“She was,” Tate conceded. “That was a long time ago.”
Years. It had been literal years. Even the few times Cat had come into town to visit her family, he’d never seen or talked to her. She’d fly in for a day or two and then fly out. He’d only hear about it later. She couldn’t have made it clearer that she didn’t want to see him. He was part of her past. A past she wanted to pretend didn’t exist.
“You’re not in love with her anymore?”
“No. Shit, we were just kids. Are you still in love with your high school girlfriend?”
“I wasn’t in love with her then, let alone now. I think I may have inherited our dad’s ability to be emotionless in a relationship. I’ve never been with a woman who made me feel anything more than sexual desire.”
“Jesus, that sounds awful. I’m not sure I’d admit that out loud.”
“I’m not proud of it. Just stating a fact,” Sam said, shrugging as if it was no big deal. Maybe, to him, it wasn’t. “I’ve come to a point in my life where I think love isn’t going to happen to me. It’s not so bad. I have friends and family. I don’t miss what I never had, and it makes my life easier and simpler.”
“As long as you’re okay with it.”
“But we’re not here to talk about me,” Sam said. “We’re here to talk about you. You and Cat.”
“There hasn’t been a me and Cat for a long time.”
Unwanted images of Cat and himself flitted through Tate’s mind. Some of them sad, most of them happy. Even all these years later, he’d never quite gotten over just how amazingly beautiful she was. It didn’t matter whether she was wearing ratty sweatpants with her hair in a messy bun or dressed up for their senior prom; she’d simply sparkled like no other woman he’d ever met.
Obviously, he wasn’t alone in how he felt. After all, she’d become a world-famous model before the age of twenty.
“She’s moving here. I need to tell you that she’s coming back.”
Sam’s abrupt words pulled Tate from his memories of the past.
“She’s moving here,” he echoed. “What do you mean? What about her career? And her mother? Grace moved to New York City to be with Cat.”
“I don’t know all the details,” Sam explained. “I only know that I heard that Cat looked at a house for sale just down the block from her mom. She didn’t buy it, but they said she was moving home and selling her New York City apartment. And you know what that means, bro. Eventually, you’re going to run into her at some point. Even if you don’t go to this anniversary party, you’re going to see her. What are you going to do?”
Sam seemed to think that there was some five-alarm issue happening here. But it wasn’t like that.
“Gosh, I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to move and go into some sort of witness protection. Or I could just change my hair and name. Maybe wear a disguise around town. What do you think of a funny nose and glasses?”
“You’re such a comedian,” Sam replied. “I’m being sensitive and helpful here.”
“Since when has the Winslow family ever been sensitive or helpful?”
“I was trying something new. Forget I asked.”
Tate appreciated his brother’s efforts, but it just wasn’t that big of a deal. Fourteen years was a long time. He’d dated many women since, and he would in the future, too.
“Listen, I’m grateful that you care. It’s just that I’m not worried about this. I’m going to see Cat, and that’s fine. Hell, maybe we’ll become friends. We were friends before we started dating.”
“I don’t think Cat Townsend is the kind of woman that men become friends with.”
“I don’t think you know anything about her,” Tate retorted. “She was a good friend to me for a long time. Before and during the time we dated.”
But not after. Cat had simply disappeared out of his life, slowly at first and then one day…gone.
“I don’t know shit about love, but I can’t imagine being friends with someone that I loved in the past. I think it would hurt too much.”
It had hurt back then. A whole hell of a lot.
“Time heals all wounds,” Tate quoted. “Unrequited love is a luxury that few have in the real world. We can’t all be starving poets in the English countryside. Some of us have adult responsibilities.”
Back in high school, Tate had been a dumb teenager who thought everything was life and death. Now he knew differently. In a way, Cat had taught him that. She’d shown him that things change, people change, and he’d better be ready to roll with it. Life wasn’t going to somehow stand still because he wanted it to.
