Part 7 (1/2)
”You're off the clock,” she reminded herself, though one could stop being an attorney and manager, but one never stopped being a sister. ”She said she's fine, and she's a grown adult. If she wasn't fine, she would've said so.”
Despite Kate's a.s.surances Jill had no doubt that her sister must be devastated, which made Jill want to cancel her own plans and fly to St. Kitts to be with Kate. She was reaching for her phone to call Ashton when a black stretch limo came down the lane.
Jill's mouth fell open. ”What the h.e.l.l?”
The car came to a stop outside her home, and the driver alighted. Jill knew this because she was staring out the window. Even so, when the driver knocked on the door, she startled.
As she pulled open the door, she said, ”I think you have the wrong place.”
”Are you Jill Harrington?”
Nodding, she stared at the car.
”Mr. Matthews sent me to pick you up.”
”And bring me where?”
”I'm afraid I'm unable to disclose that information. I'm told it's a surprise.”
Jill stewed that over for a moment, unsure how she felt about him managing her this way. She was used to doing the managing.
”He said you might protest, but he promises you'll enjoy his plans for the evening. Oh, and he said to bring a jacket. Just in case.”
Jill eyed the driver warily, wanting to ask in case of what. ”Anything else?”
”No, that was about it.”
She thought about Kate alone in St. Kitts. She thought of the endless months on the road, day after day without so much as an hour to call her own. Kate had told her to relax, to take some time off, and as much as she might've hated herself, she was extremely curious to know what Ashton had planned.
”Ms. Harrington? Are you coming?”
”Yes.” Jill grabbed a denim jacket and her purse on the way out the door. ”I'm coming.”
Reid's dinner with Mari was unusually quiet and awkward. He did his best to make conversation, but all he could think about was how surreal it had been to see Kate again. Over and over, he relived their brief encounter on the beach until he'd a.n.a.lyzed every word and every expression, trying to find the deeper meaning.
Did she say she wanted him back? And why did his heart skip a beat at the thought that maybe she did? What did it mean?
”Reid.”
He snapped out of his ponderings to find Mari looking at him across the table, clearly annoyed by his inattention. ”I'm sorry. What were you saying?”
”It doesn't matter.” She signaled the waiter for their check.
”Don't you want dessert?” She always wanted dessert.
”Not tonight.” Rather, it appeared she wanted out of there-and quickly. He always insisted on paying whenever they went out, but tonight she beat him to it, signing the credit card receipt before he was even aware that their check had arrived.
She put down the pen, took her card and was heading for the exit before he had the napkin off his lap.
Reid chased after her. ”Mari, where're you going in such a rush?”
”Home.”
If he wasn't mistaken, he heard tears in her voice, but he was afraid to look over at her as he drove the short distance to the house she'd recently moved into with him. Once there, she bolted from the car and went into the bedroom. He found her tossing clothes into a bag, her movements jerky and erratic-and reminiscent of the day Kate had left him. He didn't like to think about that day. It was still painful all these years later.
”What're you doing?”
”I'm going.”
”Wait. Going where?”
”Anywhere but here.”
”I don't understand. Something happened today that caught me by surprise. I don't even get one night to process it?”
She turned to him, and her tear-ravaged face tore at him. ”If I gave you a month or a year to 'process' what happened today, would it change that fact that you're still in love with her?”
”What?” He stared at her, incredulous. ”Where's that coming from? I haven't seen her in ten years!”
”And those ten years disappeared the minute she showed up here, didn't they?”
When she went into the bathroom that adjoined their bedroom, he went after her. ”Mari, listen to me. Please.”
She turned to him, seeming to summon an almost ethereal calm that was in sharp contrast to the emotional firestorm. ”We always promised each other we'd stay together for as long as it worked for both of us, right?”
”Yes.”
”I can't compete with the woman you never stopped loving, and I'm not about to try.”
”How do you know I never stopped loving her? Even I don't know that.”
”In all these months together, you've never once said you love me. I always suspected there was someone else, someone who had your heart. I was watching you today when you saw her for the first time, and I finally got some answers. I saw everything I've never seen directed my way.”
”You're not being fair! I was surprised. I had no idea she was coming here. How would you have me react when someone I loved a decade ago appears out of the blue?”
”Look me in the eye, right here, right now, and tell me you don't love her anymore.”
Reid intended to do exactly as she'd directed, because he didn't want to lose her. He liked what they had. It was easy and comfortable and peaceful. It was everything his relations.h.i.+p with Kate hadn't been, but he couldn't look at this beautiful, sweet woman who'd been so good to him and lie to her.
”I don't know how I feel. I wish I could tell you what you want to hear, but I'm all mixed up inside. Seeing her again has thrown me. I won't deny that. I need some time to figure out what it means.”
”Take all the time you need.” She picked up her bag and headed for the door. ”I'll send for the rest of my stuff.”
”Mari, please. You don't have to go. It doesn't have to be this way.”
”Yes, it does, because I happen to love you, and I won't sit on the sidelines and watch you leave me.”
”Leave you? You're the one who's leaving!”