by Addison Fox
Kate squeezed out from under his arm and embraced Chooch before pressing a kiss to her husband’s grizzled cheek.
“Join us.”
The invitation sounded more like an order coming from Hooch, but Jason quickly nodded. “We’d love to.”
He and Kate squeezed into the empty side—the two lovebirds already having resumed their seats next to each other in their side of the booth.
“You having pancakes?” Chooch demanded as Jason set his menu aside.
“Sure am.”
“Good call. Carbs are always a good choice after sex.”
Kate let out a slight squeak and Jason could only thank God the waitress hadn’t arrived with coffee yet or he’d be wearing a cup of it spilled in his lap from shock and awe.
“Now, Chooch.”
“Oh, don’t ‘Now Chooch’ me.” The woman waved an arm as she reached for the syrup to ladle on even more to an already well-covered stack of pancakes. “Everyone knows you’re doing the deed.”
“Yes, well, it’s our business.”
“Nothing in this town’s a secret, girlie. You know that.” Hooch took the syrup from his wife and added it to his bacon. Jason had the fleeting thought they both ate like eight-year-olds, but had to acknowledge that you’d barely know it from their hale and hearty figures.
Their waitress arrived and took their orders, shooting Jason a quick wink before she walked away. He wasn’t sure if was for encouragement or not, but opted to take it that way.
“You been over to visit your father?”
Kate shifted next to him as the temperature dropped a few degrees at the table. “I’ll get there.”
“Where?” Jason laid a hand on her knee, curious what had stiffened her demeanor so quickly.
“To the cemetery.” Her words were quiet and the quick retorts either Chooch or Hooch typically had at the ready weren’t in evidence.
Jason heard the slight hitch in her tone—felt a match for it in his gut—and decided he wasn’t going to let this one slide. “We’ll go after we’re done eating.”
“We don—” Kate’s gaze shot to the older couple before nodding. “Okay.”
Whether it was the fact that she’d finally found a subject she was uncomfortable with or was simply unwilling to allow her husband to keep on with the topic of Jonas Winston, Chooch shifted the conversation toward Sloan’s wedding shower the night before. Jason let his thoughts roam as the conversation covered similar ground to the stories from the previous night in the bar.
Why was Kate so reluctant to talk to him? To share the things that mattered to her.
The sensation wasn’t unlike opening a box and then finding another inside of it. Just as you thought a present was in your grasp, you had to work a bit harder for the payoff. Their relationship was new and it had come on quickly for both of them, but they were in her hometown, for cripe’s sake. Did she think he’d begrudge her time at her father’s graveside?
“You lived in California?” Jason heard the question directed at him and let his puzzled thoughts slide for the moment.
“I did. I spent quite a few years working in our California office.”
“What’d you think of La La Land? You meet any celebrities?” Hooch demanded.
“A few. But more than anything, I liked the lifestyle. The weather’s great, the beach is close and it’s just easy there. I liked it a lot.” Jason felt Kate’s scrutiny as he fielded several questions about his time in Los Angeles, but couldn’t quite read the expression on her face.
Which wasn’t anything new.
Although he’d adamantly refused to compare Kate to Grier, thoughts did slip in from time to time. While Grier hadn’t been the right one for him—and they were both incredibly fortunate to have realized it so they could move on to the people who were right for them—he’d gotten pretty good at reading her in the years they were together.
Her sister?
Not so much.
They might have looked like each other, but the similarities stopped there. He’d always been able to read Grier’s reaction to something. With Kate, he spent more time analyzing whether she was happy or sad, excited or melancholy, because he never felt like she was really confiding in him.
He would never be able to get this relationship on solid footing or really know where he stood unless he came right out and asked her.
The woman would be lethal at poker, and the fact she always had the upper hand put the slightest itch between his shoulder blades.
He’d fucked up royally with Grier and hurt someone he’d cared for, but hadn’t really loved. The thought of causing Kate—a woman he already loved more than his own life—the slightest upset or grief scared the shit out of him.
• • •
“So Diane Keaton was a neighbor and you know the entire cast of Friends?”
Jason had suggested they walk around the town square after breakfast to work off the pancakes and Kate couldn’t argue with his logic, the hearty meal enough to fill her for a week. It also gave her a chance to finally grill him about his California comments. He smiled at her, his expression light and jovial and what she thought of as his “real Jason” look. “They’re nice people.”
“But you know all of them.”
“Yeah.”
“Wow. Who else do you know?”
“A few people.” He shrugged and she sensed the slightest bit of embarrassment. “It’s no big deal.”
“You do realize I’ve read every single copy of Vanity Fair and People since I was fourteen years old. It’s a huge deal.”
“They’re just people.”
“If you say so.” She didn’t agree, but like so many things they talked about, here was another example of just how different their lives had been before they met each other.
And why did that make her feel like a poor, distant cousin of the country mouse?
Because you are, Kate Winston. You’re so far out of your league you might as well be sitting on Mars.
The thought rose up swift and fast. She’d attempted to suppress the feeling of being out of her depth while allowing him to show her New York and introduce her to his world, but being back in Indigo had shaken the feelings right back to the surface.
“You spoke like you really enjoyed California. Why’d you leave?”
“It was time to come home and assume my place in the family business.”
“Yes, but did you want to?”
“It’s fine.” Jason pointed toward the edge of town. “Let’s go to the cemetery. I want to make sure you get to see your dad before we leave.”
“We really don’t have to go.”
He pulled her to a halt, turning to face her and she allowed her gaze to roam over the face that had become so dear to her in so short a time.
“It’s important, Kate.”
“He’s not going anywhere.” The words popped out, intended as a joke, but they had a bitter tinge she could taste on the tip of her tongue. The truth was, Jonas Winston wasn’t going anywhere and he never was again.
And every time she thought she’d come to grips with that fact, it leaped up and smacked her hard as a reminder that maybe she wasn’t quite as okay as she pretended.
“It’s good to take the time, Kate. Your father might not be going anywhere, but you are. Come on. We’ll go together.”
He wrapped an arm around her and she sunk into the support. Whatever reservations she held, she couldn’t argue with the fact that when it was just the two of them she could almost pretend what had shaped them wasn’t important.
When it was just the two of them, she could believe they had a real shot at their future, something they would shape together.
• • •
The optimism that carried her through their last night in Indigo and the entire plane ride home was squashed about twenty minutes after they walked in the door of Jason’s apartment.
“I got a message from my mother.”
Kate glanced up from where she emptied her s
uitcase. “Is she okay?”
“Yes, but she’s still expecting us for dinner tonight.”
“I thought you canceled that.”
“I never got around to it.”
“Well can you cancel it now?”
A light flush crept up his neck, even as he maintained a soft smile. “She already called in the caterers.”
“Caterers? For four people.”
“From her message, it sounds like it’s turned into a dinner party. Several of their friends are home from traveling and want to meet you.”
A sinkhole the size of Denali opened up in the pit of her stomach. “Several? As in how many?”
“Probably four couples.”
Abject panic morphed into sheer terror. “That’s a lot of people.”
“They’re all nice. It’ll be an easy evening and we’ll get loaded on something good from my father’s wine cellar.”
“I can’t get loaded in front of your parents’ friends!”
“Well you sure as hell can’t stay sober. You’ll run away screaming and never see me again,” he said, moving closer to pull her into his arms, nuzzling that spot underneath her ear he always found with absolute precision. “And I can’t have that.”
Kate leaned into him, taking strength from the physical support, even as the vivid reality that in two hours she’d be seated at a dinner party, attempting to look her best after twenty-odd hours of flying on planes and very little sleep.
The sly edge of pleasure crept through the panic as Jason’s hands roamed over her stomach, coming to settle on her breasts. Warning lights went off as the pleasure built and she pressed at his chest. “I’m not having sex with you before we go to your parents’.”
“Why not?” The alarm in his expression would have been comical if she weren’t so nervous.
“Chooch and Hooch figured out we’d had sex.”
“That’s because they have sex. A lot of it, if the way they talk is any indication. You don’t have to worry about that with my parents.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what I said.” He leaned in and nuzzled her neck once more as his hands played over the sensitive skin of her stomach. “They wouldn’t know what sex looked like if it came up and bit them both on the ass.”
A mix of emotions swamped her, layering sadness over her own fear of the evening ahead.
She thought she understood family dysfunction—had lived with a fair amount of it herself—but the glimpses of his life had her reconsidering what she really knew about his family.
What, exactly, had Jason grown up with?
Chapter Four
Kate had been to the Shriver home exactly three times since her arrival in New York. She wasn’t required to make an appearance all that often, but when she did, she always felt out of her league and this time was no different. The penthouse apartment on Fifth Avenue was like something out of Architectural Digest and she was torn between awe of her surroundings and a vivid fear of touching anything.
“Jason, darling.” Annette Shriver beckoned them over. “I’d like to introduce Kate.”
His hand stayed firm on her lower back, and she appreciated the support as they crossed the elegant living room. A server circulated through the room with small canapés, but she’d noticed none of the women took any, so she’d followed suit and willed her stomach not to grumble.
The introductions were quick and she kept her smile firmly in place at the evident perusal by Annette’s friends.
“I understand you were just back in Alaska, dear? How was the visit?”
“It was lovely, thank you.” Kate turned toward the woman who asked the question. Sabrina. Or was it Serafina? “It was especially nice to see my sister.” Annette’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Grier and Kate quickly hurried on. “And all my friends, really. There’s nothing like summer in Alaska.”
“J.J. and I went there on a cruise a few years ago,” another of the women added. “It’s a gorgeous place. Where are you from?”
“A small town called Indigo. It’s between Anchorage and Fairbanks, for lack of a better description.”
“And you’ve lived there your whole life?” another woman probed.
“Yes. Born and raised.”
Based on the vague smiles, she could have been born anywhere between here and Indigo, for all these women knew. It wasn’t New York and that seemed to be all that mattered.
“How are you finding the city, dear? I can’t imagine it’s easy to go from a small town to the center of a metropolis like New York?”
Kate knew it was nothing more than polite conversation, but she couldn’t shake the persistent feeling of being on display. She knew Alaska was a place that held fascination to others, and their questions were no different than ones she’d fielded on vacations in the past.
But she wasn’t on vacation.
She had moved over four thousand miles to build a life with Jason.
“The move has been incredibly easy. Jason has made it a point to introduce me to all of the wonderful things about New York. There’s an endless number of things to see and do. It’s invigorating.”
“Are you coming to the opera benefit next week?”
“We’ve already gone shopping for her dress,” Annette quickly offered up. The discussion of clothing was just enough to shift the conversation and Kate settled in to listen to the thoughts about various designers she’d only read about in magazines.
Designers these women counted as personal friends.
Without warning, she had a memory of her father at her college graduation. He’d beamed at her, hugging her close to his chest as he whispered, You’ve come a long way, baby.
The sentiment felt more real than ever.
She’d always imagined more for her life than Indigo could offer her. It had been one of the things that appealed so deeply about moving to New York with the man she loved. A new life and a new adventure to go along with the deeply-rooted joy at having found him.
Funny how in her dreams, the people she interacted with always had the broad smiles and easy-going natures found in abundance in Indigo, Alaska. Not many stood on ceremony in one of the harshest climates in the world. How odd then, to find how New York’s blue bloods created a harsh climate simply because they could.
• • •
“You looked like you were enjoying yourself tonight.” Jason gestured to their bartender as he pulled back a stool at the bar for her.
“Your parents’ friends were very nice.” She settled into the high stool, already anticipating a glass of wine.
He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek before taking his seat. “Diplomatically vague. Excellent response.”
“I’m not trying to be diplomatic. They were lovely.”
And they were. Whatever worry she’d felt during the cocktail hour had faded during the evening. All of the women had been good to her, finding ways to engage her in conversation beyond how many feet of snow they got every winter, and she ended up having a nice enough time.
She had two invitations to lunch, which she took as a good sign. Serafina had also given her a lead on a job opportunity at one of the private schools in the same neighborhood of Jason’s apartment.
“Well then, your evening was nicer than mine. Dad was on his rant about expansion again.”
“Is that what he pulled you aside for at the end, before we left?
“Yep.”
Their bartender took their orders and she waited until he was gone before turning toward Jason. The bar wasn’t that crowded, but she also knew there was a need to be careful about being overheard, even in a city as large as New York. “From what you said to Grier the other night, it sounds like you all have more business than you know what to do with.”
“We do. Which is why his insistence on winning more is a poor strategy. We can barely keep up with what we’ve got. We can’t staff fast enough for that, let alone add more to the pile.”
“It’s hard to find go
od people?”
“Incredibly hard. We’ve been through three senior associates since we lost Grier in October and not a single one has pulled the same weight she did. And the junior associates haven’t been at it long enough to add the sort of senior-level attention to our clients that we need.”
“Can she work for you remotely?”
“Aside from the fact that I think she’d rather walk over shards of glass than work for my father again?”
Kate did laugh at that. “Fair point.”
“She was the smart one, even if she didn’t see it at the time. She got out.”
Kate took a sip of her wine, weighing her words. This wasn’t the first time he’d expressed frustration over his father, but it was the first where he’d shared quite this much. “Why don’t you get out?”
“I can’t do that. I’ve been working at this my entire life.”
“Why can’t you? You work incredibly hard. Why spend that much time working at something you don’t like? Go put that much time and effort toward something you want to do.”
“Are you trying to tell me I’m not around much?”
A spark of anger lit under her skin. Maybe it was the fact she was tired, or maybe it was just an unwillingness to continue keeping her mouth shut, but either way, she wasn’t going to let him get away with that. “That’s not what I said.”
“Was it what you meant?”
“No. I meant what I said. You work incredibly long hours for a job that doesn’t fulfill you. That doesn’t seem to suit you.”
“How would you know if it suited me or not?”
“I hear the things you say about work or about your father. This isn’t the first comment you’ve made. I also see the look on your face when you come home or when you start typing like a madman on your Blackberry. I see it, Jason. As the woman who lives in your apartment, I’m not all that easy to hide from.”
“It’s our apartment.” His voice was quiet, his words landing with immediate impact.
“No, it’s your apartment. I just live there.”
She saw it the moment the anger flipped into his gaze, lighting up those pale blue eyes with fury. “And what is that zinger supposed to mean?”