Must Wait (25 page)

I nod as I locate one for her. I hand it to her. “Are you
going to try to garden again?”
She chuckles. “No, I will leave that to the Araya men.
I need it for Katie.”
I scowl over at her. “Okay, Katie can’t garden either.
She cannot be trusted with plants. She mutilates their root
balls, no pun intended.”
Rosalie sighs. “No, she is starting to smell. We can’t
get her in the tub. She screams and thrashes. Parker is
going to come this afternoon to carry her outside. We are
going to hose her down or the other option would be
dropping her in to the river. Parker does not want to
carry her that far.”
I glare over at her. “Why doesn’t her father wash her?”
Rosalie looks up. “He left. The most he got her to do
was brush her teeth. He was scared himself when he saw
how she reacted to the bathtub.”
I shake my head. “I think Ryan is right about giving
her medication.”
“No, she can’t have medication right now. I can’t even
get food into her. We just have to get her clean. The last
shower she had was in her home before the storm. The
hospital did not have time to deal with her. They were so
busy.” She pauses. “Oh wait, another question. Since she
lost everything, does she have any clothes here? Did she
leave anything behind?”
“Yes, she does.” I do not want to give up her clothes.
That is the last I have of her.
“Can I have them?”
I walk back to the house with Rosalie following me. I
hand her the clothes that I take from the bedroom
dresser.
“Why don’t you come down to see her later now that
Ryan is gone? Maybe she will open up to you when she
sees you.”
“I really do not think that is a good idea.”
“Maybe you should come down and help me with her
instead of Parker. She might feel uncomfortable with
Parker.”
I snort. “Parker has already seen Katie naked,
remember, Rosalie?”
She scowls. “The girl was drunk and stupid then. I
really want to get this done this morning and not have to
wait for Parker.”
I look up at the ceiling knowing that she is not giving
up.
I give in, “Fine, I will follow you down in ten
minutes.”
I get to Rosalie’s house and she is outside getting the
hose ready and other toiletry items. She points to the
door for me to go and get Katie. I walk into the house
and go to the guest bedroom. I open the door to the dark
room and flip on the light switch. Katie is lying on the
bed facing away from me. I see the bruise and cuts all
over the back of her legs.
I speak to her, “Katie, time for you to take a shower.”
Her body jerks, startled at the sound of my voice. I
walk around the bed, looking down at her. She tilts her
head to look up at me. I see all the cuts on her bruised
hands. Her hair is matted up. I touch her face, moving
her hair away to see more cuts on her face. I run my
finger near the cut.
“Oh, Katie, I am sorry for what you had to endure.”
She closes her eyes, savoring my touch. I can’t let her
get to me. I must not appear caring to her. I reach for her
hand.
“Can you get up or do you need for me to carry you
outside? Rosalie is waiting.”
When she doesn’t answer me, I just lean and scoop
her up. She buries her face in my neck. I can feel her hot
tears on my skin. I come out of the house and bring her
down the steps.
Rosalie points to the bottom step. “Please set her
down there, gently. Her backside is all bruised.”
I place her down gradually as her hands slide away
from me. I step back to look at her in the sunlight. I gasp
to see how bad she really looks. “Katie, you are a mess.”
Her eyes shift up to me then quickly looking away.
Rosalie starts hosing her back down gently.
Katie sits up, shocked. “Rosalie, that is cold water.”
Rosalie laughs at her. “I do not have hot water
outside.”
I shake my head still in disbelief at her appearance. She
is so thin and pale. “You are lucky to be alive, Katie.
When was the last time you ate?”
Katie glances at me quickly then looks away again. I
can see that she does not want to make eye contact with
me.
Rosalie tries to lift Katie’s shirt. “Katie, are you going
to answer him?”
Katie pulls her shirt down, glaring at Rosalie. “Take
me to my parents’ house. I will shower there. They have
the new bathroom with the walk-in shower.”
“I can’t, Katie. I have to open the Cantina. Pedro, do
you think you can take her?”
Katie squeaks out, “No, not him.”
Rosalie just shakes her head. “Then we will continue
with the hose.”
Katie goes to stand up, almost falling over. I reach out,
bracing her weight to steady her. I blinkingly look into
her troubled eyes.
“I will take you, Katie.”
I lift her up again, carrying her to my truck. I place her
on the seat closing the door.
Rosalie runs behind us with Katie’s clothes. “Thank
you, Pedro. When she is done, bring her to the Cantina.
Maybe her shower will get her appetite going.”
I nod as I get into the truck.

I drive her to Olivia’s house in complete silence. I pull
up and look over at Katie. She gets out of the truck on
her own. I grab her clothes as I run over to the other side
to help her walk. I can see in her eyes that she does not
want my help, but knows that she needs it. I put my arm
around her waist to support her as she walks unsteadily. I
looked down at her.

“I am surprised you do not have broken bones after
everything I heard you went through, Katie. Why did you
go back for our rings?”

She snickers. “I see someone has been talking to you.
What else do you know, Pedro?”
“Ah, about your home being washed away. Just what
happened and how Olivia thought she lost her last child.”
Katie leans on the bathroom door. “I got it from here,
Pedro. I am a fighter, you know.”
“I understand. I will wait in the kitchen for you.”
She nods and goes to the shower.

About an hour later, she comes slowly walking out of
the bathroom. She glances at me while walking to her
mother’s desk. She picks up the photo of her brother,
Briar. She hugs it to her chest. She lifts the frame looking
at it before she kisses it and puts it down.

“No, I will never be okay again, but I will be fine
though on my own.”
“Yes, Katie you will get past this too.”
“You know, Pedro, this is going to sound crazy. Briar
haunts me, but he stayed with me during the storm. He
kept me alive.” She exhales loudly, turning to look at me.
“I am going to leave tomorrow.”
I speak out brashly, “I do not think you are ready to
leave yet, Katie. You are still healing.”
She walks to the sliding door. “I am. I have to go. I am
going to a friend’s house for a while. I can heal there with
him.”
I was hurt by her words. “Oh, I see. So where is it you
are going?”
She glances over her shoulder at me. “A classmate
from when I was in school at Harvard, he lives in
Turkey.”
I scowl. “Is it safe there. Katie?”
She laughs. “Is anywhere safe, Pedro? Let’s go now to
the Cantina before Parker e-mails Daddy that you are
with me alone in his house.”
I stand up. “Yes, he told me to stay away from his
family.”
She leaves out the door. “I agree with him, Pedro.”

We talk for a few more hours at the Cantina as Rosalie
forces her to eat. Rosalie keeps saying that I need to open
my eyes and just love. Katie snaps at her, telling her to
stop interfering. I feel the same as Katie. We had our time
together while it was beautiful, we did hurt each other a
lot. We are better off apart then together. I will always
love her.

The next day she is gone. Rosalie is very unsure that
Katie’s sudden departure was a good idea. I agree with
her, but it made life easier for me when she was not
around. The sight of her throws me right back into an
emotional rollercoaster ride. When I felt her tears on my
neck as I carried her, I almost caved in, giving her
everything she wanted. I still love her, but when she
talked about the other man she met while in school, it
made me realize it was really over. My heart still aches for
her.

Ryan and Olivia come back during the holidays. We
are all friends again, thanks to Rosalie telling them about
my role in getting Katie out of bed. They appear better to
me after their ordeal with Katie and losing the house in
the storm, but Ryan is still worried about Katie being in
Turkey. He says that he talks to her all the time and she
always seems down. As much as I say I do not want to
know about Katie or what she is doing, I think I really do
want to hear the updates from Ryan.

Ryan stops me one late February morning at the
school when I am dropping off Ramón. He leans on the
truck, watching to make sure
Ramón goes into the
building. Ryan’s smile fades.

“Olivia wanted me to make sure I caught you this
morning to speak with you.”
I notice his urgency. “Yes, what is up Ryan?”
“Katie messaged me. She is on her way here now.”
“Okay?”
“Yes, so I wanted to warn you that she is bringing her
friend from Turkey back with her. She wrote in her
message that she has something to tell her mother and
me.”
“Oh, I knew that she would move on eventually, but
not this quickly.”
“Yes, maybe it is best that you stay away for the week.
Let Paolo bring Ramón to school. I do not want you
getting upset or Katie getting upset. You know?”
I hide my emotions
and
smile up at him.
“No
problem, Ryan. I am fine with it. I will talk to Paolo as
soon as I get home.”
He taps me on the shoulder. “I am still bummed that
you two could not work out whatever issue that you had.
I would have rather had you as my son-in-law.”
I chuckle. “Yes, I know, Ryan. I love you too, man.”
He laughs. “Get the fuck out here.”
I start the truck and leave him. I will do my best not to
think about Katie. I know that I will have no problem
staying away from her.

Parker comes up after school to hang out. He shuffles
his feet in the dirt and continuously looks over at Paolo.
Parker smiles awkwardly. “Katie is here.”
“Yeah, I know. Ryan told me this morning.”
Parker looks over at Paolo again. “She is here with
another man.”
I laugh. “I know. Ryan warned me. He told me it is
best that I stay away for the week. I am very happy for
her.”
Parker smiles. “Great, Pedro.”
We spend our night drinking and playing cards as
Parker does his best to keep me occupied from thinking
about Katie.

The next night I am cooking dinner and Ryan barges
into the house.
I look over at him. “Someday, Ryan, you are going to
barge in here to find me with some woman. Please learn
to knock.”
He paces around my kitchen, running his fingers
through his hair. “That will never happen, Pedro. I need a
drink. What do you have here?” He sits down at the table
and I pour him some tequila. He stares at me cooking
then looks down at his glass.
I laugh at him. “What is the matter, Ryan? Did Olivia
tie you down again for going after Katie’s boyfriend?”
He snickers. “I wish.”
I call Ramón to the table to eat. Ryan studies him like
he has never seen a child eating before. I can see the he is
perplexed as he watches Ramón.
“Ryan, is there something wrong?”
He glances at me. “Katie is here with her friend.”
“I know, you warned me the other day.”
He goes back watching Ramón. “You love your son,
don’t you?”
I crinkle my forehead. “Of course, just like how you
loved your son and how you love Katie.”
Ramón gets up and cleans his plate in the sink. Then
he runs off to his bedroom to do his homework.
Ryan pours himself another drink. “You are my friend,
Pedro, right?”
I laugh at him. “I think we already established that, but
I guess I messed that one up.”
He stares over to me. “I want to know what happened
between you both. What caused the break-up?”
“Oh, Ryan. We had a difference of opinion about
having a baby someday. She told me in the past that she
never wanted to have children. Then she went off her
birth control without even asking me. She had plans to
get pregnant this past January. I couldn’t do it. I did not
want children, we saw where that got me with my mother
and my first wife.”
“You mean your only wife.”
“Yes. You are right, my only wife.”
“So your past scared you so much that you decided to
throw in the towel on any future children?”
“Yes, absolutely.”
“You said you couldn’t do it. So did you take
precautions to make sure that could not happen?”
“No, not yet.”
“Okay, don’t. Not like you are ever going to move on
again.”
I laugh. “How can you say that? You never know.”
Ryan stands up from the table. “Because you got that
one taste of Katie. You will always be hooked. I have to
go.”
“Wait, Ryan! So how is he, Katie’s new boyfriend?”
Ryan winks at me. “I hate him. He is not you.”
Ryan leaves and I keep wondering why is it now that
he is interested to know what broke Katie and I up. Why
he had to come up here with his questions now.

The next day, my brothers and I are eating lunch in my
kitchen. Ryan barges in again, this time carrying a bottle
to replace what he drank last night. He pours himself a
glass and watches us eat. I offer some food to him and he
refuses.

I look over at him. “So, Ryan what brings you back
again?”
He stares over at me. “He is leaving today. He has to
go back to Turkey. I am taking them to the airport soon.
Katie is staying only a few more days before she goes to
Chris’s house in Los Angeles for a few weeks.”
“Okay, how come she never went back to work?”
Ryan looks over at Paolo before answering, “She can’t.
She is not ready yet.”
I nod. “I guess she needs the time to heal emotionally
some more.”
Ryan keeps looking at Paolo like they are having a
secret conversation. Paolo nods his head at Ryan.
Ryan tilts his head, “Tomorrow, Pedro, go see Katie
on the beach around lunch time. We have four boats
coming in. The Cantina will be busy and Katie will be
sitting on the beach reading. You know where she goes.”
“No, Ryan. I am staying away from Katie. She has
moved on.”
Ryan looks over at Paolo again. “I do not think so,
Pedro. I think Paolo and I both know how to count.”
Paolo chimes in, “Pedro just go say hello to her. That
is all. It is not like you both are getting back together,
with her new guy in her life. Just be the bigger man and
keep your friendship.”
Ryan smiles at him. “Yes, that is it. I need you both to
be friends for my sake seeing how I am all attached to
you and all.”
Ryan and Paolo laugh.
Paolo stands up. “I will
make sure he sees her
tomorrow.”
Ryan nods. “Good. Let me go and take that guy back
to the airport now.” He walks out the door.
I look over at Paolo. “What the hell is going on with
you two? You two are good friends now. Are you both
sharing Olivia now?”
He laughs. “I wish. Wait do you think that can
happen?”
I shake my head furiously. “No, never!”