Hard to Resist - By Kara Lennox Page 0,48
farther away—despite the obvious logic of the arrangement.
Everything was out of balance. He was acting like Tony did whenever he fell for a girl, preoccupied to the point of obsession with Kat, her daughter, her life. While Kat was thinking about other things.
He knew Kat felt something for him. It wasn’t completely one-sided on his part. But he had to ask himself whether he wanted to continue putting all his energy into the relationship when Kat sometimes seemed so ambivalent.
He settled up with Brady Keller, the original owner’s grandson and a fixture behind the bar since before Ethan was born, and he and Tony walked the two blocks back to their homes.
On the way, Ethan asked Tony something he’d been wondering about. “Once you’ve fallen for a woman, is there any way to pull back, to not quite care so much? It’d be really nice if I could be happy with seeing Kat once or twice a week. Is there any way to get a woman out of your head once she’s there?”
Tony laughed. “I bet you’re feeling real sorry right now for all those times you razzed me when I had it bad.”
“Actually, I do. I thought you were being melodramatic. I never knew how good—and how bad—it felt.”
“Well, my friend, the only way I know of to get a woman out of your head is to meet another one.”
“I don’t want to meet another one. She’s it. She’s the one I’m going to… Oh, no, I sound just like you.”
“You’ll survive. I always do. She didn’t dump you, did she?”
“No. Nothing’s really changed.” But it had. Something had definitely changed.
* * *
KAT LAY ON HER FUTON later that night, sweating like a racehorse. Temperatures had climbed to the mid-nineties during the day. And tomorrow the forecast was for even warmer weather.
She wondered how quickly she would be able to arrange the move to White Cliffs. Except that Sandy Taylor hadn’t called back despite Kat having left several messages, and Kat was getting a bit worried that the town house wasn’t nailed down after all.
When she went to work the next day she was listless from the heat and lack of sleep. She would be checking up on one of the new StrongGirls groups today, observing how her new counselor was conducting herself. She also had a meeting with her own Kimball High group and a couple of one-on-one counseling sessions.
So she drank three cups of coffee while returning phone calls and tried to pull herself together.
Virginia stopped in for some brochures and stuck her head into Kat’s closet-sized office. “Got a minute?” Then her forehead creased with concern. “Oh, hon, you look so tired. You’re not coming down with something, are you?”
“I didn’t sleep well last night,” Kat said, trying for a smile. “But I’m good.”
“Kat?” Deb called out from the outer office. “There’s a woman named Sandy Taylor on the phone. Something about an apartment? Should I tell her you’re not looking—”
Kat grabbed the phone and punched a button. “Hello, Sandy? I’m so glad you called back.”
“Yeah, well, I’m really so sorry, but I rented the apartment to someone else.”
“You…what?”
“You didn’t call back for a couple of days, and I figured you’d already found a place.”
“And you don’t have anything else?”
“No, I’m sorry. Maybe later in the summer.”
“Okay,” Kat said in small voice. “Thanks.” When she hung up, Virginia was looking at her, practically vibrating with concern, and Deb had swiveled her chair around to look, as well.
“Is there a problem?”
Oh, boy. What a mess. She felt as if she were back to square one—desperately needing a place to live and not a lot of options.
But there was an option, she reminded herself. Ethan would be thrilled to have her and Samantha move in. He wasn’t going to like her conditions, though.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ETHAN WHISTLED AS he swept the last of the dirt out of Kat’s future office. She hadn’t, for sure, said, yes, we’re moving in, but she’d said she wanted to talk about it. She was coming over after she finished work for the day, and he planned to show off his house to its best advantage. He’d moved his weight machine and some other junk out to the garage. He’d touched up the pale green paint, then scoured the windows and dusted the miniblinds.
It wasn’t the largest of the three bedrooms, but it was nice. She would get morning sun, diffused by the big pear tree outside.
He’d also cleaned the master bathroom—he was an expert