She dressed for bed, padded barefoot to the curtains and stared through the fogged window. A shape moved underneath the oak tree. She froze, thinking of a few nights ago, when Jared had come to visit her. Was it Jared?
Straining to see, she rubbed the condensation off the windowpane with her fingers. She hoped to pick out a tall, broad-shouldered man in flannel and denim and was shocked to find an elderly couple, dressed in silk and cotton, in a passionate embrace beneath an oak tree. She blinked, trying to clear her vision.
Her mother and Thomas Hughes stood under the lamplight. He kissed her and tried to hold her, but her mother struggled and sobbed. She broke away and ran toward the house.
Why was her mother crying?
Chapter Eleven
“It's me again, Grace,” Jared said into the phone, shaking his head wearily as he waited. He glanced at the dull stain on the ceiling of his living room, wondering idly how it got there. “You have no one to blame, but yourself,” he muttered under his breath.
He should have gone after Katherine last night instead of waiting until Sunday morning to see her, but he hadn't known what to say. He wasn't a forever guy and he didn't want to lead her to believe something false. He'd stopped when all systems said go because he hadn't wanted to hurt her, yet he'd ended up hurting her anyway.
“I'm sorry, Jared,” Grace said. “Katherine still doesn't want to talk to you. Hold on, I'm going to another room.” He waited several minutes before he heard her pick up again. “I don't know what you did, but if you look as bad as she does this morning, both of you would be better off shot. She still plans to go to the candlelight service tonight. Try talking to her then,” she said softly.
He listened to the finality of the click.
Talk to her about what? The truth. He closed his eyes. He could see Paul asking him, ‘What are you offering Katherine?’ Jared didn't want to hurt her.
“Yahoo, Jared, you in there?” a male voice yelled.
Taking another swig of coffee, Jared glanced up to find Thomas Hughes fully dressed for church and standing in the middle of his kitchen.
“Did you know you left your front door wide open?” Moving nearer, Thomas stopped and took a long, hard look at him.
Jared could imagine what he must look like. He hadn't slept two seconds all night and here he sat, barefoot, still wearing his dress shirt and pants from the dance-along with a hundred wrinkles.
“That must have been some party. You look like something the cats buried."
He felt like it, too.
Running his hand through his hair, he shook his head with a humorless smile. His gaze fell on the dark circles under Thomas's eyes. “You don't look so hot yourself. There's a fresh pot of coffee on the counter and a box of powdered doughnuts. Make yourself at home."
Thomas poured himself a cup, moved to the table and sat down in a chair across from him.
“What's up?” Jared asked, gulping the brew and fighting to stay awake.
Thomas sipped and averted his eyes. “You're young, but you've got a lot more experience with women than I have. I need your help."
Jared shook his head. He'd grown to hate that word ‘experience'. “I'm no expert."
“You are compared to me.” Thomas glanced at him. “I love Grace and we got along fine, until her daughter came home. After that, everything seemed to change. Last night, Grace said she didn't want to see me again because Katherine doesn't approve."
Jared frowned. That didn't sound like Katherine, but he had never known Grace to lie. She might omit, or stretch the truth bigger than a football stadium, but not tell an outright lie.
“Will you talk to Katherine at the candlelight service tonight and see if you can get her to change her mind?” He straightened his tie. “Be sure and tell her my intentions toward her mother are honorable. I want to marry Grace."
Honorable! Katherine deserves someone whose intentions are honorable, too.
Jared raised his brows. “Why don't you do it yourself?"
Thomas squirmed like the chair had suddenly burst into flames. “Oh, I can't do that. I promised Grace I wouldn't try and get Katherine to change her mind."
Jared chuckled. “Isn't that what you're doing?"
Thomas grinned. “Not directly. Being an attorney, I'm sure you can appreciate the subtle difference."
Jared nodded at his friend. “Okay, I'll do it."
What's one more problem to solve? Jared thought. Besides, it gave him a good reason to see Katherine. He would talk to her about Thomas and Grace. Afterwards, he would tell her the whole truth about why he wouldn't make love to her last night. She would agree with him that they shouldn't take that next step. They should remain friends. He never wanted to lose her friendship or Matt's.
Thomas pumped Jared's hand up and down like he was drilling for oil. “Thanks. You can be the best man at our wedding."
Katherine looked in the mirror and applied a thin coat of concealer. The soft lighting of the seven o'clock candlelight service would hide some of the puffiness around her eyes. With her magic applicator wand, she rubbed a hint of sage on her eyelids to disguise the rest. The color matched her silk suit. She nervously fingered the embroidery trim outlining her jacket as she stepped into her heels.
Her mother walked into the bedroom and Katherine felt tension crackle in the air like lightening in a thunderstorm.
Late last night, she'd tried to get her mother to talk about what had happened between her and Thomas, but it turned into a disaster. Her mother had changed the subject to Katherine's problem with Jared. The discussion ended in a stalemate, with neither willing to talk.
“You always look good in a French braid. More sophisticated,” her mother said. “Look what I found in the attic."
She handed Katherine a worn box that had belonged to her father. Inside was his coin collection. “I don't know what it's worth, probably not much, but you and he used to play with it for hours. He would have wanted you to have it."
Katherine chewed her lip and placed the gift on the dresser.
“Thanks. I'm glad you found it. I'll have it appraised after Christmas and keep it for Matt one day."
“Your father would have liked that,” her mother said.
Katherine swallowed hard. “That another new dress?” she asked, glancing at her mother's cordovan jersey.
“Yes, it is,” her mother said, straightening her back. “Jared called and asked if he could drive Matt to the service. Since you wouldn't come to the phone, I gave my approval. I'm sure you don't want to deprive Matt of seeing Jared just because you and he quarreled."
Her mother's image blurred as she nodded.
Stop with the waterworks.
“Good,” her mother continued, picking up the perfume bottle from the dresser and spritzing her wrists with cologne. “Jared's also taking me and Mrs. Taylor.” She set the bottle down. “I don't suppose you could bury the hatchet long enough to go along with us?"
Katherine shook her head, grabbed an emery board and pretended to file a rough edge on her nail. “I'll drive myself."
Her mother hugged her. “I'm sorry we quarreled last night, but I really don't want to talk about Thomas Hughes again-ever."
She patted her mother's hand, determined to get to the bottom of it herself.
Jared's car pulled up at the curb. Her mother and Matt dashed out to meet him coming up the walk. Katherine shoved her arms in her coat and headed for the detached garage. Her heels clicked on the concrete as she proceeded up the breezeway to her car. She twisted the key and tried to start the engine. Nothing happened.