Protecting The Single Mom. Catherine Lanigan

Brad’s presence here a fluke? A random trip? Was he a tourist like so many people from Chicago?

      She wouldn’t know until she talked to him and that wasn’t an option.

      Every muscle in her body had tightened, causing pain to shoot from her neck to her tailbone. She was as rigid as steel when Brad looked directly at her and lifted his forefinger like it was a gun barrel. He blew on his fingertip, stepped on the gas and sped away.

      Brad. After all this time. He’s found me.

      For more than six years, Cate’s new identity had worked to keep her invisible. Now he’d seen her. And that pointed finger. That was a promise—of bad things to come.

      In those days when she’d been shackled to him, he used to point his finger like a gun then ball his fists. She knew precisely what Brad meant to do.

      She dropped the lip gloss. She felt as if a vacuum had sucked her up a portal to an alien ship. All reality altered. She was in terror land. Pain, loss and danger circled her, harping at her like screaming banshees. She covered her ears.

      “Hi, Cate!” Sophie called as she walked toward the car. “It’s nice to see you.”

      Cate opened her eyes.

      Not banshees.

      Sophie. What is she saying? Get it together, Cate.

      She forced her shaking, frigid hands to open the door, forced herself to climb out. “Hi, Sophie.” Cate tried to smile, but her lips felt like they’d been dragged through concrete. Brad had that effect on her. She walked toward Sophie, and when Sophie stretched open her arms for a hug, Cate hugged her back. “What are you doing?” She managed to cough out the words. She put her fist to her mouth and coughed again. “Sorry. Dry mouth. Allergies.”

      She was back on earth. Talking to her friend. Brad was gone. At least for the moment. She had to calm the whirlwind of emotions inside her.

      “Can I get you some water?” Sophie asked sweetly.

      “I’m fine.” Cate thought she was smiling. She couldn’t tell. “So, what’s all this?” Cate asked walking toward the wagon.

      “Oh, I’m planting my fall mums. I thought some yellow against the green Japanese yews and the white house would be pretty. What do you think?”

      Though Cate’s mind was still disabled from the encounter with her ex-husband, she had enough presence of mind to act curious. “Your mums?” Cate looked at Jack’s condo—the one she’d sold him nearly a year ago. But Sophie lived in Mrs. Beabots’s upstairs apartment. Cate turned to Sophie. “Your mums, you said.” Cate was certain her hearing had been impaired by the shock she’d just endured.

      “Er, uh,” Sophie stammered.

      Cate’s eyes narrowed. Sophie was a cardiac nurse, a smart, career-oriented woman. Cate had never seen her at a loss for words. “Is something wrong?”

      Sophie smiled sheepishly. Then she blushed.

      Cate had run into Sophie over the years at various social events. They weren’t close friends the way Cate was with Sarah, Liz or Maddie. But they knew each other. Cate knew Sophie to be serious-minded nearly all the time. Sophie was a take-charge woman. There was nothing sheepish about her.

      Then it hit Cate. “You and Jack?”

      Sophie nodded like a bobblehead doll and chuckled. “Can you keep a secret?”

      Could she? No one in the world could keep secrets as well as Cate. Her entire life was a secret. “I certainly can.”

      Sophie thrust up her left hand. A diamond solitaire twinkled in the sunlight. “We’re engaged!” She blurted and covered her mouth as she started laughing. “Isn’t it amazing?”

      Cate’s reaction was to be filled with dread. Marriage meant entrapment. Danger zone. Everything dire in life. Other people believed in happiness, love and forever. Cate wanted none of that.

      She’d never shared her innermost thoughts with any of her friends. She didn’t dare start now. “I’m so happy for you,” Cate lied.

      “Oh, thanks, Cate. Hardly anyone knows. Mrs. Beabots does, of course. Jack and I are starting to talk about the wedding and set a date. But it’s just crazy. My family would go nuts if we did it at city hall, but I can’t wait for my new life to begin. I never thought that I...”

      “...would get married,” Cate murmured.

      Sophie sighed dreamily. “Uh-huh.”

      “I had no idea you were seeing him. I mean, that he was seeing you. Or that you two were together.”

      “Nobody does, really. I mean, I took him to meet my parents just last weekend. They adore him already and he loves them, too, which is a very good thing. Don’t you think?”

      “Oh, I do. I do.” Cate suddenly spied a black sedan drive past. He was stalking her. And there wasn’t a thing she could do about it.

      She glanced at the car.

      A Cadillac. Not Brad.

      Cate exhaled. She planted a particularly sweet smile on her lips. Acting. Cate had been doing it for years. She was good at it. “I’m sure your parents will want a wedding with all the trimmings for their only daughter.”

      “You’ve got that right. But I don’t want it to be too nuts, you know. We’re having the reception at their farm. Plenty of Italian food and lots of flowers from my grandmother’s sunflower garden, of course.” Sophie gushed. “It’ll be beautiful. You’re invited, of course. And please bring Danny. We definitely want kids there.”

      “So,” Cate said. “You’ll be moving in here after the wedding.”

      “Yes. But you know, Jack says he wants to look for a proper house. Still on the lake and one with a pier so he can have a little fishing boat. I don’t know what he’s thinking. This condo is wonderful.”

      Cate shook her head. “Sophie. Please. He’s smart. He’s thinking of the future. You can’t put little kids in a house like this.”

      Sophie’s brown eyes rounded. “Oh, my gosh, that is what he’s thinking, isn’t it? He’d said he wanted to talk to you so that you could be on the lookout if anything came up.”

      Cate took out a business card from her jacket pocket. She’d meant to give it to Rand Nelson, but with the instant sale she’d forgotten. “Here. My new cell number is on the card. Tell Jack not to worry. I’ll ask around. I know a few houses where the couples want to downsize. And I won’t tell a soul anything about your engagement until after you make the announcement.”

      “Thanks, Cate. I’ll be sure to tell him.” Sophie hugged Cate. “We’re lucky to have a good friend like you!”

      Cate smiled at Sophie. She’d never seen Sophie so effusive. She’d always been standoffish and distant. Her relationship with Jack had certainly brought out a new and more affectionate side that Cate liked. “I have to run. You take care.”

      “Bye, Cate.” Sophie waved and returned to the wagon of flowers.

      Cate backed out of the driveway and drove away. Sophie and Jack. Cate thought Jack would be a good mate for any woman. She’d thought he was handsome when she first met him. Liked the way he did business. He treated people with kindness and fairness.

      It would be nice if Cate had found a man like that. But she hadn’t. She’d chosen the worst kind of person a woman could pick.

      Cate shook the visions of weddings and engagements and happily-ever-afters out of her head. Those things were fine for other women.

      Just not for Cate Sullivan. Susan Kramer. Or whoever else she had to become in order to keep away from Brad—and stay alive.