Ready To Love Again (28 page)

“Liz!” Tony yelled in his excitement, making her look up from her book. “Come look! Dolphins.” He bounced with enthusiasm. She looked past Tony to the dolphins but then shrugged her shoulders, stood, and headed toward the hatch.

“I’m going to take a nap,” she called over her shoulder and disappeared below.

Chase felt annoyance flare up at her stubbornness.

“Stop scowling. You’re going to scare away the dolphins,” Katie whispered to him.

His agitation melted away when she looked up at him like that with a small smile on her lips. Chase kissed her forehead and rubbed her arms when another dolphin jumped out of the water.

“What are they doing?” Shawn asked, looking from his mother and back to the dolphins. “They’re gonna get runned over by the boat.”

Katie let out a soft chuckle before shaking her head. “No, they’re playing.” She glanced over the edge. “They’re riding the bow wave. The boat is pushing them along. They’ve been clocked before at thirty knots per hour. When they jump out of the water, it’s called porpoising.” As if on cue, two dolphins sailed out of the water. “They’ll also ride the wakes of whales and will chase other species away so they can have the ride all to themselves.”

Tony and Shawn looked on with wonder. Since Katie had their attention, she didn’t miss the opportunity to show them a little of why she loved her job.

“Did you know that the people who made 
Finding Nemo
 came to the aquarium to find out more about jellyfish?” Both boys were excited at that tidbit of information, and Chase chuckled at how Katie kept their interest by relating facts about different species in the Disney movie. Tony wrapped an arm around Katie’s waist, captivated by her every word. He’d always been an affectionate child, but he usually reserved his attention for family. 

Katie walked back to Chase while the boys continued to watch the dolphins. “Thank you for a wonderful afternoon,” she said, slipping between Chase and the wheel and tugging on his shirt.

“Thank you for coming.”

He took her hand, guided her to the double deckchair, and pulled her down with him. She rested her head on his shoulder while he ran his fingers through her hair. Chase relaxed into the chair, savoring the sounds of the boys talking, the waves slapping against the boat, and the gentle rocking motion.

When he heard even breathing coming from the woman in his arms, he grinned. Chase settled in, wrapped his arms tight around her, and closed his eyes. There was no way he would fall asleep with two mischievous boys running around above deck, but he relaxed as much as he could and enjoyed the afternoon sun.

“Dad! Dad!” Tony yelled. “Whales!”

Chase lifted his head, and sure enough, there was a large humpback whale and her baby a few hundred yards away from the boat. Katie stirred, and her eyes cracked open.

“I’m sorry,” she said with a yawn and stretched like a cat, exposing a sliver of skin where her shirt rode up. Chase rubbed his fingers over her bare flesh, making her shudder before curling back into him. “I guess I didn’t get enough sleep last night.”

The teasing in her voice made him chuckle. “No, I suppose you didn’t.”

“Da-ad,” Tony whined and pulled at his father’s arm, trying to get him to show more interest in the whales.

“Sorry, slugger,” Chase apologized and sat up. He released Katie and let his son pull him to his feet.

“Look!” Tony pointed out the whales, which were still nearby.

“I see, I see. Why don’t you go get your sister? She might want to see them, too, and she’s been napping long enough.” Tony nodded and ran below deck while Shawn stayed and watched the whales rise out of the water. After a few minutes, Tony surfaced without Liz, looking forlorn and dejected.

“Where’s Liz?” Chase asked. Tony grimaced at his father’s question, but didn’t answer. “Anthony?”

“She said she didn’t want to be up here with Katie and Shawn,” Tony said, trying to muffle his answer, but Chase knew Katie had caught every word when he heard her intake of breath.

Damn.

Chase stalked toward the hatch, tired of Liz’s insolence, but Katie darted in front of him and held him back. He looked down into her distressed face, and his anger at his daughter doubled.

“Chase, don’t. Please leave it alone. If you go down there and force our relationship on her, then she’ll only despise it more.”

A part of Chase recognized what she said was true, but how could he let Liz treat Katie and Shawn like this? He tried to calm himself enough to see what the result of an outburst would accomplish, and he knew it wouldn’t end well. He raked his hands through his hair in defeat, and Katie relaxed once he had calmed down.

“Damn it, Katie,” Chase said, pulling her into his arms. “It’s not fair that you have to always deal with my issues.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay. You don’t deserve this treatment, and I feel like I’m powerless to do anything about it. I don’t want to push her because she may never accept you, but then again, what she’s doing is wrong.” Chase sighed and lowered his forehead to hers, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

To the dismay of the boys, Chase and Katie decided to head back to shore. To hold off a revolt, Chase let them captain the boat while he stood close by and reminded them what needed to be done. He took over once the boat sailed past the speed buoys in the harbor.

Liz didn’t come back up to the deck until Chase cut the engine and tied the boat to the slip. She emerged from below and sat in the cockpit away from everyone else, waiting for Chase to lower the ladder. After Katie and the boys were on the dock, Chase reached for Liz to help her down.

“I’m disappointed in your choices today,” he said.

She looked up at him, and he saw the sadness reflected in her eyes. He swallowed the guilt he felt at calling her out on her bad behavior and helped her down to the dock.

The drive back to Katie’s was quiet since both boys fell asleep in the backseat and Liz continued with the silent treatment. Katie looked thoughtful while she stared out the window. Chase took her hand and rubbed soothing circles over her knuckles. She smiled at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes. He didn’t know what to do about it.

When they reached her house, Chase picked up Shawn and carried him to his room. Once he was settled into his bed, Katie slipped off his shoes and covered him up. She tugged Chase into the hallway and kissed him with an urgency that confused him. He pulled away and when their eyes met, he saw the doubt and sorrow in her face.

“Katie,” he whispered, reaching for her again, but not before a tear slid down her face. He wiped it away with his thumb and held her close. “It’ll all work out.”

Chase wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince her or himself. She nodded and pulled away, swiping at the stream of tears.

“You should go,” she whispered. “The kids are waiting for you.” He kissed her one last time before leaving her standing in the hallway.

~*~

Katie lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours. Rolling over, she glanced at the clock: 2:42.
Great!
It
had
been hours. She slammed her head back down on the pillow, threw her arm over her eyes, and tried to drown the barrage of thoughts invading her mind.

From the moment Chase kissed her goodbye, she had felt an uneasy sense of dread. Things weren’t better with Liz. Katie had two very different reactions to Liz’s stubborn refusal to come above deck. The first was panic that Shawn would be hurt by her attitude, but to her relief, he hadn’t heard Tony’s explanation. Besides that concern, she was sad about Liz and the challenges Chase was facing.

There was no denying that they were confronted with a major obstacle in their relationship. Chase and Gina seemed to think Liz would warm up to Katie when she was ready. But the more she was around her, the more Katie worried that would never happen.

Katie speculated that Liz’s avoidance on the boat was a learned behavior and that Chase had contributed to her actions by not correcting it when he had the opportunity in the past. From what Chase had said previously, he thought it was easier not to think about things too much. Didn’t he realize that children needed to talk about their losses? Unlike adults, they couldn’t put all their emotions into neat little boxes to open up later when they felt like dealing with them.

Katie groaned and rolled onto her stomach, punching the pillow and trying to let out her silent frustration. She could see that Chase was at a loss as to what to do about Liz. Heaven knew everyone made mistakes, but she hoped his wouldn’t come back to haunt them in the future.

Katie buried her nose further into the pillow while she thought of fun things she and Liz could do together and wondered if she liked the aquarium. Or maybe museums? She growled and rolled over, angry with herself for thinking of things she liked to do instead of what Liz might enjoy. Katie reached to turn on the lamp next to the bed, and a soft glow lit up the room. Grabbing the book she’d started, she propped a couple of pillows behind her head and settled in for a sleepless night. Reading always calmed her down. In fact, it had been her escape when Victor had turned her life upside down. If she couldn’t sleep, at least she’d be entertained.

Slapping her hand against her head, Katie experienced an “aha!” moment. Liz liked to read. Katie had seen her with countless books over the last couple of months. Maybe she could appeal to her inner bookworm. They might be able to find common ground in something they both enjoyed. Katie felt a small sense of hope while she tried to rack her brain for a book that might interest Liz. She wasn’t familiar with young girls’ reading preferences, so she decided to look into it in the morning.

Feeling like she had a plan, Katie felt her eyelids droop. She shut off the light and sank down into a deep oblivion.

~*~

“Hurry up, Shawn. You’re going to be late for your game.”

Katie had finished packing the cooler full of snacks and juice boxes when the phone rang. She considered letting the answering machine get it so they wouldn’t be late, but Shawn was too quick.

“Hello?” His face fell into a frown. “Oh hey, Dad.”

Finally. 
Stupid ex-husband.

“I want to talk to him when you’re done,” Katie said before she walked out of the kitchen, pretending to allow him privacy to avoid his seeing the scowl etched across her face.

Katie went into the living room, trying to calm herself before she had to speak to her ex-husband. She listened to Shawn’s side of the conversation while he reluctantly told Victor about school, baseball, and Tony and Chase. Katie ground her teeth together when Victor began to drill him about how much time they’d spent with his coach. She was about to end their chat before Shawn told him more than she wanted Victor to know, when Shawn’s angry tone made her stop.
 

“Why didn’t you call before? I left a couple messages telling you about this stuff.”

Katie frowned and walked into the kitchen, letting Shawn know she was there if he needed her to step in. Shawn’s head dropped while he listened to his father give him the same excuses he’d given before. When he nodded and she noticed the moisture on his cheek, she had heard enough.

“Shawn, it’s time to get off the phone. We need to get to the game.”

He said his goodbye before he handed the phone to her. She told him to finish getting his gear together and waited until he had gone to his room before she went onto the back porch. This conversation wouldn’t be pretty.

“Victor,” she said with every amount of control she could dredge up. “It’s about time you called.”

“Listen, Katie, I’ve been busy with a contract we picked up—”

“Give me a break, Victor. It takes ten minutes to call your son. What happened to the fatherly concern about us moving so far away? You aren’t hurting me, but Shawn realizes you’re not making an effort, so what am I supposed to tell him?”

“Wait a minute.” She could almost see the defensive stance he’d take whenever he was backed into a corner. “I know I’m at fault here. I should’ve called sooner, but you’re the one bringing some guy around Shawn.” Katie took a deep breath and tried to squash her temper while Victor’s voice rose. “You’re such a hypocrite. You wouldn’t let Elena anywhere near Shawn, and now you’re shacking up with some guy?”

“I wouldn’t let Elena around Shawn because you had an affair. I don’t have any say in whether or not she’s around now, no matter how much I hate having that home-wrecking tramp around my son.” Katie stopped for a moment to take another deep breath and tried to calm down. She couldn’t believe the audacity of this man, putting Chase in the same category as Elena. It boggled her mind. “Shawn understands we’re no longer together, so there is no reason for me to hide Chase from him. And I’m not living with him. We’ve been on a few dates, but that’s none of your business. You, on the other hand, needed to keep Elena a secret because of your infidelity. You didn’t want my brothers to find out the real reason why I left, did you?” She played the one card that would shut him up. The last thing he wanted was for Kevin and Steven to find out the real reason for their divorce. It would put a huge strain on their working relationship—not to mention that her brothers would take him behind the woodshed and beat the pulp out of him.

“Ouch, Katie. That’s a low blow.” The argument was over, at least for now.