Ready To Love Again (35 page)

“Mom? Dad?”

Katie advantage of Victor’s distraction to shove him back, and they both turned to find Tony and Shawn standing in the doorway. Shawn had an uncertain smile on his face, but when she looked at Tony, Katie’s heart broke. His lip quivered, and he stared at his shoes. When he looked up, his blue eyes were rimmed with tears, but he quickly swiped them away. His unhappiness hit her like a freight train, and she realized he probably hadn’t given up believing that she and Chase would get back together. Seeing Victor’s grubby hands on her must have shattered any hope he had for reconciliation. Katie brushed past Victor and went to the boys, kneeling down in front of them both.

“Why don’t we take Buddy to the beach?”

“Yeah!” Shawn shouted, pumping his fist in the air. “I’ll get his leash.” He darted past Katie, and Tony gave her a weak smile before following him out the door.

“Listen, Katie. I’m—”

She held up her hand, cutting off Victor. “I’m going to spend the next couple of hours with my son before he’s gone for six weeks and try to repair the damage you’ve done. When I come back, I expect you to have sent the jackass you’re being somewhere else. If the reasonable father of my child decides to come back, then he can stay.” Katie turned and grabbed her purse, then met the boys outside.

Shawn and Tony climbed in the backseat, and Buddy sat in the front. All three were excited for an outing. While Katie drove down to the beach, she subdued her desire to scream and rant about Victor’s stupidity.

She had a fleeting thought about calling Elena to tell her what Victor had offered. The vindictive side of her wanted to hurt the home-wrecking tramp as much as she had hurt Katie. Instead, Katie concentrated on calming down. When she looked in the rearview mirror, she caught Tony looking back at her. His devastation made her want to drive back and strangle Victor for putting that look on his face.

“You all right, slugger?” she asked instead.

He gave her a quick nod, but then looked down at his lap. She knew she was going to have to talk to him, but she didn’t know how much Chase had told him about their situation. Given the circumstances, she decided to keep the conversation as vague as possible. Shawn jumped out of the car with Buddy when they arrived at the beach and tore off down the deserted coastline. Tony lagged behind, walking with Katie.

“You want to talk about it?” Katie asked when the silence had gone on long enough.

He shrugged his little shoulders and kept his head down. She sighed but waited for him to set the pace of their conversation.

“I’m forgetting my mom,” he said quietly. “I see her in pictures and in the videos we have at home, but she doesn’t seem like my mom anymore.”

Katie forced herself to talk when all she wanted to do was give him a hug. It wasn’t often Tony spoke about his mother, and she didn’t want to do anything to deter him from opening up. “Have you talked to your dad?”

“Once, but he doesn’t like to talk about her.”

“Just because you have a hard time remembering her doesn’t mean she didn’t love you very much. It’s okay to forget. You were little when she died, so it’s not surprising that your memories are fading.”

“I know. I just want a mom like you,” Tony said. “It would be cool to have Shawn as a brother, but what I really want is for you to be my mom.”

She was so taken aback by his honesty that it took everything she had to keep her legs moving down the beach. Katie loved him almost as much as she did Shawn, and it killed her to hear him wish for something that would never happen. His hand slipped into hers, and she stopped, sinking to her knees in front of him and pulling him into a hug.

“Anthony, I care about you like my own child, and even though I can’t be your mother, I want you to know that I love you and I’m here for you any time you need me.”

She felt the tears prickle behind her eyes and hoped she could keep them at bay. Tony’s arms tightened around her neck, and she heard a soft sob.

“I love you, Katie. I want us all to be a family.” Tears trailed down his cheeks, and his lip quivered while he continued to pour out his heart. “Dad’s not happy. He spends all his time with me and Liz, but he doesn’t smile like he did when you were there. I don’t think I’ve heard him laugh one time since he told us you aren’t his girlfriend anymore. I miss my happy dad.”

The anguish in his voice pulled the tears she fought from her eyes. She had known the breakup was going to be hard on both her and Chase, but she hated hearing that Tony was being affected by their decisions. Katie couldn’t imagine Chase not laughing. The thought left her feeling guilty for the choice she had forced on him—even if it had been the right one.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Katie murmured, not knowing what else she could do to make things better. She sank down onto the beach and pulled Tony into her lap. They sat there until Buddy ran back to them with Shawn following closely behind, flushed and excited from their run. He plopped down and reached over to rub Tony’s back, looking up at Katie with sad eyes. She wondered if he knew why Tony was unhappy. He didn’t voice his concern, instead continuing to soothe his friend until Tony’s tears stopped.

Finally, they all stood up and made their way back to the car. Chase would be at the house soon to pick up Tony, and she needed to run interference with Victor. When they pulled up, she let out a sigh of relief that Chase hadn’t arrived while she was gone. Victor was sitting on the couch flipping through the channels on the television when they entered.

“Why don’t you have cable?” he asked with a grumble, and Katie felt annoyance build up again. Both boys had run into Shawn’s room before she turned to answer Victor’s question.

“Let’s see. How about you tack on another fifty bucks to the child support, and I’ll get cable hooked up.”

“I’m sorry, Katie. I didn’t mean anything by that comment. You take everything I say the wrong way. Can’t we go back and have the fun like we did before we got married?” He smiled his charming smile.

Katie told herself that it would be better if they didn’t fight for the next twelve hours. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so snarky.”

“S’okay.” He patted the seat next to him on the couch, but she shook her head.

“I need to pack Shawn’s suitcase.”

Victor huffed but continued his perusal of the local television channels.

Katie found the boys looking in Shawn’s reptile cage.
 

“Mom, if Coach says it’s okay, Tony’s gonna take my animals home.”

She did a silent happy dance that she didn’t have to keep Shawn’s pets alive while he was gone. “That sounds like a great idea.”

While Shawn told Tony everything he needed to do to take care of his assortment of critters, Katie grabbed the suitcase from the top of the closet and started packing. Soon, there was a knock at the front door, which made her drop the clothes she held and dart for the door before Victor could get to it.

When she reached the living room, Victor stood up, and she pointed back to the couch. Shrugging, he resumed his seat. Katie opened the door.

“Chase.” Her voice was breathless and a little nervous, sounding foreign to her ears.

He cocked his brow at her in question. “Are you okay?”

She looked over her shoulder at Victor, and he smirked. Katie knew he wouldn’t make this easy, and she vowed she would make him pay if he was rude to Chase. Glaring at him for a second time, she turned back to Chase with an apologetic smile.

Before she could open her mouth, Victor made his presence known. “Katie, aren’t you going to invite in your friend?”

She looked wide-eyed at Chase, whose face turned hard. Katie remembered the morning Victor had pushed Chase’s buttons on the phone, and she groaned internally.

Opening the door wider, she stepped aside so Chase could enter. Victor had a smug smile on his face when he looked from Chase and back to Katie.

“Chase, this is Victor. Victor, Chase.”

Victor stood and walked to Chase with his hand out. For a moment, Katie thought Chase wasn’t going to take it, but then he reached out and grasped it with a firm grip. Victor’s hand white knuckled while he grasped Chase’s in an obvious death grip. Their macho display of superiority ticked her off.

They released each other, and Victor flexed his fingers before making his way back to the couch. Chase turned to Katie, and his eyes softened. “Is Tony ready to go?”

It was obvious he wanted to get his son and leave. Knowing he didn’t want to be there hurt, but she nodded and called to the boys. Katie didn’t want to leave Chase and Victor alone since the room was heavy with tension.
 

Shawn and Tony came tearing out of his room bearing the reptile cage.

“Looks like you’re babysitting while Shawn’s in New Mexico,” she said with a small grimace when she saw the snake—which wasn’t supposed to be in the house.

Chase chuckled, and Katie caught herself smiling at the sound. “You’re the most squeamish marine scientist I’ve ever met.”

Katie gave him a small shove, and he grabbed her waist to steady himself. “I don’t like snakes. Frogs and lizards I can handle, even though I prefer them in the wild and not my house.”

His fingers lingered on her waist before he gave her a small squeeze and released her. Katie felt the instant loss of the warmth of his hands and gave a defeated sigh. It was hard to be around him and not want things to be like they had been. As soon as Shawn was gone, Chase and Tony wouldn’t have a reason to come around.

“Coach? Didja meet my dad?”

Katie had to give Chase credit for swallowing his hostility when he smiled at Shawn and ruffled his hair. “Sure did. You have fun in New Mexico, and we’ll see you when you get back.”

“So, Chase, what do you do for a living?”

Chase bristled when Victor addressed him, but then a self-satisfied smile appeared on his face.

“I’m a surgeon.”

Katie rolled her eyes, wondering if this would turn into a mine’s-bigger-than-yours
contest. Victor nodded his head in appreciation, and she hoped maybe they could be civil to one another.

“What is it you do?” Chase asked.

Katie looked at Shawn and Tony, who were listening to the conversation with rapt attention.

“I’m a building contractor.”

Katie wanted to slap the look of superiority off Chase’s face. Even though he didn’t say anything, she could tell he felt like he had one-upped Victor. Chase had never given her any indication he thought he was better than anyone else, so she tried to remember this was nothing more than an ego-driven battle of supremacy.

“So would you like to join us for dinner?” Victor asked. “We’re going to Katie’s favorite restaurant.”

Katie wanted to say no, but she held back. She didn’t think she could handle hours of this tension, and there was no guarantee Victor would behave. After watching Chase’s reaction to her ex-husband, she wasn’t so sure he would behave either.

“You’re going to Francesco’s?”

“No, actually I thought we’d go to the restaurant at Lovers Point.”

“Oh, I thought Katie’s favorite restaurant was Francesco’s.” Chase feigned ignorance, but she knew better. “I suppose that’s a nice place to eat, but it’s where all the tourists go. With so many restaurants on the peninsula, I suppose it would be hard to find the best restaurants if you aren’t from the area.”

Katie glared at Chase while he dug his hole deeper. When he turned his attention back to Katie, one look at her expression must have told him he had screwed up. The pretentious smile slid off his face.

Katie caught her ex-husband’s arrogant smirk, and she growled, throwing her hands in the air. “I’m changing for dinner. When you two are finished with your macho crap, let me know.”

She stormed from the room, leaving them to their own devices.

~*~

After Katie stormed out of the room, Chase looked over at Victor, who was lounging on her couch as if he belonged there. Every muscle in Chase’s body wanted to yank him out of his seat and shove him out the door. He didn’t want to leave her with him for ten seconds, let alone overnight.
 

When he told Tony to go get in the car, his son gave Shawn a one-armed hug before he darted out the front door, taking the reptile cage with him. Chase contemplated apologizing to Katie for his rude comments but decided it would be best to let it go. He said his goodbyes to Shawn and headed for the door, wanting to escape before he said something else Victor could use against him.

“Chase?”
 

Victor’s voice was smooth and held a hint of confidence, which irritated him. He gritted his teeth and debated whether he wanted to ignore the other man, but he figured he’d been rude enough. Chase turned toward Victor but didn’t meet his eye.
 

“I know you probably don’t want to hear this since you clearly don’t like me, but thanks for teaching Shawn how to play baseball.”
 

Chase’s eyes snapped up. Victor still wore a smug smile, and his eyes darted between Shawn and Chase. It was obvious he was trying to look like the better man in front of his son. Shawn wrinkled his brow, and Chase suspected he didn’t understand why his father would assume Chase didn’t like him.