Her expression blanched, but she petted Lilith like she had to calm the raging beast down when the cat only headbutted her and started purring. “An ex.”
Hell. I’d been sarcastic, but wasn’t this a revelation? The ex was the missing part of this conversation. “Is that ex the reason you won’t take me seriously?”
She scratched Lilith behind the ears. Would she answer? “Tate Bailey, do youseriouslywant to date me?”
“Seriously, yes.” And she hadn’t answered my question. What ex could I hunt down and return tenfold whatever he’d done to the kitty? “Tell me about the ex.”
She snuggled the contented cat. The purring got louder. “He was a shitty person, and I let him be for too long.”
My sisters had fallen too often into the same cycle. “Why? Don’t get me wrong, his poor behavior wasn’t your fault, but you don’t strike me as someone who’d put up with it.”
She sighed and set Lilith down. The cat beelined for me. I would have picked her up, but Scarlett was tense, her hands twisting together as she monitored the kitty. “It’s a small town, and I get tired of embroidering alone on Friday nights.”
Then I was glad my sisters had dragged her to the auction on a Friday night. “What’d he do?”
She caught herself twining her fingers together and folded them to her chest. “I could take the snide comments about my style—or lack of.”
“There’s nothing wrong with your style.” Honestly, I hadn’t noticed her appearance as much as I’d noticedher.
“Thanks,” she mumbled. Lilith was rubbing her face against my pants leg. “Are you—is that okay?” She was primed, ready to jump to Lilith’s defense.
“Can I pick her up?” Anything to put Scarlett at ease. I wasn’t going to punt the kitty across the room. Scarlett didn’t answer right away. “I haven’t ever had an indoor cat, but I’ve been known to sit with the barn cats for hours to get out of work. Even as an adult—don’t tell my brothers.”
Finally, she relaxed. “Okay.”
I lifted Lilith, and damn, if I could get Scarlett this boneless and pliant around me, it’d be a monumental achievement. I scratched the cat behind the ears, and her purr reignited.
“He was mean to her.”
I wanted to growl, but I was too afraid to startle either the cat or Scarlett. “Who’s the bastard who insulted you and hurt animals?”
She perched on the end of the chair she’d vacated earlier. “He moved away before you came to town. Peter Glasser. He didn’t hurt her per se, but he’d put her outside and claim she’d escaped. Lilith has been a spoiled indoor cat her entire life.”
“That bastard.”
She nodded, her loving gaze on her cat. “He is, yes. The neighbors would help me look for her, and then Mrs. Mulberry”—she pointed to one side of her house—“saw him one day. He dumped Lilith on the edge of town by the highway.”
I’d find Peter Glasser and punch him in his pussy-hating face.
“When I confronted him,” she continued, “he exploded. Said he hated this town and he was sick of me. Said I bored him to death and that if he had to endure one more night of needlepoint and murder shows, he’d poke himself in the eyes with my needles and frame me for his death.”
“Me and my sisters would help you hide the body.” What a dickweed.
She chuckled, but it didn’t erase the sadness and hurt from her face. “He said Bourbon Canyon was a good place for me. It was uneventful, predictable, and plain, just like me. And he said I’d die alone like the crazy cat lady I was destined to be.”
I puffed out a breath. During the worst of our marriage, my ex and I had never been that hurtful toward each other. We were no longer in love, but we had mutual respect.
I carefully set Lilith down. She returned to rubbing against my legs. I grabbed both of Scarlett’s hands in mine. “Listen. He was a complete asshole. You can’t take a narcissist’s opinion as fact.” I rubbed my thumbs along the backs of her hands. Damn, her skin was as soft as it looked.
“Thanks. What he said has…stayed with me. Looking back, I can see the mind games he played the two years we were together, but for those two years, I didn’t notice.”
And his words had done damage.
That fucker.
“I think it’s because it was nothing new.” She ran her lower lip through her teeth. “I’ve heard it before from other guys I’ve dated, just not so vehemently.”
Fuck them all. “Can I take you out because I want to?”
