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“Kiss my girlfriend?”
Cooper threw his hands in the air. This was hopeless. There was nothing he could say right now to appease his brother. It was just like Cooper had told his mom. Two weeks hadn’t been long enough. By all appearances Gavin needed more like two years.
“Do you actually have feelings for her, or were you just toying with her?” The words seemed grated from Gavin’s throat. But they obviously came from someplace raw and real.
Cooper searched his brother’s features for some hint of which answer would be the right one. His brother’s eyes were tight at the corners, his breath heaving. But something less tangible flickered in his eyes. Desperation? A need to know. To understand.
And suddenly Cooper knew that the right answer was the truthful one. It would hurt his brother, but Cooper was done lying. Done trying to hide his feelings. Look where that had gotten him—gotten them all. “I have feelings for her.”
Their gazes held for a long, uncomfortable moment. Tension thickened the air in the space between them. Cooper resisted the urge to take back his answer. To Gavin, the words must’ve felt like a knife piercing his heart.
Gavin’s nostrils flared. “Terrific. I hope you guys will be very happy together.” Then he stalked away.
“Gavin, wait,” Lisa called.
Jeff whispered something in her ear, then took off after Gavin, leaving her behind.
Cooper stood helplessly, feet rooted to the ground. There was no point in chasing his brother. There was nothing he could say to fix this.
Avery crossed her arms. “Bravo, Brother. That went just great.”
38
Katie awakened in a sweat. In the early morning light her heart pounded against her ribs, and she shoved away the suffocating covers. Her recurring dream was officially back. She’d had it three times in the past month.
As usual she’d been outside a house and was desperate for entry. The wind blew and wind chimes tinkled in the distance. Then it was pouring rain. She pounded frantically on the door. When nobody answered she peered through a window. Soft lighting brightened the interior. A large paper cup sat on the circular dining table. Suddenly it was raining inside now, too, and the cup was filling with water.
There was Cooper. She called to him through the torrential downpour and he turned her way. But as soon as their gazes connected, the window was gone. Somehow bricked over.Cooper! Let me in. Please, let me in!Rain poured down her face—or were they tears?
And then she awakened.
She rolled onto her back, letting her breath settle in her chest. Letting go of the last vestiges of the disturbing dream.
The month of October had been long and grueling. She didn’t hear from any of the Robinsons—except Avery, who couldn’t possibly avoid her. She wrote a letter of apology to Lisa and Jeff, but there was no response. Not that she blamed them.
The rumor of Cooper and Katie had spread throughout Riverbend. She’d caused trouble between the beloved Robinsons and had been cast as the villain in the unfortunate drama. After being snubbed at the Grab ‘n’ Go Deli and shunned at Millie’s Mug and Bean, Katie decided to stick closer to home.
But even at work things had changed. Her relationship with Avery was stilted at best. Katie couldn’t blame her. She’d broken her friend’s trust and wreaked havoc on her family. Avery must regret ever bringing her to Riverbend. Katie had never meant to heap more problems on her already-burdened friend.
She rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed. Today was the last day of Trail Days. She would go and support the event even though she was officially out of the loop. Technically that had been her choice.
The day after the photo of the kiss had materialized, Katie texted Beth Wallace. She sweated bullets over the wording.
Beth, I’m stepping out of the marketing for Trail Days. From now on please report directly to Lisa. Thank you for all your work on the event.
A while later Beth responded.
Will do. Happy to help.
Katie hadn’t heard from her mother since—that pretty much said it all. She’d wanted Beth to be proud of her, but Katie onlymanaged to humiliate and embarrass herself. She’d become the town pariah. Still, somehow, every day that passed without word from her mother felt like her childhood abandonment happening all over again. Insecurity festered inside like bacteria in an open wound.
She’d wanted to have her life together before she revealed her identity to Beth. She’d fought hard for her nursing degree, and she had a good job and a beautiful little house. But now the community, to which she was just starting to belong, had spurned her. And her mother’s unresponsiveness had triggered all those feelings of unworthiness.
It was official: Katie had been rejected by everyone she cared about.
She’d walked around the past four weeks with a hollow ache inside. Her new home no longer felt like a sanctuary but a prison. Because nobody outside these walls wanted her.
For the first time she regretted spreading Spencer’s ashes because there was no place she could go to remember him. To talk to him. And she desperately wanted to talk to him. She thought she’d known loneliness after her brother died. But it was so much worse now. Now that she’d been accepted into the Robinson family. For the first time she’d had a big family she was beginning to think of as hers. She was loved.
