Page 57 of Hers to Hold
She had to find Drew and explain the article before he and Kat got the wrong idea. Her name wasn’t on the byline, but they knew she was the lead investigative reporter.
And then she had to find Wes and…she wasn’t sure. But Mary told her to give him a chance, and that’s what Kady was going to do.
Chapter 23
“Is she on her way?” Kat asked leaning over the counter to look at Drew’s phone. He nodded, his gaze still on the screen as he swiped up.
Wes had already finished reading the article. Neither he nor Drew had said a word in the last several minutes. But Kady had since texted Drew asking to see him.
“I’m sure she has an explanation,” Mary said. “I spoke to her the other day and she was so distraught.” She caught Wes’s gaze. “She’s being pulled in two different directions.”
“But she chose one, didn’t she?” Wes said softly, his heart burning within his chest. He looked over at his daughter, who sat alone reading a book and eating a cup of soup. When he picked her up from school yesterday, she asked when she was going to see Kady, and again Wes had to tell her that Kady wasn’t going to come around anymore. Chastity threw a fit he’d never experienced before that resulted in her being grounded for the rest of the evening. Wes almost called Kady just to be back in his daughter’s good graces.
But they had to handle life on their own. That meant dealing with disagreements and disappointments.
And shattered hopes.
“Let’s give her a chance,” Kat said while wiping down the counter. She had closed the shop since the headline broke to hold a family meeting. She’d reopen right after they talked to Kady. “She was at the meeting. She knows we’re not at fault. Therehasto be an explanation.”
“It’s not her byline,” Drew finally spoke. “Someone else wrote the story.”
“But she was investigating,” Wes argued.
“You want a reason to shut her out, don’t you?” Kat said sharply. She turned away, her arms hugging herself.
Wes blinked. “Kat, I’m sorry. But after what she’s done…”
Drew was behind the counter in a flash holding his wife to his chest. Wes averted his eyes. He hadn’t meant to upset Kat, but he wasn’t about to have blind faith in Kady either, not when the thought of her still made it difficult for him to breathe. Was Doc right? Had he put too much faith in Kady? Had he hoped she would save him? Stabilize his life?
Questions his doctor had asked him. At first, Wes rejected those ideas. He was his own man and had made progress before Kady showed up. But since meeting her, he had begun hoping for a better life for himself and Chastity. A life filled with love and laughter, good family times. And no fear of debilitating episodes.
“I’m sorry you had to experience that, Wes, but I believed you’ve learned from it. Perhaps my prescribing two weeks of no contact was ill advised. It catapulted you toward her. I think a better way to regain trust between us is for me to trust you more.”
Dr. Rafferty’s assessment surprised him. Wes half-expected to be grilled about his interactions with Kady and summarily chastised, but it was the opposite. Dr. Rafferty listened intently to Wes’s expressions of disappointment and treated the experience as a growing pain in Wes’s journey to self-confidence and independence.
Drew’s phone screen went black.I want her in my life,Wes thought, staring at the blank screen. A shadow as dark as that screen stole over his soul at the thought of his life without her.With or without her name on that byline.Just like he was dealing with his stress issues, they could deal with this.
“Okay, I’ll hear her out,” Wes said.
Kat smiled at him. “Thank you, Wesley.”
The door chimed. A wide-eyed Kady walked in. She scanned the restaurant.
“We closed for a few hours,” Mary answered the questioning look in Kady’s eyes.
“Kady!” Chastity sprinted to Kady before Mary could reach her. Chastity wrapped her arms around Kady’s waist. “I missed you. Daddy’s been a real grump, but you can come see me any time you want,” she ended with a curt nod of her head.
Kady smiled warmly down at the girl. “Thank you, Chas, but I think you have to obey your father.” She accepted a hug from Mary. “Hi, Mary.”
“Hi, sweet girl. Come on Chas, let the adults talk.” She freed Kady from Chas’s eager paws.
Kady met Wes’s gaze. His burning chest cooled and air returned to his lungs. If he could stop physically reacting to her, then maybe his head could think clearly.
“Hi Kady. Why don’t you and Wes go to the kitchen and talk,” Kat offered with a shaky grin.
“Kat—”
“It’s okay,” her voice reassuring.
