Page 77 of Hot Response
She stared at him for what seemed like an eternity, her face pale and her lips tight, and then lifted her chin. “I guess if you don’t think I’m moving forward, there’s not much sense in you hanging around then, is there?”
“Cait, don’t—”
“It’s time for you to leave.” She tossed him his coat and nodded her head toward the door. “Don’t make it any worse. Just...just go.”
A minute later, he was sitting in his truck, staring at the door she’d practically slammed behind him and unable to bring himself to move. Maybe it would open and she’d run down the steps. He could tell her he was sorry. That he was an asshole and he never should have said anything to Diane about asking her to move in with him.
But he didn’t know what to say about the words he’d flung at Cait. He knew they’d hurt her, but he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to take them back. No matter what happened now, he still meant them. Cait couldn’t look forward to a future with him while living in the past.
With a hand that was shaking a little, he put the truck in gear and backed out of the driveway.
* * *
It was an argument. They happened all the time. Even the happiest of couples fought sometimes, and then they worked through their disagreements and moved on.
Cait stared at her ceiling, ignoring the light shining through the window and the sounds of moving around elsewhere in the house.
It was just a fight, she told herself again, wondering how many times she’d have to think it before she actually believed it.
It hadn’t felt like the argument of a happy couple. It had felt more like a breakup.
She rolled onto her stomach, burying her face in her pillow, as somebody—presumably her mother—tapped on her door. She didn’t want to talk to anybody right now.
But the slight squeak of old hinges told her whoever it was didn’t care if she wanted company or not. “Honey, are you awake?”
“I have a headache, Mom. I just want to be left alone.”
But, of course, the bed dipped as her mom sat on the edge of it. A second later, she felt a hand on her shoulder. “You need to eat something.”
She’d just throw it up, if she could even get it past the lump in her throat to begin with. “I’m not hungry.”
“I’m sorry, Cait. I really am. I didn’t mean to ruin dinner.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. He blindsided you, talking about me moving in with him, but we’ve only talked about it once.”
“And I should have been happy for you. Instead, your brother and I got upset and ruined everything.”
Cait really didn’t want to have this conversation. Not now. Not in an hour. Maybe never. It was like a never-ending loop she wanted to stop. She rolled onto her side and looked at her mom.
“If he can’t deal with a family who’s not 1950s TV perfect, that’s his problem. We’re doing okay.”
“You should go talk to him, honey.”
“There’s not much to say.”
“Of course there is. Every couple fights and you know that. Duke and I were very happy together, but we still fought sometimes.”
“I know.” She’d spent the night telling herself that. “But this one’s been simmering between us for a while and maybe we didn’t have a strong enough foundation yet.”
“This is how you build a strong foundation. You find the cracks and you work together to fix them.”
Cait didn’t have the heart to tell her she couldn’t see a way to fix their cracks. Gavin wanted her to be sure moving in with him was the right thing to do and she wasn’t. She wanted to be, but look what had happened when he brought it up.
Every time her mother got upset like that, Cait remembered the fear in Carter’s voice the night he’d called her. She relived trying to get her mother—limp and sobbing—up and out of the bathroom because she was afraid she might actually take her own life. She’d put her in bed and then climbed in beside her, afraid to let her out of her sight.
Cait knew they’d come a long way together, but she still remembered that fear and utter helplessness when the tears started. She knew how bad it could be. Gavin didn’t.
Her mom would take that on herself, though, and beat herself up some more, so she just smiled. “Maybe. We’ll see how it goes.”
