Stitches and Scars (13 page)

The group continued talking, all except for Kate who stood in silence not wanting to risk looking up at Ethan. She felt like she was having one of those crazy dreams where you’re standing naked in front of everyone and there were no clothes in sight. It took her a few minutes and a couple deep breaths to gain back even a little of her composure.

Tentatively lifting her head, she peered over at Ethan who was engrossed in the conversation. As soon as he noticed her motion, he turned from Logan and looked directly at her. She inhaled and held her breath as he leaned toward her, placing his hand on her forearm.

“I dream about you all the time,” he whispered while squeezing her arm slightly.

And just like that, Kate’s anger clicked down a notch. Having him at such a close proximity made her knees weak. Somehow, in the past twenty-four hours she’d forgotten just how strong an effect he seemed to have on her physically. Taking a deep breath, she let herself enjoy the moment.

She was so lost in her own hot, sexy Ethan fantasy world that she hadn’t noticed the girl whom Ethan was with earlier was now standing beside her. Elle, however, was not oblivious to the girl or to what just transpired between Kate and her childhood friend.

“Well, Ethan. Who is your lady friend?” she inquired.

Kate turned and, for the first time, actually looked at his date. She recognized her immediately. It was the nurse from the hospital who had interrupted their almost-kiss.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot to introduce you. This is Lisa Connelly. We
work
together at the hospital,” Ethan said, staring intently into Kate’s eyes.

Lisa shook everyone’s hand and paused briefly when she reached Kate. Her eyes lit up in recognition, but didn’t say a word. “It’s really nice to meet all of you. I haven’t had a chance to meet very many of Ethan’s friends outside of work,” she said with a sugary sweet smile.

Sophie perked up. “Well, in that case, why don’t we all sit together? I’ve heard so much about you, Ethan, and I’m sure Lisa would like to hear all about Elle and Logan.” Kate shot an evil glare at Sophie, but it went unnoticed.

“That sounds great! I’d love to get to know Ethan’s friends better.” Lisa smiled. “I’ll go ask the hostess if she can arrange that.” She was gone before a word could be said, and Kate felt her earlier nausea return. The last thing she felt like doing was sitting through an entire dinner with Ethan and his date. She dropped her eyes and turned away, looking for an out. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, she came face to face with her own past.

“Katie?” His voice echoed in her ears and she froze. Kate would recognize his deep voice anywhere. It was the one voice that brought her so much happiness and, at the same time, sorrow worse than she’d ever known. She knew it was Scott. The one person she never wanted to see again, yet yearned to see at the same time.

Looking up into the familiar dark eyes that brought with them a million memories, Kate’s heart responded immediately of its own accord. It was as if it could remember the way he could make her feel. He looked wonderful, as always—the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. His hair was perfect, just as it had always been, and the black tailored suit he wore accentuated the body of perfection that lay beneath it.

Kate stood, locked in his gaze, until she noticed someone next to him. She didn’t want see the person who had taken her place, and she didn’t want to care that he was with someone. But she did look and she did care. The woman was tall and blond and stunning. And the slinky gold dress she wore must have cost as much as Kate’s entire wardrobe.

“This is Samantha, my girlfriend,” Scott said while turning to look at his date.

An imaginary blade drove through Kate’s chest as his words registered in her mind.
His girlfriend. He has a girlfriend,
she repeated, and each time, it stung a little worse. She’d expected him to move on, but never thought she’d see it with her own eyes. Plus, as much as she hated to admit it, part of her wanted to be the first one to move on, not him. If she thought she was having a dream before, then this was definitely a nightmare. The room around her started to spin, and Kate knew she was close to passing out. Too many emotions were swirling inside, and her mind was screaming for a way to escape.

At the exact moment her legs went weak, she felt a warm arm wrap around her waist. She knew in an instant who the arm belonged to, and as much as she wanted to remove it, she couldn’t. Something in his touch calmed her and gave her the strength to lift her head.

“Hi, I’m Ethan. It’s nice to meet you.” He extended his free hand and shook the new girlfriend’s hand and then turned to look at Scott.

Ethan knew he might be overstepping his boundaries, considering he didn’t have any claim on Kate, but he knew he had to do something. The look on her face was enough to tell him that she wasn’t okay. Her dark, beautiful eyes that were once full of emotion were suddenly hollow and glazed over. At that moment, Ethan made a promise to himself that he would do whatever it took to make sure he never saw that look on her face again.

Considering he’d addressed Kate as ‘Katie,’ which was clearly a nickname, Ethan assumed that he was someone from her past. And based on the reaction she’d had, it didn’t take much to assume that he had played an important role.

“I’m Scott, Scott Christiansen,” Kate’s acquaintance said before introducing his girlfriend a second time.

Ethan noticed the way Kate’s body stiffened upon hearing the word ‘girlfriend’ and wondered how this Scott character didn’t notice the effect he was having on her. His instincts took over and Ethan immediately wanted to take Kate away. He wanted to make her forget all about the man in the suit.

Much to Kate’s relief, Sophie stepped forward. “Scott,” she said with a nod of her head. Turning her attention back to Kate, she leaned in. “Our table’s ready.” Sophie looked at her friend with concerned eyes, silently asking if she was okay.

Kate gave a slight nod and looked up at Ethan. “Are you ready?” she asked.

He nodded and pulled her closer to his side. “It was nice meeting you,” Ethan said to Scott and his girlfriend, and led Kate away.

“Bye, Katie. It was great seeing you again.” At the sound of Scott’s voice, Kate paused.

“You too, Scott.” She gave him a half smile and then continued walking.

By the time they made it to their table, Kate had shrugged out of Ethan’s arms and took a seat directly across from him and Lisa. There was an awkward silence that hung in the air. It seemed that everyone was aware of the effect Scott had made on Kate, except of course Lisa, who was clueless to everything. The silence only lasted a few minutes before a very cheerful Sophie chimed in.

“Okay, so explain the nicknames,” she said with a lighthearted laugh.

Ethan looked at his two childhood friends and smiled. “Well, when I was little, I was a little skinnier than I am now.” He shrugged.

Elle let out a loud laugh. “Kind of skinny? Ethan, you were skin and bones.”

Everyone at the table joined in Elle’s laughter, including Kate. Ethan watched her out of the corner of his eye.
She really is beautiful,
he thought. Her dark hair and eyes in contrast to her pale, creamy skin. The curve of her neck as it sloped down to meet her shoulders. He was so lost in thoughts of Kate that he hadn’t noticed Lisa nudged him.

“Ethan, Earth to Ethan,” she said with a hint of annoyance.

He shook his head, clearing his mind. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

“Sophie asked how you came up with Elle’s nickname.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” He peered over at Elle who looked quite irritated by the posed question.

“Do you want me to tell them, Squish, or do you want to do it?” he asked with a smirk.

She let out a huff and grabbed her uniquely folded napkin, smoothing it over her lap. Ethan took her silence as a positive and went on to explain. “Well, Elle didn’t always look the way she looks now. She was a little …” He hesitated trying to find the right words to use so she wouldn’t be insulted.

Elle’s back went ramrod straight, sitting up in her chair. “Fat,” she yelled. “Okay? I was fat! I was a squishy, awkward, too tall, chubby, soft child. Not all of us were always so skinny,” she continued to yell while looking at Kate and Sophie accusingly.

Both friends looked at each other with wide eyes of disbelief. Sophie then turned her attention to Logan and gave him the same disbelieving look.

He put his hands up, palms facing out, and shook his head. “Not my place to tell you.”

“I didn’t expect for you to tell me she was fat when she was little,” Sophie snapped. “I just thought that I would have seen pictures or something,” she said with a shrug.

“Yeah, Elle,” Kate added “We’ve known you since high school and we’ve seen tons of pictures. I don’t remember you looking fat in any of them.”

“That’s only because I made sure you never saw them. Any pictures from the age of five to twelve have been secretly stashed.”

“Yeah, and don’t ever try finding them either,” Logan said with a laugh. “This one time, Mom somehow stumbled across one and tried to show it to Elle’s boyfriend. I’ll never forget the look on your face,” he said, eyeing Elle. “Man, if looks could kill.”

“Whatever, ‘Stretch,’ you hid your pictures too.” Elle lashed out.

“I only hid them because I was a nerd. Besides, I can’t help it that I was too skinny.”

Elle rolled her eyes. “We’re brother and sister, Logan. We came from the same gene pool and
you
ended up with the ‘skinny as a kid’ gene.”

Logan leaned across the table and reached for his sister’s hand. She begrudgingly looked at him.

“Well, we both know who got the beautiful gene.” Elle’s demeanor changed instantly. She softened as soon as he made his comment.

That one simple act showed Ethan that nothing had changed over the years. Logan was still the big brother; he knew Elle better than anyone, and the bond the two of them shared was indescribable.

The waiter finally greeted the table, successfully bringing all conversation to a halt. He had only made it halfway around the table for drink orders when Kate heard her cell phone beep signaling a text. Digging through her bag, she retrieved her phone and paused when she saw the number. She recognized it at once, but wondered why he’d be texting her, especially right now.

katie it was really hard seeing you tonight.

you look great. i miss you. please call me.

always - scott

Kate stared at her phone.
What is he talking about? It was hard for him? s
he wondered. He was the one with the new girlfriend. Her eyes began to sting, and she blinked back the tears that were threatening to take over. Needing a minute to clear her head, she excused herself from the table. She refused to shed another tear over Scott Christiansen, especially in the middle of a restaurant. As she made her way to the front of the restaurant, she completely bypassed the restrooms and went directly outside.

The cold January air blew around her face, stinging her cheeks and awakening her senses. She hadn’t brought her jacket with her and the humid wind ripped through her clothes, chilling her to the bone. Wrapping her arms around herself, she tried to both keep warm and bring some comfort to the pain that was aching in her chest.

There were only a few cars parked along the side of the building, and thankfully she found a spot behind a van that would work as a perfect barrier from the wind. Kate leaned up against the brick wall with a thud and buried her face on her hands. Her mind was swarming with so many thoughts that she couldn’t think straight. Here she was going out with her friends, celebrating a newly single and available Ethan, when what happens? She runs into him on a date. Then to make matters worse, she runs into Scott.

Her emotions were already running wild and seeing him seemed to push her over the edge. She wasn’t expecting to have the reaction she did. But seeing Scott with someone else brought on feelings of jealousy. She knew she had no reason to feel jealous, but she couldn’t help it. She had a history with Scott, and that didn’t go away with the ending of their relationship.

Then there were the feelings she was having for Ethan, someone she hardly knew yet felt an immediate intense connection with. She remembered his words from earlier about dreaming of her and felt her body flush warm at the thought.

“Kate?” She heard his deep voice and her thoughts came to a halt.

Looking up slowly from her hands, she saw Ethan standing directly in front of her. Just the sight of him took her breath away. The wind was blowing his charcoal gray pants and white button-down shirt across his body. His shirt clung to the contours of his chest, and for the first time, Kate saw just how amazing his body was. His dark hair was moving whichever way the wind took it, and Kate wondered briefly if he tried to look sexy or if it just came naturally. Realizing that she was blatantly staring, she dropped her eyes.

“Kate, are you okay? I noticed you seemed upset after checking your phone. Is everything fine?” he asked, his voice laced with concern.

Fine?
Kate thought.
No, everything is not fine.
Her confusion and frustration peaked, and she scrambled to her feet.