Love's Deception (18 page)

He slumped onto the couch and let out a sigh. “Anything.”

“Just be yourself. I want to spend time with the real you.”

He nodded, even though he knew she couldn’t see him. “Sure, Catherine. The real me—you got it. Anything else?”

“I guess not.”

“How’s Danny? And your mom?”

“He’s great. He scored a goal today at his game. He loves the birthday present you sent him. Thank you. I should have told you that sooner. And my mom’s hanging in there, but not doing that well.”

Ty wondered where he stood with her. Did her reserved tone imply she was keeping her distance, or was it fatigue he heard in her voice? Whatever it was, he didn’t dare tackle it over the phone. He’d save the serious conversations for when he could see her face.

“I’m sorry about your mom. Will you tell Danny congratulations on his goal for me? And I’ll meet you at the airport on Thursday.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then. Good night.”

“Good night. And thank you, Catherine.”

“You’re welcome. Bye.”

Ty disconnected the call. He made a fist and pumped his arm victoriously next to his chest. “Yes!”

Five days,
he thought to himself. He took a good look around. Dishes filled the sink. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d swept the tiled floor leading from the door into the kitchen. A film of dust covered every piece of furniture he owned, except the couch he regularly sat on to watch ESPN. He had a lot of work to do. She wanted to see the real him, but this was uncharacteristically messy, even for him. He opened the dishwasher and turned on the water.

Ty walked into church as the organist began playing the opening hymn. He scanned the benches, located Dave Larsen and his family, and sat next to Dave’s four-year-old daughter, Hailey. Dave reached out his hand to shake Ty’s. “How are you doing, Dave?” Ty whispered.

“Good, thanks. And you?”

Ty grinned. “I’m great. Never been better.” Dave’s curious look begged for more information, but it was almost time for the prayer. Ty folded his arms and looked at the chorister. He had cleaned his apartment until well after midnight, and as a result had overslept, making him late for church. But he doubted there’d be time for house cleaning next week. With Cat coming, he intended to take Friday off, and that would only happen if the work got done by Thursday.

When sacrament meeting came to a close, Ty got up to stretch his legs. Dave stood next to him, giving Hailey a hug before she left for Primary. “So boss, what’s new?” Dave asked.

Ty slid his hands in his pockets. “She’s coming for the baptism.”

“That’s great. Did you send her the plane ticket?”

“Like you suggested, I exercised a little faith and bought the ticket. She called last night to say she’ll be here.”

Twenty
-
One

Cat took one last look at the list of instructions she’d left on the kitchen counter. All the phone numbers to call in case of an emergency were there, including Ty’s. Judy would arrive tonight to care for Danny and her mother. Cat took a deep breath and looked out the window. Her visiting teacher had agreed to take her to the light-rail station. Then she’d ride the MAX train to the airport. She couldn’t afford to pay for five days of parking, plus her mother might need the truck.

An hour and a half later, Cat entered Portland International Airport. She hadn’t been here since the last time Eric left for Baghdad. That seemed like so long ago. With minimal flying experience, she felt some trepidation as she looked for her airline. Fortunately, she’d allowed extra time. She checked her bag and made her way through security, then found her gate and sat down. Her flight wouldn’t leave for over an hour, so she wandered through the terminal to a store and browsed the book section. She purchased a novel, then returned to her gate and settled into a chair. Half an hour later, an airline attendant announced Cat’s flight over the loudspeaker. With her nose buried in her book, she inched her way through the line and found her seat on the plane. Thanks to the absorbing story, both the time and the distance flew by.

Her ears popped just as the captain announced their initial descent into Irvine. Cat closed her book and looked out the window. Gradually, the sprawl of California’s homes and skyscrapers came into focus. Up and down the coastline, they spread as far as the eye could see. Ty lived somewhere in that maze of buildings. She took a deep breath and rubbed the palms of her hands across her jeans. She’d spent six weeks with him, but today she felt like she was meeting a total stranger.

The plane declined sharply and touched down on the runway of John Wayne Airport. The engines roared as the plane slowed, and even the taxiing to the terminal went by quickly. Soon Cat emerged from the jetway and followed the signs toward baggage claim, wondering how she’d ever find Ty in this crowd of people. But as she walked past the security checkpoint, she spied him. He stood next to the wall in a blue dress shirt, tie, and slacks, looking intently at the phone in his hand. Cat slowed her pace and watched him walk a small circle and carry on a conversation via the Bluetooth device in his ear. She got close enough to hear his voice before he saw her. He paused mid-sentence, staring at her. “Hey, Dave, she’s here. I gotta go. I’ll come into the office tomorrow morning and look at the file. Bye.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Cat said. “You could have finished.”

Ty turned to face her and stepped closer. He pulled the earpiece out and stuffed it into his pocket with his phone. “No worries. It can wait. How was your flight?”

She just stood there, speechless. She’d forgotten how captivating his blue eyes were, how imposing his bulk and height were, especially when she wasn’t wearing heels. Finally she found her voice. “Just fine. How are you?”

He glanced at the escalator down the hall and they both started walking. “I’m good. Even better now that you’re here.” He led her to the baggage claim area and pulled her suitcase off the conveyor belt. Cat followed him to the short-term parking garage, where he stopped next to a convertible black Mustang. He set her suitcase in the back seat, then pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and opened the door for her.

“A convertible?”

Ty gave a little laugh. “Yeah. We are in California, after all.”

She ran her hand over the tan leather interior and sat down. “Is it new?”

He got behind the wheel and started the engine. “No, I’ve had it two years, but I got it waxed and detailed for you yesterday.”

“Nice. I like it.” Awkward silence filled the car as he paid for parking and zipped onto the freeway. But once they were moving, any kind of meaningful conversation would have been difficult with the air rushing past their faces. The traffic slowed slightly, but for California, Cat imagined it wasn’t too bad. Her hair whipped into her eyes, so she held it back and took in the scenery. The fall sun shone brightly, warming everything in sight. Palm trees lined the streets. Other convertibles with their tops down zoomed past them. People jogged or rode bikes on the path next to an empty canal.

Soon, Ty slowed and turned into an apartment complex. He weaved between two buildings and eased into a covered parking spot. Then he flipped a switch, bringing the car’s top forward and locking it into place before the windows on both sides closed.

While Cat attempted to tame her wild hair, he walked around to open her door. With a halfhearted smile he said, “I’m in 204-B.”

“Thank you,” she said, wondering why he seemed so ill at ease. Not once had he touched her—he hadn’t even held her hand. His quick, easy grin was absent. Did he regret inviting her? Then again, after the way she’d treated him the last time he saw her, could she expect anything more? The familiar guilt returned. Cat knew she should apologize for that day, but she couldn’t force her mouth to spit out the words. Seeing Ty face to face only made it harder. She should have gotten it over with on the phone.

She followed him up the stairs and waited while he slid his key into the lock. He held the door open and then walked in behind her. She put her purse and book on his counter and looked around the beautifully furnished room. Black leather couch, expensive-looking area rug, enormous fish tank, flat-panel wide-screen television, gas fireplace, decorative vase, tall guilded lamp. While Cat checked out the decor he emptied his pockets onto the counter—keys, phone, wallet, and a handful of loose change.

“Catherine . . .” he said from behind her. “Tell me, please. What do I have to do to get us back to where we were?”

She turned and looked at his pleading face.
Get us back to where we were?
In the past weeks, hadn’t she longed for the same thing? But it could never be that way again, because she had fallen for him under false pretenses. The fancy car, the upscale apartment, the clothes he wore—all were proof of that. Still, Cat had to believe that somewhere inside the sophisticated businessman standing before her was the farmer she’d fallen in love with.

She took a deep breath. “Ty, I need to know the real you. Your mom told me you are very private, but I need open communication. As I mentioned before, Danny’s father ran off and joined the army without even talking to me. I just . . . I can’t be in another relationship like that. Maybe that’s part of the reason I was so hurt that you didn’t tell me the truth in the first place.”

Ty nodded. “I understand, Cat, and I’m sorry. I should have been honest with you from the get-go. I can do better. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. But the truth is, you already know the real me. Although you didn’t see the whole picture, I was never anything but myself when I was with you. I’m just not sure how to prove it.”

An idea formulated in her mind. “You can prove it by acting as if I wasn’t here. I’d like to see and do all the regular things you do. If I wasn’t here, what would you be doing? That’s what I want to see. Your regular, everyday self. And I’ll ask questions, when they come to mind.”

Ty sent her a quizzical glance. “It’s a deal. Except I won’t be putting in a full day at the office tomorrow. I worked twelve-hour days this week so I could take tomorrow and Monday off.”

 “Okay,” Cat said with a chuckle.
Still working as hard as ever, but on something besides farming.

Ty relaxed his stance and smiled. “So, what do you want to do?”

“What do you usually do on Thursday nights?”

“Let’s see . . . work out at the gym, pick up some groceries, and make dinner.”

“That sounds good. Can I go with you, or do I need a membership to get into the gym?”

“You can go. I’ll get you a guest pass.”

An hour later, Cat stood watching Ty bench-press a bar loaded with iron weights. In her sweat pants and baggy T-shirt, she felt out of place next to the girls in their leggings and racerback tanks. Ty walked to the rack by the mirrors and picked up a small hand weight and handed it to her. “Bicep curls are next. Like this. Sit down and rest your elbow against the inside of your thigh.” He picked up a dumbbell and demonstrated. He looked at her in the mirror. “You know we can go anytime you want.”

Cat mimicked his movements with the weight. “No, that’s okay. We’ll go when you’re done.”

“I just need to do some squats and spend about ten minutes with the jump rope.”

“Sounds good,” she said, concentrating on her bicep curls. The dumbbell hadn’t seemed particularly heavy when Ty’d handed it to her, but after lifting it nine times, she could swear its weight had doubled. “Ten,” she breathed out in a sigh of relief, then dropped the weight onto the rack. “Do you come here every day?” she asked Ty.

Between repetitions, he said. “I try to, but it usually ends up being four times a week.” He returned his dumbbell to the rack, then wiped his face and tossed his towel onto an empty bench. After handing Cat a jump rope and grabbing his, he stepped away from her and started jumping.

She swung her rope over her head and attempted to imitate him. When the rope caught on her foot, she dropped her hands to her side in frustration. “You make it look so easy!” Ty smiled and went faster, crossing his hands in front of him on every fifth jump. Cat couldn’t help but laugh. “You big show-off. I’m not going to watch you anymore.” She turned her back to him.

He started counting backwards. “Five, four, three, two . . .”

She faced him again. “What are you counting for?”

“I knew you couldn’t look away for more than five seconds.”

“Oh, you’re impossible. Fine. I’ll watch.” While she sat on the bench she could see the entire gym in the mirror’s reflection. And she wasn’t the only girl with her eyes on Ty.

After the gym, they stopped at the grocery store and picked up French bread and the ingredients for spaghetti. She’d asked nearly every question that popped into her mind, and Ty was quick to give detailed answers.

Cat’s guilt gnawed at her all evening, and during dinner she tried to work up the nerve to say she was sorry. Finally, as they stood at the sink washing dishes, she said, “Ty, I owe you an apology.”

He shut off the water and turned to her. “For what?”

She swallowed. “For that day, before you left Oregon. It was awful the way I treated you. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I never should have slapped you across the face or threatened to run you over with my truck. I’m sorry.”

Ty didn’t say anything at first, just slid his fingers down her arm and took the dishrag from her hand, then tossed it in the sink. “I deserved it, Cat.” With a smile, he said, “The slap on the face was a nice touch. I can honestly say that was a first for me. Besides, I was overdue for some drama in my life. Now when all the guys are bragging about their worst break-ups, I’ll have the best story.”

He moved closer, impairing her ability to think clearly. “Ty, you’re not supposed to be joking. I’m seriously trying to ask for forgiveness here.”

His hand went to her face and he brushed a kiss across her lips. “I forgive you. Don’t give it another thought. And I’m sorry I hurt you. That was never my intention.”

“It’s okay,” she said softly. “So, what do you do after dinner?”

“I have a feeling I’m going to hear that question a lot this weekend. I usually watch a little SportsCenter, fall asleep on the couch, and then wake up around midnight and go to bed.”

“Then let’s watch SportsCenter.”

Ty closed the dishwasher and dried his hands. “If it’s okay, tonight I’d rather talk with you.”

“All right, talking it is.”

“Let’s sit down.” He held out his hand. She took it and followed him to the couch. “Tell me about Danny.”

She smiled at the mention of her son. “He misses you. And he loves his football uniform. You should see him running around the house with it on. Actually, I have a picture.” She jumped up and pulled her phone from her purse, then found the photo and handed the phone to Ty. “Here he is, the afternoon the package came. I couldn’t get him to take the uniform off, even for bed. I waited until he fell asleep and wiggled the helmet off his head. But he slept in everything else.”

Ty smiled as he studied the picture. “He slept in shoulder pads?”

Cat scooted closer to look at it with him. “He really did. I didn’t think I could get them off without waking him.”

“That’s amazing. They aren’t comfortable, you know,” Ty said. He handed her the phone, which she dropped in her lap.

“He didn’t look comfortable, but he slept through the night.”

“How is your mom?”

Cat stared at her phone. “Not good.”
She’s dying, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it
.

He leaned forward and took her hand in his. “What happened? Tell me.”

“About the time you left, they found the tumor on her liver had grown, plus there are tumors in her lungs.” Cat’s voice cracked with emotion. “The best chemotherapy drugs failed and she doesn’t want to try anything else. She’s dying. Ty, my mom’s leaving me.” Tears ran down Cat’s cheeks and she fought to keep from sobbing.

Ty pulled her into his arms and whispered into her ear. “I’m sorry, Catherine.”

“Sometimes I think the only thing keeping her alive is Ava—her horse. I’ve been helping Mom ride on Wednesdays. She’s tired for a day or two afterward, but riding seems to give her a second wind to get through the week. From what the doctors implied she’s doing a little better than expected, and I can’t help but think it’s because of Ava.”

“I guess you’ll have to keep riding with her.”

Cat smiled at the thought. “I guess I will.”

She stayed tucked within the safety of Ty’s arms, telling him about everything—the doctor’s appointments, her worry over Danny accepting the loss, and her own fears.

Finally, she pulled away and wiped her fingertips across her cheeks, hoping she didn’t have mascara all over her face.
I’d better not spend the whole night crying on his shoulder. Time to change the subject.
“So, was this a furnished apartment or did you put all this together?” she asked brightly.