things pretty up in the air.”
She bit her lip. Remembering their last conversation, she felt like a kite that had lost wind and crashed to the ground.
“I’m here because I want to be involved in your life.”
“After everything you’ve been through?” It wasn’t fair to ask him, really. “You know what I have waiting for me in the new year.”
“I know. I also know that this is a very beatable cancer. The treatment your doctor has ordered is, most likely, insurance. If I’d been thinking I would have realized that.”
“There are no guarantees. My oncologist will be checking me every three months. It could come back.” Simply saying the words was enough to freeze her blood.
He moved to sit next to her and took her hand. “You’re right, it could, and there are no guarantees. I could have a heart attack tomorrow, get hit by a car. But that’s life, isn’t it? Unpredictable, full of good and bad and ups and downs. If you spend all your time worrying about the bumps in the road you’ll never get anywhere and you sure won’t have much of a life. I don’t want to do that, Catherine. You’re a special lady and I want to be with you. I think the bad times are done with us for a while and we might actually have some good times waiting ahead. Let’s see where this leads.”
She so wanted to see where it led, wanted to be with Rudy. But... “The next few months are not going to be pretty.” Her lower lip began to wobble. “I won’t have any hair.”
A stupid thing to bring up. What did losing hair matter compared to the possibility of losing her life?
He kissed her hand. “It wasn’t your hair that attracted me to you in the first place. It was your sweet smile and kind heart. I want to keep what we started going. Don’t you?”
“Oh, yes,” she said. “Yes!”
“Okay, then. Let’s go check out that restaurant. I’m starving.”
And so they did, eating at a window table, dining on prawns and grilled albacore, enjoying the view of Lake Union below. After their meal they returned to Catherine’s house where she fed him cookies and they talked until nearly midnight.
“You’re exhausted,” he said. “I shouldn’t have stayed so long.”
“I’m glad you did,” she said. “Shall we ring in the new year with some of that champagne?”
“One glass. Then I’ll leave and let you get some rest. I’m here until the second if you’d like to get together tomorrow.”
“I certainly would,” she said. “Come over and I’ll make a roast.”
“I haven’t had a roast since... It’s been a long time. I’d love that.”
He opened the champagne and poured it into two of her champagne glasses. “To the new road ahead of us,” he toasted.
She could drink to that.
“Happy New Year, Catherine,” he said after they’d sampled the champagne, then he kissed her.
And the butterflies went crazy.
* * *
Sierra was hosting a girlfriend New Year’s Eve party, which had given Sophie permission to enjoy the party Trevor threw at his Portland condo. She’d liked his friends and had been happy to see some of the people who helped him run his company again. Many of them she’d met on her previous visit to Portland.
She’d also met his brother’s girlfriend and was glad to see her and Kurt at the party. Sophie could easily envision doing things together as couples in the future.
“Having fun?” Trevor asked as the guests started getting their champagne ready to toast in the new year.
“Oh, yes,” she said. “I like all your friends.”
“And they like you. But then, what’s not to like?” he added with a grin. He helped himself to another shrimp from a nearby platter and gave her one, too.
Shrimp, lobster mac and cheese, pork sliders, cookies, chocolate—she’d eaten enough food to last her for a week.
“Hey,” someone called, pointing to the TV hanging over the fireplace. “Countdown’s started.”
Everyone chimed in, counting down the seconds. And then, just like that, it was a new year.
“Happy New Year,” Trevor said to Sophie, and kissed her. With a kiss like that he should have had a fire extinguisher handy.
“Ecstatic New Year,” she corrected him. “Seriously, where did you ever learn to kiss like that? Wait. Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
“That’s just the warm-up. Wait till we get to the main event.”
She was ready for the main event.
Or not. Suddenly she was feeling...
“Oh, my gosh!” She made a dash for the bathroom, still holding her