Life After Perfect (23 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Before Katy could dry the tears streaming down her face, Angie knocked and walked in. She tossed the
D
O
N
OT
D
ISTURB
sign on the bed. “You know real friends ignore this kind of stuff, right?”

“What are you doing here?” She dropped her face into her hands. “Oh, Angie. I have let everyone down.”

“Naomi called me. She doesn’t know what’s going on but she’s worried sick. I called Derek. He filled me in.”

“I messed everything up. I’m so sorry.”

“You should have told—” Angie stopped mid-sentence. “It doesn’t matter. It is what it is. Should-haves won’t put things on a better path. Quit looking back. Look ahead. You’ll figure it all out.”

“There’s no fixing this.”

“Yes, there is and I’ll be right here with you no matter what.”

Katy closed her eyes, more tears finding their way down her cheeks. “Will you ever be able to forgive me?”

Angie patted her friend’s arm. “Nothing for me to forgive. I love you just the same. You are a good friend. I would have understood had you told me, but it’s okay, Katy. Really.”

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“Sometimes life seems way more complicated than it really is. I remember when I was going through that stuff with Billy’s dad. I thought I’d never get through it.”

“You are stronger than I am.”

“No, I am not.” Angie sat down next to her. “But I’ll share my strength with you.”

Angie handed Katy a tissue.

“Derek’s another story. He’s hurt. Real hurt.” Angie cocked her head. “Your husband, ex, whatever . . . that came as a real blow to him.”

Katy drew in a ragged breath. “This is crazy. I know it. But I felt such a connection with Derek that first day. I made some poor decisions.”

“That’s how love is. It just comes out of nowhere.” Angie smiled. “Plus he’s a hot doctor. And a fireman. And kind of perfect. A triple threat.”

“Derek thinks it was revenge. Me getting back at Ron.” She looked into Angie’s eyes, praying she understood. “It wasn’t.”

“Katy, don’t worry about that right now.”

Pain shot through her chest. “I’ve ruined any chance I had with him. Even as friends.”

“No. He cares for you. I can see it in his eyes. He hasn’t looked this alive in . . . well, way too long.”

“He will never forgive me,” she said. “I won’t forgive me.”

“Stop it.” Angie walked over to the window and pulled open the drapes. “First, we need to concentrate on getting you back on your feet and getting you a job interview for that great job. You can’t be good with anyone until you can be good on your own. I think you might have even said something like that to me after you wrangled that date for me with Jackson. Thank you by the way. Second. You will forgive yourself, and Derek will forgive you too. It’ll all work out.”

“I wanted to tell him, but I waited too long . . . and it . . . got complicated.”

“Calm down, Katy. Everything will fall into place the way it should. We’re going to take this one step at a time.”

Someone tapped at the door.

Naomi poked her head inside. “You have a visitor. Do you want to come out here to meet with him?”

“Him?” Katy and Angie exchanged a hopeful glance.

Had Derek reconsidered? But when Katy glanced over Naomi’s shoulder, it wasn’t Derek . . . it was Ron.

“Hey, Katherine. How are you doing?” He stepped inside the room and walked toward her.

“I told you to wait out there, sir,” Naomi said, and she didn’t look like she was about to back down either.

“You can go now,” Ron said. “I want a word with my wife.”

“I’ll thank you to abide by my wishes in my home, sir.” She looked at Katy, and Katy could feel the one hundred questions coursing through Naomi’s mind, but the old gal held her cool. “Katy. It’s your call.”

“Katy?” Ron laughed.

Katy felt the hair on her arms prickle at his snarky laugh. “It’s fine, Naomi. I’ll get rid of him.”

Naomi took off down the hall, but Angie held her ground.

Ron looked at Angie and waved his arm toward the door, like she’d take his signal and move on.

“No! You do not have to leave, Angie,” Katy said, then jumped up from the bed. “I do not want you here, Ron.”

Ron glared at Katy. “I’m sure your friends have things they need to do.”

“I said I don’t want you here, Ron,” she repeated. “I don’t even know how you found out where I was. You have no right to be here.”

He blinked, the fast blink he did when he was mad. “You’re my wife. I’m taking you home.”

“No, you’re not, and I am not your wife. We have signed separation papers. I have a copy of those papers right over there.”

“I don’t want a divorce,” he said. “Not doing it.”

“It really doesn’t matter what you want now. You blew your chance when you took on that girlfriend. Please leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“How did you even find me?”

“Peggy told me you were here.”

Oh great. Peggy gives in to her cheater husband, and then suddenly she’s on Ron’s side? How could she have broken that trust?

“Leave! Or I’m calling the police.” Katy felt the room shift a little. Please don’t hyperventilate here and now.

Naomi came back in the room with Derek right behind her. Angie looked at Katy with a smile.

Derek nodded to Katy, then leveled a gaze at Ron. “You heard the lady. Probably time for you to go.” His voice was quiet, but stern.

“I don’t need you to tell me how to handle my wife.”

Katy stepped closer to Angie, praying her strength would rub off. “Handle me?”

Ron shook his head. “Don’t twist my words, Katherine.”

“Please leave,” she said. “I came to this town to be away from you. I don’t want you here.”

“You were just mad. You’re not giving up everything we’ve built together. We built a good life together. Katherine, women don’t leave this kind of life behind after one little indiscretion.”

Derek stood quietly in the doorway.

Katy was embarrassed for him to see this, but also glad he’d come to her rescue. Naomi obviously had called him, worried about what might happen.

“Good life?” She blinked back tears but there was no sadness in them, just rage. “Which part was good, Ron? The part where you made me go by Katherine instead of Katy because you felt like it would be a better career move? Or when you put having children on hold when I was ready because you weren’t? The part where we lived in the big fancy neighborhood instead of in a small house with a big yard and two dogs? Or was it the part where you were running around with Melissa?”

“I really don’t see you having a bunch of dogs in the house,” Ron said.

“Don’t tell me what I want and don’t want, Ron. Not only are you a liar and a cheat, but you are selfish. We didn’t go on vacation or even see each other during the week because we were both working so many hours. We didn’t make memories. We just made money. How was I so blind?”

“Don’t exaggerate.”

“I’m not. You want to know what woman gives up that kind of life? The good life, as you put it?” Katy paused, sucking in a long breath. “A smart woman. I did!”

“Katy, I can escort him out. Or I can call the police,” said Derek.

“Katy?” Ron chuckled. “He calls you Katy. You can’t just run away and pretend you’re someone else.” He turned and looked at Derek. “Her name is Katherine. Katherine Barclift.”

Ron looked back at Katherine. “This whole Katy business is ridiculous. I ought to have a psych eval done on you.”

“You no longer have the ability to do that. And this is not about anyone but you and me.” She marched right up to him and pushed her hands against Ron’s chest. “Leave. Get out of my life. I left you. Katherine left you. Katy left you. Whoever I’d become was happy enough just sailing through day to day in a life that really had nothing to do with you anyway. You were barely there. If you’d loved me, you wouldn’t have cheated.”

“It was hard on me too.”

“Don’t give me that.” It was almost hard to look at the man. “You know what . . . fine, I’ll give that to you. Poor Ron. So hard to be a faithful partner when the going gets rough. You’re the one who needs counseling. You cheater.”

“I’d be real careful where you’re casting stones right now, Katherine. I have a feeling,” he glanced over at Derek, “that we might just be even.”

“Love isn’t a game. You don’t keep score. I’m gone. It’s over. I’m never coming back. I will live my life on my terms. And if I choose to have someone share it, it will not be someone like you.”

Ron lifted his chin.

“Leave now. Or so help me, I will have Derek call the police and I will press charges. Do you hear me?”

Ron Barclift turned and stormed out of the room.

Naomi looked like she didn’t know whether to chase him down the hall or duck, but she decided which way to go pretty quickly because she was hot on his heels and slammed the door behind him as he stepped out on the porch.

They all walked out to the living room. Katy, Derek, Angie, and Naomi.

“You came back,” Katy said to Derek.

He glanced at Naomi. “Someone called and said you needed help.”

“You didn’t have to come.”

“Friends help friends. It’s how small towns work.”

She was hesitant, but she wanted to be in his arms. He stepped closer and took her hand in his. At least it was a start.

“Well, there sure is enough stuff broken right now,” Naomi said. “It’s like we’re under a black cloud or something. People sick, marriages falling apart, cars breaking down, storms, people out of work. I think it’s time for a good change around here.”

Katy sat down on the couch, her hands still shaking from the whole scene. “Thank you all for being here for me. I’m not sure if he’d have left so amicably without your support.”

Angie said, “I can’t really imagine you married to him.”

“Ten years. We were college sweethearts. People grow. Change. And then some don’t.” Katy wondered what made the path diverge for people who started out traveling the same one. It seemed odd, but then maybe you can’t change a person’s real destiny.

Todd came out into the living room. The hospice nurse had left earlier, and he usually stayed with Kelly Jo until hospice came back.

“She’s gone,” he said.

Angie was the first to fold into Todd’s arms, and he clung to her like a child holding tight to a favorite stuffed animal.

Naomi ran to Kelly Jo’s room as if she could bring her niece back.

Tears fell down Katy’s cheeks: a combination of relief for Kelly Jo, and sorrow for the grieving Todd had just begun.

Kelly Jo and Todd had had such a beautiful and unselfish relationship. Then there were the Rons and Tuckers of the world. They had no idea what they had. Derek’s story. Naomi’s. Angie’s. Peggy’s and even Bertie’s. None of it was simple.

Life is precious—every day, every step of it—and sometimes it changes.

Tomorrows were treated like a right, when really, you never knew how many you would have. She’d wasted a lot of them herself.

Derek wrapped his arms around Katy, and she buried her face into his chest. His warm embrace comforted her, but she knew he needed comforting too.

A few minutes later, the hospice team came back in. They went straight into action, taking care of things and comforting all of them.