When Worlds Collide (My Kind Of Country Book 3)

by M. Lynne Cunning

  “Hi. Mason tells me—”

  Jay cut her off, his voice irritated. “You seriously haven’t mentioned Christmas to him yet?”

  “I haven’t mentioned—”

  Christmas.

  Oh my God. If she hadn’t already been on the couch, Katie would have sought out a place to sit down. This couldn’t be happening. Her mind struggled to catch up to the thoughts running hysterically through her head, but she couldn’t sort them into something that resembled logic. She tried to think clearly, but Jay already knew by her hesitation that he was right.

  She’d forgotten all about Christmas. The truth was, she wasn’t even sure she knew what the date was today.

  “You forgot.” Jay didn’t sound angry. If anything, he sneered at her, knowing she’d made a dire mistake.

  “I didn’t—” she sputtered. “It’s been a whirlwind these last few weeks. I’m going to—”

  “Did you buy him a gift, at least?”

  “Of course I did,” she lied. She wanted nothing more than to run out of the room, away from the speculative eyes of Elaine and Jillian, and away from the hopeful stare of the young boy she’d managed to let down.

  “Maybe my proposition will help you get it together a little bit,” Jay said. “I want to see my son on Christmas. Oh, and that’s in two days, in case you didn’t realize.”

  Two days. She had two days to fix this. How had no one mentioned Christmas up until now? Better yet, how had she managed to clear it from her radar completely?

  “So do I,” she stated in hopes of sounding more organized than she was.

  “I figured you’d say that. So, here’s my proposition. You get him for Christmas morning, but I get to come and get him in the afternoon.”

  “I’m not really—”

  “Your other option is that we all spend the day together, Katie. I somehow think you’re a little against that idea, though.” He paused, and Katie thought she heard him chuckle, which irked her even more.

  “I know what you did,” Katie said flatly. “Hiring Mr. Gerard to take that photo. Nice work. I just have to know, was this the desired effect you were going for with that stunt?”

  Jay was quiet on the other end, giving Katie a moment of satisfaction. She knew better than to goad him, but she couldn’t help it. If he knew that she knew what he’d done, maybe he would rein in his composed, entitled facade and actually try to help her fix this the best they could. “Look, Katie. Yes or no?” Jay spat.

  So, she wasn’t the only one getting annoyed by this conversation, then. Good.

  Katie looked up to see Mason staring back at her, having remained in close proximity. Instantly, she regretted mentioning the photo out loud. “For how long?”

  “The next morning.”

  “You want him to stay with you overnight.”

  “That’s usually what that means, Katie. You’re stalling. Just let us spend some time together. I shouldn’t have to be asking for this.”

  Her jaw clenched together at his latter comment. She shouldn’t have to feel like she couldn’t trust him. “And I’ll pick him up at your place? Say, at nine o’clock. All right?”

  “Okay. It’s a deal. See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

  The cockiness was back in his tone again. “Call me tomorrow, and I’ll let you know where you can pick him up.” The logical part of her brain was telling her it was probably safer for her to take Mason to Jay, and not the other way around.

  “Tell Mason we’ll be together soon. See you around, Katie.”

  It took a second for her to realize he’d hung up. She pulled the phone away and stared at the blank screen, just as Mason put the palm of his hand over it, covering it so she would be forced to look up at him.

  “I can go with Dad, then?”

  Katie plastered a fake, wide smile on her face. “You sure can, buddy.” Her smile became more genuine when Mason wrapped his arms around her excitedly. At least one of them was happy about the situation. “But first,” she pulled her son away to meet his gaze, “We’re going to have a little Christmas celebration of our own.”

  “Yay!” Mason cheered, pumping his fist in the air, which in turn caused Elaine and Jillian to laugh.

  “Now, back to bed. It’s too late for you to be up.” Katie was still grinning at his excitement as she reached out to turn him gently in the direction of the bedroom. Mason cheered and danced enthusiastically the entire way to the bedroom, much to the amusement of his audience.

  “I’m going to need your help,” Katie whispered as low as possible once Mason was out of view. “Christmas. How the hell did I not realize it was Christmas?”

  Elaine gave her a sympathetic nod and opened her mouth to reply, but Katie’s cell phone rang again. The loudness irritated Katie immediately, compounded by her feeling of failure as a mother, and she cursed out loud.

  “Damn it!” She hastily pushed the button on the phone to answer the call, wondering what Jay would feel he was entitled to say to her this time. “Hello!”

  “Why do I get the feeling that frustration isn’t directed at me?”

  Katie let out a long breath and closed her eyes to settle herself. “Christ, Chad, I’m sorry. I thought you were—”

  “Jay. I can tell by your tone exactly who you thought I was. Is he bothering you?”

  “I just got off the phone with him. It’s all right. We can discuss it later.” Katie still hadn’t told him a lot when it came to the subject of Jay. She had yet to mention the true origins of the newspaper article and picture that had created such havoc. She also hadn’t mentioned the day Jay had shown up at the hospital, or the words that were exchanged between Chad’s father and him. It was possible that someone else may have told him about it, but it was unlikely. Chad hadn’t mentioned it—he hadn’t mentioned Jay at all—and she felt that, if Chad had even an inkling of the threats and irrational behavior Jay had been subjecting her to, he would have brought it up by now.

  “Good, because I have something else I’d like to discuss. And it doesn’t have a damn thing to do with Jay Khunes.”

  Something in the inflection of his voice stopped her heart from beating, and for the first time, she wondered if Hayden was still there. “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “Are you alone?”

  Katie’s eyes were firmly set on Elaine and Jillian, and both women were watching her just as warily. “Should I be?”

  “Please. Go into the bedroom and shut the door. And tell my mother that everything’s fine. I know she’s probably worried sick.”

  “One sec.” Katie hauled herself up from the couch, covering the mouthpiece of the phone with her hand. She whispered, “Chad says everything is fine, and not to worry.” Elaine visibly relaxed, which in turn made Katie’s mouth curl happily. “I’ll be right back.”

  Inside Chad’s bedroom, Katie put the phone back to her ear just as her breath caught in her throat at the sight of his bed. The familiarity of it, and of the moonlight that peeked through the blinds in white slits of light, unnerved her.

  “Are you okay?” Chad’s voice brought her back to the here and now.

  “I am, yeah.”

  “You’re in my bedroom?”

  She nodded dumbly before realizing he couldn’t see her. “Yes.”

  “Then I know exactly why your breath just hitched. Your mind is replaying the exact same scenes mine has been since I woke up in this hospital.”

  “So, your memory hasn’t been affected by the accident, then,” she said wryly.

  “Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. It seems that my memory does have a few gray areas, but not from the accident. Or so my dad tells me, anyway.”

  If she thought her heart had stopped beating earlier, then Katie was going to suffocate from the tension that rose up inside her, blocking her throat with a solid lump of dread. “Chad—”

  “You knew, and you never said anything.”

  Lost. That’s the only way she could describe what she coul
d hear in his voice. Her chest constricted, tight with guilt. “It wasn’t my place. I’m sorry.”

  There was silence on the other end of the line, and Katie let him have the time he needed. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the conversation that must have transpired between him and Hayden in the last hour and a half. Curiosity grew rampantly at the forefront of her mind, but she wouldn’t allow herself to ask. He would tell her when he was able.

  “I’m not sure where this leaves me, Katie.”

  Katie crossed the room to sit on the bed. She sank into the feather-down comforter and immediately stood back up, choosing to curl herself up on the wingback chair in the corner. Her mind was playing far too many games and vivid replays for her to sit on the bed and give Chad her full attention. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

  “My father told me everything. What I did. To him. To my family. I’ve spent the last twelve years hating him because of a guitar. A guitar I sold myself. Christ, Katie, I was mad about a guitar when the truth was that I could have killed my own father. What kind of monster does that make me?”

  “You are not a monster. You didn’t remember it, Chad.”

  “That doesn’t make it any less real.”

  Maybe we’re all monsters, she thought silently. Just monsters with a few redeeming qualities, looking for another monster that makes us feel human.

  “Your family chose not to tell you,” she said instead. “Blaming yourself for the past twelve years isn’t going to solve anything. It will also rip you apart. It’s finally time for everyone to move forward from this. Together.”

  “I still can’t believe that Dad wants to move on from this. He shouldn’t ever want to see me again.”

  “Your father has had twelve years to grieve over what happened, and to move on, Chad. It’s your turn now. That’s what he wants you to do.”

  “And what about you, Katie? You know the truth about me now, too.”

  She let out a frustrated sigh. “It doesn’t change a damn thing, Chad. We all have pasts. Besides, I have known the truth about you longer than you have, too. Your father and I have that in common; we’ve had time to process. You just need some time as well.”

  “You and my father have more than just that in common.”

  “Oh, really?” Katie’s eyebrow arched as she turned to peer through the partially opened blinds.

  “Yeah, you’re both stubborn as hell and hard on my heart.”

  Katie bit back laughter. “If that’s not the pot calling the kettle black, I don’t know what is.”

  A soft chuckle met her ears, and then faded slowly. “Are you looking at the moon, Katie?”

  “Christ, do you have this bedroom bugged or something?”

  Chad laughed again, harder this time. “No, but I’m guessing I’m right.”

  “I’m sitting in the chair by the window, looking through the blinds right now. Why would you ask me that?”

  “Because I can see it from where I am, too, and it’s beautiful. It made me think of you.”

  Katie closed her eyes, cherishing the feelings that only Chad could stir within her. “I can’t wait till you can come home.”

  “It’s going to be a while before that can happen, I’m afraid.”

  “That’s okay,” she breathed. “I can wait.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Katie had already been awake for more than two hours when Chad’s text came in.

  Being discharged from ICU by noon. Will you be here when I get transferred? I love you.

  She grinned over the rim of her coffee cup, already on her second cup of the day. She typed back a reply.

  Wouldn’t miss it for the world. I love you, too. You have plans tonight?

  His reply was immediate.

  Katie, we can’t be making plans to do that. I’m an injured man, you’re liable to do me in. Oh, to hell with it; what a way to go. Count me in.

  Katie almost spit her coffee out, choking amidst her laughter. Well, he was definitely in a better mood; that was a good thing.

  Not that! It’s Christmas Eve, silly.

  She sent the message, feeling a tad bit guilty at acting like she’d known for ages that today was Christmas Eve. It still irked her that she’d somehow forgotten. Whether she liked it or not, she was about to be one of those last-minute shoppers scurrying about to find something, anything, that would make Christmas special for her little family. And she was in a city she wasn’t overly familiar with, so that was bound to make it that much harder to accomplish.

  Of course, I’m teasing. Although, if you’d rather do it Christmas Day...again, I’m kidding. I meant to tell you, I have a gift for Little Man Mason. See you soon.

  Oh, great. So, even the man who’d been in a car accident and a coma remembered Christmas when she didn’t. The more she thought about it, however, the more she realized Elaine had probably played a hand in obtaining a gift. Elaine had also been the one with a delighted look in her eye as she shuffled about Chad’s apartment, humming Christmas carols and jotting down items on a list she wouldn’t let anyone else see.

  After speaking with Chad last night, Katie had made her way back out to the living room, only to find Hayden had returned. Tears were shed from all parties, but in the end, there was a chance for the Kirkwood family to start over as one whole, complete entity, and not the fractured pieces they’d been for the last twelve years. As Jillian so eloquently pointed out, things had once again come full circle. In the wake of a medical emergency that could have robbed them of someone they loved, something good came out of it. It was time to move on and heal, time to begin anew, and time to move forward.

  “So, Jay is taking Mase for the night tomorrow afternoon,” Katie blurted out when Jillian trudged sleepily from the living room into the kitchen. Space was limited in the apartment, and the couch was the only spot left once the two bedrooms were taken up by Hayden and Elaine, and Katie and Mason. That left Jillian with the couch. She hadn’t complained yet, but Katie knew she was beginning to get stiff and uncomfortable from not sleeping on a decent mattress. She made a mental note to trade Jillian spots tomorrow night while Mason was away. “I think we should try to pull off something special this evening.”

  Jillian crinkled her forehead, reaching into the cupboard to get a coffee mug. “There can be no talk of Christmas magic until caffeine has entered my veins.”

  Katie pressed her lips together, suppressing a grin. She held the coffee pot out to her, pouring it into the cup when Jillian held it out to her. Jillian didn’t hesitate to take the first sip, despite the steam billowing above the mug, and she shut her eyes, savoring it as though it were the most decadent thing she’d ever tasted.

  “Okay, crisis averted. Now, what did you have in mind?”

  Katie held her mug out to Jillian, clinking it against hers. “I want to surprise Chad.”

  “Wow, that’s not a vague answer at all.”

  “You’re kind of moody in the morning, aren’t you?” Katie joked.

  “Chad always was the one who handled mornings better.”

  Katie grinned. “Yeah, there were mornings when he worked at my farm that I wondered how in the world anyone could be so cheery when the sun wasn’t even completely up yet.” She felt a warmth in the pit of her stomach, and it wasn’t just the coffee. She held onto the memories of her time together with Chad at the farm as though they were something she would never get back, like it was a chapter she’d finished reading and she somehow knew the plot would head in a very different direction from then on.

  “It sounds so weird hearing that Chad worked for you, especially knowing he was so close to home. I’m not saying it to make you feel bad. I’m just saying it because I still don’t understand it all. When are you going to sit down and tell me everything?” Jillian’s eyebrows rose as she spoke. She may not have been a morning person, but she damn well knew how to play the heartstrings of those around her when she wanted to.

  “Soon.”

  “I’ll b
e calling your bluff on that, you know that, right?”

  One side of Katie’s mouth twitched. “I’ll tell you everything, Jillian. I will. Hell, telling someone else everything would probably help me understand how everything got so messed up, never mind helping you understand.” She gave a hollow chuckle, shrugging. “I just need to pull off a Christmas for Mason and Chad first, then we’ll sit down over a pot of coffee and I’ll spill my guts to you. How does that sound?”

  “Sordid, as usual,” Jillian smirked, but she nodded in agreement. “So, Christmas. How did you want to surprise Chad? And what are your ideas for Mason?”

  Katie gave Chad’s sister a curt nod, getting down to business. “I need to make a trip to a few stores on my own, without Mason, but I think I can salvage Christmas for him with a few cool toys and a trip to see Chad.” She smiled over her coffee cup, and Jillian gave her a lopsided grin. They both knew how much her brother meant to Mason, and vice versa. “As for Chad, I know exactly what I have in mind, but I need your help to pull it off.”

  Jillian’s eyes widened slightly. “All right. What kind of gift is this, exactly?”

  “I want to give Chad exactly what he wants for Christmas; he just might not know it yet.”

  ***

  Katie rounded the corner into Chad’s room, with Mason practically on her heels. He grasped a balloon tightly in his little hand. It boasted a colorful message of Congratulations! in red and blue. Katie hadn’t been sure the message was overly appropriate, but Mason had insisted on getting it when he eyed it in the lobby gift shop. If an innocently misguided attempt at cheering Chad up was going to come from anyone and be well received, it would be Mason, so Katie ultimately caved.

  Chad had been transferred into a wheelchair, presumably by the nursing staff. It was the first time in weeks that she’d seen him somewhere other than a hospital bed, and the sight made her breath catch in her throat. Instead of the hospital gown she’d become so used to him donning, he’d graduated to hospital pajamas, loose drawstring pants. His T-shirt looked all too familiar, seeing as it was his own. It was also the one Katie had worn during their first night together. Elaine must have gathered some of his things for him, and she had a feeling he’d requested that shirt specifically.