Page 13 of Revelry
I nodded, playing with the beater in the bowl, the cream sloshing around inside.
Kat dipped her head, her face coming into view. “Gertie? Talk to me.”
“I’m embarrassed to face her,” I whispered.
She clucked her tongue, like a mother hen. “Don’t be silly. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. What happened isn’t on you and she’ll understand that more than anyone.”
“Exactly!” I exclaimed, dropping the bowl down and slumping against the counter. “She’ll wonder how I could have been so stupid!”
“Hey! That’s my bestie you’re talking about and your mom wouldneverthink that. She, of all people, will understand.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Well, you’ll find out soon enough.”
I grumbled under my breath but Kat wasn’t standing for it. She pulled me off the counter and tightened my little apron strings and pouffed my small ponytail, tugging on an escaped curl.
“Come on, my Gertie isn’t a defeatist. A menace, maybe, but not a defeatist.” She tweaked my nose which had me wrinkling it and fighting a grin.
“Now finish stress making your ice cream and get that bubble butt to your mama’s.” She slapped my ass and left me to it, knowing I needed time to process my thoughts and feelings.
I finished my ice cream, keeping it plain ol’ vanilla, adding a pinch of salt to give it a little kick and offset the sweetness. I transferred it from the bowl to a couple of small containers and set them in the freezer for dessert tonight. A treat to myself for after I saw my mom. My stomach tightened again at the thought of it.
Removing my apron, I pushed out a slow breath that puffed my cheeks, before leaving the sanctuary of the kitchen.
Kat was standing on the porch when I made it outside. “Want me to come with?” she offered, smiling at me.
I shook my head. “I’m fine to go on my own.”
She pulled me in for a hug, resting her cheek on top of my head. “Message if you need me.”
“Will do, see you later.” We pulled apart and she rubbed my arms before going back into the house. I got into my Beetle, tugging the door closed sharply, making sure it didn’t stick like it had been recently. Turning the key in the ignition, she stuttered to life. My little Princess had been good to me and I was terrified of the day she gave up the ghost. But today was not that day.
Memories swamped me as I drove out of Redemption Ranch and through the old familiar Reverence haunts; Dough Re Mi bakery, where we used to go for morning bagels on Saturdays. The Mini Mart that me and Kat TP’d one time. I snorted atthe memory of Kat with her arms wrapped around her waist, wheezing with laughter and toilet paper stuck to her shoes. We’d almost been caught by the owner, Mrs. Brown, despite Kat stopping to keep laughing, we managed to get away.
I passed the art gallery that Mom’s partner, Cathy, owned. There wasn’t a huge demand for art here but some tourists liked the prints Cathy did of the Teton mountains and she had a great business online with postcards and pastoral prints. It was closed now so Cathy would be at home with my mom.
Eventually, I pulled onto my old street. The small cul-de-sac only had a handful of semi-detached houses that surrounded the curving road. They were paired up, two on the right, two on the bend and two on the left. Mine was one of the two on the bend. The house next door belonged to Tate. His driveway was empty which had me sighing in relief for some reason.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about running into him again after our meeting in the stables. Tate had always intrigued me. He had a way of making you feel like you were the only person in the room whenever he spoke to you. All that sharp intensity focused on you and you alone. It made me wish for things that could never be. There was still an air of vulnerability about him that made me want to wrap him in a big hug. Which I absolutely wouldn’t be doing. I was swearing off men now. I was restarting my life and didn’t have room for someone else anymore.
I had always wanted to fall in love and have a family. I fell too easily as a teenager, picking the wrong men and I thought I’d hit the jackpot with Gary, but I was too eager. I didn’t stop to see the signs. Call itdaddy issuesbut I just wanted to be loved so badly by a man that I ignored the red flags until they were all I could see.
There was a time when we were teenagers where Tate had been the object of my affection, but he showed zero interest in me that way. I even begged him to kiss me. My cheeks flushed asI remembered the way I’d thrown myself at him. He’d declined me so gently and politely that I couldn’t even be mad, just embarrassed as hell.
Never again would I humiliate myself for a man.
Besides Tate couldn’t still be on the market. A man that hot in this small town would be snapped up, probably married with two point four children by now. And the last thing I wanted to see was his perfect wife coming out of the house with their perfect children, while I came home with my tail between my legs, starting life over in my mid-thirties.
Parking outside Mom’s house, I got out, smoothing a hand over the borrowed dress and I decided I would raid the attic to see if there were any clothes here that fit me. If not, I needed a shopping trip, stat.
I knocked on the front door. It had been so long since I’d been home, I didn’t feel like I could just waltz in. Especially now Cathy lived here too.
The door opened and Cathy was standing there. “Gertie!” she cried, her tan face splitting into a smile before her eyes clocked my fading bruise and split lip. “Oh honey,” she said in a way that made me want to cry.
“Hey Cathy.”
“Did you say Gertie?” came an excited voice from the other room. Cathy’s head whipped around, her auburn bob bouncing with the movement and moments later my mom came into view.
