First Comes Love

  “I should have known you would do something like this. Parading in here, making a spectacle—is it never enough to simply be included? Must you always make yourself the center of attention? Will you not be satisfied until you completely humiliate me in front of all of my friends? You think of no one but yourself! I want you to leave!”

  Her body shook with such ferocity she feared she’d collapse. She was a teenager all over again, a shameful presence in her parents’ otherwise perfect lives. A tear rolled down her cheek and she stood, paralyzed, and her mother stormed away.

  Dawson snickered. “Let’s return to the party, Nathan.” They walked away and she stared, unblinking, at the now empty yard.

  “Kat,” Tyson’s soft-spoken voice held concern.

  Brushing a hand down her arm, she snapped. “How could you?”

  He drew back. “I didn’t mean—”

  “You knew how they were! Did you even stop to think what starting a fight with him would mean to me?”

  He scowled and hissed, “I never stop thinking about what my actions mean to you.”

  “Really? Didn’t seem that way two minutes ago.”

  “You were upset! I know he said something to hurt you. I’m not going to just stand there while some asshole insults you. Fuck that, Kat!”

  “No, Tyson. Fuck you, because you just fucked me.”

  She spun away and he grabbed her arm. “This is exactly what they want. I don’t want to fight with you.”

  Flinging his arm off of her, she choked on the sobs fighting to escape. “It doesn’t matter what they want. The only thing that’s certain is they don’t want me.” The soft tinkling of music and festivities hung in the quiet air, totally at odds with the conflict raging inside of her.

  “Kat,” he pleaded in a soft voice. “I didn’t do this to make trouble for you. You have to believe that wasn’t my intention. I’m sure we can talk to your mom in the morning and—”

  She laughed without humor. “You really don’t get it. My family isn’t like yours. We don’t laugh and we don’t have some warm and fuzzy past full of sweet anecdotes. Since Mia, I’ve been holding on by a thread, trying to maintain some sort of relationship with my parents for my daughter’s sake. This isn’t going to just go away and Mia won’t understand why her grandparents suddenly disappeared.”

  “Why would they take it out on Mia?”

  “To punish me!”

  He shook his head, expression wrought with confusion. “I don’t understand why you continue to fight to be close to people that treat you like shit. What good is a relationship if it’s a dysfunctional one?”

  “It’s the only kind of relationships I have!” The words left her mouth before she could pull them back.

  His hands dropped and his expression blanked. “I see.”

  Soft laughter broke the silence as a couple emerged from the tent. “I want to go home.” Without waiting for a reply, she turned and fled to the limo.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  After a silent drive home—Kat refusing to even hear him out—he entered his house and slammed the door. “Fuck!” Stalking to the fridge he grabbed a beer.

  He expected Kat’s family to be difficult. He was prepared to swallow his pride to ensure everything went smoothly. What he wasn’t prepared for was Dawson fucking Price. When Kat disappeared into the house, he could tell she was upset. He’d been gone for only a few minutes and the only person that could have upset her was the douchebag sitting next to her in his absence. Figuring he’d get some answers, he’d moseyed on over to where Price and his little toady hung.

  “Senator Adams! Someone chase your Kat up a tree?” Lithe had joked.

  “Something like that,” Tyson drawled, his hands deep in his pockets as he eyed Price.

  “Women,” Price commented, streams of rank smoke circling his head. “I’ll tell you, if they’re not on their backs or their knees, they’re more trouble than they’re worth.”

  “Is that so?” Tyson asked.

  Lithe laughed a little too hard as Price’s lips curled around the end of the cigar. “What’s the deal with you, Adams? Why’s a successful guy like yourself wasting time with some other man’s cast-offs?”

  His shoulders stiffened. “Excuse me?”

  “Kat. Why bother with damaged goods when you could probably have your run at half the untethered women here. You’re quite a novelty, I’m sure. And if what they say is true, I imagine—”

  Before he could mutter another word Tyson lunged at him. “Nobody gives a fuck what you think, except maybe your little lap dog over there,” he growled. “If I ever hear you speak of Kat in such a disrespectful manner again—”

  “Oh, please! She’s not worth defending and you know it. You think you’re the first man she’s spread for? She was knocked up at seventeen for Christ’s sake! You’re pissed, because I had her before you.”

  He wanted to fucking disembowel the bastard, but knew if he laid one hand on him he wouldn’t stop until the man was nothing more than a bloodied bag of bones.

  Chuckling, Price drew a long drag from his cigar and blew it in his face. “She said I was the best she ever had.”

  Breathing harshly, he tried to reel in his temper. Leaning close, he sneered, “You lie. I know for a fact you’re lying. You may be able to fool these idiots into believing you’re some prize, but you didn’t fool her and you don’t fool me. She didn’t want you, not the other way around. I know it, you know it, and I bet you even Scrappy Doo over there knows how full of shit you are.”

  Dawson let out a cocky laugh. “Don’t fool yourself into thinking she’s better than she is. She may come from money, Adams, but she’s trash.”

  Control snapped, he jerked Price’s collar in his fists making the bastard’s teeth clatter. “You think you’re such a big man. Let me clear things up for you. She has more class in her little finger than you’ll ever have in your entire life. Whatever you think of her, she’s still too good for you.”

  The man had crossed a line Ty refused to forgive him. It wasn’t long before he’d totally lost control of the situation and the night went to shit. His stomach plummeted the moment he recognized the humiliation in Kat’s eyes, humiliation he’d played a part in putting there. Then he saw her mother and there was no excusing his behavior.

  She looked at him like a black stain among a bed of fine polished pearls. She’d judged him before they were even introduced and he was furious with himself for giving her the slightest impression that she’d judged right.

  The woman was vicious. Her words to Kat left him speechless. He understood now, after witnessing how cruelly she spoke to her own daughter, that she’d care little about the fact that he’d been defending her honor.

  This hold they had on her, it made no sense. Kat seemed to think it was okay to take that kind of belittling crap from people so long as they pretend to love her. Then she’d gone and lumped every relationship she had—including theirs—in the same dysfunctional category. He was speechless.

  How could she compare what they shared to what she suffered with her parents? Beyond hurt, his mind played over all the times he’d gone out of his way for her, built her up when she was feeling down. The fact that she could even compare their relationship to the one she had with her parents made him sick. And if they honestly could give up their granddaughter to spite Kat then they didn’t deserve to have a kid like Mia in their life. His brain couldn’t even wrap around such a gross display of manipulation.

  He’d tried to reason with her, but there would be no way of explaining what had actually driven him to put his hands on the man. He could never tell Kat the demeaning things Price said. He dreaded what she might have heard before he realized she was there. His phone buzzed and he reached in his pocket, but it wasn’t there. Rushing off the couch to find his tux jacket he hurtled over the ottoman with the grace of a drunken antelope and fumbled with the jacket until his phone clattered to the floor. “Don’t hang up, don’t hang up, don’t han
g up!” His thumb slid across the screen. “Kat?”

  The feminine voice that purred on the other end did not belong to his kitten. “Hello, Ty.”

  He frowned at the screen, disappointment flooding him. “Imani?”

  “I’ve got coffee!” Jade cheered, entering the house. “I can’t wait to hear about your magical night!”

  Kat couldn’t muster a smile. “I can’t. I need to take a shower.”

  Concern immediately overtook her friend’s expression. “What happened?”

  Her eyes blurred, but she fought back her outburst, knowing Mia was in the next room. She shook her head and in a hoarse voice said, “I can’t talk about it. Not right now. I’m sorry. I just want to be alone.”

  Jade empathetically nodded. “Okay, honey. Whatever you want, but you call me if there’s anything I can do. I’m here for you.”

  Kat thanked her for the coffee and Jade kissed Mia goodbye. Her best friend had seen what Kat’s parents were capable of doing to her firsthand, so, mercifully, Jade didn’t press her for explanations.

  Setting Mia up with a movie, she took a long shower and had herself what she promised was the last cry of the day. Realizing around eleven o’clock that her mother was going to stand Mia up for their outing, she promised a trip to the park.

  Bagging some snacks and drinks, she grabbed a picnic blanket, and loaded Mia in the car. They drove for several minutes, listening to a CD of Barney’s Greatest Hits without saying a word. Mia brought Gorrum to the playground and, for once, Kat was grateful for the invisible meowing dinosaur’s presence.

  When they got to the park she spread out the blanket in the shade of a tree and Mia ran off to play while Kat positioned herself so she could see her daughter. She pulled out a library book and attempted to read. It wasn’t happening. After reading the same paragraph a dozen times without comprehending a single word, she gave up.

  Her mind went to Tyson. What he did, well, no one had ever defended her like that. However, her aversion to unwanted attention overshadowed his noble intentions. In his attempt to protect her honor, he unintentionally disgraced her in front of her mother—a disappointment Vivian might not forgive this time.

  She couldn’t hold her mother’s shortsightedness against Tyson. As much as he’d contributed to the premature ending of the night, she didn’t want what happened to interfere with her future. She was angry and said some things without thinking. It hurt her to know she hurt him when he was only trying to protect her.

  When it started getting late she called Mia and they headed back to the car. It was time to face the music.

  On the way home Kat offered to take Mia to McDonald’s, a rare treat. By the time they made it home it was already dark and past Mia’s bedtime. Kat changed her into her pajamas, foregoing her bath, and tucked her into bed.

  After she tidied up the house and changed into her pajamas, she grabbed the phone and went to her room. She had six messages. The first was from Tyson.

  “Kat, it’s me. Please call me.”

  “Baby, it’s me. I don’t know where you are, but we need to talk. Please call me when you get home. I love you.”

  The third and fourth were also from him and said pretty much the same thing. The fifth message was from her mother.

  “Katherine. Call me. We need to speak.”

  The sixth message was nothing but dead air. About to delete it, she heard the caller clear their throat.

  “Kat…” She frowned not recognizing the voice as the caller cleared his throat again. “It’s Jeremy…” Her hand gripped the dresser as her knees gave out. “Jeremy Larson…from high school. I, uh, got your number from your mom. I didn’t know how to find you, so I stopped at your parents’ house this morning. She said you lived in New Castle now. How are you? I wanted to see if we could meet…to talk. About Mia.”

  He paused for a long moment and she panted, a sense of claustrophobia setting in.

  “How is she? I’d like to meet her, Kat. Well, we can talk about that when you call me back. I’m staying at the Best Western in Parkside for a couple of days until I make other arrangements. Please call me back. I…I hope you’re well.” He read off the number to his room and also left his cell phone number.

  She stumbled across to her bed and numbly sat, staring at the shoes neatly lined up along her wall. The automated voice on the phone asked her to press seven for more options. Time passed in immeasurable beats of panic. The call eventually disconnected as the phone beeped obnoxiously in her lap. In a trance, she hit the end button. It was only then that she heard the pounding at the front door.

  Confused, she wandered to the kitchen. Tyson stared through the window, a look of concern on his face. She opened the door.

  “Were you asleep?” he asked, taking in her appearance.

  “No.” Her voice was hollow and quiet. It didn’t sound like her.

  “May I come in?”

  She stepped aside, allowing him to enter. He shut the door and she walked into the living room and sat on the couch, staring at a spot on the floor where Mia’s My Little Pony lay.

  “You’re avoiding me.”

  She shook her head, trying to focus on his words, knowing they were important, but nothing made sense in that moment. Jeremy was back?

  “Kat, can you at least look at me?”

  Forcing her head to turn, she looked up at him with a blank stare. He had a five o’clock shadow and his clothes were wrinkled.

  “I’m sorry. I should’ve never acted like that. It’s just…you wouldn’t tell me what Dawson did and I could tell he did something to upset you. I didn’t mean to make a scene. I’m sorry that things got out of hand.”

  She nodded without really processing his words.

  “Will you at least say something?”

  She swallowed, but it did nothing to remove the lump in her throat. Swallowing again, she croaked, “It’s fine.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck and squeezed his eyes shut. “It’s not fine. I can see you’re upset. Yell at me or something. I can’t stand us being like this.”

  She was unfit for company. Slowly, she stood. “I need to go to bed.”

  He grabbed her hand, halting her steps. She looked in his pleading eyes, tight with tension and fear. “Kat, please,” he whispered.

  “I need to be alone.” She stared blindly at the wall behind him.

  “I love you, Kat. This isn’t over.” He quietly released her hand and let himself out.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Kat called out of work and dropped Mia off at Mrs. Bradshaw’s. When she returned to her house, Tyson’s truck was already gone.

  Jeremy wanted to talk about Mia. He wanted to meet her. Then what? Would he want to meet her once and then leave again? Last she heard he was in Japan. Was he visiting?

  Would Mia want to meet him? Of course she would. Mia got a kick out of meeting the grocery clerk at the market. Meeting her father would be—but what if he met her and then disappeared again?

  Needing to know his intentions, she dialed his cell phone.

  “Hello?” His voice sounded more confident than it did on the voice mail, more grown-up. But no familiar tug at her heart or any nostalgic affection came to life.

  “Jeremy?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Kat. Kat D’Angelo.”

  “Kat! How are you?” He sounded relieved.

  “I’m… good. I, um, got your message.”

  “Yeah, I hope it was okay that I stopped at your parents’. I didn’t know if they still lived there. I went to your old apartment first, but some lady lives there now. It was the only way I knew to reach you.”

  “No, it’s fine. I thought you were in Japan.”

  “I was in Japan, but then I went to Iraq, and then to Texas. I’m done now. Honorable Discharge. I didn’t really have anywhere to go and I still own the deed to my dad’s property, but there isn’t much of a house left. I figured I’d come back home and see if the land was worth salvaging. I’m
meeting with his lawyer today.”

  “Oh,” she answered lamely, trying to process everything.

  “Are you free today?”

  “Yes.” And they needed to come to an understanding before any more people got involved—especially little people. “I took off work after I got your message.”

  “Can we meet? I’d love to see Mia.”

  “Jeremy, I think we should talk before Mia learns that you’re here.”

  “Oh, right,” he sounded disappointed. “Okay, well, when do you want to meet? I’m heading back to the hotel now, but if you give me your address I can put it in my GPS and come to you.”

  “No.” She wasn’t ready for him to know where they lived. “Why don’t I come to you at the hotel? Is there a place we can talk?”

  “Yeah. There’s a restaurant off the lobby that’s usually empty during the day.”

  She needed to get this over with, because the unknown was making her nauseous. “Okay, how’s ten o’clock?”

  “Great. I’ll see you then. And Kat, thanks for agreeing to meet with me.”

  “Sure.” She hung up and collapsed on her bed, letting out a long groan.

  She arrived at the hotel ten minutes early, with some recent pictures of Mia in her bag. As she entered the lobby a woman at the front desk directed her to the restaurant. Service staff seemed to be breaking stations down after a breakfast rush. A man drank a cup of coffee at a table in the back and a bus boy pushed a sweeper. She looked around, but didn’t see Jeremy, so she took a seat in the corner and waited.

  Tense and fidgety, her teeth dug a hole in her as her knee bounced incessantly. Nothing was calming her nerves.

  “Can I get you a coffee, Miss?” a waitress offered.

  “Oh, no thank you. I’m waiting for someone.”

  “I’ll come back then.”

  The man having coffee stood and she checked her watch. She grew self-conscious and averted her eyes as he slowed by her table. “Kat?”