Page 59 of The Catch

Josh chuckled, used to the reaction after spending more than half of his life hearing it. Rick didn’t seem to mean any harm, but Antonio sent a hard elbow his way anyway. “This from the only other gringo in the room,” he said. Rick didn’t seem offended by that either, and Josh took a moment to try to discern their relationship. Rick was a blond-haired, chisel-jawed cowboy with a thick drawl and what was probably his fanciest pearl-buttoned shirt tucked into a pair of jeans. Antonio and the other men all clearly shared the same heritage as the Rodays. Antonio wore a tie like Josh, along with khakis and a pair of loafers, and looked as though he just stepped off of one of the sailboats on the island. Josh made the guess that he belonged to Maria. The other two, Daniel and Eddie, were younger than all of them. Probably mid-twenties. He wasn’t sure where they fit in, but process of elimination led him to believe Rick was probably Olivia’s husband. He found out he was correct a moment later when she popped her head in and asked him to grab something from their car.

Apparently, the gaggle of children playing in the front yard belonged to Olivia and Rick, and Daniel and Eddie were cousins. Carlos explained all of this while Josh sipped at the hard liquor and tried to keep all of the names straight. Beyond them, through the archway that led to a larger, more casual family room, Josh could see even more family members: another couple sharing a drink, and a woman in a floral dress and heels attempting to chase after a toddler. He was going to have to make flashcards for the next holiday.

“So, Josh,” Carlos said, coming around the bar and taking the seat Rick had just vacated. He gestured for Josh to take the matching chair to Jaime. “Cat says you own your own business.”

“Yes, sir. I’m an architect. I own a small firm with a good friend of mine.”

“Ambitious.”

“I was the lead there when it happened to come up for sale. I had a little money tucked away. I got lucky.” He’d never been sure how lucky it actually was, given that spending his inheritance from his grandfather on buying a small business had been nail number one in the coffin of his marriage. All the dominoes that fell after that had put him on that beach, though, where he met Cat. Now it seemed like he could chalk it up as a win.

“And you live on the island?”

“I do. I own a house out there.” He thought the mention of his homeownership might earn him some points in her father’s eyes. Carlos seemed like the type who would value the responsibility that came with it. He hadn’t anticipated the line of questioning that would follow, though.

“Single man owning his own house. Don’t find that much nowadays,” Carlos mused, leaning back into the couch and searching Josh’s face. “What made you want to buy a house for just you?”

“It was the house I grew up in. My grandfather’s house. He passed, and I couldn’t let it go.” He hesitated on the next part, unsure whether Cat had mentioned it, but he wasn’t going to lie, even by omission. “I was also engaged at the time, and it seemed like the right step.”

Carlos seemed displeased to hear that information. Josh could have guessed he would be. The Rodays seemed like a traditional family.

“Married, huh?” he asked, looking as if he’d just discovered the thread that would unravel the whole thing. “Divorced or widowed?”

“Divorced.”

“How long?”

“Little over a year.”

“What happened?”

Antonio laughed from his spot where he’d been pretending not to listen. “Jesus, Carlos.”

“Seems like a valid question for a man who wants to date my daughter.”

Maria’s husband gave Josh a reassuring wink. “Looks to me like he already is.”

Josh glanced back and forth between Cat’s father and the man who had seemingly already passed these tests and lived to tell about it. He still wasn’t sure if he was supposed to answer the question. Though it wasn’t his favorite subject, he decided to just lay his cards on the table before his lack of answer caused any undue speculation.

“She left,” he stated, bringing all the eyes in the room back to him. “We got married young, grew apart, and she found someone else who was better suited for the woman she’d become. I didn’t intend for my marriage to fall apart, and I made my own mistakes, but I like to think I learned from them. It was nothing scandalous, it just… happened.”

Antonio looked at Carlos, who seemed to be searching his brain for a response, blinking rapidly and scratching his fingers along his thick jowls.

“No kids?” he finally asked.

“No, sir.”

“And she let you keep the house?”

Josh allowed a grin to spread across his face. He recognized the look of a man who was ready to lay down his arms. He shrugged, offering a resolute look. “She moved into his, so it only seemed fair.”

Carlos steepled his fingers, taking a long moment to let Josh’s statement hang in the air. Finally, he stood and stepped back to his bar. Antonio grinned, then turned back to the television.

“It’s my job,” Carlos said, retrieving the bottle of whiskey and nodding for Josh to come back for a top off. “You understand?”

“I do.”

They were out of earshot of the others now, due to the blaring football game, but Carlos leaned in conspiratorially anyway. “I like to weed them out early, you see. Cat is tough, self-reliant. Anyone who can handle me is well-suited to handle… to attempt to handle her.” Josh nodded knowingly, though he was pretty sure Cat would not approve of that explanation. He’d been drawn to Cat’s independence from the beginning. It was important to him to know she was with him because she wanted to be, not out of some need that she could outgrow. “She seems happy,” Carlos said.

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