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Eventually the panic attack subsided, the adrenaline causing me to crash.
Tears streamed freely down my face as I sat up to start the long trek home.
Chapter 14
Jack
“She’s doing what?”I asked Barb to repeat herself.
“It seems our little Whitney has lined up some venue tours this afternoon. I thought she might neglect to fill you in, so I decided to do it for you.”
“That sneaky little—”
Barbara cleared her throat.
“Anyway, I gotta run this diner, just wanted you to know.” Barb signed off.
Whitney thought she could get away with looking at venues without me.
Think again, Sprinkles.
We worked well together. Well, at least we had.
I needed to remind her of that.
Ten years had passed since she disappeared to California in the middle of the night. But time and distance didn’t just stop our kind of chemistry—that was lifelong.
Hell, I could feel that electricity, that current between us, whenever we shared a room.
I hit redial, trying to connect to Barb.
“Barb’s diner, this is Barb.”
I didn’t bother with pleasantries. “Where’s her first stop?”
I could imagine Barb smiling on the other end of the line as she told me about some brewery off the highway. A quick search on my phone gave me the info I needed. My early shift had just ended, so I had enough time to grab a coffee, then surprise Whitney by being the best gala co-planner she could ever hope for, whether she liked it or not.
As usual, Coffee Creek burst with patrons looking for their after-lunch caffeine kick. I stood in line, checking my phone for directions to the brewery when someone tapped my shoulder.
I should have noticed the distinct floral smell of the perfume sooner.
“Katie.” I turned around, feigning a smile as I took in the statuesque woman in front of me. All hard lines and big hair.
She sidled up to me until her hips touched mine with a familiarity we no longer shared.
I stepped back, immediately putting space between us. Katie pursed her lips but didn’t say anything. Appearances mattered, and she was never one to make a scene. Not in public anyway.
Even still, her hand reached out to clutch my arm in greeting.
“It’s good to see you. It’s been a while.” She phrased it as a statement, but I knew that it was meant as a question.
I lifted her hand, removing it from my arm, again taking another step away from Katie. This time it was to keep up with the moving line. She copied my movement, again drawing herself closer to me than I would have preferred.
“You haven’t returned my calls,” she said quietly, looking surreptitiously around the room to make sure nobody overheard her.
I clenched my jaw. “I told you I thought we should give each other some space.”
I had been saying the same thing for two years now. But somehow, Katie still couldn’t take the hint. The calls and texts were making me seriously consider changing phone numbers.
