Page 114 of Faking All the Way
I tell them both to enjoy their cake, giving them some privacy. On the way out, I pet Murphy goodbye, scratching behind his ears the way he likes until he purrs loud enough to vibrate my hand.
I’m a little early for meeting Kat, but not that far ahead of schedule, so I decide to just drive straight to the coffee shop downtown where we agreed to meet this morning. No point in going back to the cabin just to turn around again.
Parking isn’t hard to find, and I pull up into a spot right outside the coffee shop, still thinking about my dad and Audrey, grinning a bit at how flustered he looked.
I spot Kat through the café window before I even get out of the car. She’s sitting at a table by the window with a big mug in front of her, staring down at it like she’s trying to read tea leaves or something.
The sight of her makes me smile—but as I look closer, I realize that something seems off. She looks stiff, almost tense, and her face has a taut, closed off expression that makes my smile fade.
I get out of the car and go inside quickly, sitting down at the table across from her.
“Hey, bright eyes.”
She looks up at me, and the redness of her eyes hits me square in the chest. Something is definitely wrong.
I study her face, trying to read what happened. “You okay? Do you still want to go check out the ice carving thing?”
For a second, she doesn’t respond, just looks at me with those green eyes that are usually so bright.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she says quietly.
The knot in my stomach that started forming when I saw her through the window tightens. “Okay. That’s fine. Should we do something else then? Do you want to just hang out here for a bit? We could grab some food, or go for a walk, or?—”
“No.” She shakes her head, cutting me off. She licks her lips like she’s trying to gather words, then speaks slowly. “This… this isn’t a good idea. Our arrangement. It’s gotten too complicated. We should end it before someone gets hurt.”
My mouth opens, then closes again as shock washes over me. A cold rush washes over my skin, as if I’ve just been submerged in ice water.
“What are you talking about?” I ask, my voice tight. “What brought this on? Everything was fine this morning. Better than fine. What changed?”
My mind races back to this morning. Waking up together, making pancakes, the way she smiled at me. The plans we made to spend the afternoon together. None of it makes sense with what she’s saying now.
My jaw clenches as a thought occurs to me. “Is this about Alexis? Because I have no fucking interest in her. I promise you that. I’m not?—”
Something passes across Kat’s face, a flash of pain, something raw. But she shakes her head. “It’s not about that. It’s not about her.”
“Then what is it about?”
She swallows hard, her throat working.
“It’s just… time. We always knew it was temporary. And we should stop before it gets messy.” She looks down at her coffee cup, not meeting my eyes. “Life isn’t a fairy tale. We need to be realistic.”
My brain spins, trying to reconcile the Kat from this morning with the Kat sitting across from me now. Something has changed in her. Something broke or shifted, and I can’t figure out what caused it. She’s stiff and closed off, holding herself together with visible effort, as if she’s trying to protect herself and any little touch could shatter her into pieces.
It cracks something in my chest. I hate seeing her like this, hate whatever put that look on her face.
“Please talk to me,” I beg. “Help me understand what happened. What changed between this morning and now?”
She blinks, tears shining in her eyes, threatening to spill over.
“This will be better in the long run,” she says, her voice unsteady. “I know you still have things to do with your dad, and Christmas hasn’t come yet, so of course you can still stay in the guest house. That was our original agreement. But you probably shouldn’t stay in the main cabin anymore. It will just make things harder.”
My heart thuds hard, crashing against my ribs like it’s trying to break out. I feel like the floor just dropped out from under me, like gravity stopped working and I’m falling. The world is spinning too fast, and I can’t find my balance.
I try to say something,anything, not even sure what words I’m reaching for, just needing to convince her not to do this. To tell her that whatever is wrong, we can fix it. But before I can, she gets up from the table, her chair scraping against the floor.
“I’ll put your clothes and things downstairs.” She looks away, still avoiding my gaze. “So you can grab them whenever. You don’t have to see me.”
Then she leaves, walking quickly out of the coffee shop. The bell chimes as the door closes behind her, cheerful and oblivious.
