The woman rolled off Dan, her dark hair falling around her shoulders as she pulled the sheet up under her chin. “I’m so sorry.”
This couldn’t be happening. It was all just a terrible dream. But as Zoe stared into Maggie’s clear blue eyes, she knew that wasn’t the case at all. No, this was real. Horribly, sickeningly real.
“I think the only thing you’re sorry about is that you were caught.” Zoe shifted her gaze back to Dan, who had slipped on a pair of pants and was zipping them up. “I don’t know which one of you is worse. “You,” she stared into Dan’s panic stricken face, “for cheating and lying all the times you said you loved me. Or you, Maggie, for pretending to be Ariana’s friend.”
“I wasn’t pretending,” Maggie said softly.
“Well, if that’s true, and I don’t know why I should believe you, that’s even worse, because a friend would never have done this. You had to know this would hurt Ariana almost as much as it has me.”
“Zoe, I can explain.” Dan took a step toward her, but she put her hand out.
“Don’t. It’s done. We’re done. There’s nothing you can say or do that will change anything.” Zoe spun on her heel and ran out of the apartment. She couldn’t tell if there were footsteps behind her or not, because all she could hear was the blood whooshing through her head.
It wasn’t until she was inside her car and trying to stick the key in the ignition that she realized her entire body was shaking. She didn’t know where to go or what to do, so she just stared aimlessly out the window while the naked images of Dan and Maggie played over and over in her head like a movie on continuous loop.
The sound of rapping on the window brought her back to the present.
“Open your window,” Dan shouted.
“What for?” she yelled back.
“Because I need to talk to you. We can’t leave things like this.”
A strangled laugh escaped her lips. “Leave things like how? My world has suddenly been ripped apart. Tell me, Dan, what magic can you work to put it back together?”
He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
“That’s what I thought.” She started her car. “Move away.”
He shook his head and stood there with his palms pressed against the glass. “I can’t let you leave like this.”
It wasn’t the possibility of running over his feet that kept her there, it was the memory of Ariana jumping every time her phone rang. That wasn’t going to be her. She had to deal with Dan now.
She lowered her window and stared at him with narrowed eyes. ‘There’s nothing you can say that will take away my pain. However, there is one question you can answer, and then I never ever want to see or hear from you again. Why?”
He took a deep breath, shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, and lowered his gaze to the ground. “I don’t know, other than I guess I was tired of waiting.”
Fury almost choked her. How dare he try to blame her? “You’ve got to be kidding. You can’t do better than that?”
“I wanted things to work. I really did. That’s why I gave you the key.”
“And not a ring. You were never going to make that kind of a commitment. I mean, how could you? You had two women—two women with keys to your apartment. A fatal mistake, Dan, and I thought you were smarter than that. Guess I misjudged you in more ways than one.”
He shuffled his feet back and forth. “I didn’t give her a key. She took it, and I—”
“Stop! Stop!” Zoe couldn’t believe her ears. “So now you’re blaming Maggie.”
“No, no. That’s not it.”
“You know what, Dan, it doesn’t matter. I don’t need to hear anything more from you. Whatever feeble excuses you come up with aren’t going to change a thing. You’re a liar and a cheat, and I deserve better. Way better than you. I think Maggie has done me a favor.” With that said, Zoe raised her window and sped away, leaving a dirt cloud around Dan’s shocked face.
When she got home, she was glad that her mom had already had dinner and was in her room. The last thing she wanted was food or to have a conversation. She’d held her emotions in check for about as long as possible—thankfully she’d been dry eyed during the scene with Dan—but that was all about to change.
Once inside her bedroom, she flopped onto the bed and let the tears flow. She’d known years ago that her decision to wait until marriage would be off-putting to a lot of men, but she’d truly thought Dan was okay with it. If she’d thought otherwise, she never would have given him her heart.
Obviously, what happened tonight had happened for a reason—Dan wasn’t the man for her—but that didn’t make it any less painful. She felt used and betrayed by someone she had trusted completely… Just like Ariana had been by Phil. Oh Lord! How was she going to tell her about Maggie? Ari had been through so much already.
Zoe thought back to the other day when Katie, Ariana, and she had been giddy with joy at the opening of the Rosebud. How quickly things had changed. Luckily, Katie and Jake were still crazy in love. That thought left her a little fearful, though. Didn’t they say bad things always happened in threes?
Katie took one last bite of sesame chicken, then put her fork down and closed the lid on the Chinese takeout. “I can’t believe how stuffed I am.”
Jake, who’d finished eating a good ten minutes ago, looked up from the computer he had balancing on his lap. “Me too. We haven’t had Chinese in a while. Maybe that’s why it seemed especially good tonight.”
“Maybe.” Katie got up off the couch and carried their leftovers into the kitchen when the cell phone tucked in her jeans pocket vibrated. Her first thought was Ariana hadn’t turned off her phone and must be having another issue with Phil. But the text wasn’t from Ariana. It was from Zoe.
“Oh no,” she cried after she’d finished reading the message, and then quickly sent a text back asking if Zoe wanted her to come over. However, her answer was no. She was going to bed. They’d talk in the morning at the shop.
“What’s wrong?” Jake yelled from the living room.
She put their leftovers in the refrigerator before going back into the other room, where she plopped down next to him on the couch. When she spoke, her voice wavered. “Zoe caught Dan fooling around, and if that wasn’t bad enough, it was with Ariana’s friend Maggie.”
Jake looked up from the computer. His astonishment was apparent on his handsome face. “Babe, that’s awful. Guess you were right about him.”
Katie leaned back against the cushions. “Yeah. This was one time, though, that I wish I hadn’t been.” Her gaze raked over Jake. “What makes a guy cheat?”
He closed his laptop, then set it on the coffee table and stared back at her. “I don’t know. Why ask me?”
She shrugged. “Cause you’re a guy.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean I know what would make another guy cheat.”
“I guess. I just thought maybe… I don’t know. Never mind.” She looked down at the floor.
Jake draped his arm across her shoulders, and with his other hand, tilted her chin up so that her eyes met his. “You don’t think I would ever—”
“No, no,” she said, cutting him off, but that wasn’t entirely true.
He studied her face. “I can tell you’re not being honest. What’s on your mind?”
A tense silence fell between them, and when she finally answered, her voice was low. “I tried to call you last night, and you didn’t answer.”
Jake laughed. “Come on. Don’t tell me you thought I was with another woman.”
She bit her bottom lip, then looked away. “Maybe only for a moment.”
Jake pulled her closer. “Katie bug. You don’t ever have to worry about that. You’re the only woman I’ll ever want.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.” He brought his mouth down on hers and kissed her with a passion that reassured her she had nothing to worry about.
When their kiss ended, he held her out so that once again he looked directly into her eyes. “There will always be temptation, Katie, and it comes in all different forms. For some men, it might be another woman. For me, it might be taking on too much work, but I promise our love will always come first. No matter what.”
Katie’s heart swelled with joy. What had she done to deserve such a wonderful man? She snuggled back into his arms and whispered in his ear, “Thank you. You’ll always come first with me too.”
****
Ariana rinsed her dinner dishes, then loaded them into the dishwasher. As she turned off the light above the sink, she caught sight of Maggie through the kitchen window, heading into her condo. She had a Victoria’s Secret bag draped over her shoulder and obvious bed head. Looked like Ariana had been right about her having a boyfriend. Hmm, when was Maggie going to fill her in on this new beau?
With a sigh, she checked Tabby’s food bowl to see if it needed refilling before retiring for the night, but it was still full of kibble. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen Tabby since she’d gotten home.
Her heart thundered. Could she be sick? “Here, kitty, kitty. Tabby, come get your food.” She picked up the bowl, rattled the food, and then waited for the usual squawking as the cat came running. However, when that didn’t happen, panic set in.
She began looking in all of Tabby’s favorite places—under the couch in the living room, on the bed in the spare room, and in the clothes hamper in the laundry room—but there was no sign of her. With a heavy heart, she headed down the hall toward her bedroom. After scanning the room for the second time, she noticed her closet door was slightly ajar. Could the cat be in there?
She bit her bottom lip as she pushed her clothes aside so she could get a look at the back. A moment later she let out a gasp. Tabby lay on her side, letting six adorable kittens nurse. No wonder she’d been putting on weight. Ariana got down on her knees and stroked the cat’s head. “What a good mom you are.”
The kittens kneaded their paws against her belly, and one with markings very similar to Tabby’s let out a meow. “You and your babies need to be someplace more comfortable than the back of my closet.” Ariana didn’t know the first thing about kittens, though, but Maggie did. Two of her cats had had litters.
She got up and went over to her bedside table to get her cell phone. She’d taken Katie’s advice and turned it off, so after waiting a minute for it to come back on, she dialed Maggie’s number.
The phone rang and rang before her husky voice said, “Hello.”
“It’s Ariana. I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”
Maggie paused before saying, “No, that’s okay. I was just dozing.”
“You’re not going to believe this. Tabby had kittens.”
“Kittens? When?”
“Today sometime. I just found her and the crew in the back of my closet.”
Maggie let out a little laugh. “Cats love quiet dark places, but those babies are going to need a bed. Do you have a box large enough for Tabby to stretch out in and still allow the kittens space to move around?”
“Hang on.” Ariana ran into the laundry room where she’d stacked a couple of boxes on a shelf, but knew as soon as she pulled them down that neither one would be big enough. “No,” she said into the phone. “I don’t have anything that’ll work.”
“I do,” Maggie replied. “I’ll be right over. In the meantime, find some blankets you don’t care about. We’ll put them in the bottom of the box.”
“Okay, thanks.” She hung up the phone, raced back to her bedroom, and opened the chest at the foot of her bed, then pulled out two flannel blankets.
A couple of minutes later, there was a knock on her front door. After Ariana let Maggie in, they hurried to the bedroom, where they readied the box for the kittens and then gently placed each one inside.
“We need to put them somewhere the momma cat’s going to feel secure,” Maggie advised.
Ariana crossed the room to the far corner where she had a large oak rocking chair. She pulled it out from the wall. “How about back here?” she asked, pointing to the area behind the chair.
“That should be perfect.” Maggie set the box with the kittens there, and a moment later, Tabby jumped inside.
“Guess she’s not about to let her babies out of her sight for a minute.” Ariana chuckled. “Is there anything else can I do for her?”
“You might want to keep her food, water, and litter box close by, at least while the kittens are so young. She’s not going to want to leave them for long.”
“That’s a good idea.” Ariana gathered the items and then returned to the bedroom where she set them down next to the box.
“That’s it. Tabby’s all set.”
“Thanks for the help. How about a cup of tea?”
Maggie hesitated. “It’s been a long couple of days. I really should get going.”
Ariana’s lips curved up into a sly smile. “Isn’t there something you’d like to tell me?”
Maggie stiffened; her eyes locked on Ariana’s face. “I… I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
“I saw you come home with your overnight bag. You were gone most of the weekend. Come on, you might as well tell me. You’ve got a new boyfriend, don’t you?”
Maggie pressed her hand over her face.
“What’s wrong? I’m happy for you. I’ve figured for a while now that you were seeing someone, and I’ve been waiting for you to open up and tell me about him.”