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She frowned. “Do you need another blanket? I know that ice pack can make you cold.”
“It’s not that. Please make sure I’m awake by nine. I’m supposed to be at my mother’s house at eleven. I suspect it will take me longer than usual to get dressed and ready.”
“Are you sure you can’t cancel?”
“I’m going.” His tone brooked no interference.
“Got it.”
“And I’m not taking pain pills during the day tomorrow.”
“But the doctor said—”
Harry cut her off with a slice of his hand. “No meds. The knee is already hurting less.”
“I seriously doubt that.” She hadn’t meant to say the words out loud, but they escaped her lips, perhaps because the hour was late, and Cate was confused and tired.
Harry’s expression didn’t change. “Go back to bed, Cate. You’re dead on your feet.”
She walked out of the room abruptly. The stupid man was infuriating, but she didn’t have the heart to let him fend for himself.
Monday morning Cate woke at eight, twisted her hair up in a sophisticated knot and applied makeup with a light hand. Then she went to the closet and pulled out the same outfit she had worn recently to lunch with her parents and sister.
If Cate was going to meet Harry’s mother—in any capacity—she wanted to look her best.
Just before nine, she fetched coffee and cinnamon bread from the kitchen, grabbed the spare ice pack, and went to wake Harry as requested. But when she knocked softly at the door and was invited to enter, she found him dressed, with his computer on his lap.
“Breakfast is served,” she said, setting the plate and cup beside him. She took the thawed ice pack from the side of the bed and left him the new one.
He looked up with a distracted smile. “I almost blew it,” he said. “After the accident last night, I forgot I promised to get some info to my executive assistant for a meeting this morning.”
“Are you going to make it in time?”
“Barely.”
Now that he brought it up, Cate did remember him mentioning the task. “What time are we leaving?”
“Ten thirty will work.”
“I’ll be downstairs,” she said. “Put the ice pack on your knee.”
While Harry was busy, Cate ate her own light meal and then got out her laptop to start a list.Things Cate Penland Needs to Accomplish Before the End of July.
1) Find a place to live in Atlanta.
2) Close on the new store.
3) Order inventory.
4) Interview hourly employees and potential managers.
5) Extricate myself from Harry’s orbit.
She stared at that last one for a long time. It was perhaps the most important item on the list. Maybe she should move it to number one. Spending so much time with Prescott Harrington was making her think weird thoughts. Like whether he needed a woman in his life and if that woman should or could be her.
Now that she had processed Jason’s actions on that terrible day, June 7, she was finally starting to come out of a fog. Or so it seemed. Jason was not her soul mate. If anything, he had done her a favor.
It was a tough pill to swallow. Admitting Jason was right about their relationship made Cate feel foolish, immature and uncertain.
