Ready To Love Again (17 page)

“Let’s go, love birds! I ain’t got all day!” Daniel huffed and started cleaning off the grill.

Chase sighed and released her. “I have to go in to work for a little bit tonight, but I’d like to see you tomorrow. Are you free for breakfast?”

“Yeah, I’m free.”

“Great. How about you bring Shawn over around nine?”

Katie smiled. “Sure. Are you cooking?”

He looked at her as if she had grown two heads, and she couldn’t help but laugh at his expression. “Not unless you want to end up in the hospital.”

After everything had been cleaned up, they called to the kids, and Chase walked her to her car. He leaned on the doorframe while he looked down at her. “Until tomorrow.” He gave her a peck on the cheek before closing the door.

When she pulled out of the parking lot, Shawn decided to voice his opinion. “So are you going to make me and Tony brothers now?”

She smiled at his childlike determination. “That’s a little fast there, kiddo.”

“I know, but I want a brother. I guess I’ll put up with a sister if I can have a brother.”

Katie couldn’t contain the laughter that bubbled up inside her.

If only it were that easy.

Chapter 9

Chase’s phone blared near his ear, waking him from a sound sleep. He groaned and reached toward the bedside table, groping for the offending object. He pried open one eye and growled when he saw that the clock read 6:32.

He snagged the phone and answered. “This is Dr. O’Donnell.”

Gina’s perky voice was broadcast through the phone. “I need to talk to you before Katie comes over.”
 

“And you couldn’t wait until a decent hour to do that? Come on, Gina.” He rolled onto his back with a huff. “I didn’t get home from work until almost three.”

“I’m sorry. I should’ve waited longer before calling. It’s just—”

“No, Gina. I’m sorry, I’m just tired. What did you need to talk about?” Chase interrupted before she could berate herself further.

“Liz.”

“What about her?” He pulled himself up to keep from going back to sleep.

“Did Katie mention what happened yesterday with her?”

His concern increased. “No, what happened?”

“She must not have wanted to cause any more problems with Liz—”

“Gina, what happened?” He cut her off again, annoyance building from the way she stalled.

“Don’t be mad at Katie for not telling you. Liz wasn’t very nice to her, and Katie most likely didn’t want you to get mad at her.”

“Gina.”

“She snapped at Katie yesterday.”

“Go on.”
 

“Katie asked her how she was enjoying the carnival, and Liz said she wasn’t, so Katie made suggestions to cheer her up. Liz accused her of trying to replace Terri.”
 

Chase groaned and ran his hand over his face to calm the dread that fell over him. “How did Katie take it?”

“She was stunned, but she handled it fine. The hot dogs didn’t make it, though.”

“Well that explains the dogs. Thanks for letting me know.” He was still somewhat dazed by this turn of events. “Did you say anything to Liz?”

“No, she kind of dropped her nasty bomb and took off. Honestly, I was more worried about how Katie would handle her outburst than I was about Liz. If you’re going to see Katie, Liz is going to have to come to terms with it on her own, so you need to be very delicate in the way you handle this. If you confront her, she’s going to take a defensive stance and won’t hear a word you say, but you can’t ignore it either.”

“I don’t know,” he said with a long sigh. “If I talk to Liz about what she did, she’ll want to know what’s going on with Katie, and I just don’t know what to say to her yet. I like Katie, but this is all new.” Chase ran his fingers through his hair and let his head knock back against the headboard. “An eleven-year-old can’t comprehend the complications of beginning a new relationship, and I want to keep the kids out of this until I know what’s going on myself.”

“So you’re not going to say anything to Liz?”

“No . . . yes. Damn.” He loathed the dilemma he faced. “What do I do? Just let her say whatever hateful thing pops into her head? I won’t let her treat
anyone
like that, especially not Katie. Then again, if I say something, it will bring up all kinds of questions I’m not ready to answer.”

“If you confront Liz with how she treated Katie, it could make her angrier and she might not ever warm up to Katie. I think she’ll come around, but it’s going to take some time. It might get worse before it gets better.”

The last thing he wanted was for Liz to resent Katie. He groaned aloud, wanting to bury his head under the pillow and pretend their phone call hadn’t happened.

“Are you okay? What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet. Thanks for giving me a head’s up, but I have to go. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“I’m sorry, Chase.”

He punched his finger on the phone to hang up and then sank further into the pillows. Thinking back to his time with Katie and the kiss at the carnival, he ran through the feelings she’d evoked in him. Chase realized he didn’t want to give her up. He wanted to see where things led, but he felt selfish for thinking of his own needs before his daughter’s. Liz’s animosity toward Katie was irrational. Maybe he just needed to find a way to make her see Katie was a good person and there was room for her and Shawn in their lives.

He lay there for an hour, going over every scenario in his mind. The best course of action was to not push Liz to submit to his demands. Chase had seen firsthand her stubborn side, and in every instance, if he forced her to do something she didn’t want to do, she fought back. He couldn’t make her like Katie, but he could give her opportunities to get to know her better. Once she did, maybe she’d see what he saw.

His phone rang again, and he answered without paying attention to the caller ID. “This is Dr. O’Donnell.”

“It always sounds weird when you say that because I’ve been Dr. O’Donnell for thirty-two years.”

Chase chuckled. “Hey, Dad. How’s Italy?”

“I’m ready to come home. I can only handle your mother’s family for short periods of time.”

“Yeah, I don’t envy you.”

“I’m thinking about buying a vineyard in Napa. After touring the countryside in Tuscany and Umbria, I think it would be fun to own a little chateau where I can make my own wine.”
 

“What do you know about wine?”

“What did I know about rheumatic heart disease until I was the lead surgeon performing a valve reconstruction on that Haitian girl? You learn what you need to learn, and you make it happen.”

“Did you call to talk about buying a vineyard?”

“Heavens no. Your mother has been ranting for the last week that you haven’t called her back. I figured I’d save you her wrath and call you myself. So give me something good I can tell her to make her happy until we come home.”

“I’ve started dating.”

“Oh, good God, boy. You’re lucky I called and not your mother. She’ll be thrilled to hear this, but if she had called, you wouldn’t have been let off the phone for hours.” Connor O’Donnell chuckled. “So anyone in particular?”

“Yeah, the mom of one of the kids I coach. I’ve taken her out a couple times.”

“Is she pretty?”

“Dad,” Chase said with a warning in his tone. “You’re as bad as Gina.”

“All right, all right. I’ll leave it at that, but your mother is going to want to meet her as soon as we set foot on American soil.”

“We’ll see. I don’t want to scare her off too soon.”

Chase was so deep in conversation with his father that he didn’t hear Tony come into his room until he’d climbed up on the bed.

“Hey, slugger, want to talk to grandpa?”

Tony grabbed the phone from his dad and launched into a report about the baseball season and his new friend. Liz came in and, once she realized who was on the phone, bounced with excitement to talk to him, too. After they hung up, Chase pulled back the covers for them to climb into bed with him. Tony rubbed the sleep from his eyes and curled up next to Chase, while Liz excused herself to the bathroom.
 

“It’s ‘toon time,” Tony said, pointing to the remote control on the nightstand.
 

Chase chuckled before he reached for it. “We only have an hour before Katie and Shawn come over.”

Tony looked up at his dad. “What’re we doing?”

“Well, I thought we’d get some breakfast and then go down to the beach.”

“Are you going to teach me how to surf now? I bet Shawn will want to learn. Do you think his mom’ll wanna learn, too?”

Chase chuckled at his enthusiasm. “No, we aren’t going to surf today, and Shawn’s mom doesn’t strike me as the surfing type.”

Tony frowned once Chase squashed his plans to get back in the waves. With Chase’s work schedule, they hadn’t gone out once since Tony had gotten his board for Christmas, and to be honest, Chase missed it.

“Don’t worry. We’ll go soon.”

That seemed to placate Tony for the moment, and he turned his attention to the television.

“Are you okay with me taking Shawn’s mom out on dates?”

“Uh . . . yes!” A large smile spread across Tony’s face. “I like her a lot. She’s really nice, and if you marry her, then Shawn could share my room.”

Chase wondered if Tony would be as eager to marry his dad off if Katie hadn’t had a son who was his best friend. A few minutes later, Liz shuffled in and climbed in on the other side of Chase.

She leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek. “I miss Nona and Papa.”
 

“I know, sweetheart. They’ll be here this summer for Gina’s wedding.” Liz snuggled into the pillows and turned to watch the silliness Tony had selected.

“We need to get ready to go to breakfast.” Chase tickled Tony, earning a loud laugh before his son jumped out of bed and ran from the room in a flash.

“Where are we going?” Liz asked while she helped Chase make the bed.

He knew the best way to let her know they were going to have breakfast with Katie and Shawn was to do it quick, kind of like ripping off a Band-Aid.

“Katie and Shawn will be here pretty soon, and I thought we could all go to Katarina’s Place for breakfast.” Chase was on guard while he looked for the signs of rage that always bubbled under the surface.

Liz stopped and looked at him with sad eyes before she went back to fluffing the pillow. He was ready for her argument, but it never came. Instead, she acted as if he hadn’t said a word.

“Liz? Are you okay with going out to breakfast with Katie and Shawn?”

She looked down at the floor for a moment before she spoke. “Yeah, Daddy. I’m okay with it.”

He could tell there was something going on in her brain, but she wouldn’t let him in on the secret. As long as she could be civil, that was all that mattered. Chase walked around the bed and sat on the edge, taking her in his arms.

“Katie’s a good friend, sweetheart.” He smoothed her hair down her back and felt her nod against his chest. Not wanting to push her any further, he left it at that.

He sent Liz to get dressed and hopped in the shower. The warm water relaxed him while he let his thoughts drift to the beautiful brunette who occupied his mind. He could recall, with absolute clarity, how her soft body felt when it pressed into his. Even though their first kiss had not been a private moment, thanks to Daniel, it was still memorable in that she had been his for those few seconds. She had given herself over to him with no reservations, and that little bit of knowledge made him smile. It felt strange to think of anyone other than his wife as “his,” but he knew he wanted that again. Shutting the water off, Chase wrapped a towel around his waist and made his way back into his room.

“They’re here! They’re here!” Tony ran in, doing a complete circle around the open space and bolting back out the door.
 

Chase chuckled at his enthusiasm and felt a pang of it himself while he finished getting dressed. He slid his hand into the pocket of his jeans when he descended the stairs and felt a small wad of what he assumed was money. He pulled it out and tried to remember when he would have left cash in his pocket rather than in his wallet. Chase counted it out—fourteen dollars. Tony and Shawn raced past him, and that was when it dawned on him.

“Shawn?”

“Yeah, Coach?” he asked, stopping at the top of the landing.

“You wouldn’t happen to know how money magically appeared in the pocket of my jeans, would you?”

Shawn had one of those honest faces, the kind that revealed when he wasn’t truthful. If the deer-in-the-headlights look didn’t confirm it, his denial did.

“Um . . . I don’t know nothing about fourteen dollars.”

Chase laughed. “Who said it was fourteen dollars?”
 

“Oh . . . well . . . I just guessed.”

“Did your mom tell you to hide the money in my pants?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”