “There are many examples of me having the patience of a saint.”
“Okay, I’m listening.”
Cat was trying to hide her smile, and Tate wasn’t doing much better. They both knew how this debate was going to end.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” she finally said, her lips twitching from suppressing her laughter. “I’m a grown woman.”
“Would the grown woman like to take a shower while I cook breakfast?” Tate offered. “It will take a few minutes. If you can wait that long.”
“That would be lovely, thank you. And I’m going to ignore your last comment. I’m taking the high road this morning.”
Tate ushered Cat through his bedroom and into the ensuite bathroom, letting her know she could help herself to anything, before returning to the kitchen.
A quick perusal of his refrigerator had him pulling out the ingredients for pancakes with a side of bacon.
Breakfast was his favorite meal, and he often had it for dinner when he was home.
It was quick, easy, and always delicious.
When she returned, wrapped up in his blue terrycloth robe, they sat at the kitchen island and ate in companionable silence. The food was delicious, and it felt good and right to be sitting here with her and enjoying it.
It struck him that because they’d been teenagers the last time they were together, they’d never been able to do anything like this.
They were two adults making a conscious decision to spend their time as a couple, doing couple things like sharing a meal.
There were no parents hovering nearby, making any sort of privacy difficult. They could do anything they wanted to.
It was like when he’d realized as an adult he could have chocolate cake or ice cream for dinner. No one was policing his diet anymore.
“You haven’t said much about it.”
Cat had spoken first, and it wasn’t a surprise that the topic she’d chosen was Josh.
“I’m not sure what to say about it,” Tate confessed. “Other than, I think Josh’s would-be killer is amazingly inept.”
“I talked to Rachel yesterday,” Cat replied after a long silence.
“When we were looking at a house. Before she received the call about Josh, she had mentioned that they were in marriage counseling. She said that she’d been planning to ask for a divorce, but she can’t now because the police would think she was trying to kill him. ”
Okay, you have my attention now.
“What? They were having issues? I’ve never heard anything about that. And she told you this?”
“She told me she thought Josh was having an affair,” Cat said with a heavy sigh.
“It feels so good to talk to someone about this. I’ve been in a state of some kind of shock since she told me.
I didn’t know what to say to her. I’m not sure what reaction she expected from me, to be honest. It just feels so good to tell someone else. ”
“The secret is safe with me,” Tate vowed. “You know I won’t talk to anybody.”
“That’s why I felt like I could trust you. You’re not into gossiping like so many people around town. I know you won’t go blabbing about this.”
“I’m not going to say anything to anyone. But damn, Josh is having an affair? That’s a shock. I thought they were truly happy.”
“I think many people think the same thing. She said he’s having an affair with Lindsey, the dog groomer, but her only evidence was that the dogs are clean and groomed all the time.”
“They were always groomed,” Tate replied. “Hell, those dogs get more attention than most kids. They’re great, but they’re spoiled as hell. Is that all she’s got? Because that doesn’t seem like a lot.”
“She says he acts like a teenager around Lindsey. That he doesn’t act like that around her anymore. Have you seen them together?”
“Not like that. I’ve seen Lindsey at group parties or outings, but I’ve never seen her and Josh together, just the two of them. I don’t think I’ve even seen them talking to one another. Do you think…?”
He couldn’t even say it out loud. It was simply too far-fetched.
“That she tried to kill Josh? No. Not at all. Rachel would never do that. She told me how much she still loved him. She wanted to work things out, but she didn’t think it would happen. Besides, she was in the house that morning, right?”
“I hadn’t arrived yet,” Tate replied. “I can’t verify her whereabouts. She was with you when Josh was run down.”
“She was only with me for about half an hour. Technically, she could have had time to do it, but why on earth would she use her own car? A car that Josh would surely recognize?”