Winter Interlude (43 page)

She chanced a quick glance in his direction
.
Did he suspect something
?
“I survived,” she murmured evasively,
returning her gaze to the window
.
Time spent with Paul was the last thing she wanted to discuss with James
.

“That’s exactly the answer I got from Paul
.”
James laughed
.
“
G
ood to see neither one of you killed the other.”

“
Yeah
!
Imagine that
.
I’m still alive and so is he,” she said
.
Too
bad hindsight was twenty-twenty
.
It was hard to admit that
Paul had
been right all those years
.
He must have seen something she couldn’t
.
Of course, if she’d never had to defend herself from his barbs
in the first place
, she might have figured all of this out sooner
.

She sighed
.
Or maybe not
.
S
he
’d
had
her mind
too
set on
James
.
I
t had
taken
three days
of being with Paul
and
his hot kisses
to do what nothing else could have
—
break
the spell James had on her heart all those years
.
Now
she
found herself yearning
for the impossible
.
She didn’t know what was worse
—t
hinking she loved someone who’d never come around
,
or knowing she loved someone who loved someone else.

“So the skiing was great, huh
?”

Kate
nodded
.
“Yeah, I don’t think it gets much better
,
especially
on
Sunday
.
You really missed out.”

“That’s what Paul
said
.
I wish I’d been there.”

“Oh well
.
Wasn’t meant to be
.”
At his second mention of Paul, she couldn’t contain her
curiosity
.
“So you talked to Paul
?
When?”

“Earlier today
.
I called to razz him about the weekend with you, but he wasn’t very talkative.”

“
Nothing unusual there
,
” she
said
nonchalantly, unwilling to alert him to the excitement shooting through her system
.
“I’ve never found him to be very talkative except when he’s throwing out insults.”

“He’s not that bad
.”
James smiled
.
“He got
especially
quiet right after I told him I was seeing you tonight
.
I asked him if he wanted me to give you any messages.”

She laughed and pretended
her tummy wasn’t doing backflips
.
“I’m sure he
threw out
a few snide comments
when
my name came up
.”
She shouldn’t care, but she did
.
A lot.

“
Surprisingly
, he didn’t
.
He
just told me to have
a nice time
.”
James hesitated
.
“
H
e also said
I should treat you right
.”
He shook his head
.
“
He sounded serious
.
”

“You’re kidding
—
he actually said that
?”
Kate
asked
, fight
ing to keep the amazement out of her voice
.

“Yeah
.”

She felt his
gaze
and glanced over
.
The speculation in his expression had her wiping all emotion off her face
.

“Did something happen this weekend
I should know about
?”
His eyebrows shot up
and h
e
continued with his
thoughtful stare
.

Praying her face
hadn’t turned
beet
red
as he refocused on driving
, s
he slowly shook her head
.
“Nothing more than Paul being Paul
.”
A few seconds later, s
he threw out her best effort to appear innocent
.
“
Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know
.”
He snared her gaze again
for a brief moment
.
“
Y
ou two are
sure
acting funny.”

Kate
rolled her eyes
.
“
Your imagination
’
s working in overdrive
.”
She snorted
.
“
W
e had the kind of weekend you’d expect two enemies to have
.
We each got in a few barbs and tried to stay away from each other as much as possible
.”

“
Hmm
.
Maybe
.
But something’s different
.
I just can’t put my finger on it
,” he said
pee
ring at the road ahead
.
“
Are you sure not
hing happened
?
”

“
Yes
.
Q
uit trying to make a big deal out of it
.”
She
crossed her arms and
look
ed
straight ahead
, hoping he’d get the hint
.

“Okay, consider the subject dropped
.”

“
Thank you,” she said softly, keeping her attention on the
cars in front of them
.

Finally
,
the
Sausalito
exit
came into view
,
just past the Golden Gate Bridge
.

A mile down the road,
he parked in a spot not too far from the restaurant
.
Bo
th emerged
from his Sequoia
at the same time
, and
walked side by side toward the buildin
g
.
As before,
neither touch
ed
the other
.
Somehow
,
the simple omitted act of hand
-
holding portrayed what was wrong with their relationship. She used to wish for more affection from him
,
but
he seemed oblivious to her need. How sad to realize she just accepted it as the way it was.
N
ow she was only too happy she didn’t have to hold his hand
.
It
would be too weird
. Somehow, after so many years, that saddened her
even
more.

James opened the door for her
at the restaurant’s entrance,
and waited until she was inside before following.

Since James had been right about the night being a slower one at the restaurant, they were seated right away near a window overlooking San Francisco Bay and the city as a backdrop
.

A
waitress
bounce
d
up to their table and asked in an overly
chirpy
voice, “What can I get you to drink?”
Just what she needed.
A waitress who acted as if she were at Disney
W
orld instead of Sausalito.

The waitress returned w
ithin minutes
,
still bouncing
,
and
placed
two glasses of wine
in front of them
before pulling
out a notepad
.
“You ready?”

The atmosphere was entirely too cheerful for a breakup meal,
Kate
thought
,
watching
the waitress
sashay away after taking their order.