Page 4 of Whiskey and Whispers
When they were young, ten years had sounded like a damn long time. A huge milestone. They’d even joked about how ancient they’d be by then, practically ready for the grave. Any age over thirty was near dead to them when they were sixteen.
In a way, Cat would have loved to be thirty again. Her career as a model was basically over now that she’d turned thirty-two. She hadn’t worked much in the last year and a half since hermother had come to New York City for cancer treatments, but honestly, it hadn’t made much difference. Once she’d left her twenties behind, the phone had pretty much stopped ringing.
On the bright side, she wasn’t constantly worried about her weight, and she liked some of the things that came along with aging. A little more settled, a little more wisdom. She was wiser than the naive teenager who hit the Big Apple fourteen years ago. A few wrinkles around her eyes seemed a small price to pay for growing up.
“Tate will definitely be there,” her mother replied. “He’s probably not mad anymore.”
“Mad? Why would Tate be mad?”
She didn’t remember any harsh words between them when their final breakup occurred. At that point, it had been inevitable. They’d been living completely separate lives thousands of miles apart.
The expression on Grace Townsend’s face would have been amusing in any other circumstance. She was currently looking at Cat like she wasn’t all that bright.
“How about you quitting college and running off to Europe to become a model? Or better yet, when Tate’s mother disappeared? Did you ever talk to him? Send a greeting card from wherever in the world you were at the time? He just might have a reason to hold a grudge, Cat. Even if you didn’t love him anymore, you were good friends.”
Her mother’s tone held a world of meaning, and most of it wasn’t positive. Cat couldn’t deny that she’d been a coward. She’d kept telling Tate that the modeling and the traveling were only temporary. It was to get money for college, not a career. But it hadn’t worked out that way, and she’d known for a long time that it wouldn’t.
And then his mom…
She hadn’t known what to say, and she’d kept telling herself she’d call him tomorrow. But tomorrow never came, and eventually it was too late to call. She’d been a selfish little bitch, and he had every right to resent her.
Cat wouldn’t blame him if he hated her now.
Was that why she didn’t want to think about seeing him? Because she still didn’t know what the hell to say to him. Not after all of these years.
At one time, Tate Winslow had been the most important person in her life. Here she was, over a decade later, and they were almost strangers to one another.
Maybe it was for the best if they stayed that way.
Chapter
Two
The anniversary partywas more like a high school reunion. Everyone in Tate’s friend group had somehow managed to show up, even those who had moved out of the area. The wedding had been much the same ten years ago, and most of the faces here tonight were familiar.
Of course, Josh and Rachel Cassidy had invited many other people to the event - family, family friends, and such. Josh’s parents were involved in Winslow Heights, and were good friends with Tate’s father.
He tried not to hold that against them.
The fact that Joel Andrew Winslow and his new wife Kimberly—Tate’s aunt—would also be attending this party was the only reason he’d hesitated to respond positively to the invitation. He wanted to see his father about as much as he wanted to drive railroad spikes into his head repeatedly.
But Josh and Rachel were good friends, and not showing up tonight wasn’t truly an option. Perhaps he could try and avoid his father and new stepmother? Everyone in town knew there was no love lost between father and son. Maybe that’s why they’d attend? To see Tate tell off his dad?
And then, of course, there was the whole Cat thing. He’d heard from more than one person that she would be here tonight. Now that she was back in town, avoiding her would be impossible, so he wasn’t planning to try. He’d be friendly and polite when he saw her. The past was firmly in the rearview mirror. It wasn’t her fault that she’d wanted her modeling career more than she’d wanted him.
It had hurt that she’d never reached out when his mother had disappeared. He couldn’t deny that. He’d thought their friendship had gone deeper than that.
He’d been wrong.
“You came!”
Tate was immediately wrapped up in a warm hug from Rachel while Josh slapped him on the back. They were grinning from ear to ear as Rachel squealed in happiness and hugged him again. Tate chuckled at their unbridled joy and enthusiasm. They’d always been like that, grabbing at life with both hands. It was one of the things he admired most about them.
“Of course, I came. Wouldn’t miss this for the world. You’ve only been planning it for about twenty years,” Tate joked.
“And we’re still having issues,” Rachel groaned. “The caterer messed up, and the food isn’t exactly what we ordered.”
“But it’s fine,” Josh assured him. “It’s all delicious, just not exactly what Rachel wanted. Everything else has gone great so far.”
