Page 31 of Rowdy & Kat

ROWDY

By late afternoon, I was alone with Kat and our sons. I helped her move to a small table, where we would enjoy a quiet dinner together. She wore a pale-yellow nightgown rather than a hospital gown. Her golden hair was loosely tied back. Even without makeup and looking exhausted, Kat was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen.

Despite rarely eating pot pies, I ordered the same meal as Kat to help me understand what she enjoyed.

Sipping the brown sugar boba milk, I said, “It’s good.”

Kat’s greedy gaze could hardly peel away from the chicken pot pie long enough to look at me. She moaned approvingly when she took a bite.

“Maria and I make them about once a week,” Kat said as she glanced at Colson’s crib when he made a noise.

I checked on the boys to find Colson fussing in his sleep while Cavan was so still that I leaned down to ensure he was breathing.

Returning to the table, I smiled. “I can’t believe I have two kids.”

“You’ve had a lot to deal with in such a short time. I’ve been impressed with how well you’ve dealt with the stress.”

“Let me ask you something, and I won’t judge your answer,” I said, and Kat froze. “Maria said something about your C-section being scheduled before your due date. I was never great at math, and I don’t get the forty weeks thing, so dumb it down for me. Did you know you were pregnant when you were last with me?”

Kat stared at me before exhaling uneasily and glancing at the babies.

“I knew the last time. I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid.”

“Of what?”

“Of your reaction.”

“Did you think I’d be angry?”

“Maybe. But I also worried you might turn cold. Or maybe you’d pretend to be supportive until I gave birth and then take them away from me.”

Considering her words, I asked, “Why would you want a man capable of being such a dickhead?”

“I can’t explain why I’ve always been drawn to you,” Kat said, seeming younger suddenly. “I’ve always known we were too different, especially back in high school. But I never felt the same attraction to any other men. That’s why I came to the Fire Hooch. I believed if I saw you again, I could put my infatuation behind me. Except you were sexier than I remembered, and my crush only got worse.”

Considering Kat’s words, I imagined the life she had lived. Bebe said more than once how people had let down Kat and Maria. I noticed how women in the nearby rooms often had friends and family visit. The twins had worked and lived in the same place for years, but there were no friends arriving to celebrate Kat’s delivery.

“If you liked me in high school,” I said after a moment, “why did you keep running away from me?”

“You laughed at me when I asked you to the dance.”

“Of course, I did,” I said like she was being dumb. “A guy named Rowdy doesn’t go to a school dance.”

Kat’s lips jutted out in a pout, making me want to kiss her. “Well, you didn’t need to laugh at me.”

Despite grinning at how she remained pissed about something from over a decade ago, I refused to back down. “I didn’t laugh at you. I just laughed. You shouldn’t have gotten so fussy about it. We could have had fun back then.”

“I would have felt even worse when we moved away.”

“We could have stayed in touch.”

Kat shook her head. “You act like it’s so obvious, but we were teenagers.”

“I sported a huge boner for you and zero boner for your identical sister. That’s how I knew you were special.”

“Maria was hotter in high school,” Kat said and self-consciously touched her stomach. “And she’s hotter right now. I don’t get why you can’t see that?”

I took a bite of the pot pie and allowed myself to consider how to respond. My first impulse was to tell Kat that her curves made her sexy. But I doubted that would break through her hangups.