Page 35 of Not Your Shoe Size

So Ty pulled her into his arms and listened to her talk about her relationship with Mr. Peterson, telling disconnected stories in which his inappropriate behaviour became apparent to her for the first time. Nothing too graphic, but he had held her hand, told her she was more grown up than anyone else her age, that she should watchWild Things. As she talked, Ty saw himself sitting beside his teenage girlfriend as she rode the unofficial school bus, infatuated by the man who drove it. He’d never laid eyes on Kane Peterson, but he could imagine how he looked, tall and tanned and jovial. Lonely in his own way, weak enough to think a girl barely into her teens understood and appreciated his flirting. He saw Baby Middleton, thin and talking too fast, a malnourished houseplant that craved affection in a way that was repulsive to her peers, but not Mr. Peterson.

“Want to know where I went?” Kate asked suddenly. “After I left Rapunzel’s?”

“Not home I’m guessing?”

She shook her head. “I thought about it, but it was too scary. Like I’d drag my craziness into our safe place. I ran for a bit, then I bought a new dress and shoes. Then I went to Brunswick Library and left my handbag with the librarian. I said it was my friend’s and she’d left it behind.”

“It’s good you didn’t throw the whole thing away.”

“I thought about it, but I didn’t want to ruin anything, I just wanted to feel like no one could reach me.”

“I get that.”

Kate splashed in the lukewarm water. “I don’t know why I’m so upset. I haven’t seen Mr. Peterson in years. I didn’t like him or love him anymore. It shouldn’t matter what he said to me.”

“It does matter.”

She looked at him. “Why?”

Ty held her gaze. “I think you know the answer, Middleton. Why don’t you tell me?”

“Can’t you…?”

His heart twisted. “I could, baby, but it’ll be better if you do it. You’re strong enough, I know you are.”

Kate dropped her gaze to the sudsy water. After a long, painful silence, she spoke. “He wasn’t supposed to feel that way. He wasn’t supposed to want me like that. I didn’t know he did, and now I do, it fucking sucks.”

“Of course, it does, beautiful.”

She gave a watery smile. “I should have known the guy who raised Deidre couldn’t be a nice person.”

Ty pulled her back into his arms, wrapping himself around her. Kate didn’t resist. She snuggled back into him, pressing her naked body into his clothed one. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Thank you for getting me through this.”

Ty’s eyes pricked with heat. He didn’t want to heap more hurt on her when she was so raw, but he had to be honest, to trust Kate could handle his honesty. “Baby, Iamgoing to help you through this, but what happened was a big deal. You’re going to need more than one bath to process it.”

Kate sighed, relaxing back into him. “You’re probably right. I just don’t want it to be. I want to be happy.”

“You will be, but we can’t sweep this under the rug. We’ll take our time dealing with the situation and we’ll come out stronger in the end.”

Kate moved away from him as though he’d zapped her.

“What?” he said, feeling paranoid.

She stared at him as though transfixed. “You don’t want to own me. You really want us to be together forever.”

“Uh, yeah?”

Kate stared at him, unblinking, unsmiling. “Ty, I can marry you.”

Ty’s mouth fell open. “Baby, we don’t need to talk about this right now.”

“But I need to! I need to know you know that I believe in us and I’m willing to change and grow with you. For you.”

“Okay, how about this?” Ty stood, dripping, and climbed out of the bath. He stripped off his waterlogged shirt and undid his pants.

---