Page 68 of The Broken Hearts Club

Then Miller looked past me and muttered, “Shit, the cat’s making a break for it.”

He ran after Kate, who’d jumped out of her carrier and was striding through the store like she owned the place. He caught her and put her back in the messenger bag, which he hung around his neck. “We should get going,” he said. “She’s not going to tolerate much more of this.”

The cat looked up at him and meowed, as if to confirm what he’d said. I nodded and tried to reply, but my mind was scrambled.

I had my answer. I’d just found out that Miller wanted me as much as I wanted him.

But what was I supposed to do with this information?

16

Miller

The kiss caught me totally off guard.

One minute I was shopping for baby clothes, and the next I was locked in a passionate embrace with Collie. It was startling and amazing, and I was so rattled that I didn’t know what to do next. But then the cat decided to make her escape, and we were plunged right back into reality.

After we finished up at the kids’ store, we made one more stop and picked out a gift basket for Jeannie, full of fancy soaps, body wash, and lotions. Then we returned to the van. By this point, Collie was exhausted. He murmured, “I just need to rest for a minute,” as he curled up with the cat in the beanbag. A minute later, he was sound asleep.

I got comfortable in the passenger seat, and while I was pulling up a book on my phone, a message from Daria popped up. She’d been the first person I’d contacted when I’d been looking for someone to watch the cat, but she’d had plans to go out of town.

Her text said: Hi from Napa. I hope you found someone to cat sit. You never told me where you were going, by the way.

I replied: We’re in Idaho. The cat ended up coming along.

She wrote: What’s in Idaho, and how long will you be gone? After I sent her a quick summary of the situation with Jeannie and her husband, another message popped up: Can you call me? Lots to discuss.

I climbed out of the van, shutting the door carefully to avoid waking Collie. When I called Daria, she answered with, “What the hell are you doing, Miller?”

“I couldn’t let Collie go on his own. He hasn’t been cleared to drive yet.”

“No, I get that part. Why didn’t you talk him out of moving away?”

“His best friend needs him.”

“But so do you!”

“I know,” I said, “but what was I going to do, ask him to pick me over his oldest friend, her newborn baby, and her kids?”

“When you put it that way, I guess you couldn’t really try to change his mind. But you can’t just let him leave without telling him you’re in love with him, Miller.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“But I…” I couldn’t even pretend to deny it. After a pause, I asked, “How did you know?” I’d never acknowledged how I felt about Collie, not even to myself. It was too big, too overwhelming. But Daria had seen it, somehow.

“It’s so obvious. He’s all you talk about, and the absolute center of your universe.”

“I kissed him,” I said softly. “Just a few minutes ago.”

“That wasn’t the first time, was it?”

“It was. It started out as goofing around under some fake mistletoe, but it turned into so much more.”

“So, what are you going to do, move to Idaho? Because it’s pretty damn obvious you can’t live without him.”

“There’s no way I can move to a tiny hick town, someplace even smaller than where I grew up. I don’t want to live someplace like that, and neither does he. Collie spent his entire adult life dreaming about getting out of there. This would be a huge setback.”