She turned back to the counter and tossed the veggies into the steamer. “He kicked me right back and said ‘fine.’ Of course, because he kicked me, I didn’t want him anymore. And there ended the shortest relationship in the history of the world.”
Catriona laughed so hard tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. “Did you cry?”
“Uh-huh. Squealed like a piggy until he clapped his hand over my mouth because he didn’t want to hear me wailing anymore.”
Cat laughed even harder, turning her back to the charcoal grey granite countertop while gripping the edge with both hands. “They don’t write romance like that anymore.”
“Right? Tale as old as motherfuckin’ time.”
“Were you mortal enemies from that moment on?”
“Best friends.”
Cat shook her head. “You know, psychologists would have a field day with this.” She paused, falling silent for a moment.
It was one of Clare’s earliest memories, a core memory, something that made her warm and gooey inside. The day she’d met Elliott Swift was the day she’d been convinced she’d met her soul mate, even at only five years old. She knew.
She still knew.
And the pain at having lost him was so stifling, so unbearable, she had to find a way to shrink it back into its former space in her heart before it consumed her.
“What went wrong?”
“Oh, y’know…” She shrugged. “We grew up, we grew apart…”He ran off and left me and never looked back.
“You had me.” A severe ‘v’ appeared between Cat’s brows. While Mason was every bit of Clare poured into a little person—blue eyes and mousy brown straight hair—Catriona was a daily reminder of her chicken shit high school love who left her barefoot and pregnant. Not Elliott. Unfortunately for Clare she’d known a multitude of chicken shits in high school, and she’d given her virginity to one of them—Catriona’s father, Ashton.
Sleek dark waves fell over her pale shoulders, and the most stunning bright green eyes she’d ever seen stared accusingly back at her. Like Elliott leaving to play hockey, Ashton had never looked back, either.
There was no mistaking her daughter’s beauty, which mercifully hadn’t yet been an issue as she was more interested in getting into a good college and keeping her grades up than going out to parties or dating. Books, not boys. That had been her motto since she’d discovered a love of astronomy and classic literature at an early age.
It wouldn’t last forever, and Clare was already prepared to do hard time for slaying the first boy who broke her girl’s beautiful heart.
Cupping Cat’s chin with both her hands, she dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Yeah, KitKat. I had you. But that’s not what pulled us apart. Our friendship was already broken by the time I got pregnant with you.”
A wave of bone-deep sadness threatened to drag her under. She gave Cat a watery smile, swallowed down the shards of agony lodged in her throat, and patted her cheek. “Everything happens for a reason, right?”
Cat worked her bottom lip with her teeth. “What did he do to you, Mom?”
She stepped back and gestured to the silverware drawer. “Set the table for dinner, please.”
Cat didn’t move. “Mom?”
She sighed. “He left, baby girl. He went off to play hockey and never looked back. I guess when he returned and found out I had you and was a single mom… Maybe he was hurt, maybe he was angry, maybe…” She dropped her hands to her sides with a frustrated sigh. “I dunno. It would have been too much for any young adult to come home to.”
It had been too much for Cat’s father. He had wanted Clare to get an abortion, and when she had refused, he walked. He was with a new girlfriend less than a month later, and made sure that their entire freakin’ class knew why they were no longer together. Word of her being knocked up had spread like wildfire, and she didn’t even have her best friend by her side to stem the tide of the inherent meanness that came with the teenage years.
“Maybe it was something else.” Cat sprang into action, pulling silverware from the drawer and placing it on the table.
She frowned and tipped her head. “Like what?”
It was Cat’s turn to shrug. “I dunno. But maybe something stopped him from coming back to you. Maybe your meeting in the feminine hygiene aisle of CVS was the universe’s way of telling you to get your head out of your ass and go talk to the man.”
She smacked Clare’s butt. “You deserve to be happy, Mom. Just because he-who-won’t-be-named…okay,twoasshats…fine,they-who-won’t-be-named made you feel undeserving, doesn’t mean thatyouare undeserving.”
“Since when are you so smart?”
“Since I had a great mom who taught me about self-worth from an early age. It’s hard to see you so down on yourself like this, Mom. I saw how Elliott looked at you in the store… How you looked at him… There was something there. And sure, it might not be a forever thing, but isn’t it worth a look? It could be.”
