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Katie pressed her lips together. Nothing she said right now would help.
“That wasmystory to tell, not his.”
“I agree. I’m sorry. I kept hoping you’d—”
“What—tell you? I was planning to do that tomorrow night, actually. Remember our out-of-town date?”
“Right. I’m sorry, Gavin.”
“You keep saying that, but you know what? It doesn’t help. Doesn’t change a thing.” He shook his head. “You stayed with me out of pity.”
“No.” But wasn’t that the truth? She was drowning in regret. She’d messed things up so badly. Her eyes filled again.
“So... what? You think you’re going to be withhimnow? Good luck making it past date three.”
He didn’t give Cooper enough credit. But that was his anger talking. “I’m not going to date Cooper. I wouldn’t do that to your family.”
“No offense, but I’m finding that hard to believe just now.” He palmed the back of his neck.
An awkward pause stretched between them. Katie longed to fill it with assurances, but he wouldn’t believe her anyway. Words were cheap, especially now. She’d have to show him she meant what she’d said—and that would require time.
His laughter held an edge. “I feel like an absolute idiot. Right under my nose.”
“Please don’t feel that way. There was nothing going on. Nobody else even knew we—” She cut off when she realized that wasn’t entirely true.
And Gavin was too astute to miss it. His eyes sharpened on her. “What? Did somebody else know about this?”
“There was nothing to know. We never did anything.”
“But you had feelings.” His nostrils flared. “And somebody else knew about them.”
She held his stormy gaze for a long moment, then released a resigned breath. “Avery walked in once during a . . . a moment.”
“Avery. Great. Just great.”
“Nothing happened and we told her that. She believed us.”
“We. Us. Are you hearing yourself, Katie?” His eyes snapped with fire. “Wow. Great family I have. Really looking out for me.”
Her stomach hardened at his words. “Theydolook out for you. You have no idea how lucky you are to have them.”
Their gazes clashed. There was so much in his expression. His brows furrowed, his jaw clenched, but it was the despair in his eyes that crushed her. There was so much she wanted to say. She wanted to comfort him. Help put his family back together. But it was a little hard when she’d been the one who’d torn them apart.
“Know what? We really don’t have anything else to say. I’m just going to leave now.” He strode toward the door, his face a mask of anger.
Sensing his need for distance, she stood back as he let himself out. A minute later his tires squealed as he pulled from her driveway. Feeling like something a cat coughed up, she locked the door and turned off the light. Her chest was heavy with the crushing weight of Gavin’s pain. The hollow ache of guilt.
She wiped her face as she made her way to the bedroom and crawled under the covers. She’d done this. She made this enormous mess. She’d been so desperate for love—anybody’s love—that she’d broken an entire family. How selfish and pathetic was she?
Her eyes burned again, but with the resolve of a warrior she held back the flood of tears. She felt for her phone in the bed beside her. Once her hand closed around it she opened the photos again. In several quick motions she located the photos of Cooper and deleted every last one of them. Only then did she allow herself to give in to the raw grief.
37
Cooper hunched over his desk as he filled out paperwork on a fender bender. It was barely nine o’clock in the morning, and he’d rather be out on the streets. But they had a drunk guy in lockup, and it was his turn to babysit.
Then again, being shut away had its upside too. For one, he could escape the rumors still swirling about town—half of them true. For two weeks he’d endured the speculative stares and outright glares.
In other news, Megan had no doubt returned from vacation, but he hadn’t made it back to Mars Hill to confront her. He had tried to call her at work twice but no luck. And in light of the new rumors, his hands were too full to worry about Megan and her false accusation.
