Celeste finished a call and looked up at her. “How ya doing?”
“Numb.”
“That’s to be expected. Want some more coffee?”
“Yeah. But I can get it.”
A knock came at the door and she jumped, her heart lodged in her throat. She knew who it was. “I can’t see him, Cel. Not now,” she stage-whispered.
Celeste held up her hand. “I know. I’ll handle it.”
Cat peeked through the peep-hole and nodded, confirming it was Jack. Celeste pulled open the door. “What is it, Jack?”
“I need to see Cat.”
“She doesn’t want to see you right now. She’ll call you when she’s ready, if she’s ready.”
Cat heard him sigh.
“Please, just let me in.”
“Face it, Jack. She’s done. You took a gamble and lost. You had a fifty-fifty chance that you wouldn’t get caught. Those odds are better than Vegas. But you lost. Time to cash in your remaining chips and go home.”
Cat heard nothing more from Jack. Celeste just stared straight ahead, letting him know she was not backing down.
God, she loved her friend so much right then.
“Oh.” Celeste leaned down to pick up the canvas bag. “She wanted me to give this to you.” Cel swung the bag backward and sent it sailing. It made direct contact with his privates.
He doubled over. “Ow.”
Cel grinned as she closed and locked the door.
Tears filled Cat’s eyes even as her mouth gaped. “Ohmigosh.”
Celeste took her in a hug. “You’re welcome. Remember—one day at a time.”
She nodded, secretly glad that Cel had used Jack’s balls as target practice.
The day proceeded without any further incident. She made a call to her parents, who were incredibly supportive. She promised to phone them later when she was alone. The girls sat around the living room, eating pizza, drinking a little beer—after the previous night, everyone was cautious—and watching some comedy of which Cat could barely recount the storyline. Instead, her mind replayed every date, every conversation, every time she’d made love to Jack, and questions filled her head. What did she do? What didn’t she do? What could she have done better? Oh yeah, be more adventurous. Well, she already knew that. Shit, he already knew that too. He’d never once complained about her lack of adventure. What a fucker!
He’d said something once, like wouldn’t it be cool to try this outside sometime? Or that time he’d tried to get her to go out to dinner with a bunch of their friends and not wear panties under her dress.
Whatever. That was no excuse to sleep with all those women.
The day stretched as long as it could for Cat and she needed to bring it to an end. After the movie, she rose. “I’m going to bed, guys. I feel exhausted.”
Celeste stood by her side. “We got everything taken care of, babe. Sleep as long as you need. There’s only one thing we need to talk about, but it can wait.”
What? Her shoulders slumped. No more. Please let this nightmare end. “Thanks. Goodnight, guys.”
“Goodnight, Cat.” They hugged her, and she went to her bedroom.
To her surprise, Cat fell asleep quickly. Unfortunately, she didn’t stay asleep. No, she wasn’t that lucky.
Feeling sad and depressed, she did what the experts would probably advise against—she opened her phone. The one place she hadn’t gotten rid of the photos, and there were so many. Countless shots of selfies, some of just him, others where someone else had taken their picture.
Tears streamed from her swollen eyes, landing on her pillow.
How could she have been so blind? Jack was her everything. She’d thought of traveling together, buying a house, having kids, growing old. And he’d pissed it all away because she wasn’t adventurous enough.
A sob escaped. She couldn’t help if that was her nature. Her mother wouldn’t exactly be described as adventurous, and her parents were happily married for over thirty years—even through the rough patches.
Cat threw back the covers and meandered to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. The apartment was dark except for moonlight coming through the sliding glass door in the living room.
When her water was hot, she poured it over the tea bag in her cup and brought it out to her small patio. There was space for two chairs, a little table, and two potted plants. She sat and stared at the nighttime landscape from her sixth-floor apartment. Mostly dark houses, illuminated street lights, and the Austin skyline in the distance. The summer air was still and quiet.
She sighed over her cup. How could a person be more adventurous if that wasn’t in their nature? Could a person change just like that? Could she?
She was obsessing, playing and replaying times when maybe she could have taken a risk, but didn’t. The mental hamster wheel she was on exhausted her.
She heard a noise and turned around. Celeste stood at the doorway in the living room.
“Hey. Couldn’t sleep?”
“Nope.”
Celeste sat beside her. “Whatcha thinking about?”
“Everything.” She looked at her friend. “Eight women, Cel! Who does that? He said he was sowing his oats with adventurous women. What a bunch of crap. I would have been more understanding if he was drunk, macking down with someone.” She huffed. “Possibly.”
Celeste’s eyes softened. “I don’t understand it either. Did he mention wanting to be more adventurous with you before?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “A few times.”
“And that scares you.”
She nodded. Honestly, it terrified her, but she also saw how exciting trying something new could be too.
“I don’t know, Cel. I just feel fooled. I was a fool.”
Celeste leaned in, her hand resting on hers. “Now don’t say that. No one saw that coming. I thought you two were perfect for each other.”
“Yeah.” Well, whatever Celeste thought, she felt like an idiot. She didn’t know how long it would be before she could trust a man again.
“Listen, there was only one thing we couldn’t take care of.”
Cat faced Celeste. “What is it?”
“The honeymoon.”
“Shit,” she said under her breath.
“Everything is paid for, and I can’t get you any refunds. I didn’t see anything about insurance. Did you happen to buy any?”
“No.” She sighed. “I was expecting to go without any issues.”
“I know. Well, I want you to think about something.”
She stared at her friend.
“Go.”
“What?” Her nose crinkled.
“I want you to go. You already have off work. It’s paid for. And it will do you so much good.”
She turned back to her skyline view. “I don’t know about that. Come with me.”
Celeste gave a small smile. “I can’t take off right now. You can do this. Saint Lucia is beautiful. You’ve always wanted to go. You’ll be at an all-inclusive or have guided tours, so you’ll be safe going by yourself. And…” Celeste waited for her to look her way, “you can take your charcoals and have a little ‘me’ time. You know how drawing always helps soothe you.”