Page 84 of Meant to Be

CHAPTER 20

Cate

If someone had told me to brainstorm worst-case scenarios, I’m not sure I could have come up with anything more horrible than my own mother selling me out to theNational Enquirer. Giving any sort of interview would have been bad, but my mom took it to another level, announcing to the world that I had grown up with a huge crush on Joe and that she had fueled that interest with her own lifelong Kingsley obsession. Of course, it also happened to be thetruth,which made it so much worse. There was nothing I could deny when Joe told me about it.

Instead, I fumbled my way through the humiliating confession. For a moment, I wondered whether it would be the end of us. I could easily imagine that Joe would be so turned off by it all that I’d lose him. Instead, he sweetly insisted that he was flattered—and all his wrath seemed directed Berry’s way. I was a little touched by how chivalrous he was being, but the fact that he felt the need to so fiercely defend my honor, making the unilateral decision to leave the Hamptons, only made me more embarrassed.

For most of the ride home, I was too distraught to talk. I stared out my window, my mind racing with paranoid thoughts that I was reluctant to put into words.

But as we approached Manhattan, I turned to him and said, “Are you sure you aren’t a little upset with me?”

Joe looked surprised by the question, which was something of a comfort. “Yes, I’m sure. Why would I be upset with you?”

“I don’t know…. Because of the poster.”

“A poster you had when you were a little girl?”

“A poster I didn’t tell you about.”

“That’s not important,” he said. “It’s trivial.”

“Then why did we leave in such a hurry? If you aren’t upset?”

“You asked if I was upset withyou. And I’m not. But Iamupset with Berry. And my mother.”

“Why? It’s not their fault that my mom spoke to a tabloid.” I was playing devil’s advocate—but also trying to understand exactly what had gone down, as well as the intimate dynamic among the three of them.

Joe hesitated, frowning out the front window as if deep in thought. “I really don’t see why Berry felt the need to read that crap when she had just met you herself. Especially because she’s the first one to rail on the tabloids.”

“Well, isn’t that kind of natural?” I said, trying so hard to be fair. “I feel like I might take a peek, too, you know?”

“Fair enough, I guess. But she didn’t have to buy it, bring it home, and show it to my mother.”

“Okay. But why not just laugh it off and move on? Instead of storming out?”

“Because they drew false conclusions—that you’d been some superfan stalking me. It’s absurd.”

“But if it’s so absurd, why get so pissed? Doesn’t that just give her accusations credence? What if the tabloid said I was an alien? Without a belly button?”

Joe smiled. “Holy cow. Where do you come up with this stuff?”

I shrugged, then said, “Well? If the article had said that, would you have left in a huff?”

“It depends,” Joe said. “If Berry believed it? Maybe.”

I shook my head and said, “I don’t think so. I think you would have laughed in her face and moved right on.”

“So what are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying—that maybe you’re not just upset with what Berry thinks…. Maybe you’re upset because, deep down, you think it, too.”

“That’s not true,” Joe said a little too quickly.

“Okay…but did you really feel that I needed such staunch defending?”

“Needed?No. I don’t think youneededit. But I think youdeservedit. It’s not fair what she was implying about you—”

“I know it’s not,” I said, so appreciating his loyalty and steadfast sense of justice. Hell, basic fairness. “But I still don’t want you fighting with your family because of me.”

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