Deacon grabs hold of Kate’s hand and drags her off to introduce her to all the animals.
“I don’t know about you,” Violet says, watching the duo, “but he’s going to miss Kate.”
“I know the feeling,” I say under my breath, not meaning for anyone to overhear me.
“I knew it!” Even without looking at Violet, I can tell she’s grinning.
I turn my head to her. “Knew what?”
“That you’re in love with her.”
I roll my eyes, mostly to distract her from the truth. “That’s quite the leap from me missing her once she returns home.”
“Not really. You two are great together. And I don’t just mean because you make a great-looking couple—which you do. It’s obvious to anyone who has seen you two together that you’ve become close friends. And as we know, friends make the best couples.” She nods at Sophie and Jake who are visiting the piglets.
She’s also referring to TJ and herself. TJ and Austin might be best friends, but Violet and TJ have also been friends for as long as I can remember.
“None of that matters,” I say. “In case you’re forgetting, she’s returning to Beverly Hills in less than two weeks. She even has a date lined up for once she gets back.”
“She told you that?”
“I overheard her talking to her stepmother on the phone about it.”
Violet groans. “It’s not a real date. Her stepmother organized some big event, and because she doesn’t want Kate to be dateless for it, she set her up with someone they know. Kate’s not interested in him at all. He’s only going with her because he wants to schmooze with a couple of the party guests for business purposes.…Have you told Kate how you feel about her?”
“Why would I do that?”
The goat Deacon and Kate are visiting sneezes, and Deacon giggles uncontrollably. Kate grins at him—and for a moment, an image of her grinning at our own little boy almost knocks me on my ass.
Violet flashes me a look that can only be translated to mean one thing: she thinks I’m an idiot. “Because then she would know how you feel.”
“And then what? Kate doesn’t belong in Copper Creek. She belongs in Beverly Hills.”
“She belongs where there’s a guy who is in love with her and with friends who think she’s amazing and who don’t want her to leave.”
“She has friends back home.”
“I don’t know about that. From what she’s told Sophie, Aubrey, and me, her friends don’t sound like very good friends.”
So it’s not just me and Troy who feel that way.
“Have you told her that?” I ask.
“The last thing Kate needs is for me to criticize the women who she thinks are her friends. But I’ve met people like them when I worked in LA. She deserves better.”
“It doesn’t matter. She needs to return to Beverly Hills. Copper Creek can’t offer her what she wants.”
Violet’s eyebrow rises. “And what exactly is that?”
“A project she can get excited about. That’s the only reason she agreed to stay in Copper Creek—to do the renovations. She wanted something to keep her busy for a few months. She wasn’t looking to stay here permanently.”
“Are you sure about that? Maybe she just needs another reason to stay here. Maybe that reason is you, Noah.”
27
Kate
I adjustthe super-chunky throw artfully arranged at the end of the bed in the attic.
