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Chapter 10
Sunday morning, Katrina got dressed to go to mass. Propped up on his elbow watching her, Dave felt confused. How could it be Sunday already?
“Are you going to mass?”
“Yes. I was trying not to wake you,” she said, bending over to kiss him.
“I’ll go. Give me ten minutes to shower.”
She grinned seeing his naked backside, watching him go through the antics that men go through upon waking, stretching and scratching and yawning.
“For our first night sleeping together, I thought it went well.”
“I hope I didn’t do anything gross.”
“Nothing. You don’t even snore.”
“Give me a minute.”
He disappeared into the bathroom, and she went out to make coffee. It never occurred to Katrina that Dave would go to mass. She knew of Justin’s rigid adherence to the precepts and practices of the Catholic church. He didn’t go to mass because Maggie didn’t. She’d turned her back on faith about the time of the dissolution of her marriage.
“I’m ready.”
Dave right out of the shower and dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans and cowboy boots was a spectacle, and she gasped. “Wow, you knock me off my feet.”
“Look at you in your sweater set and pearls. I feel like I’m taking a college girl out to breakfast.”
“Ha! That’s not my intention, but I’ll take it.”
“I’m taking you out after church. If you don’t mind the ride, we’ll go to New Orleans this morning. There’s a bakery that has bananas foster French toast I want to try after seeing a picture of it online.”
Giggling, Katrina wondered if she’d ever told him that her most favorite thing to do all her life was to go to breakfast. “I will definitely go. I’ll have French toast, too.”
Once again, going out to the garage brought out the protectivity in Dave. They took Katrina’s car and parked in back of the church. Walking into church together, Dave deferred to her routine.
“I light candles first,” she whispered. “And touch the holy water since I heard Father puts a couple of drops of lemon-scented bleach in it.”
She giggled, her shoulders rising a little bit, and it was so endearing, Dave smiled, and tears came to his eyes watching her.
Ducking down, he whispered in her ear, “You’re so cute. I can’t stand it.”
“Let’s slide in here,” she said, happy and in love, feeling so lighthearted in church compared to the time she’d come here after their first night together when she sat alone and cried.
Afterward, they left through the back to avoid running into Alphé and Calista, although she didn’t tell Dave that. She wasn’t ready to out him yet.
The drive to New Orleans was wonderful; they had more time to talk about them as a couple without worrying about anyone else. Breakfast was delicious. A walk around Audubon Park balanced the fattening breakfast.
“Tell me. What do you see in your future?” Katrina asked, holding his hand as they strolled along. It was time to tell him her news.
“What I want? Well, I want to be with you. I’m still in the day-at-a-time mode because of the uncertainty, but that will change when I get used to this, so I can look more into the future. I’m content with my career. If I went any farther, I’d have to leave Cypress Cove, and I don’t want to do that, ever.
“What about you?”
She looked up at his grinning face. “I’ve never been the cottage with the white picket fence kind of girl, and what do I end up with?”
Telling him about her upcoming promotion scared her a little because she had to decide to be honest with him, and it could mean that he’d feel trapped.
“But here’s the thing. I wanted to have a baby before I began my new job, and Alphé said he’d help me out. Then I found out through a friend yesterday that he’d had a vasectomy.”
