“I didn’t,” she says with a sigh. “But looking back, I can see how it might have appeared that way.”
I pause, waiting for her to continue.
She drops her gaze to her hands which are clasped in her lap.
“Zach and my relationship was purely platonic for a long time. He would accompany me to functions and family events as my plus one. Was an effective barrier to those irritating social climbers and money hounds.”
“I haven’t heard that phrase in a while.”
She chuckles. “He also made me laugh, something I didn’t do for a long time after you left.”
“But you did begin a relationship with him,” I say. The thought is like a knife to my gut. They lived together for seven years.
She drops her chin to her chest, biting down on her bottom lip. Kat closes her eyes for a second, and when she opens them again, they’re filled with pain. “It was the day Elijah announced your engagement to Emma.”
My lungs constrict, making it difficult to breathe.
“But that was eighteen months later.”
Emma was my rebound. Luckily for both of us, I came to my senses in time and called off the wedding.
It sounds like Zach became Kat’s.
His words are now beginning to make more sense.
Silence descends.
I drop my head into my hands, resting my elbows on my knees.
I turn my head to face Kat.
“What now?” I ask.
“I’d really like, for us to be friends,” Kat says, suddenly sounding tired. “I’ve spent so many years resenting you. I knew you, should’ve known they were lying.”
“I should have fought harder, made you listen. Realised there was something wrong with the scenario.”
She rests a hand on my shoulder, the warmth of her palm burning its way through my t-shirt. “I’m not sure I would have listened. The evidence they presented was pretty compelling.”
I catch her gaze.
“You never told your brothers about us,” I say, surprised when Kat laughs. She removes her hand, dropping it to her side. I miss it instantly.
“What? Admit to them I’d been duped. That I’d fallen for your sweet-talking charm, that handsome face? Besides, Eli needed you, and whatever happened between us. I’m not that selfish. His needs trumped mine.”
It’s those words that remind me why I fell in love with Kathryn Frazer, and why no one else has ever come close to replacing her.
CHAPTER 25
KAT
We head out for dinner. The villa has become incredibly claustrophobic since our conversation this afternoon.
Jax has been unusually silent. After we finished talking, he took his book and sat in the shade on the terrace.
Do I blame him?
A lot of wounds were reopened, and the pain is fresh. Our only hope now is that they can heal over time.
