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Right there on the other side of the room, staring straight back at me. Mark—Cat’s Dad. I froze under his watchful eyes, unsure of what to do next. There were enough people between us that he couldn’t have gotten to me quickly, no matter how badly he might have wanted to.
And judging by the look on his face, he just saw everything. Us pushed up so close together, me kissing her forehead, the way we looked at each other. It was all reflecting back at me through his eyes, playing over and over again like a bad horror movie.
His lips parted as if he might call out to us, but before he could, we were swept off into the rush of the walkway. People pushed through, trying to make their way to their tables, and we were carried off with them in the direction of our waitress. Cat was walking ahead of me, pulling my hand so we could keep up with her.
I imagined I was white as a sheet as I sat down at our table. Cat’s obvious concern confirmed it for me.
“Are you okay?” Her brow wrinkled as she reached across the table for my hand. “You look pale. Like you’ve just seen a ghost or something!”
Ha. I wished Mark had been a ghost—some vivid manifestation of my worst fears that could just vanish away in a cloud of smoke. But, no. What happened was real. He saw us, and it was all over. There was nothing I could do about it now.
But Cat seemed oblivious. She must not have seen him watching us from across the room.
“I’m fine,” I lied, trying to pull myself together.
What was done was done, and I should have known better. But I kept going down that dangerous road anyway, knowing full well that something like this was bound to happen eventually.
There was no reason to ruin Cat’s mood and night too. Whatever would result from us getting caught couldn’t be stopped now. The least we could do was enjoy one last night together, pretending like everything was normal and fine.
All the while I knew nothing was normal or fine. My head spiraled with the possibilities. Would he be waiting outside for us when we left so he could corner me around back and punch me in the face? Would he ever speak to me again? Was the entire Heartstring deal about to slip through my fingers all because I couldn’t keep it in my pants?
“Did you hear me?” Cat asked.
“Huh? Oh. No. Sorry,” I shook my head. “What did you say?”
“Maybe we could sneak away to Hawaii or somewhere tropical for a few days after the deal is closed and we’re all settled in,” she repeated.
I nodded, swallowing hard. I was finally realizing how hopeless all of this was. How long could we really expect to keep this up? I didn’t know what we were thinking up until now. But if somehow, by some miracle, Mark managed to just let it go—to forget that he saw us behaving so intimately together…we couldn’t go on like this.
I admitted the only thing scarier to me than my fear of us getting caught…We had to stop.
My stomach twisted as Cat carried on without a care in the world. I couldn’t tell her now and ruin that beautiful smile on her face. I had to keep pretending like everything was fine, no matter how delusional it was.
I made it through dinner and dessert, smiling and listening to Cat while pretending like nothing was wrong. But I was dying inside the whole time…not just out of fear of what would happen. But over the dread of knowing this would all be over soon.
No more of her glowing skin against mine, no more of her scent flooding my nostrils, and no more blissful moments of moving inside of her while we were both torn apart with intense pleasure.
I played it off, but I was starting to realize this was about more than just sex. I had really fallen deep for her. Would that make a difference to Mark? No way. How could it? If I had a daughter, I don’t care how much of an adult she was, I’d kill any friend of mine for even looking at her the wrong way. Mark had just seen me do way more than that.
“This was the perfect night,” Cat said as we were finally heading back to my place. “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. You were the one who technically snagged the reservations.” I hesitated on the corner. “Hey, listen. I hate to do this, but I’m going to send you back home in my car. I’ll call you later.”
“You’re going somewhere without me…now?” she puzzled in surprise.
I nodded. “Yeah, sorry. I had a work thing come up.”
I shuffled her into the car before she had a chance to protest and went home alone to think.
