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“Nothing. I just love you.”
She took his hand. “I love you, too.”
“I’m a little scared.”
“Well, get in and let’s talk,” she said.
He closed the door and walked around the car, wondering why he was being such a weasel. He didn’t want to scare her.
While he navigated out of the French Quarter back onto the highway, they held hands, skirting his fears.
“A lot happened to us, fast,” Katrina said.
“When I first saw you at Maggie’s Angel’s Twelfth Night party wearing that gold table cloth, I knew there was something happening between us, chemistry or attraction or something. But you were with Alphé and I was with Amber that night, and I figured it was just a guy thing. You see a pretty girl, and she’s with someone else, so you let it go, ignoring the spark.
“But I couldn’t get you out of my mind. I asked Justin about you whenever I saw him, and he’d tell me what you were up to. It sounded like you were pretty devoted to Alphé Beaumont.”
“What’d you think about that?” she asked, intrigued.
“Do you want the truth?”
“Of course. Even if it hurts.”
“I don’t want to piss you off.”
“Ha! No worries. He’s history. What did you think about me and Alphé together?”
“I knew you were wasting your time. The dude’s a loser. He let his wife walk all over him for years. Everyone in town saw what was going on, and I don’t believe he didn’t see it. When his brother died, it was so awful.
“The wife, Alphé’s wife I mean, lost her mind. He was calling the cops every weekend to report her missing. She left their kids alone, leaving the little girl—she might have been ten—taking care of a one-year-old. Lola would show up in a bar somewhere out of town.”
“Oh, how awful. This is all news to me. I’m close to Alphé’s daughters, Priss and Angela.”
“I figured you didn’t know, but what was I going to do? Call you up and tell you your man’s history, say you should ditch him and come with me? That wouldn’t go over well.”
“Probably not. But you were with Amber.”
“I was. I was lonely. It’s weird to admit this, but I’d never had a serious girlfriend. I was wondering if there wasn’t something wrong with me. She was available, so I hooked up with her. We were compatible in some ways, and I just traveled the path of least resistance. I was in danger of becoming an alcoholic and a slug, and when I realized that, the pointlessness of us as a couple started coming to the surface.”
“How’d you hook up?”
“We had a one-night stand the year before, then my brother and Amber had a drunken screw. Then I had to go to her place on police business. I don’t even remember what it was for. The rest is history.”
“What happened next?”
“You showed up in town the weekend before Maggie’s Twelfth Night party. I saw you drive into town in your car. There aren’t many Porsches in Cypress Cove, driven by knockout redheads.
“Over Mardi Gras, I saw you at all the parades and parties. Maggie told me you’d bought your own house and that you weren’t planning on moving in with Alphé. I fantasized about being with you. You flirted with me that Sunday, and it gave me hope.”
“And that was enough to get you to my door. I’m so glad you stopped that night. The timing was perfect.”
“It’s definitely perfect timing,” he said. “What’s next as far as the baby goes?”
“I’ll get an appointment with a doctor.”
“I want to go with you.”
“Wait until they do an ultrasound, Dave. I’m not thrilled about going, but it’s necessary.”
