Until Next Time (The Shooting Stars Series)

by Michelle Maness

  “It made a mess but I was more concerned about them not finding you. Had I called the police they would have asked questions and I couldn’t risk it. It was only a small bump on the head and I couldn’t see that it was worth risking your recovery,” she brushed aside his concern.

  “What? Only a small…Kaitlyn are you telling me…” Adam took the off ramp for a rest area at the last moment, bearing down on the brakes before he parked and turned to her.

  “What happened?” he demanded.

  Katherine winced, clearly he hadn’t known everything. “I came home and found my door partially open and thought I hadn’t pulled it all the way to when I left that morning. When I got inside there was a mess. I was looking that mess over when someone hit me over the head. It wasn’t that bad,” she played it down.

  “Kaitlyn…” his eyes were furious.

  Katherine watched him jump from the vehicle and stalk off across the grass. She took a deep breath, blew it out slowly and turned the ignition off before taking the key out. She stepped from the car, locked it, and moved to where he now stood his expression stormy.

  “I’m okay, Adam. Had I not been I would have gotten medical attention but I was okay,” she said softly; his eyes were tortured when they met hers.

  He took her by the elbows and tugged her onto her toes before he spoke. “Do you know what it would have done to me if you had been seriously hurt as a result of trying to help me? Do you?” he demanded.

  Katherine stared up at him wide eyed. “I’m okay,” she finally reiterated; he tugged her close and wrapped his arms around her. Katherine hugged him back as her eyes slid closed, being in his arms felt all too familiar.

  “I’m sorry, Kaitlyn, I never dreamed for a moment that I was putting you at risk. I know how money hungry Damien is and that he is an asshole. I didn’t realize how big of one.”

  “Adam, I don’t regret helping you and I would do it all again. Will continue to do so,” she insisted as she stepped away from him.

  “We need to get back on the road,” he noted.

  “I’m sorry I upset you and dropped that on you like that. I thought you already knew,” she offered as she handed him the keys and walked with him.

  “Only about the break in,” his voice was heavy.

  “I’m okay, Adam, so let it go.”

  Adam was subdued for much of the rest of the trip; Katherine was wishing she hadn’t mentioned the bump she took to her head at all.

  ***

  Katherine tugged at her shirt to fan herself against the heat. The weather was sweltering and she was soaked in sweat. She’d hit rush hour traffic coming home and her air conditioner didn’t seem to work as well when she was sitting still. She unlocked her door and stood in the doorway letting the cool air wash over her. She let out a sigh of relief, dropped her purse and keys onto the side table by the door and stripped as she headed across the room. After a quick, cool shower, she dressed in shorts and a t-shirt and felt one hundred percent better. She was headed for her kitchen for a glass of ice water when a knock sounded on her door.

  “Hey, Derrick,” she smiled and kissed him in greeting. “How was Boston?”

  “A lot cooler,” he noted.

  “I imagine,” she smiled and continued into her kitchen. “Ice water?”

  “That would be nice, thanks.”

  “Sure,” Katherine prepared them both a glass of water; then led the way to the living room.

  “How was your week?” Derrick asked her.

  “Busy but otherwise fine. How did your trip go?”

  “I landed my client so I can’t complain,” Derrick looked pleased.

  Katherine laughed when another knock sounded on her door. “I wasn’t expecting one visitor and looks like I am about to have two,” she noted.

  She opened the door to find Adam holding a large box.

  “Hi, what have you got there?” she demanded.

  “A belated birthday present,” Adam was grinning.

  “I like presents, come on in,” she smiled back and led the way into the living room.

  “Hey, Derrick,” Adam nodded.

  “Adam,” Derrick nodded back.

  There was an odd rustling from inside the box and Katherine gave Adam a questioning gaze.

  “Open it,” Adam instructed.

  Katherine opened the box and pulled out a pet carrier that was surrounded by pet supplies. She sat the carrier in the floor, opened the door, and waited for her new pet to come out. First a dark brown mouth appeared, followed by a creamy white head topped with two brown ears. The small Siamese kitten slowly stepped from the carrier and into the room.

  “Oh Adam, she’s beautiful! Or is it a he?” her green eyes were shining when she looked up at him.

  “She’s a girl,” he smiled.

  Katherine scooped the kitten up and hugged her. “I already know what I want to name her,” she smiled up at him.

  “Look at her tags.”

  “Why?”

  “Just look,” he insisted.

  Katherine turned the tags over and read them. Cleopatra, they read. She laughed and jumped up to hug Adam.

  “She’s spayed and litter-pan trained. All of her shots are up to date, too. She’s older than she looks, she was the runt of the litter and no one wanted her.”

  “I can’t believe you remembered,” she plopped back down in the floor and scratched Cleopatra behind the ears. “Poor baby, why wouldn’t someone want you, huh?”

  Adam smiled and Derrick frowned.

  “Remembered what?” Derrick asked.

  “I once told him I wanted a Siamese cat named Cleopatra,” her cheeks heated as she recalled exactly when and where she had said this.

  Derrick was looking at the kitten as though it were an alien.

  “How nice,” Derrick was wondering at the color in her cheeks.

  “She’s so pretty; I can’t wait to tell Mom. You like cats, don’t you Derrick?” she put him on the spot.

  Her eyes were so hopeful that he couldn’t tell her no. “They’re okay.”

  “Why don’t we all go eat?” she suggested. “Just let me set Cleo up in the utility room,” she toted Cleo’s things that direction. Both men watched her leave.

  “You don’t care for cats do you?” Adam asked Derrick after she was out of earshot.

  “Not particularly,” he admitted.

  “I guess I should have asked you since you two are getting married in less than a year, but it didn’t occur to me.”

  “Let me get my shoes,” Katherine crossed the living room to her bedroom where she got her shoes and returned, doing a balancing act, to pull them on.

  “Kaitlyn, you’re going to break your neck.”

  “Nah, I do it all the time,” she argued.

  “Tell me something, Adam?” Derrick spoke up.

  “Sure.”

  “Why do you call her Kaitlyn?”

  Adam smiled. “Everyone called her Kattie and she invited me to do the same but it didn’t take me long to realize there was more to her than her friendly smile and bright personality. To me Kattie just didn’t suit her. She didn’t like Katherine and then there was my Grandma Kaitlyn in Boston who she put me in mind of with her eyes and kindness and…” Adam shrugged.

  “You don’t like Katherine?” Derrick frowned at her.

  “I do now but it was big name to live with when I was a girl and teen,” she explained. “It felt so stiff and formal and I was young and carefree. Now I am grown and have a career and it is much more suited to me,”

  “Yes, it is,” Derrick nodded, “which is why I am trying to get all of her friends and family to use her given name.”

  “You’ll likely never hear my mom and dad call me anything but Kattie,” Katherine laughed. “Come on, let’s go eat,” Katherine suggested.

  Adam volunteered to drive and they all climbed into his Durango, Katherine in the front and Derrick, looking irritable, in the back.

  “Mom said she had arranged for a
meeting with the caterer this Saturday; you’ll need to clear your schedule,” Derrick noted.

  “I’ll check it,” Katherine promised. “My mom is supposed to come up to see some of the dresses I’ve been looking at soon.”

  “Yes, she needs to; you need to get that ordered. The earlier we get orders in, the better. I am working on our honey moon plans now.”

  “Where are you guys going? I’ve seen some beautiful places you’d enjoy if you’d like suggestions. I imagine Rome would be a good fit,” Adam offered.

  “I’ve been to Rome and all over,” Derrick returned. “Perhaps at a later time I will introduce Katherine to some of my favorite spots. For now neither of us can afford to be away from work long. We’re going to Gatlinburg.”

  Silence filled the car. Katherine glanced over from where she had been staring out the window to find the muscle in Adam’s jaw jumping and his knuckles white on the wheel.

  “Why make a big deal of a honeymoon, right?” Adam’s voice was as tight as his knuckles.

  “You know what we should all do?” Katherine grabbed at the first thought that formed and jumped in before an argument could erupt. “We should all go do the Incline Railway in Chattanooga and maybe take in Rock City. I am sure Adam has never done it, I haven’t in years…when was the last time you went, Derrick?”

  Derrick stared at her a moment before he answered. “I outgrew kitschy tourist traps years ago.”

  “Well I think it’s fun. Ruby Falls too,” Katherine insisted.

  “So we’ll go and let him go to an opera or something,” Adam offered her.

  Katherine wanted to slap him…or laugh; she couldn’t decide which one so she did neither.

  “I imagine she will be too busy to be taking off anywhere for some time to come,” Derrick informed Adam. “She should have been here planning last weekend.”

  “So now she isn’t even allowed to visit her family?”

  “Her family could visit her,” Derrick countered.

  “That would be real easy for Gracie given her health,” Adam noted.

  “Mom will be coming up soon but someone has to be with Grammie and she can’t come so if I wanted to see them all, I had to go to them,” Katherine explained. “I will get the wedding planned; I know how to juggle things.”

  “If you would let me hire a wedding planner you wouldn’t have to co-ordinate every detail yourself.”

  “I want to, Derrick, I already….” Katherine bit her lip. She had been about to say that she already had to fight his mom to get her way without adding a wedding planner to gang up on her with his mom.

  “You already what?”

  “I already have a lot of ideas,” she assured him.

  Sixteen

  Katherine studied her straightened hair and tried to decide what she thought about it. She had sat in a chair with her insides quaking that morning with Annelise standing over her and giving instructions to the stylist. Annelise wanted to not only straighten her hair but lighten it to something closer to a strawberry blonde than the deep red it was now.

  “It would look so nice with your green eyes,” she had assured her.

  Katherine had panicked and bolted from the chair. She’d instead invested in a flat iron and promised Annelise she would experiment with it and see how she liked it straight while she considered having it altered at the salon. She knew one thing, straightening it took forever.

  Satisfied that she had done the best she could with it, she stepped from the bathroom and prepared to entertain her coming guests. She had invited a few friends from church and a couple of neighbors and was looking forward to some girl time. She smiled when she heard a knock on the door and went to pull it open.

  “Hey, Kristen, need help?” she offered.

  “No, I ran into help,” she replied as Adam, laden with food, appeared.

  Adam had met several of her church friends the previous week and her neighbors a few days earlier. Katherine had been amused at their stunned expressions when they recognized him. More than one or two of them was star struck.

  “Hey, Kaitlyn, I was heading home when I spotted this kind lady in a lurch.” Adam was grinning.

  “Well aren’t you nice?”

  “Having a party?”

  “No, a girl’s night.”

  “Oh, in that case I won’t barge in,” he winked at her.

  “Ellie wouldn’t mind,” Kristen told them.

  “What? Does Ellie like him?”

  “Oh yeah,” Kristen’s eyes were bright.

  “Why?” Adam frowned.

  “Why? What kind of question is that?” Katherine asked him. “You’re cute and nice...”

  “You think I’m cute?” he asked and watched her blush.

  “Ellie has a thing for bad boys and you’re a bad boy, one’s whose cleaned his act up but a bad boy. That appeals to her,” Kristen told him with a questioning glance between them.

  “Now, see, why is that?” he asked. “Why do girls like bad boys better than nice ones?”

  “It’s the element of the forbidden. I remember thinking it was thrilling to flirt with bad boys at school. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized those were the ones who would break your heart.”

  “Now that, I agree with,” Katherine mumbled.

  Kristen excused herself to the bathroom and Katherine found Adam frowning at her.

  “What did you do to your curls?” Adam demanded.

  “Derrick and his mom think it looks more professional to have straight hair. She wanted me to lighten it but…” Katherine fingered her hair.

  Adam frowned, his jaw tightening.

  “He obviously doesn’t know how nice it is to tangle his hands in those curls,” he informed her.

  Katherine felt her heart leap at the statement as memories edged in.

  “Adam…”

  “Sorry, Kaitlyn; I shouldn’t have said that,” he sighed.

  “No, you shouldn’t have,” she agreed.

  “Hey did you know your door’s standing open?” Kayla, a friend from church joined them.

  “Cleo!” Katherine jumped up and rushed for the door. She met Jana, her neighbor, coming through the door with Cleopatra.

  “Here’s your cat,” she handed her over.

  “It’s the bad boys who will get you into trouble,” Kristen was saying when Katherine walked back into the room. “I was dating what I thought was a nice bad boy and almost let him talk me into sleeping with him. He was through with me after I turned him down.”

  “Really? Who and when?” Kayla asked; she had known Kristen for years.

  “Josh Fiddler,” Kristen admitted.

  “I remember him! He tried to kiss me once but I slapped him. I should have slapped Jason Styles, he was my first.”

  “Josh always got around,” Kristen shook her head. “As I recall, Jason did as well.

  “Nathan Simpson was my first kiss. He wasn’t real cute but he was nice,” Leslie shared. She had just moved into the complex a few days earlier. “And as for other first, I am waiting.”

  “I wish I had,” Kayla admitted.

  Adam was watching them with great interest.

  “Do you have a first, Janna or are you waiting?”

  “Dustin, I forget his last name, but he was cute and nothing but trouble. I must admit, he knew what he was doing,” Jana laughed.

  “See, there’s that bad boy thing again,” Adam pointed out.

  “What about you, Katherine?” Kristen asked.

  Katherine started shaking her head.

  “Okay, let’s start with an easy one. Who was your first kiss?”

  “Yeah, Kaitlyn, I’ve wondered about that myself.”

  “I am not telling!”

  “If I had to make a guess, I would say it was Nathan,” Adam ventured.

  “I never let Nathan do more than kiss me lightly on the lips but if that counts then I guess he was my first kiss,” she shared. She watched surprise fill Adam’s face.

  “Doe
sn’t count,” Kristen insisted.

  “What are ya’ll talking about?” Ellie joined them. “We knocked and knocked and no one answered,” she explained as Jacinda followed her into the room; they were roommates two units over.

  “First kisses and first times; we’re trying to get Katherine to spill hers.”

  “Oh boy, we walked into a hornet’s nest,” Ellie laughed. “My first kiss was a boy named Steve and my first was a totally hot heart breaker named Chad. I should have run like crazy,” she sighed.

  “Well I kissed a boy, his name was Thad, but I’m waiting until I get a wedding band for the other,” Jacinda insisted.

  “Good for you,” Leslie gave Jacinda a nod.

  “Does Katherine know about…” Ellie looked between Kristen and Katherine.

  “Know about what?” Katherine asked.

  “Okay, I’ll come clean. Derrick and I slept together when we were engaged. We spent months dating, kissing some but never more. He made a move that way and….I gave in. He was my first but then he acted like…like he was disappointed in me, forget that he wasn’t a virgin before we slept together and I was. Gary knows all of this. Please, don’t hate me, Katherine? I really like you and want to be your friend.” Kristen’s eyes were pleading.

  Katherine stood in shock for a moment before she shook it off.

  “Kristen, I don’t hate you. It was before I was in the picture and as far as I’m concerned it has nothing to do with me,” she assured her friend.

  “Thank you,” Kristen wrapped her arms around Katherine. “I completely regret it and it wasn’t even a pleasant experience. Sorry, I know you love him…I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “It’s okay,” Katherine assured her.

  “Okay, Katherine, spill,” Kayla shifted the attention back to Katherine.

  “I think enough soul bearing has gone on for one night,” she offered.

  “No! We spilled; now you spill!” Jana insisted.

  “Adam was my first kiss,” she shrugged.

  “What?” Kristen’s eyes were huge. “I thought you two were just friends?”

  “We dated in high school and again in college,” she shared.

  Adam still stood, arms crossed, as he leaned against the wall watching them all avidly.