Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I didn’t hesitate. I had enough beer in me to be bold. I told my friends I’d meet them back at the seats and I walked her way.
Her date saw me first and must have understood my intention to talk to her by the expression on my face. He nodded at me and Kat turned, her cheerful smile sliding off when she saw me.
My chest was tight, my pulse hammering as I came to stand beside her in line. “What are you doing here?” I asked.
She looked at me like I was crazy. “Um… watching the football game.”
“Can we talk?” I blurted, not daring to look at the man beside her whose arm dropped from her waist.
Kat didn’t immediately concede, instead turning to her date. “I’m sorry, Daniel. Do you mind?”
His smile was easy, teeth gleaming and perfectly straight. “Not at all. What do you want?”
“Just a hot dog and a Coke,” she replied, going to her tiptoes to place a kiss on his cheek. I couldn’t help but think that was to rub it in, but I gritted my teeth and led her away from the line and the crowd to an empty spot on a cinder block wall near some garbage cans.
I turn to face her, ready to fight. “That didn’t take you long.”
Kat stared at me impassively before glancing over her shoulder. When she brought her attention back to me, it was with sharp eyes and a stubborn set to her chin. “You have no right to even care that I’m seeing someone. You gave up that right when you couldn’t be bothered to defend me.”
“You didn’t give me a chance,” I say with frustration. “Just an ultimatum.”
“I’d been begging you for months to tell our families. You were never going to do it.”
“I would have if—”
“No,” she said, shaking her head furiously so that her black hair tumbled over her shoulders. “Your loyalty is to your family and I can respect that. But there comes a time when you have to stand up for the things you want, and let’s be honest, Gabe… you never would’ve had the spine for it.”
She walked away, the noise of the crowd around us fading as I absorbed the gut punch of truth she’d just leveled. I watched her go and a part of me broke as I realized I’d lost something precious, all for the sake of family loyalty.
If only I had the same courage then that I have now. There was never a moment I pondered the choice to turn my father in. Every bit of the loyalty that kept me and Kat apart all those years ago splintered, pulverized, and blew away by my father’s actions. He is as good as dead to me and here I am, having more regret than ever over my inaction with Kat.
But that’s the past and my future is all kinds of fucked up. Ruminating over what might have been serves no purpose and is nothing but a distraction. I’ve got to stay focused on Mardraggon Enterprises, especially since I am now in charge of it all.
The door to Kat’s apartment opens and she bustles in, shaking off droplets from her hair. She undoes her thin rain jacket and tosses it over a wall hook.
“Are you hungry?” she asks, not in a warm, inviting way but brusquely, to remind me we’re still on business time. She moves into the kitchen as I stand from the couch. From the fridge she pulls two bowls and sets them on the small counter that separates the kitchen from the living area.
I lean over as she removes plastic wrap and see chicken salad and fruit. “Looks great.”
“Let’s talk about the winery and eat at the same time. Sooner we get that done, the sooner you can be on your way.”
It rankles me that she can go from being kind enough to offer her apartment for me to meet Sylvie to wanting to kick me out. “We don’t have to eat,” I say, moving over to my briefcase to grab the documents I brought. “That will save time.”
“I went to the trouble to make this, the least you could do is eat,” she snaps.
I hold up my hands in surrender, one holding the expansion proposal. “Fine. We’ll eat.”
“What do you want to drink?” she asks.
“Got any Mardraggon?” I ask, grinning at her slyly.
“Gross. I’ve got water or Diet Coke.”
“Water,” I reply, dropping the proposal on the small kitchen table. “Where’s the silverware?”
“Drawer to the right of the stove.”
We work in silence as we heap chicken salad and fruit onto our plates. At the small table, the proposal is ignored as we eat in silence for a few minutes.
“This is really good,” I say in compliment to the chef.
She doesn’t reply, merely pulling a strawberry off her fork and into her mouth. That incredibly perfect mouth that I know very well.