After several heartbeats, he said, "I care about you."
She'd told him she loved him, and he'd said he cared about her. She guessed it was better than a "thank you." She looked up at him and blinked back tears.
"You care about me?"
"More than any other woman."
It wasn't enough. Not this time. "For how long? What's going to happen in a year from now? Two years from now? Five years from now? How much of my life do I give up for you? How many lies do I tell myself? How much longer until you decide we should date other people or just be friends or you've found someone else?"
"I don't know! For as long as it lasts."
She took a breath and let it out slowly. "That's not enough."
"What the hell is?"
"A man who will promise to love me forever."
He squeezed her arms. "Christ, are you talking about a wedding ring?" He shook his head. "That's crazy." Crazy. Anger mixed with heartbreak. "Let go of me."
His eyes narrowed and he dropped his hands. He stepped away from the car, and she yanked the door open and climbed inside before she started to cry in front of him. She shoved her key in the ignition and drove away. She glanced in her rearview mirror one last time and caught a glimpse of him walking up the steps before her vision blurred and she turned her attention to the road.
What was the matter with her? She'd told herself to stay away from Rob. She'd come to Gospel to try and figure out what was wrong with her, not to fall in love, heart and soul, with a man who could never fully commit to loving her as much as she loved him.
She pulled onto the highway. No, there was a difference now. The difference was that she was no longer willing to settle for less than she deserved. She loved Rob. More than she could remember loving any other man, but her grandfather was right. She was worth everything a man could give her. His heart. His soul. His promise to love her forever.
Rob took Louisa and Amelia to the airport the next morning. It had cost him a lot of money to get them on another chartered flight out, but he was afraid he was going to kill his ex-wife. And he really didn't want to do that. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life in jail and have Amelia raised by relatives.
But as angry as he was with Louisa, it didn't come close to what he was feeling for Kate. What the hell was wrong with her? Why had she messed everything up with talk of wanting more from him, wanting marriage? He'd thought she was different, but she wasn't.
He should have known better than to get involved with her. He'd learned the hard way that sex was never free. There was always a price. Kate's price was a wedding ring. He'd been forced into one bad marriage. He wouldn't be coerced into a second.
It was just never going to happen. She could just sit over in her store and bake bread and grow into an old maid for all he cared. He'd liked Kate. He'd told her the truth when he'd said he cared about her. He did care about her, but he was going to try and forget her.
No way was he going to let her make him crazy.
When he pulled the HUMMER to a stop at the back of Sutter Sports, Adam Taber was waiting for him. Rob opened the doors for business, and Adam followed him inside.
"Mr. Sutter," he said. "Wally can't make it today 'cause he got the chicken pox."
"That's okay. I don't have that much for you to do." Rob looked back at Adam over his shoulder and did a double take at the bag in the boy's hand. "What is that?" he asked and pointed to what looked a lot like granola.
"Granola."
"Where'd you get it?"
"At the M&S. The lady over there is making it."
"Kate? The lady with the red hair?"
"Yep. She gave it to me free 'cause she wants me to tell people it's really good. Then they come buy it."
She'd stolen his granola idea! "Adam," he said. "You're in charge of the store until Rose gets to work. I'll be back in a few minutes." He hit the front door with the heel of his hand and shoved his sunglasses on his face, so angry he didn't care that he'd left an eleven-year-old to run his store. He couldn't recall a time when he'd been so enraged. Yes, he could—last night, when Kate had told him she loved him, then, practically in the same breath, said it was over. His anger burned a hole in his stomach, and he clenched his teeth.
"Hi, Rob. Haven't seen you for a few days," Stanley said as Rob entered the M&S.
"Hello, Stanley." Rob took a breath and forced his jaw to unlock. He didn't want to take out his anger on his soon-to-be stepfather.
"Your mother should be here in a minute to talk about flowers at the wedding. It's coming right up, you know."
"Yeah, I know. Is Kate around?" he asked and thought he'd managed to sound damn pleasant.
Stanley paused a moment then said, "She's in the back bagging up some granola she made this morning. It's been selling like crazy."
Rob thought his head just might explode. He moved around the counter to the back room.
Kate's back was to him as she took a pan from one of the ovens. She set it on the counter and looked up. She didn't even try and look guilty. "What are you doing here?"
He stopped in front of her and put his hands on his hips. "You stole my granola idea."
"Don't be absurd."
"You knew I was working on perfecting the recipe and you stole it." Never mind that he'd mostly used it as a ruse to get her out to his house so he could get her naked.
She took a spatula and stirred the granola around. Taunting him. "It wasn't a secret recipe like Colonel Sanders's seven herbs and spices."
"You knew I was working on it to sell in my store."
She shrugged. "You snooze. You lose."
"What?" He wanted to grab her and shake her and press her so tight into his chest that he just absorbed her into his body.
She took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. "Mmm. Want a bite?"
God, she had balls. He loved that about her, and he wanted his life to go back the way it had been before she'd decided he needed to make a permanent commitment. "Have you given up your crazy idea to get married?"
"To you? Yes." She folded her arms beneath her breasts and said, "Harvey Middleton's son, Brice, asked me out."
It had been less than twenty-four hours since she'd told him she loved him and she already had a date? "You can't go out with him."
"Why?" Because I said so probably wasn't a good answer. "Because he's losing his hair."
She looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. More than likely because he felt like he'd lost it. "Go out with him. It's none of my business," he said and turned away. He moved from the back room to the front of the store. If Brice Middleton put his hands on Kate, Rob was going to put him in a head lock and feed him his lunch.
Grace looked up from a conversation she was having with Stanley. She smiled. "How are you feeling, Robert?"
"Compared to what?" he snapped.
So much for not letting Kate make him crazy.
Nineteen
A span slight breeze rippled across Fish Hook Lake, and the warm afternoon rays reflected like tiny mirrors on the waves. The hem of Grace Sutter's cream chiffon dress fluttered about her knees as she read the last line of her poem to her groom and those gathered at Sockeye Park.
The bride and groom stood beneath a lattice arbor entwined with wildflowers on a small grassy point. A preacher from the nondenominational church in town presided over the ceremony. Kate stood behind her grandfather and watched his hands shake as he pulled his poem from his pocket. He unfolded it and began:
" My life was filled with black and gray, all my sorrow running into the next day."
Kate lowered her gaze to her pink toenails and listened as her grandfather spoke of his lonely life before Grace. She concentrated on her favorite Fendi sandals. The beige straps wrapped her feet in soft leather, and a gold sleeve hung from the heel and made a little sound when she walked. Her favorite shoes usually boosted her spirits and made her feel like a diva.