Page 12 of The Marriage Pact
Kaitlyn raised her eyebrows.
“I’m sorry you won’t get any more peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches,” she said.
There was a sadness in her eyes. It was obvious she missed her mom terribly. They’d been close. Kaitlyn had never known her dad. Alex’s had left when he was five. He had a vague memory of him, but that was all — a distant figure who’d never tried to get back in touch. It was sad, but there was nothing to be done about it. In that, he and Kaitlyn were the same. They’d never known their dads, and they’d been lucky to be raised by strong women, who’d done all they could to make a better life for themselves and their kids. But for Kaitlyn to lose her mom was obviously a terrible blow. The sadness would remain.
“I’m sure you could make one for me,” Alex replied.
Kaitlyn made a face. “All those calories. It’s not good for you,” she said, and Alex laughed.
“One more can’t hurt. I go to the gym enough.”
Alex was obsessed with the gym. He went every day at six o’clock in the morning, meeting Erica, his personal trainer, fora session before work. He swam, too, constantly trying to better his own records. It bordered on obsession, his one escape from the responsibilities of work.
“So I can see,” Kaitlyn replied with an approving note in her voice.
Alex felt pleased. The main course was now cleared, and a delicious-looking chocolate dessert was presented to them. Alex had barely spoken to his neighbor on the other side, so engrossed had he been in his conversation with Kaitlyn. There was so much to say, and he could hardly believe the ease with which this first encounter, after so many years, was proving.
“This is delicious,” he said, reaching over to pour himself another glass of wine.
He offered Kaitlyn some, too, and they had just clinked their glasses in a toast when the master of ceremonies called for quiet, ready to toast the newly married couple. Alex listened as Sean gave a short speech extolling Rachel’s many virtues, before proposing a toast to her. The guests stood, raising their glasses to the couple, who were now to head to the floor for the first dance.
“It’s just like being back at the prom, isn’t it?” Kaitlyn whispered.
Sean and Rachel had led the first dance there, too, much to the consternation of Felicity Baxter and the Pinkies. Kaitlyn’s words about the prom brought back other memories of what the two of them had promised one another on that last night they’d been together.
“That was such a wonderful night, wasn’t it?” he said.
Kaitlyn nodded. “It was. But it was sad, too. We were all going our separate ways. It was difficult to know what to feel. Then you asked me to marry you.”
Alex was taken aback. Hehadasked Kaitlyn to marry him, but he hadn’t thought she’d remember him doing so — or want to be reminded of it.
“I did, didn’t I? With a plastic straw for a ring,” he said, remembering the way he’d fumbled one into shape under the table while Kaitlyn had been talking to Rachel.
Alex didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or not. It was a strange thing to remember, but he hadn’t realized Kaitlyn had even given him so much as a thought over all these years, let alone clung to memories like that.
“When we were thirty years old… if we were both still single,” she said.
This was the point where she would tell him she was engaged, or living with someone, or dating, or being anything other than single. Alex nodded.
“But you must have someone,” he said.
To his surprise, Kaitlyn shook her head.
“No. There’s no one. I don’t know… Things just get in the way, don’t they? It hasn’t been easy. I’ve been back in Cedarhurst for the best part of the last year, taking care of Mom. There wasn’t exactly time for dating.”
Alex didn’t know whether to feel relieved or not. It was none of his business, of course. Kaitlyn was free to do as she pleased. There’d been no written contract between them, just a silly promise made after too much spiked punch. And yet, it wasa promise Alex had held on to. He’d thought about it and allowed his mind to wander around the possibility of it actually happening. What if he and Kaitlyndidget married? They were both thirty now. They had their birthdays in the same month, February, the eighth and nineteenth. Alex hadn’t forgotten that, either.
“I understand,” Alex replied.
“Butyoumust have someone. Don’t tell me you’re living the life of a bachelor,” Kaitlyn said.
Alex smiled. Hewasliving the life of a bachelor, though he had plenty of people to pick up his clothes and keep his apartment tidy. It was hardly discarded pizza boxes and piles of dirty laundry. But hewasa bachelor.
“As much as you’re living the life of a spinster,” he said.
Kaitlyn made a face. “I hate that word. It makes me think of old women sitting around in a quilting circle. I’mnota spinster,” she said.
Alex laughed. “Well, whatever you are, and whatever I am, we’re the same. I don’t have anyone,” he said.
