Chapter 16 #2
“Especially as the person who hit him had the opportunity to finish the job, so to speak, and didn’t do it. It’s like they just want to scare him.”
“Who would want to scare him?”
“If our friends are to be believed, a whole lot of people, including them. From what I can tell, Josh had been pissing off his friends left and right. There are more than a few suspects who might want to send him a warning.”
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Cat said with a shake of her head. “Why try to scare him if he doesn’t know who is doing it? If he doesn’t know, the scare tactics aren’t effective.”
“Maybe Josh knows more than he’s letting on,” Tate offered.
“And he’s not telling? He’s going to say nothing while Finn searches Rachel’s vehicle for signs of a collision? That’s a shitty thing to do to your own wife.”
“If he’s having an affair, it might make sense. Cast suspicions on your wife, then get a divorce. Everyone won’t blame you for leaving her, even though nothing was ever proven.”
“Remind me not to piss you off,” Cat said. “You have a devious and evil mind. I never would have thought of that.”
“I read too many murder mysteries, including Cooper’s. Now there is a devious and evil mind. Frankly, he scares me with the twists he comes up with. Jane, however, doesn’t appear bothered in the least.”
Tate’s phone buzzed, and he checked to see who had sent him a text.
“It’s my assistant manager,” he explained to Cat. “He needs me right away. He said it’s important. I need to jump in the shower quickly and head over there. He isn’t the type to panic.”
“Go,” she said, making a shooing motion with her hands. “I’ll clean up the dishes. I’ve got this.”
Ten minutes later, they were on the road back to town.
Tate dropped Cat off at her mother’s house, pressing a brief kiss on her lips before driving away.
His employee, John, hadn’t said what was so urgent, but he’d been clear that it was important, but not an emergency.
Nothing was on fire, leaking, or about to explode.
He simply needed Tate there as soon as possible.
Which made Tate tense as hell as he parked in the alley behind the bar and went in the back door. John was chatting with the prep cook, who always arrived early to prepare for the day. They both paused when they saw him, John excusing himself from the conversation.
“You have a visitor. He wouldn’t give me his name. He was absolutely insistent, and frankly, kind of an asshole. He insisted that I call you and tell you he was here. I’m not sure about this.”
“It’s fine,” Tate assured him. “I’ll deal with it. It’s probably some jerk of a salesman who thinks this sort of tactic works. I’ll let him know that I don’t appreciate it, and then I’ll throw him out. Thanks for calling me. It’s not your job to deal with shit like this.”
Walking out into the bar area, scanning the room for his visitor, whom he was quite ready to put in his place. His gaze paused at a man sitting at the bar, drinking a soda and watching one of the televisions on the wall.
At first, Tate didn’t have an idea who he was, but then the man’s identity became clear. More gray hair and more lines on his face, but still tanned and handsome. He looked a lot like their mother.
Uncle Mark.
He must have found out they were looking for him.
Tate and his siblings had questions. Did Mark have the answers?
Cat was in her childhood bedroom changing clothes when her phone rang. The number was far too familiar, although she hadn’t heard from them for months.
“Cat, I’m so glad you answered. We need to talk.”
Toni Hughes, New York City agent to the most famous supermodels in the business. Toni and her husband, Liam, owned one of the world’s top modeling agencies.
“Is everything okay there, Toni? I didn’t expect to hear from you.”
Cat was, after all, retired. Her contract with the agency had ended, and they had all parted ways as friends.
It had been Toni who had pointed out that Cat wasn’t nineteen anymore.
She’d suggested moving to acting, but Cat had always known that she didn’t have the talent for it.
Plus, her mother’s health at the time had been precarious. It had been better to simply retire.
“You never know what the world has in store for you,” Toni replied.
“Guess who I talked to at a party last night? Never mind, I’ll just tell you.
Grant Whitaker. Yes, that Grant Whitaker.
He’s starting a new line of skin care for the mature woman, and your name was the only one on his lips.
He wants you to be the face of it. It’s all he wanted to talk about, Cat.
So we need to discuss the details. He didn’t mention contract specifics, but he said he’s absolutely determined to get you.
Can you fly back today? I’d like to meet tomorrow morning or even tonight, if you can get here.
There’s so much to do. His assistant has already called this morning, trying to set up meetings. ”
Whoa. Just…whoa.
Grant Whitaker was the CEO of a large cosmetics company with several well-known brands that would be instantly recognizable to consumers. Cat’s own personal makeup stash had plenty of the products he produced. And now he was launching a skin care line for the mature woman.
Am I mature? I don’t feel mature.
Only in the modeling business could Cat represent the mature woman at the ripe old age of thirty-two.
“Toni, this is a surprise I never expected. I’m…not sure what to say.”
She’d thought she was done with that life. She’d come home to settle down and start the next chapter - whatever that might be.
Like Tate. And a home. Maybe a dog or a cat.
All the things she’d given up when she’d signed on for that jetset lifestyle.
It was fun to eat dinner in Paris and then wake up in Milan the next morning when she was twenty, but it had quickly lost its luster.
Many nights, she’d longed for a comfy chair and a good book.
I sound like someone’s grandmother. But it’s true.
“What do you mean, you’re not sure what to say?
You say yes. This is a huge opportunity that most women don’t get.
This is a second chance at a career. You could ride this into more endorsements, Cat.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Get on a plane and get your ass back to the city.
If you’re worried that you’ve gained a few pounds, don’t worry.
We can get you back on the horse quickly.
There’s a fabulous new doctor on Fifth Avenue who can help you out.
You didn’t go and do anything crazy like cut off all your hair, did you? ”
“I didn’t cut off my hair.”
Although she had gained about five pounds. She liked it too.
“Cat, what is all this about? Why are you even hesitating? You’ve worked for this. You’d be the exclusive face of this skin care line. There aren’t many people who can say that. This is big.”
It was big. A few years ago, Cat would have jumped at this opportunity with no questions asked. But she wasn’t that person any longer. She’d changed. The business hadn’t. It was the same, of course.
But she wasn’t the starry-eyed girl she’d been. She wasn’t even the jaded, cynical woman.
“I know this is big, Toni, but this is something I need to think over.”
“They’re going to pay you a small fortune, girl. They’re going to put your face everywhere.”
Cat didn’t know if she wanted her face plastered everywhere. The money was nice, but she’d managed to sock away a great deal of what she’d made over the years. She wasn’t going to go hungry or homeless. She couldn’t buy an island, but she could live a modest, quiet life.
“I still need to think about it,” Cat insisted. “If Grant Whitaker wants me that badly, then he won’t care if I take twenty-four hours to think about it.”
“I care,” Toni declared. “You’re not making any sense at all. What has that little town done to you? You need to get back here before you buy a minivan and start a garden.”
There could be worse things in life, although Cat wasn’t a big fan of minivans. She did like garden-fresh tomatoes, however.
“I’m going to call you this afternoon,” Toni went on. “By then, I should have some sort of number that they’re looking at. I’ll let you know.”
Toni had ended the call, leaving dead air on the other end of the line. Tossing her phone on the mattress, Cat sat down on the edge, heaving a loud and long sigh. This was a decision that she’d never thought she’d be faced with.
Go back to the city? Modeling? Traveling? Worrying about her weight, looks, hair, and skin?
And Tate.
She had some decisions to make.
Levering up from the bed, she headed into the kitchen for another cup of coffee. Her mom was already at the table with her own mug, doing a crossword puzzle in the local paper.
Grace watched Cat closely as she poured her coffee, adding sugar and cream. Cat could feel the weight of her mother’s gaze the entire time, silently judgmental. It wasn’t her mom’s usual style to go passive-aggressive.
It was the absolute worst when Grace would say something like, ‘I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed.’ Every son or daughter knew that disappointment was far worse than anger.
“Stop looking at me like that, Mom. If you have something to say, just say it.”
Cat hadn’t exactly done the walk of shame this morning, but she’d shown up at the house wearing the same clothes she’d left in the night before. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out she’d spent the night with Tate.
“I’m not saying anything, Catherine. You’re a grown woman, and can do whatever you like.”
“I am a grown woman. I’m not ashamed of spending the night with Tate.”
“You shouldn’t be ashamed,” Grace replied. “This is not about sex. For heaven’s sake, I’m not a prude. Adults have sex. Your father and I had sex.”
This was not the avenue Cat wanted to go down. She’d spent her life pretending her parents didn’t have a sex life, and so far, it was working fine for her.
“Mom, I don’t want to hear about your sex life.”
“If anyone is a prude around here, it’s you,” her mother laughed.
“You kids are so uptight. Once again, this is not about you having sex with Tate. More power to you. No, what this is about is what you’re doing in this relationship, because if you’re planning to leave again, I think you have an obligation not to string Tate along. You need to be honest.”
“What makes you think I’m leaving?”
“I heard you on the phone,” her mother replied. “And no, I wasn’t listening in. I was walking by your room, and you were on the phone.”
Her mom had never been the nosy type, although she loved the local gossip. In her teenage years, Cat had never experienced her privacy being breached or feeling like she didn’t have her own space.
“I was on the phone with my agent in the city,” Cat admitted. “There is an offer on the table from a prestigious cosmetics company to be the face of a new skin care line for mature women.”
“Mature women? You’re thirty-two.”
“In the cosmetic world, that’s practically ancient. I’m not sure I’m even going to take the offer, to be honest. I’m just not sure it’s something I want to do. I should have been over the moon when I got the call, but I didn’t feel any of that.”
If anything, Cat was annoyed. She’d been going along perfectly content, and then the call from out of nowhere was forcing her to make decisions she didn’t want to deal with.
“You don’t want to do it. You know, it’s fine if you don’t.”
“I know that it’s fine, but…”
“But?” Grace prompted. “But what?”
“Shouldn’t I want to do it? Most people would be thrilled with a big money offer like this.”
“Do you need the money? What most people want doesn’t mean a hill of beans if it’s not something you truly want.”
“Money is always nice, but I would be okay without it. I can’t go crazy and run up a bunch of credit cards, but I’ll be fine. I’m just not sure I want to get back on that merry-go-round again. But then I wonder if maybe I should do it, because I’m not doing anything else.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” Cat replied. “I do want to do something. Being a lady of leisure isn’t my style. I want to work, and I want to have purpose in my life. If I’m not a model, then what am I?”
“Cat, the world is your oyster. The possibilities are endless. As for what and who you are, you get to decide that. And frankly, it’s far past time to figure it out.
Think about what truly brings out happiness and joy.
What do you see yourself doing in ten or twenty years from now?
What will you be proud of at the end of your life?
I know what I’m proud of. You’re one of those things, in case you didn’t know. ”
“I want to make a difference,” Cat finally said. “I’m not sure how.”
“Just take it a step at a time. If you want to go back to New York and be a model, that’s fine.
I’ll support you in all that you do, although I’ll miss you terribly.
Having you back in my day-to-day life has been such a gift.
But it also gives me a reason to visit you and do some shopping a few times a year. ”
It was time for Cat to decide what she wanted to be when she grew up. She was sure of one thing, however, this time she couldn’t simply turn her back on Tate and walk away.
Whatever she decided, she wanted him to be a part of it.