Page 33 of Whiskey and Whispers
“I-I don’t know what to say,” Cat said, pressing her hands to her cheeks. “I can’t believe I said that. I can’t believe we did that.”
Was that regret he heard in her voice? Was she questioning the wisdom of their actions?
Tate wasn’t a man who willingly harbored regrets. They were pointless as hell.
“You said it, and we did it. If you’re waiting for an apology, you’re going to be waiting a long time. That wasn’t just me. It was the two of us.”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” she said with a shake of her head. “Of course, you don’t have anything to apologize for. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me. I started all of this.”
Christ, is this how they communicated when they were teenagers? It was no wonder they hadn’t made it work back then. This was so dysfunctional that it was painful.
“I’m not looking for an apology, Cat. We wanted to kiss, so we kissed.”
“But you’re mad at me. You don’t kiss people you’re mad at.”
“I’m not that mad anymore,” Tate replied. “I said I shouldn’t have said that stuff last night, and I meant it. I was angry. I’m not now. I will have you know that there were times I kissed you and was mad at you. Just because I was angry didn’t mean I stopped loving you.”
“That was the one thing I could always count on…your love.”
A lone tear had found its way down her cheek, and she quickly dashed it away with the back of her hand.
Sadly, he couldn’t say the same. He hadn’t been able to count on her love. They’d been so fucking young and foolish. Theyhadn’t known back then how precious love could be or how rare it truly was.
“What happens now?” she asked.
He didn’t have an answer. Not yet. He wasn’t sure what she wanted from this situation. Had it all been because of heightened emotions? Wanting to feel alive when they’d lost a friend? Or had she felt the stirrings of old and new feelings for him?
I’m not in the mood to ask those questions or any others. Not tonight. I don’t want to be hurt again.
“I’ll walk you home,” he finally replied. “We should both try to get a decent night’s sleep if we can. Tomorrow, we can talk again. Neither of us is going anywhere. We don’t have to rush this.”
“Right. That’s wise.”
Her words were cold and stilted. He’d hurt her feelings.
“Cat, I am not blowing you off. I’m just saying that we could both use some time to think this through. Neither of us wants to do something we’ll be sorry about later.”
The one thing Tate wasn’t prepared to do was jump in with both feet with Cat. He didn’t regret kissing her, but he wasn’t going to put himself out there and get his heart stomped on again. It had hurt far too much the first time.
He didn’t think he’d survive another broken heart courtesy of Catherine Townsend.
Chapter
Eleven
“Life has to go on,”Winnie said as she unlocked the door to the house. She was showing Cat a home for sale. “I know Tyler wouldn’t want us sitting around and crying. He’d tell us to get up and live. That’s what I’m going to do. And this seller doesn’t care that we’re in shock and sad. They just want to sell their house quickly. They’re motivated, so we needed to see it immediately.”
The last thing Cat wanted to do was tour a home, but Winnie had called this morning to let her know about a new listing, and she wouldn’t be deterred. She’d pushed and pushed until Cat finally relented, deciding it would be easier to see the home than to argue.
“Are they in a hurry?” Cat asked, stepping into the foyer.
“The husband has a job offer in Virginia. The wife and kids are staying behind to sell the house and pack, but she, of course, wants to join her husband as soon as possible. And I think this house is a perfect match for you. It has everything on your list and then some. When I saw the listing, my first thought was of you. I think you’re going to love it.”
The foyer had a soaring, two-story ceiling along with a staircase to the left and a home office on the right with floor-to-ceiling oak bookshelves on one wall and bright windows looking out onto the street on the other.
The next area was the large living room and kitchen with sliding glass doors to the back deck and yard.
“It’s fenced in,” Winnie said, sliding open one set of doors. “You said you were thinking about getting a dog.”
