Page 106 of Welcome to Forever
Chapter 26
Micah’s eyes snapped open. The room was dark, illuminated only by the moonlight streaming in through his bedroom window. Only, it was raining and the sky was overcast, so…the light wasn’t coming from the moon.
He sat up quickly and moved to the window, hearing the noise again—a soft ping against the glass. Squinting through the glare, he saw the flashlight first and slowly made out the image of a woman outside, standing in the rain and tossing small rocks at his window.
“What the hell?” He pulled on a T-shirt and grabbed his umbrella, then headed toward the front door. Opening it, he stepped out into the night, not worried that the noise would wake Ben. His son was a sound sleeper. “Kat?” he called, walking around to the side of his house where his window was. He spotted her as she tossed another stone. “Kat, what are you doing out here?”
Whirling around, she gave a little shriek. “Getting your attention,” she said, dropping the pebble in her hand.
He stood there, sheltered under his umbrella, thoroughly confused. Was he dreaming? Because no way was Kat Chandler standing outside his bedroom window in the pouring rain. “What do you want?” he asked.
She was wearing a light blue raincoat, the hood doing a piss-poor job of sheltering her face. She pointed her small flashlight at him, making him squint. “Oh. Sorry.” She pointed it down at her feet instead. “I want to talk to you.”
“I’m listening,” he said, roughly, staring at her. If this was a dream, he had a mind to either drag her to his bedroom and make love to her all night, or give her a piece of his mind, which he’d been biting at the bit to do since she’d scared off so easily the other day.
“Right.” She nodded, her face drenched from the rain. “Can we maybe…”
She nibbled her lower lip and his groin jumped to attention. The first fantasy sounded good.
“…go inside?” she asked, shining the light at him again. “Sorry. It’s dark and the rain is in my eyes.”
He moved closer, placing his umbrella over her, also, which was more than his mind told him she deserved. His heart wasn’t listening, though. “Come on,” he said.
They didn’t go inside. Instead, he turned to face her on his front porch. “I’m listening,” he said, tossing down his umbrella and bracing his hands on his hips.
She nodded. “Okay.” Nervous laughter bubbled up through her. “I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to say, but now that I’m here…”
More nervous laughter escaped her mouth, and then she looked at him with those eyes that had captivated him since the first day he met her. There was more on the line than sexual attraction now, though. A lot more.
“I came here to tell you that I can’t lose another man in my life.” Her hair hung in solid, wet strands down by her face as she pulled her hood off. “It was too hard losing John. Harder than anything else I’ve ever gone through.”
He nodded, keeping his distance as he watched her. Part of him wanted to wrap his arms around her as she spilled her feelings out in the open. She’d lost someone close to her, and he could relate to that. Jessica hadn’t died, but he’d lost her. And he’d lost his mother. “I get it,” he said, cutting her off. “It’s fine, Kat,” he said sharply.
She blinked. “I couldn’t bear to lose another man that I’m in love with.”
His whole body stilled. Was she breaking up with him and telling him that she loved him at the same time? Because that was a double blow. “You don’t have to explain anything to me, okay? We can just part ways and pretend like the last few months never happened. In fact, I’ve already wiped them from my memory.”
A frown settled on her lips. “I don’t want to forget they ever happened. Micah, I’m telling you that I don’t want to walk away from us. I don’t…want…to lose you.”
There was pain in her expression and hope in her eyes. The conflicting emotions speared through his heart. But he had to remember the other spear she’d staked through him recently. Ben was just getting back to normal. And in a few weeks Micah would be gone. He needed to know that Ben would be okay when he left. Which meant there was no room for error.
“We’re done, Kat. It was good while it lasted, but it’s over now.” He watched her shivering body standing before him, and did his best not to pull her in and comfort her. He couldn’t. Not this time. “Go home and get warm,” he said, as the rain fell even harder, making his words hard to hear even to his own ears. Judging by the expression on her face, she heard them loud and clear. He reached down for the umbrella and offered it to her. “Take this.”
She stared at it for a long moment, and then, ignoring his offer, she headed back out into the rain, leaving him as he’d asked her to.
—
“Come on, buddy. Get up.” Micah stood in Ben’s doorway, waiting. “It’s Monday morning. You have school.”
Ben’s head peeked through the covers, cracking an eye at Micah, and then he reluctantly moved to sit up. “Eggs?” he asked.
“Only if you’re in the kitchen in five minutes.” Micah turned and started walking. He needed another cup of coffee this morning. After Kat’s visit last night, he’d never gone back to sleep.
Ben was dressed and at the table five minutes later, fresh-faced and smiling as usual.
“Sleep well?” Micah asked, wishing he had that kind of energy.
Ben nodded, reaching for the fork on the table.
