Winter Interlude (24 page)

Thank
the stars
above
,
she’d be able to cook in peace
.

She topped off her wine, took a small sip
,
and set the glass on the counter, feeling somewhat better
.
I can deal with my attraction
.
Smiling, she gathered the necessary ingredients
—
ham, eggs, three kinds of white cheeses, garlic, butter, half
-
and
-
half, onions, mushrooms, fresh marjoram and basil
—
then got to work chopping, grating
,
and mincing
.

Finally
,
everything was ready for the oven, but the temperature wasn’t high enough yet.

Her cell phone rang
.
She wiped off her
wet hands
,
reached into her pocket
, and dug
it out
.
Jame
s’
name flashed on the screen
.

It’s about time she heard from him
.
“Hey
,
James
.
How far are you
?
I’m cooking dinner now
.”
He cleared his throat, and the sound alerted
her
.
“Is something wrong
?”

His
hesitation before another throat clearing were
sure signs that her intuition was dead on
.

“I’m still in the
B
ay
A
rea
.
”

“What
?”
She’d expected his delay, but this news caught her off guard
.
Anger slid its way up her spine as it straightened one vertebra at a time
.
She took a deep breath and counted to ten before saying, “I thought you’d be here hours ago and now you’re telling me you haven’t even left
?”

“I’m sorry,
Kate
.
I got caught up with a problem that took longer than I thought it would.”

Of course he did
.
There was always a problem that was more important than spending time with her.

“Unfortunately, I doubt I’ll make it up tonight.”

“You’re not serious
?”
At this point
,
holding in her anger
took too much effort
.
“Tell me this is a joke,” she said more harshly than intended
.

“
Have you looked at the weather
?”

“Yeah, duh,” she said, glancing out the window
.
“It’s snowing
.”
White stuff was still coming down and drift
ed
halfway up the porch rail
.
Even so, she went over to the television,
clicked
the remote
,
and switched to the weather channel
.
Across the bottom of the screen flashed a winter storm warning for the Northern California/Northern Nevada area
.
Old news
!
I
f he’d left on time,
as promised
, he’d have missed the worst part and have made it
to Tahoe
hours ago.

“The highway patrol just closed I-80,” James said
.
“Highway 50 was closed hours
ago
.”

“You’re kidding
.
”
Still praying that somehow he was teasing her, she
read the
scrolling
banner on the TV that
confirmed what he’d said
and
her
mood took a nosedive
.

“I wish I were,” he said
.
“But it doesn’t look good
.
The storm’s producing so much snow, the plows can’t keep up
.”
She wanted to cry when he added, “They’re also saying that when they reopen
,
people should stay off the roads since they’re predicting another twenty inches tonight and maybe more if the system doesn’t move.”

“Great
!”
S
he s
crunch
ed
her nose
while
rubb
ing
her temple
.
Could anything else happen to make this the worst weekend of her life
?
“You missed an awesome day of skiing
.”

“I
know
.
I wish I could’ve broken
away
earlier
.
At least
you and Paul are making the best of it.”

“Yeah, me and Paul
.”
If only James hadn’t let her down again
.
But he had
.
Big
-
time
.
She now understood what Paul meant when he’d accused her of putting up with too much shit from James
.
Hell, the Paul she’d come to know would never renege on a promise
.
Kate
blinked back the moisture filling her eyes as the truth hit her head-on
.
She was worth more
.
And Paul, using his biting wit, had tried to tell her that for years.

“I was thinking
we could drive
up next weekend,” James said
.
“The powder should last a few days
,
don’t you think?”

“Probably
.”
There was
no way
could
she
count on him
.
H
e’d disappointed her one tim
e too
many
.
Whether expected or not, i
t still hurt to know it was time to say good
-
bye to him and this one-sided relationship
.
What made the pain worse was the realization that she should have let go sooner
.
A few tears trickled down her face
.
She wiped them off and
swallowed hard
.
“
W
e skied in knee
-
deep powder today
,” she said, hoping to rub it in a bit to make him regret not coming up earlier, despite the futility of the wish
.

She
switched
off the TV and turned back to the kitchen
.
“It was one of the best days I’ve ever had, and tomorrow looks to be even better.”

“Sounds like I missed out
.
I’ll make it up to you next weekend
.
Will you be okay with Paul by yourself?”

“Sure.” Her lips curled into a semblance of a smile
.
“We’re having loads of fun
.”

“I
hate
to leave you hanging
like this
, especially since you don’t like being with him.”

“Judith didn’t make it either, so Paul and I are on our own.”

“
Ooooh
.
Now I’m doubly sorry
.”

“Don’t worry about it
.
I’ll survive
.”
Just like she’d survived all those other instances he’d canceled
.

“We’ll get together
during the
week for dinner
to
make plans
, okay
?” he said, like it was some kind of consolation prize
.

Strangely enough
,
the idea of spending a weekend together no longer appealed to her
.
Forgiving and forgetting
simply
weren’t
in her
this time
.
“I don’t think so
.”
Despite saying the hardest words she’d ever spoken, a surge of confidence kept her on track
.
“There’s no reason.”

“Huh
?
What do you mean
?”
He truly sounded puzzled
.

She smiled through her tears
.
“I mean
,
I don’t want to go out to dinner with you
or go skiing with you next weekend
.”

There was dead silence on the phone, until
Kate
ended the conversation with, “I’ll give you a call when I feel more up to it
.”
Then, she disconnected.

Suddenly,
the
burdensome
weight of self-doubt lifted off her shoulder
s
—
which seemed odd, considering the invisible fist squeezing her heart
.
Despite the pain, she
felt freer.