there was no anger in his tone. “A very wise man once told me that when a Jacobs woman sleeps with you, it means she loves you.”
Reed remembered their conversation perfectly. But that was a different time, a completely different circumstance. “That doesn’t bring Katrina any closer to Colorado.”
“You think that’s your only answer?”
Reed ignored his brother and began moving again, increasing his pace.
“That Katrina comes to Colorado?” Caleb called. “You can’t go to New York City?”
Reed smacked his hand on the doorjamb as he rocked to a halt.
“There are two possible solutions,” said Caleb.
Reed turned, enunciating carefully. “My world is here. I have a house to build and kids to raise and a mother to honor.”
“You think Mom would want you to give up Katrina?” Caleb stepped closer.
“I think Mom would want Katrina to be happy,” Reed answered with total honesty. There were more than a few parallels between the two women. And he would never, ever do to Katrina what his father had done to his mother.
“So do I,” Caleb said softly, stopping directly in front of Reed. “I think Mom would want you to make Katrina happy, on Katrina’s terms, in Katrina’s world.”
Reed opened his mouth to argue.
But Caleb wasn’t finished. “I know your plan, Reed. And I understand why you’re doing it. But you’re wrong, dead wrong. You don’t honor Mom by staying in Lyndon Valley. You honor Mom by honoring Katrina.”
Reed couldn’t wrap his head around it. “You’re suggesting I move to New York City?” Was Caleb saying their mother would want him to move to New York City? The idea was preposterous. He was a cowboy. His life was here. He was about to dig the foundation for his house.
“Imagine,” Caleb continued, voice controlled, but Reed could see the anger simmering in his eyes. “If Wilton had once, even once in his miserable, toxic life, given a damn about Mom? What she wanted, what she needed, what would make her happy instead of him?”
Reed got where his brother was going with this. “It’s not just geography, Caleb.”
“Then, what is it?”
Reed wished there weren’t quite so many witnesses, but he supposed there was no point in backing off now. “The last thing she said to me was, no matter how I dressed up, I’d always be an uncouth Colorado cowboy.”
Caleb shrugged. “So change.”
Reed snapped his fingers. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“I’m not going to stop threatening to kill any man who hurts her.”
A grin spread across Caleb’s face. “Yeah? Well, maybe you could stop telling her about it.”
Danielle spoke up. “But you already did that, Reed.”
Reed looked at her. “Already did what?”
“You didn’t kill him. You found another way.” She gave a shrug. “Maybe the tux and the tie rubbed off on you. Because instead of killing Quentin Foster, you outsmarted him. That was very civilized.”
It was Mandy’s turn to step in, and she was fighting a smile. “Honestly, Reed, I can’t see Katrina objecting if you threaten to outsmart any man who hurts her.”
Danielle nodded her agreement.
“It’s not quite as satisfying,” Caleb allowed.
“It was pretty satisfying,” Reed admitted. The only thing he’d regretted was not being able to watch Elizabeth deliver the news to Foster.
“She misses you,” said Danielle, her tone softer, more thoughtful than normal. “I went to see Katrina while I was in New York City. I was trying to figure out if you’d lost your mind. You hadn’t. And she misses you.”
The only time Katrina didn’t miss Reed was while she was performing. Being on stage took all of her concentration and she was thankful that, if only temporarily, the effort blocked him out of her brain. But as soon as the curtain fell, her chest would hollow out again and her stomach would start to ache.
The applause from tonight’s audience had barely died down. She was pacing her way along the hall to her dressing room, and her tears were once again close to the surface. She’d picked up her phone about a hundred times in the last few days, longing to call him and hear the sound of his voice. She wasn’t ready to let him go. Not yet. Not so soon.
She’d concocted all kinds of wild schemes to eke a few more hours out of their brief relationship. Maybe he could come back to the city for a day or a week. Or maybe she could go to Colorado for another visit. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad there, if she was with Reed.
But deep down inside, she