Menage on 34th Street (5 page)

Chapter Five

Kat walked until the cold numbed her nose and she didn’t recognize the street signs. Turning back to head home was more an act of good sense than desire to return. A big part of her wanted to find a cab and take it...somewhere. Far away from Liam, Hunter and the life they’d wrecked.

She’d
enjoyed
that life. It had taken her a long time to say a final goodbye to the possibility of anything with Hunter, but once she put him behind her, she’d created the life she’d always wanted. Every day she woke up in love with Liam and every night she went to sleep even more in love. She and Liam had a beautiful home and successful careers that made them happy. They even had plans to start a family. Distant plans, but still plans. When she’d gotten out of bed that morning, she’d had no idea something was missing...something that Liam had taken away.

Anger and hurt fought a battle in her chest that left her heart aching. The ugly suspicion that Liam had manipulated her choices challenged everything she thought she knew about them as a couple. They needed to talk but she couldn’t stand the thought of looking at him. Not right now. Which meant not going home yet.

Back in familiar territory geographically, if not emotionally, she ducked into a coffee shop. The pastry case was down to nothing but scraps and the guy cleaning up behind the counter looked worn out under his red velour Santa hat.

He smiled at her despite the
bah humbug
embroidered on his hat. “Triple espresso to get you through the late-night wrapping?”

Kat grimaced. “I think Christmas is a bust this year. It’s definitely reached the ‘need to cry into my hot chocolate’ point. If you have any brownies, I’ll take one of those, too.”

“Ouch. Sorry, but no brownies. What you need is a double-hitter of extra marshmallows
and
whipped cream.” He grabbed the biggest size paper cup and got to work on her drink.

“Yeah.” Kat placed her credit card on the counter and unzipped the fleece she’d thrown on in her hurry to leave the house.

The café door swung open. A stream of cold air ushered cheerful laughter, festive song and a boisterous pair of college students. Even though she didn’t want to see the happy couples and families walking the sidewalks, she couldn’t stop herself from looking. A minute later, she turned away from the scene.
She
should be out there in the brisk air, Liam and Hunter flanking her, their deep voices drowning out her contribution to a Christmas carol. Not in a nearly empty coffee shop, alone, while her husband and the man who might have been did...whatever they were doing. Probably killing each other.

After paying, Kat pocketed her credit card and took her drink to a small corner table. She closed her eyes and inhaled the rich scent of chocolate wafting from her cup. The aroma should have comforted her. It didn’t.

Her thoughts kept whirling in circles, tangling up in painful knots of hurt and anger and longing. Longing for the marriage she’d had just an hour before. Longing for what she’d thought she couldn’t have. For Hunter. And
that
added guilt to her cocktail of wrecked emotions.

Too nauseous to sip from her cup, she set it aside. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

“Hey. I’ve gotta close up.” She looked up to see the barista standing at her table.

With a sigh, she moved to pick up her cup.

The barista put a hand on her arm. “Look, I still have to clean up, get everything closed out. If you’re okay with me working around you, you can stay until I’m ready to go.”

Unexpected tears clogged her throat. “Thanks,” she said thickly.

He smiled at her, rag in hand. “It’s Christmas Eve. Take your time.”

Christmas. Right. She watched him wipe down a table. Her holiday spirit was shot all to hell.

Her phone chirped and she pulled it from her pocket. She knew what she’d see, so she ignored the incoming text and speed dialed Adele. She answered on the third ring, but her voice was nearly drowned out by the people chattering in the background.

“Hey,” Kat greeted. “Sorry. I forgot you were with Jay’s family tonight.”

Adele gave a verbal shrug. “Meh. They don’t need me to fight over who screwed up his great-grandmother’s cookie recipe. Besides, Michael and Ryan tagged along, so that’s causing all kinds of fun. What’s up?”

“I wanted to wish you a merry Christmas,” Kat lied.

“Uh-huh. That’s more fake than the merry-merry I gave my mother-in-law. What’s wrong?”

“Liam and I are in the middle of a thing.” She hesitated, but Adele had been her best friend since preschool. Aside from Liam, Adele was the only person in the world who really understood Kat’s poly leanings. She might not be into poly herself, but Adele absolutely
got
Kat. She’d understand this better than anyone. Well, Maybe Adele’s brother Michael, but he had his own issues. Kat sighed. “Um, well, that’s not quite right. Liam and I are on two sides of a thing. Hunter is in the middle.”

“Oh my God. Hold on.” The sounds of the Christmas party faded and when Adele next spoke, her words echoed. “Okay. I locked myself in the guest bathroom. Can’t talk long because I think Jay’s Uncle George was in here recently. Gross. Anyway, are you serious? He just got back into the country.”

Kat wrinkled her nose but chose not to comment on Adele’s hideaway. “I know he just got back. Liam invited him over but apparently told Hunter that I was visiting Tasha in California.”

“What...okay, whatever. I’m not going to ask. Where are you right now? Why are you wherever you are? Hunter probably hasn’t had sex in months. Go take advantage!”

Kat almost laughed. Oh, if only.

“Things got complicated fast. I can say with certainty that Hunter has had sex recently. And Liam screwed up, Adele. He screwed up big-time. I left the house.”

“Kat! You had sex with Hunter? You left? Where are you? Do you need me to come get you? What the hell happened?” She paused in her spate of questions. “Shit, Michael and Ryan are in the guest room tonight. But don’t worry, I’ll put them on the floor in the office.”

At least she could count on Adele. “I don’t know. Maybe I should try to find a hotel room for the night. Or drive out to my parents’ place.”

“Later. Where are you?”

“Coffee place.”

“The one with the brownies? Damn. Okay, tell Aunt Adele what happened.”

Kat sighed heavily. “Do you remember when Hunter left?”

“Remember? I haven’t eaten so much Ben & Jerry’s in my life.”

“It turns out Hunter left me a note when he headed off. Liam copped the note and kept it from me.”

“No. Fucking. Way.”

“Yeah.”

“That bastard. Fucking bastard. I hope you kicked him in the balls on your way out the door.”

That got a strangled laugh. It wasn’t funny, really, but it was reassuring. Adele’s anger grounded her, the affirmation helping her settle into the reality of Liam’s betrayal of her trust.

“No, but he would have deserved it. I did punch Hunter, though.”

“Why? No, never mind. What are you going to do?” Someone knocked on the door and Adele grumbled. “Damn. I’ve been found.”

“It’s okay. I know you have family stuff. I just needed someone to talk to. I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“Call me when you decide,” Adele said. “Or call me if you need me. Especially if you need help kicking his ass. It’ll give me a good excuse to make a run for it. And he totally deserves it.”

Kat let out a long breath. She did feel a little better. “I will. You go, though. Merry Christmas for real. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Both of you?”

“I don’t know. We’ll play it by ear.”

“Sure. Bring Hunter, too.”

“I can try, I suppose.”

“I’d love to see him,” Adele told her. “Okay, seriously, have to go.”

“Okay. Later,” Kat said as cheerily as she could manage.

Adele blew kisses through the phone and hung up. Kat slid her thumb across the screen, but she skimmed past Liam’s text and opened the message from Jen, instead. Kat knew what Liam’s foster-sister wanted without having to read the message. Jen always wanted the same thing: a piece of Liam, in any form she could get. Liam’s relationship with Jen hadn’t changed one bit in the nineteen years since they had shared a foster-family. Jen got herself into trouble, asked Liam to help her sort out her mess, and utterly disregarded the advice he gave to get her life together. Kat grimaced at Jen’s text. Jen might have ignored Liam’s counsel, but she never forgot his deeply ingrained sense of duty toward her, and she never hesitated to take advantage.

Kat started to delete the message but when the little pop-up box asked if she was sure, she hesitated and cancelled the command. Jen had been a part of Liam’s life for a long time, longer than Kat had known him. Jen, and so much more of Liam’s past as a foster kid with no control over anything, had made Liam into the man he was. It was inevitable that he would have eventually channeled some of his need for control onto their marriage in some way or another.

Kat blew out a long breath and put the phone down on the table. Twisting her wedding ring around and around on her finger, she tried to think through the mess of her emotions.

“You should go home.”

Kat jerked her head up. The barista turned a chair over onto a tabletop and met her gaze unapologetically. She frowned at him and he shrugged.

“It’s Christmas,” he said. “It’s a shitty time to be alone. If you have a warm house and someone who loves you waiting, you should go home. Talk it out and see if you can forgive him.”

“I don’t know if I’m ready to talk to him.”

“Do you love him?”

She didn’t have to think about that. If she didn’t love him, this wouldn’t hurt so damned much. “Yes.”

“Well, then. You see those lights out there?” He waved a hand at the street.

“Sure,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. How could she miss them?

“You ever see the movie?”

“What?
Miracle on 34th Street
? When I was a kid.”

“You should watch it again. Fred’s a lawyer, right? But he nails this one thing. He says ‘Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to.’ You need to have some faith in your marriage.”

“You think?” She picked up her phone and turned it over to look at the screen. Liam grinned at her while tiki torches glowed behind him. Her memories from their Hawaii trip were among her most cherished.

“I do. But you should still kick his ass.”

Kat considered. Yeah. She did need to kick his ass. Standing up, she stuck her phone in her pocket again. She leaned over and gave the startled barista a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks. You helped more than the hot chocolate.”

Carrying her cooling hot chocolate outside, she headed toward the row house. The gawkers had thinned out, but there was still a steady stream of traffic along 34th. She crossed over at Keswick, taking her time and really looking at the displays. She hadn’t slowed to admire the lights since the ceremonial switch flipping in November.

Every house sported icicle lights, dripping from the eaves like frosting on so many gingerbread houses. Garland and fairy lights wrapped around porch posts and railings, adding a sort of haphazard uniformity to the displays. Strings of multicolored lights bridged the road like jeweled stars, linking the two sides of the street.

Kat paused on their front steps, taking it all in. The exuberance of it, the sheer joyful excess, struck her.

Girding herself to face whatever she found, she opened the door.

* * *

Liam paced while the phone rang. Kat had been gone for...hell, he didn’t know how long. Too long. So long that she should have been in touch. Christ, he’d fucked up. The hell of it was that he would do the same damned thing again.

She absolutely could not leave him. He
would
fix this.

“Hello?”

Adele’s voice cut through his jumbled thoughts. “Adele! Is Kat with you? Have you heard from her? Do you know where she is?”

A long pause on her end called attention to the background noises. Sounded like a party. Which meant Kat was almost certainly
not
with Adele. Dammit.

“Oh. Hello, Liam. I’m fine, how are you?”

He didn’t have time for this. “Look, Adele, I don’t mean to be rude, but I really need to find Kat.”

“Did you lose her?”

Adele’s tone of mild interest finally sank in. She was pissed. And if she was pissed at him, then she had talked to Kat. The talons of fear gripping him loosened a little.

“You’ve talked to her. So you know I didn’t lose her, she left.”

“Imagine that.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, yeah, I fucked up. But I really need to know Kat is okay.”

The background party noise got briefly louder, then faded. “Of course she’s not okay.”

“I know that, I mean is she safe? It’s late and...” He trailed off, unwilling to verbalize what was in his head.

Adele was quiet for another moment, then sighed. “I just got off the phone with her. She’s physically fine.”

“Where is she?”

“Nuh-uh. No way. You’ve gotten all you’re getting, and you should be happy with that. You should be damned grateful I didn’t just hang up on your sorry ass. Which is what I’m doing now.”

The line went quiet in his ear and he cursed.

“Where is she?” Hunter’s question reminded him he wasn’t alone.

“She wouldn’t tell me. But she did say she just talked to Kat and she was okay.”

“Does her phone have a tracking app?”

Liam stared at Hunter. “What happened to ‘she’s a big girl’?”

“Those apps are great for tracking down stolen smart phones.”

“It never seemed like an issue.” Even as he spoke, Liam kicked himself for not thinking the way Hunter did in this one regard. If Liam saw Kat as someone who needed to be protected, if he was the protective warrior type, maybe they would have a tracking app on their phones.

Or maybe they wouldn’t be together in the first place.

The Christmas tree distracted him from his chaotic thoughts. He had a flash of Kat insisting that she help him wrestle the tree into the house. Kat had bet him a blow job it was too tall. He’d collected his winnings before they’d begun decorating, Kat going down on him with the fresh evergreen scent of the tree stinging the air and boxes of ornaments piled around them.