Needing Happily Ever After - Elena Aitken Page 0,60

took one last look at the view—his view—before making his way down the path to the main house…and his father.

It felt as if Katie had only just fallen asleep when the sun began to peek through the curtains of her bedroom.

Her childhood bedroom at home on the ranch.

She stretched her arms over her head and felt the pull in her muscles. And for one brief moment, she managed to forget.

It was just an ordinary day, waking up in her ordinary house. Just like every other day.

Except it wasn’t.

There was nothing ordinary about her days lately.

And after that fight with Damon, there was definitely not going to be anything even remotely ordinary about this day either.

Reluctantly, Katie forced herself out of bed and made her way into the kitchen, where her mother was taking a tray of muffins from the oven.

“Good morning, sweetie.”

“That smells delicious.”

“They just need to cool.” Her mother smiled, but there was an unasked question in her eyes and Katie knew she was dying to know why her newlywed daughter was currently waking up in her childhood bedroom. “Help yourself to coffee. Sugar’s on the table.”

Katie poured herself a steaming mug and took it to the table, where she sat in her usual chair. She contemplated how much to tell her mother about why she was really there. Was there even a point in keeping up the facade anymore? Clearly, she and Damon weren’t going to go through with the whole “staying married” thing. It was probably a stupid idea in the first place. She never should have married him. That had been the first bad idea, of course, followed by so many others. But none of them had been nearly as bad as believing even for a second that he could actually love her. Like, love her love her.

She dropped her head into her hands.

“So?” Debbie put the muffins on the table and it was the combination of the delicious aroma and her mother’s question that made Katie lift her head.

“Blueberry?” She ignored her mother’s question and reached for a muffin. It was too hot, so she dropped it back on the plate and put her fingers to her lips.

Her mother raised an eyebrow. “They need to cool, so you might as well tell me what’s been going on.”

Katie looked into her mother’s eyes and that’s when she knew that her mother’s question went deeper than requesting an explanation for why she had slept at home.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“The truth, Katie.” Her mother’s voice was soft, and without judgment. “Always the truth. And just start at the beginning, okay?” Her smile was kind and encouraging as she poured cream from the pottery creamer jug Katie had made in the fifth grade into her coffee.

Katie nodded. The truth. She could do that.

So she did.

Slowly, and carefully, Katie told her mother everything, starting with the phone call from Damon asking for the favor, to the meeting with Anthony Banks that pushed up the wedding, to the kiss and the…well, she left out specific details, but her mom got the gist. Katie spoke about the wedding, and the feelings she actually felt for him. The love that she didn’t even know she’d had for her best friend, so that when they decided to actually stay married, it had felt like the exact perfect thing. And finally, she ended her story by telling her mother about their fight the night before that had resulted in her storming out.

When she was finished speaking, she finally reached for a muffin and pulled a chunk from it to stuff in her mouth.

A flash of movement from the corner of her eye distracted her, and Katie turned just in time to see Logan’s back in the hallway before she heard the slam of the front door.

Had he heard her? Did it even matter if he had?

Katie shook her head, resigned, and turned back to her mom, who still hadn’t spoken.

Her mom was quiet for so long that Katie wondered whether she’d heard anything she’d just said. Finally, she looked up to see her mom with tears in her eyes.

“Oh, Mom. Please don’t cry.” Katie dropped the muffin. “I’m so sorry for lying to you and everyone else.”

“I knew,” her mother said slowly.

“You knew?”

“Well, I knew something was up,” Debbie explained. “After the wedding, when Anthony mentioned ElkView and selling it to a married couple.”

Of course.

“It all just made a little more sense, you know?”

Katie nodded. “I know it was a terrible thing to