Page 116 of Take My Heart
‘She’s not home,’ Kate’s dad says. ‘She left over an hour ago. If you don’t believe me, go ask the doorman. She always waves at him on her way out.’
‘You need to leave her alone,’ Kate’s mom says. ‘Kate told us she made it clear to you that whatever was going on with you two was over.’
It’s true. It’s what we decided, but I didn’t think she’d tell her parents that. The fact that she did makes me think this really is over, that I don’t have a second chance with her.
‘Okay, well, I guess I’ll be going.’ I take off, down the hall to the elevator.
Now I feel like an idiot. I never should’ve come here. Kate doesn’t want a guy like me. Even the new me who’s getting his shit together isn’t good enough for a girl like her. What the hell was I thinking?
When I’m in the truck, I call up Nick.
‘Hey, how’d it go?’ he answers.
‘She wasn’t home, and she told her parents she didn’t want to see me.’
He sighs. ‘Brody, I’m sorry.’
‘It’s okay. I should’ve known better than to go over there. She needs to move on. Find someone else. I’m going back to Haydon Falls. I don’t feel like being around everyone right now.’
‘I understand. I’ll talk to Mom and let her know.’
‘Thanks. I’ll talk to you later.’
‘Hey, be careful driving back. I just heard we’re under a winter storm warning. It’s already snowing just north of here.’
‘Yeah, I’ll be careful. Bye, Nick.’
I’m in a daze as I drive back, thinking about the weeks I spent with Kate, knowing I wasn’t the only one who felt something. So why is she giving up on us? I know we told each other it was over, but it’s not what either of us wanted.
As I cross into Wisconsin, the light snow that was falling gets heavier and the wind picks up. The snow is actually good. I’ll make money plowing driveways and it’ll give me something to do so I’m not thinking about Kate.
The storm gets worse the closer I get to Haydon Falls. The wind is whipping the snow around, making it hard to see.
‘Shit,’ I mutter as my truck hits a slick spot and swerves into the other lane. Luckily, nobody was over there. I slow downand notice something in the distance. It looks like a red flag blowing around, but it’s hard to tell in the blinding snow.
‘What the hell is that?’ I get my wipers going faster so I can see.
Someone’s standing on the side of the highway, holding a red scarf in the air and waving it around. I slow down and carefully pull over onto the shoulder. I check behind me before getting out.
I run over to the person, who’s bundled up so much I can only see their eyes. ‘Need some help?’
‘Brody?’
‘Yeah. Do I know you?’
‘It’s me.’ The person lowers the scarf from around their face and my heart takes off when I see that beautiful smile, the one I never thought I’d see again.
‘Kate? What the hell are you doing out here?’
‘Coming to see you,’ she says, her teeth chattering.
She drove up here to see me? When I was down in Chicago to see her?
We need to talk about this, but not now, not when she’s freezing and we’re on the side of the highway where a car could slide into us.
‘Let’s go.’ I take her hand and head to my truck.
‘My car.’ She points to a silver sedan in the ditch.
