Winter Interlude (3 page)

“None whatsoever
.”
Kate
placed the items in the fridge
.
“
L
et me know when you’ll need anything else.”

“You’re an angel
.
I can’t figure out what’s wrong with that young man you’ve been dating
.
You two have had plenty of time to get married
.
In my day, boys didn’t pussyfoot around when they had a good thing
.
They weren’t afraid of marriage.”

“I got you a couple of candy bars,”
Kate
interjected, having come fully prepared to deflect the forthcoming lecture about not buying a cow when the milk is free
.
Mrs. P
ike
was worse than her mother at times
.
She emptied the bag and presented two Snickers bars
.

Mrs. Pike’s a
ged eyes lit up with pleasure and
her wrinkled face
broke out in huge smile
.
“Thank you
.”
The older woman didn’t just have one sweet tooth
.
Every remaining tooth in her mouth craved sugary snacks
.

Kate
said her good
-
bye
s
and quickly let herself out, making a getaway while she could
.
The candy diversion wouldn’t last long
.
She walked to her own apartment trying not to think about
Mrs. P
ike
’s
comment
.
Unfortunately,
it hit a nerve,
thanks to her mom’s
phone
call
.
Stuff like that never bothered her before
.
Chrissie
’s
engagement
announce
ment
,
however, had prompted her to wonder
the same thing
.
What was James afraid of
?
She thought
about it
constantly
for the last few weeks,
and
the answer had become obvious
.

Commitment.

Don’t dwell on it
, she told herself,
as she inserted her
key into the lock
.
Hopefully, the plans she’d set into motion for the trip to Tahoe next weekend would change things
.
The second her front door clicked shut behind her, she glanced around
.
I
gnoring her tightening stomach, she took a deep breath and focused on the scene before her
—
one that always lifted her spirits
.

Various shades of blues and creams framed the windows and covered the upholstered furniture
.
The fabrics she
chose blended with expensive antiques
—
of course she would own nothing less
—
and created a warm and inviting elegance that always made her feel like a princess, even if Jame
s’
lack of attention was starting to make her feel like a toad
.

An oversized off-white sofa flanked one side
of the room
, two upholstered navy chairs the other
.
Her
wide-screen TV rested atop a long, dark wood sideboard
, completing the
U
-shape
.
The
antique sideboard
had at one time graced a mansion in Seacliff
, but
Kate
snapped it up at
the
estate sale
after
the owner had died
.
The grandkids’ lack of appreciation for what they’d practically given a
way had been her good fortune.

Her gaze landed at her feet and she grimaced
.
Whoever created heels had to be a sadistic man
.
Kate
kicked them off and dug her bare
toes
into the thick rug she’d picked up at a bargain
.
Covering her apartment’s refinished turn-of-the-century hardwood
floors
went against her nature as a decorator
.
But the carpet’s four corners defined the parameters of what she considered her living room
,
and kept noise at a minimum for the neighbor below her
.

She stepped around the blue silk screen that separated the enormous area into two rooms. An antique four-poster bed and matching armoire took up most of the smaller space she considered her bedroom
.

“Ah
.”
She
dropped
onto the plush mattress, rubbing her aching arches and toes
.

F
ashion requires a hefty price
.

The thought of putting her feet up and nestling in for the night flitted through her mind, but
tonight she didn’t have
time for self-indulgence.

Judith Reid, one of her best friends, was treating her to a belated birthday meal
.
This was their first opportunity to get together for dinner since before
Kate
left on her buying trip
.
Tonight
they
planned to
finalize the details of her proposed getaway
.
Unfortunately, Paul Morrison, Judith’s boyfriend and Jame
s’
younger brother, rounded out the foursome
for the weekend
.
Willingly including him in any of her plans meant she was desperate
.
But desperate times called for desperate measures, she reminded herself, determining then and there not to let his little digs get to her
.

She sighed
,
and
rubbed her foot
a little
harder
.

The guy wouldn’t be so bad if he would just quit with the jokes at her expense
.
Of course, rising to his taunts most likely kept their sparring alive, she decided, remembering the last family get-together at Christmas
.
Paul’s off
-
the
-
wall remark about Jame
s’
present seeming a little impersonal after dating so long struck a nerve, as had so many others over the years
.
At that point, she’d grasped that responding wasn’t the answer
.
But the knowledge hadn’t mattered one bit because the minute the words were out of his mouth, something inside her subconscious kicked in
.
Even biting her tongue hadn’t stopped her nasty retort
.

And the worst part
?
Most of
the
anger
she vented at
Paul
should have been
directed at James for giving his brother the ammunition
for his verbal barbs
in the first place
.
O
ven mitts and an apron were pretty much at the bottom of
anyone’s
list of romantic
presents
.
T
he gift
definitely
lacked intimacy, adding to her concerns, which
spurred
her
to plan
a weekend ski trip to make things better
.
It had to
; it c
ertainly couldn’t make things worse
.

With the kinks finally worked out of her feet, she padded to the armoire and pulled out jeans and a sweater
.
On the way to the bathroom
to change
, her cell phone beeped
.
Please let it be a
message from James
.
S
he grabbed the phone, exhaled a relieved sigh
,
and read the text message while walking
.

‘
Scored tickets to the Warriors game on Tuesday night.
’

Yes
!
She
gave herself
a mental high five, excited that he’d come through for her
.
Basketball was her game
.
But her excitement died a quick death as she read on
.
He’d hit a snag on his project and had to cancel their plans for tomorrow night
.
T
heir usual Sunday brunch didn’t look promising either
.

She tried not to be too disappointed
;
in fact
,
she
should
have
expected it
.
James, an architect and a perfectionist with his designs, worked long hours, something she
didn’t
mind early on in their relationship
.
Heck, she’d put in years of eighty
-
hour weeks too
.
But now that her
shop was doing well and her
workload had leveled off, she realized how little time they actually spent together as a couple
.
She wanted more than the few dates a month James seemed perfectly happy with
.
And as far as the future went
?
They didn’t appear to be on the same page any longer
.
Even Mrs. Pike noticed it
.