Page 22 of It Should Have Been Me

She flushes, but only for a mere second before she grabs her purse, tosses some bills on the table, and storms off. I get up and rush after her because this conversation isn’t over.

“Arrogant asshole!” she mutters as she barrels toward my car. “Just take me home.” She opens the door and I slam it shut before she gets in.

“Do you ever think about it?” I ask.

“What? You being an arrogant asshole?”

“No, you screaming my name.”

She’s angry. She’s fucking fuming, but the heat in those pretty brown eyes is not from anger alone. She’s thinking about it, about me. I can tell by the way her breathing changes, and I can’t discern whether she wants to slap me or throw herself at me. I’ll take either.

“Scott,” she begins with a mocking smirk, “I am a very happy, verysatisfiedwoman. What makes you think you’re even an afterthought in my life?”

“I don’t know.” I lift her hand, so my ring is right in her face. “Let’s consider exhibit A, shall we?”

“Stop fanning the flames of your ego, Scott Carter,” she counters with indifference. “It’s just a fashion accessory. I think we should give more weight to exhibit B.”

“Which is?”

Her smile is nothing short of smug. “I gave him my number on the first day.”

That catches me off-guard, and I take a step back as if I just got hit in the stomach and turn away from her. “Shit,” I grind out.

I run my hands over my hair as I pace back and forth a few times. She could’ve told me that she slept with him on the first night and it wouldn’t affect me so much. It took me almost three months to get her number. I had to jump through hoops, bend over backward to earn her trust just to get her number. JP getting it on the first day is proof that he never got the walls or the bullshit. He got all the things I had to work for without even half the effort.

“Let me take you home,” I say shakily.

I walk around the car and get into the driver’s seat. Cat wordlessly gets in as well, and both of us remain silent. We drive for ten minutes before it starts bugging me to the point that I have to say something.

“I can’t believe you gave him your number on the first day.”

“I didn’t. I just said that to shut you up.”

“What?” My head snaps sideways to glare at her. “You fucking savage! Jesus! You’re a horrible human being.”

“You deserved it.”

I can hear the irritation in her voice, and I’m guessing it’s because she didn’t want to admit the truth. She could’ve kept the upper hand and left me to drive myself crazy with that thought. I never would’ve found out when he actually got her number, but Catalina is not spiteful like that. She’s incapable of saying things if it hurts someone’s feelings. She just tried it out now, and it took her all of ten minutes to backtrack, because she knew how deeply that comment wounded me. There’s a lot about her that has changed, but that’s one of the things that stayed the same. It’s one of the many reasons why I fell in love with her.

We’re quiet for another five minutes and a part of me knows that I should remain distant, drop her off at home, and avoid her until the wedding. Being around her is going to mess with my head. It already is, and I’m going to be worse off when she leaves again. But the other part of me wants to spend more time with her. She’s fluctuating between different versions of herself. The fiery fighter who’s still compassionate and the accomplished artist who’s kinda...stiff.

My emotions are all over the board. Our argument has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I’m still angry. I’m hurt. I’m upset. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued to find out who the hell this woman is now. I want to see how the years have shaped her, find out what has changed and what has stayed the same.

This is exactly the kind of mind frame that leads to poor decisions because my next question flies out of my mouth without me giving it proper thought. “So, what are you doing tomorrow?”

“Eat shit, Scott!”

That spitfire attitude of hers is definitely still intact. “Raincheck. I’m still stuffed from lunch. You want to go to the beach with me?”

Her eyes narrow with vexation, and she glowers at me. “After today, why would I want to go anywhere with you? In fact, doinganythingelse would be a far better use of my time. I would rather stay at home and...and knit a scarf.”

“You don’t know how to knit.”

“I learned.”

Even for the new version of herself, knitting is a bit of a stretch. “No, you didn’t. And just to be clear, it’s not like I want to hang out with your cranky ass either, but it’s summer vacation. I’ve got nothing but time, and everyone else is busy.”

She grows more irritable. “Oh, so I’m just a filler because no one else is available?”

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