Their team won by twenty, thanks to him. He used the physicality of the game to work off some of his frustration.
“Man, you were vicious out there today,” Jeremy said while they waited for their burgers at Maida’s Café.
“Yeah, I needed a target.” Nick shifted in his chair.
“Anything you want to talk about?”
Nick tried to avoid his eyes, but Jeremy waited him out.
“I think I know what I did that hurt Kat when we were in high school.” He hung his head. “I let my mouth go faster than my head and basically said she wasn’t the right kind of person for me to have around because I was going to be somebody.”
“You what?” Several patrons at tables nearby turned and stared at the heated tone of the local pastor’s voice.
Nick leaned forward and spoke in a hushed, but urgent whisper. “I didn’t realize that’s what came out of my mouth at the time. It wasn’t what I meant to say. Look, I liked her. A lot. When my dad made me tell her I was leaving, it about ripped my heart out.” Nick tried to make Jeremy understand how intense and churned up he’d been that awful day. That he felt the same way today, confessing what he’d done accidentally.
“So you made sure you sliced hers up in the process. They say misery loves company.” Jeremy gave him a disgusted look.
“Hey, you’re supposed to be my friend, and a minister. You have to help me fix this,” Nick pleaded, unable to hide the hurt Jeremy’s words caused.
Jeremy stopped and bowed his head in prayer. Nick held his breath and waited, asking God to show him how to heal the rift he’d caused between himself and his friend, and the one between him and Kat.
Jeremy looked up and their eyes locked. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me for my harsh words.” He offered a lopsided smirk. “How did you figure it out?”
“Kat sort of told me last night, right after she declared I was the last man on earth she’d ever go out with and slammed the door in my face.”
Jeremy’s shoulders shook, but he held the laugh inside. “She’s stubborn and she has a fierce temper. I think you should go see Judge Pierce.”
“Right, I’m sure he’d enjoy being the first family court judge to sentence someone to death.” Agitated, Nick tried to reason with Jeremy and find another solution. “Look, I hurt her before and I’m pretty sure I made her cry last night. He won’t be happy to see me.”
“But he needs to know she’s upset. Otherwise, he’ll wonder what’s causing all the tension in his courtroom Monday morning. You need to prepare him. He can help you make it less painful for her when she faces you in court.”
Nick fought the urge to beat his head against the table. “And my dad wonders why I’m single.”
“You appreciate things more if you have to work for them. That applies to relationships, too.”
“I’m not going to get her. She all but hates me. I just want to help heal the wounds I’ve inflicted on her. She deserves to be loved by someone a lot better than me. Someone who will never hurt her.”
“Come on. First, we have to figure out how to get her to talk to you so you can tell her how sorry you are. I’ll go with you to see Judge Pierce. I’ll even call him so he knows we’re coming.”
Nick ran home for a quick shower. On his way out, his phone rang.
“Hello.”
“Hello. How was your game?”
“Hi, Dad. It was good.”
“Did you win?”
“Yeah, we won.”
“That Citizen of the Year, it’s the foster kid isn’t it?”
“Yeah, they’re one and the same.”
“I was right. She’s nothing but trouble for you.”
“No, Dad. You were wrong about her. Just look at all she’s achieved. And it had nothing to do with knowing the right people. That makes her a lot better person than me in my book. She got where she is today by working hard. She didn’t get any breaks. I don’t want to fight with you about her right now, okay?”
“All right then. I called to tell you we’re sending out the press release Monday.”
“Monday? Why are you bumping it up?”
“Have you seen this morning’s paper?”
“No, I haven’t had time. Look, I have to go. I’ll call you tonight and we can talk about the press release then.”
After Nick got into his car, he reached for the newspaper he’d thrown in the backseat when he’d left for the game earlier. The front page of the community section sported a huge picture of him dancing with Kat. The caption read, “Council Hopeful Woos Pemberly’s Top Citizen.”
Great! She’ll blame me for this, too. He tossed the paper onto the seat. When he stopped to pick Jeremy up, he got in the car and presented Nick with another copy.
“Thanks, I already have one.”
“Man, when you try to have a bad day, you go all out don’t you?”
“Not funny.”
“Judge Pierce has seen this, too.”
“Terrific. Maybe we should turn around and go home now.”
“He’s seen it, but he hasn’t talked to Katherine. For reasons I don’t understand, I think he approves of you.”
Nick caught the surprised look on Jeremy’s face. “You don’t have to sound so shocked at the idea. Most people do like me. I’m having a problem getting Kat to like me. And, after I tell Judge Pierce everything, he’s not going to be a big fan either.”
“I’m sure he’ll give you the chance to explain everything. Then he’ll kill you.”
* * *
“You what?” Judge Pierce bellowed and jumped to his feet.
“I didn’t realize that’s what I said at the time. I definitely didn’t mean it. She’s very upset, sir. I want to make this right.” Nick met the other man’s furious glare head-on. “I have to.”
“You better. And to think I shamed her into being nice to you last weekend.” The judge paced in front of the cold hearth in his library.
After several minutes of silence that had Nick ready to climb the walls, the judge stopped and looked down his nose at him. “Well, what are you going to do about this, Mr. Delaney?”
“I don’t know, yet. But I came here today to explain. I will make this up to her. I’ll prove to her that isn’t the way I see her.” Nick swallowed hard. “We, you and I, need to be as supportive as possible in the courtroom on Monday morning. Kat is strong, but she’s wounded and those wounds run deep.” And it about killed him to know his words had inflicted the pain. “I need your help.” He met the judge’s frigid glare.
“And why I should help you?”
“Because I don’t want to ever see her hurt again. Give me a little time and I’ll prove to her how sorry I am. I’ll show her how much she means to me.”
The judge searched his face, Nick assumed, to gauge the depth of his sincerity.
“Flowers might be a good start,” the judge suggested.
“I sent her an orchid last Monday.”
“What for?”
Jeremy laughed.
Nick’s scowl silenced him. “To thank her for doing all the cooking.”
“I imagine you’ll need a lot more than an orchid if you stand any hope of climbing out of the canyon you’ve dug for yourself.”
“That’s it? Flowers? No other suggestions?” He looked at the judge in disbelief before he turned toward Jeremy.
Jeremy raised his hands in a helpless motion. “I only agreed to come with you. You have to fix this yourself. I’m her friend, too. Think of me as Switzerland.”
Nick sat forward and rubbed his hands over his face. “God, help me.”
“He’s the only one who can,” Jeremy muttered from beside him.
* * *
Katherine reached for the phone as she pulled her head out fr
om under her pillow.
“’lo.”
“Katherine?”
“Um-hm.”
“It’s Abby. Blackmon. Are you okay? Did I wake you?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said and sat up. “I didn’t get to bed until late.”
“I wanted to take you to lunch today. A sort of celebratory meal for your award.”
“Okay. Where did you want to go?” She glanced at the clock on the nightstand.
“How about Dante’s? They have an awesome strawberry salad.”
“That sounds great. I’ll meet you at noon.”
In the bathroom, Katherine didn’t glance at her reflection in the mirror. She stepped straight into the shower. The spray of hot water beat against her back, driving energy into her sluggish system. She lifted her face and let the hot pulses of water rinse away any residual puffiness from her crying jag. If it didn’t work, concealer was a wonderful invention.
She and Abby arrived within minutes of each other. When she walked up, Abby hugged her. “I’m so glad you won. You give so much of yourself to the community. You’re an amazing role model for the kids we help.”
“Yeah, well, I’m kind of uncomfortable with people knowing what I do to help out.”
“You better get used to it. You made the news last night.” Abby caught the door and let her go in first.
The hostess showed them to a table, forcing Katherine to wait to respond. “What do you mean?”
Abby put the newspaper on the table in front of her and smiled. “You were the belle of the ball.”
Katherine fought a wave of nausea. “I didn’t know they were taking pictures.” The pressure from the headache she had awakened with inched farther down her scalp and tightened the muscles in her neck and shoulders. She stared at the picture, remembering the warmth of Nick’s hand at her waist. The smell of his cologne.
“I had no idea you and Nick were an item,” Abby teased.
“We’re not!”
“Uh-huh. And a man looks at a woman he has no feelings for with that kind of tenderness in his eyes.”
“He wasn’t showing tenderness. It was pity. We must have been talking about my childhood.”
Abby gave her a baleful look. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”
“There is absolutely nothing between us. Nick doesn’t think someone like me would be good enough for him. He has this image in his mind of the perfect woman, and thank goodness I’m the complete opposite of that image.”
“There’s no way Nick doesn’t think you’re good enough. He is the least snobby guy I know.” Then Abby threw Katherine’s own concern back at her. “How would you feel if he thought you were too good for him?”
Katherine let out an inelegant snort and rolled her eyes. “I’m pretty sure Nick has a really high opinion of himself. There are very few women he would view as above him.”
She watched Abby’s eyes stray to the picture below the fold, in the corner of the page. The look on Abby’s face as she danced with Jeremy.
“But I know sometimes guys are clueless about the perfect woman, even when she’s right in front of them.” Katherine’s voice became earnest.
Sadness dulled the sparkle in Abby’s eyes when she glanced up. “You’re lucky you understood your calling to public service so young. I didn’t discover mine until a few years ago. I met a man who challenges me to do more, to be more than I ever thought I could. But he thinks I’m so far above him, I’m out of reach. It makes me want to scream sometimes.” Abby took her frustration out on the loaf of bread the waiter had left for them. Her nervous fingers turned the mound into a mangled heap of crumbs. “He treats me like a paragon while I think he’s the finest man I’ve ever known.”
So Nick was right about Jeremy and Abby. “Well, maybe we should find a way to make him see you in a different light. We could make him jealous.” Katherine shot her a devious grin.
“You don’t even know who he is,” Abby balked.
Katherine pointed to the picture of Abby and Jeremy. “Who’s the dreamy-eyed one there?”
Abby leaned forward. “Do you play tennis?”
“Not since high school gym glass.”
“How would you like to use some tennis balls as target practice?”
Katherine couldn’t help but grin.
* * *
“So how do we make Jeremy see me in a new light?” Abby asked her an hour later as they volleyed the ball back and forth over the net on the tennis courts at the YMCA.
Katherine welcomed the distraction of playing cupid to take her mind off Nick and the jumble of feelings that surged through her at the mention of his name. “How often do you see him?”
“When my father’s in town, he invites Jeremy to lunch with us after Sunday services. And I volunteer at the food bank and clothes closet at the church. So, I guess I see him three or four times a week.”
Katherine paused, and a ball sailed past. “Why don’t you call him and invite him to dinner?”
“I could do that.” Abby spun her racket in her hand. “Or even ask him to a movie. He plays basketball. His team practices on Mondays and Thursdays.”
“When are their games?”
“On Saturday mornings. I guess we missed today’s.” Abby sounded disappointed. “Hey, you can come with me. That way it won’t be so obvious.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not? Nick plays on the same team.”
She aimed her racket at Abby. “That would be why.”
“I know you said he doesn’t care for you, but you guys act okay around each other. I don’t understand.” Abby caught the ball in her hand, walked over to the bench beside the court and sat down. She gave Katherine a challenging look.
Katherine had no choice but to sit beside her. “It’s a front. Nick and I, well, we don’t get along.” She fingered the strings of her racket and avoided Abby’s gaze.
“Are you crazy? He couldn’t take his eyes off you last night. Besides, weren’t you his date?”
“No! He only brought me as a favor to Uncle Charles. How do I make you understand this? Nick is using me to score brownie points with the judge while he’s stuck in family court.”
“And you believe that?”
“He’s done it before.”
“I’ve got all day.” Abby tapped the face of her watch. “Go ahead, spell it out for me.”
Maybe the aftereffects of the emotional roller coaster she’d ridden last night, or the sympathetic tone Abby inflected in her question, or the desperate need for a friend were to blame. She’d never told anyone of the betrayal she’d experienced at the hands of the Delaneys. Katherine took a deep breath. “We went to high school together. I tutored him and once he had a higher test score, he had his father send me packing.”
Abby sat in stunned silence. “I wouldn’t have pictured Nick as a user. His father is always trying to get ahead, but I thought Nick was a nice guy. I still can’t believe it. He acts like he’s nuts about you,” Abby argued.
“He’s trying to schmooze Uncle Charles.”
“Nick cares for you. I know he does. I agree you have cause not to trust him. But you fight against making assumptions about people every day. You make the system hear those kids’ stories before they make decisions about their futures. Doesn’t Nick deserve the same opportunity? At least consider it.” She reached over and squeezed Katherine’s hand. “I’d feel so much better if you came with me next Saturday, but I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
“I’ll think about it. I promise.” As they walked to their cars, she smiled at Abby. “So, are you going to ask Jeremy out this week or not?”
Abby sighed. “I’m really nervous. I can talk to him all night about programs for the church. But what do I say
to him that doesn’t relate to that? I want him to see me outside the role of volunteer.”
“Then ask him to a movie. There won’t be as much time for talking. He’s definitely interested in you. You just need to get his attention.”
“Okay, but if he acts like I’ve gone off the deep end, I’m sending you to talk to him.”
“Go ahead. I’d love to set him straight.”
As Abby backed out of the parking lot, she called out, “Good luck in court Monday. Think about what I said.”
Katherine waved her off, but was too edgy to go home, so she took a chance and went to Uncle Charles and Aunt Melvia’s house. The dogs were out front playing when she drove up. As soon as she got out of her car, they were all over her, begging for attention.
Uncle Charles rose from a chair on the porch. “What an honor to receive a personal visit from our favorite citizen.”
“Cut it out. That was a sneaky thing you did to me last night.” She hugged him.
“That was all I could come up with to get you there so I could present you with the award.” He walked her inside to the kitchen, where Aunt Melvia was snapping beans. She wiped her hands before giving Katherine a warm hug.
“You were so beautiful last night. No one deserved that award more than you did. We love you very much.” She held Katherine away from her and wiped the twin tears as they streamed down Katherine’s cheeks.
“I love you both, too.” She managed around the sudden lump in her throat.
“Will you stay for dinner?” Aunt Melvia asked.
“Sure, how can I help?”
“There’s nothing left. Go visit with Charles while I finish up in here,” Melvia ordered and shooed her out of the kitchen and down the hall.
Katherine found him in his study. His intense gaze followed her as she took her usual spot on the sofa near his chair.
“Why are you looking at me so hard? I’m the same person I was before they gave me the award.”
“That’s not what I’m looking at. How’s your heart?”
Her smile froze on her face. “My heart’s fine. Why?”
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