Coming Home (6 page)

She’d been so focused on getting to her sister that they hadn’t talked about what’d happened between them. And when he’d delivered her to the hospital, there hadn’t been a chance to say a proper good-bye. Thus, everything between them had felt unfinished ever since.
 

While it might be selfish, coming here to see him was the right thing to do, she told herself as she let Levi help her down the stairs and into the heat. The sun was so bright Kate was temporarily blinded as her eyes adjusted.
 

“Any idea how long you plan to stay?” Levi asked as he rolled her suitcase into the terminal.

“I’m not quite sure yet. If you need to get back, I can call you when I’m ready to go home.”

“I think I can find a way to entertain myself here for a couple of days,” Levi said with a wide smile as he led the way to the taxi queue. “You’ve got my cell number for when you’re ready to leave?”

“Yes, I’ll call you as soon as I know what my plans are.”

“Take your time, Ms. Kate. I’ve got nowhere to be.”

“Thank you very much, Levi,” Kate said as she handed the first driver in the line of taxis the slip of paper on which Buddy had written Reid’s address.

“That’s over in Half Moon Bay on the Atlantic side of the island,” the driver said in a lyrical voice that was part British, part Caribbean, part reggae.
 

“Half Moon Bay,” Kate said, instantly curious about the place Reid called home. She shook hands with Levi. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Have a good time.”

“You, too.”

“I’ll try,” he said gravely, which made her laugh as the driver helped her into the cab.

During the ride, Kate watched the scenery go by—lush greens, the bright blue of the ever-present water, run-down shacks and million-dollar homes. It passed in a blur of color and activity and contrast. The driver kept up a steady stream of chatter, giving Kate a windshield tour as they drove. She tried to pay attention to what he was saying, but it was hard to hear him over the roar of her heart beating so hard and so fast she worried she might pass out or hyperventilate. In a few minutes, she would see Reid. Or at least she hoped so.
 

What if he wasn’t here? What if he was away on vacation or somewhere else?
 
Maybe he was in Nashville. How funny would that be? She’d come all this way, and he probably wasn’t even here. Why hadn’t she let Buddy tell him she was coming? That way she’d at least know he was definitely here—or not.
 

By the time the driver brought the car to a stop outside a home along a strip of sand dotted with beachfront cottages, Kate was on the verge of a full-scale meltdown.

“Miss?” The driver had gotten out of the car and was holding Kate’s door open for her. “Are you all right?”

“Yes.” Kate shook off the panic and forced her legs to carry her out of the car. “Would you mind waiting? I’ll pay extra.”

“Of course,” he said, eyeing her curiously.
 

“I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

“I’ll wait right here for you. Take your time.”

“Thank you so much.”

“You’re sure you’re all right? Your face is terribly pale.”

Kate’s hands covered her cheeks. “Is it?”

The driver nodded.
 

“I’m nervous about seeing the man who lives here.”

“Ahh, I see.” A smile lit his face. “I like to tell my daughters that any boy they date is lucky to be with them, and they should remember that.” He glanced at the house. “Whoever he is, he’s lucky to have a pretty lady like you nervous about seeing him.”

“That’s very kind of you to say,” Kate said, returning his friendly smile, “and exactly what I needed to hear right now.”

“My pleasure. Good luck to you.”

“Thank you.”

He closed the door behind her and went around to get back into the driver’s seat.
 

Kate studied the house, which was made of dark wood. It had a thatched roof and a comfortable front porch. Wind chimes hung from the porch roof, tinkling gently in the light afternoon breeze. The only other sound was the waves crashing on the beach and the squawk of seagulls.
 

An aura of peace and serenity surrounded the home, which gave her the courage to step through the gate in the picket fence that surrounded the tiny front yard.

The gate slapped shut behind her, making her jump from the unexpected noise.
 

As she took the three stairs that led to the porch, her legs felt watery and unsteady, the way they had after her bout with pneumonia. She stood there for a long time, marshaling the fortitude to see this through to whatever finish fate had in mind for them.
 

Kate felt like she was outside herself, watching someone else raise her arm and knock on the open screen door. The inside door was open, so someone was here… She could hear each beat of her heart echoing in her ears as she waited a long moment before footsteps sounded through the house.

An attractive, dark-haired woman wearing a colorful cotton dress came to the door. Her long hair was piled in a messy bun on the top of her head. She had dark eyes and a wide, welcoming smile. “Hi there. May I help you?”

The appearance of a woman threw her off-stride. Kate realized in that moment that she hadn’t actually believed he’d have someone else, although she knew she should have. He was a gorgeous, successful, thoughtful man. Why wouldn’t he have someone else after all this time? “I…” She’d come too far now to leave without at least seeing him, so she cleared her throat and forced the words to come. “I’m looking for Reid Matthews. Does he live here?”

“He sure does. He’s down on the beach working on his boat.” She pushed open the screen door. “Come in. You can get to the stairs from the deck out back.”

“Thank you.” Kate followed her through a cozy living space that was colorful and comfortable. She wanted to stop and take a look around, but she followed the woman to the deck that overlooked the Atlantic. “What a great place.”

“We love it.”

The three small words conveyed a world of meaning. They were a couple. They lived here together. She slept with him and made love with him and ate dinner with him.
 

“I can see why.”

She pointed to a distant figure on the beach. “Reid is down there, working on his beloved boat.”

He had a beloved boat. Kate wanted to know all about it, but she didn’t ask. She had no right to ask anything of the woman he shared his life with. Were they married? Kate shook off that thought as fast as she had it. “Thank you.”

Feeling somewhat deflated as she took the long set of stairs to the beach, she felt the eyes of the other woman on her back. Kate wanted to apologize for showing up uninvited into their piece of paradise. She wanted to assure the woman that she was no threat to her, but she didn’t do any of those things. Rather, she stayed focused on the dot on the beach, the man she’d thought about every day for ten long years.
 

At the bottom of the stairs, she kicked off her sandals and walked barefoot through the warm sand, making her way to him as if in a dream.
If it is a dream
, she thought,
please don’t let me wake up until I’ve actually spoken to him
.

He was sanding the bottom of an old skiff and was so focused on his work he didn’t see her coming.
 

She approached him tentatively, not wanting to startle him. When she was six feet from him, she stopped and feasted her eyes. He wore only a pair of khaki cargo shorts. His skin was very tan, his body still lean and fit. Silver streaks ran through his dark hair, and perspiration made his back glisten in the bright sunshine.

Kate watched him for a full minute before she cleared her throat. “Reid.”

He froze and then straightened, turning slowly to face her. The shock registered in his expression and the rigid way in which he held himself. “Kate?” he said in a hoarse whisper. “What’re you doing here?”

The sound of his voice transported her right back to the first time she’d ever heard him speak, in the drawing room of the vast house he’d once called home, the day her dad had brought her to meet his old friend from Berkeley.
 

Say something! Don’t just stand here and stare!
“I, um… I needed to see you.”

He glanced up at the house before returning his focus to her. “Why?”

“I…”

“You’ve been ill.”

“You heard about my flake-out on stage, I take it.”

“It made the papers—even down here.”

“I had pneumonia and went back to work too soon. The media said it was drugs, but that’s not true.”

His smile was just as she remembered—slow, sexy, sweet, and she absolutely melted. “We’re not so far from civilization down here that the rumors don’t reach us.”

Kate shrugged. “I don’t give them much to work with, so they make up most of it. I hope you didn’t think—”

“I knew you weren’t on drugs, Kate.”

“Oh, good,” she said, surprised by how important it was that he not think poorly of her, despite having given him plenty of reason to think poorly of her.

“Why did you need to see me? Has something happened?”

All the words she’d rehearsed in her mind for weeks and months were gone now that she stood before him, needing to explain why she’d suddenly reappeared in his life so many years after she’d ended their relationship.
 

“Kate?”

Hearing her name in that honeyed Southern accent sent shivers down her spine the same way it had when they were together. He’d liked to call her
Katherine
when they made love. That memory sent a flood of heat rushing through her veins.

“I wanted to apologize to you.”

He crossed his arms and leaned back against the boat. “For what?”

“For the way I ended things between us. It’s bothered me for a long time, and I wanted you to know that.”

“Oh. Well…”

“What you did, telling Buddy about me—”

“It was wrong of me to do that after you specifically asked me not to.”

Kate shook her head. “Everything I have, everything I’ve accomplished, goes back to you telling Buddy about me.”

“That’s not true. You are amazingly talented, and everything you have goes back to that.”

“That’s part of it, but I don’t think I ever would’ve had this career without Buddy’s involvement—or yours.”

“I disrespected your wishes. You had every right to react the way you did.”

“I disrespected
us
by acting the way I did. I’ve regretted it for a very long time, and I wanted you to know that.”

“Kate…” As if he needed something to do with his hands, he ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. I understand that too much time has gone by and we’ve both moved on, but it was important to me that you know…”

“That I know what?”

Kate swallowed hard and forced herself to meet his gaze. Those brown eyes… They still got to her the way they always had. No one else had ever looked at her in that particular way and
seen
her the way he did. “I’ve never forgotten you. I’ve never forgotten. Any of it.”

He let out a tortured groan. “God, Kate, what am I supposed to say to that? Am I supposed to tell you that I’ve never forgotten either? Because I haven’t. How could I? But I’ve got a new life here—a good life that satisfies me. I have a wonderful relationship that works for me.”

Her heart was heavy when she said, “I understand.”

“No, you don’t.” His tone was so sharp that she gasped. “It took me a long time to get here after you. A very long time.”

She held up her hands to stop him from saying more. “I’m not asking for anything. All I wanted was the chance to tell you I regret how I behaved. I regret letting you think for all this time that I wasn’t grateful for what you did for me, because I was. I
am
. I’m grateful. That’s all I wanted to say.”

His demeanor softened all at once, and he more resembled the Reid she remembered so well. “Are you happy, Kate? Does the big career fulfill you the way you thought it would?”

“I’m content. I still enjoy performing, meeting the fans, that kind of stuff. There’s a lot of it I could do without, especially the media speculation about my rampant drug abuse.”

“I’m sure that gets old after a while.”

“What about you? Are you happy here in paradise?”

“I’m content,” he said, using her word.
 

She was painfully aware that there was a lot of empty space between content and happy, but Kate chose not to point that out to him, because he probably already knew. “I’m sorry to just show up this way, but I wanted to tell you, in person. I wanted…”

He pushed off the boat and took a step toward her, and her heart began to gallop the way it did when Thunder flew her over the open fields behind her house. “What did you want, Kate?”

She forced herself to smile. “It doesn’t matter now.”

“Yes, it does.”