Page 113 of Blue Jean Summer

“Catherine,” I called as she slipped into the roses.

She didn’t turn.

I raised my voice as I hurried to catch up to her. “Catherine, wait.”

She curved behind the headstones of my parents and grandparents.

I caught her hand and held on for dear life. “Cath.”

She turned to wrench her hand away. I let her have it and wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her instead.

Catherine’s back went ramrod straight. I wrapped her limp ponytail around my hand and cradled the back of her head. She opened her mouth—whether it was to breathe or cuss me out, I didn’t know. But I took the opportunity regardless.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered against the corner of her mouth before dotting it with a kiss.

Those cherry lips turned thin and volatile like a bottle rocket as she wrenched free. “What’s done is done.”

“Cath, I mean it. I’m sorry.”

She took two steps back. “I believe you. You can be sorry and still not be able to take back what you did.” Her hair whipped across her shoulders like chaff in the wind. “It still doesn’t change the outcome,” she said before turning away from me and stepping around the headstones. My heart ached as I watched the way her hands balled into fists.

“I meant the vows,” I called after her. “Every word.”

She stumbled, giving me a chance to catch up to her. But Catherine didn’t turn to face me. “I meant it all,” I said gently. “Maybe I didn’t know that I meant them at the time, but I did.” I swallowed the knot in my throat. “I still do.”

Catherine looked down at her feet, head hanging low.

I laid my hands on her shoulders. “I meant it when I said that I would protect and cherish you. And dammit, Catherine, I do. I cherish you so fucking much, and I’m sorry that I hurt you by trying to protect you.”

She tipped her head back and flashed a smile of disbelief at the sky. “Maybe you convinced yourself that you meant them. Maybe it made it easier for you to deal with me being here so you can keep the estate.” She raked a hand into her hair. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“Cath—”

“Just—Just stop!” she said as she whirled around. “Stop trying to care! I’m a grown woman. I can handle my life just fine. I was doing it long before you came around. I don’t need you making choices for me. Especially ones that can’t be undone!”

The words I had said to her two days ago floated through my mind. “You might be able to take off your ring, but I won’t. I can’t. And as long as this ring is on my finger, I will care about you.”

“You got what you wanted. You got the marriage license. You can take off the ring and stop playing pretend.” Each word nicked at me like an ice pick.

“I can’t.”

Catherine rolled her eyes.

I held my hand out. “Take it off. See for yourself.”

Forget-me-not eyes looked up at me as she worked my wedding band off my ring finger. “There. Stop caring.”

I stepped forward. The boots I had been wearing ever since she came to the estate nipped at the toes of her sneakers. “I. Refuse.”

She flicked her gaze to my hand, then did a double take when she saw the small tattoo that hid beneath my wedding band. A small tiara was inked at the base of my finger.

“It’s not about the estate, Cath. I don’t care if we’re in the richer or poorer part of the vows. For me, it’s till death do us part.”

She clenched her jaw, making it flex and tic as she tried to hold on to her anger. But I didn’t miss the way her lips wobbled.

I took her hands in mine as she held on to my ring. “I’m so sorry that I hurt you. That I overstepped. It’s not my place to tell you how to feel, especially when I’m the one who made you feel that way.”

Catherine looked away as a tear slipped down her cheek. “I just…wanted to know him,” she confessed. “Even if he let me down again. He deserved everything you did, and frankly, he deserves way worse.” Her eyes lifted to mine. “You and I have been in this together since day one, but you didn’t give me a say in it. I know you were trying to protect me, but you treated me like a problem to be fixed rather than a partner.”