Armando Returns (Barboza Brothers) (24 page)

Jennifer glanced around at the almost-empty dining room. Her tone was sarcastic.
“What customers?”

Katie headed to the bar, wondering when Jennifer would finally do something bad enough to get herself fired. She took the card from the box of chocolates as she opened it, displaying it at the corner of the bar. She flagged down Jonny the bartender and said,
“These chocolates are for anyone who wants them.” He nodded, then she went to the door.

After her reunion with Armando, she had a feeling she needed to start reading Mitch
’s cards and stop sweeping it all under the rug. If she was going to keep her new relationship a secret, she would have to be smart about it, and that meant no surprises. So, she walked outside the front of the restaurant for a little privacy and opened the card.

“
These past few days have been torture without you. I can’t wait to see you at dinner tomorrow. Love, Mitch
.”

Dinner? It took Katie a moment to remember their conversation on Monday night. It had only been a few days but it felt like it happened so long ago now. On his way out, Mitch said he wanted to pick her up after work on Thurday—tomorrow—and take her someplace nice for dinner where they could hopefully discuss setting a
wedding date. She hadn’t agreed to dinner, but he had obviously assumed as much.

Katie tapped her toe against the pavement, knowing she couldn
’t put it off any longer. Armando was right. She had to call him today. Now. She walked a little farther away from the front door to a bench, then took her phone out of her pocket and sat down to dial Mitch’s work number.

He answered on the second ring.
“
Finally! I’ve missed you so much.
”

“
Uh...okay. Look, I never agreed to have dinner with you tomorrow. And that’s the only reason I’m calling.”

“
What? Don’t you miss me? At all? I’ve completely left you alone, aside from the gifts. I was hoping you’d eventually call and tell me you missed me, too
.”

“
No. I’m only calling to tell you we’re not on for dinner. That’s all.”

“
I don’t understand. Are you breaking up with me?
” His voice got weak.

She then realized it would be harder than she thought to keep Mitch in the dark for long. She suddenly felt bad
ly, like she would be leading him on if she told him what Armando wanted her to say. But she quickly thought back to the argument she and Mitch had on Monday, and she summoned the strength to say it. “I need some time to think. To sort out my feelings. I’m not ready to see you right now.”

Mitch let out a sigh
, then paused. Quietly, he said, “
I was afraid you’d say something like that
.
Please don’t break up with me
.”

Katie felt her facade crumbling. She hadn
’t expected him to sound genuinely upset. “I don’t see the big deal, really. You’ve been working so much, I thought you’d probably be relieved that I wanted to take a break.”

“
What? A break?
No! Didn’t you hear anything I said the other night? I wanna marry you. Soon! I’m tired of waiting
.
For all I care we can go down to the court house. I don’t need a wedding
.”

“
No.” Katie looked around to make sure she was still alone outside before letting herself burst into tears. Then she tucked her head down and said, “I can’t marry you. It’s over. I’ll drop the ring off at your office.”

He gasped.
“
Holy shit, Katie. I can’t believe this! You’ll drop the ring off at my office? That’s cold. What the hell?
” He was quiet for a moment. “
Is this because you think I’m cheating? I’m not. I’d never do that to you
.
You can’t just break up with me over that. Please. Give me another chance. I’ll do anything.
”

She sniffled.
“I...can’t. I just can’t.”

“
No. No! What happened? What’d I do? Let me make it right. I’ll spend more time with you. I’ll do anything you want. Please tell me what I need to do. You’re the only thing that matters to me, baby. The only thing. Come on. I’ll leave work right now and come over there. I—
”

Katie panicked.
“I’m not in love with you anymore!”

She couldn
’t hear his response over her own hysterical sobbing. How was she to know he would beg her for another chance? His words made her heart ache. He obviously had a right to be confused. Angry, even. One week they were happily engaged. The next week, they were not.

After she calmed down a little she held the phone tightly to her ear and asked,
“Are you there?”

He breathed into the phone for a few seconds before responding.
“
Yeah. I’m here. I don’t get it, Katie. What happened? Tell me the truth. Is there someone else? Or did I leave you alone for too long?
”

“
Mitch, I—”

“
Look, whatever it is, we can fix it. If there’s someone else, at least give me a chance to compete. I wanna win you back.
”

As she searched her thoughts for anything to say, he continued.
“
I neglected you, didn’t I? Fuck, I’m so stupid. I should’ve taken you to Dallas with me last weekend. Even if we only saw each other for an hour it would’ve been worth it.
”

She took a few slow breaths, trying to
stop her tears. “Listen Mitch, I’m sorry. I know this isn’t fair to you. But I’d rather break it off now than get a divorce later. I don’t think I’ve ever loved you.”

He suddenly let out a growl.
“
It’s that guy from high school, isn’t it? The one you kissed. Shit, of course that’s it. I can’t believe it took me this long to catch on. Damn it Katie! Give me a chance to win you back! Who is this guy, anyway? At least give me a name. I think I deserve that much
.”

Oh my God!
Katie thought. There was no way out of this situation but to stretch the truth, and she hated herself for doing it. “It doesn’t matter how it happened—I’ve realized lately that I’m not in love with you. And I can’t marry someone I’m not in love with. And you shouldn’t be engaged to someone who’s not in love with you. You deserve better than that.”

Mitch took an extremely long pause, then said,
“
Fine. But this isn’t over for me
.” And then he hung up.

As soon as the phone went silent, Katie wiped her hand against each of her eyes, then called Armando.

Breathless, he answered on the fifth ring. “
Hi baby
.”

She sniffled, choking back her tears.
“I’m sorry to bother you. I know you’re busy.”

“
Oh no. What’s wrong?
”

“
I panicked.”

His voice was soft.
“
Shit. What happened?
”

“
Mitch.” She paused for an unsteady breath. “I called him. It didn’t go how I expected, at all. He wants me back. Doesn’t even care if I’m cheating. Wants to win me back.”

Armando paused and asked, flatly,
“
Is that what you want?
”

“
No! I want you.” Katie glanced around, quieting her voice as a few customers entered the restaurant. “I love you. I don’t want him back.”

He let out a sigh of relief.
“
Good. You had me scared for a second
.”

“
He figured out that it had something to do with the ex-boyfriend I kissed the other day.”

“
What? You told him you kissed me?
”

“
He doesn’t know your name. Look, it’s a long story and you said you didn’t wanna know what happened with me and Mitch. I didn’t confirm his theory. I just told him I’m not in love with him and he needs to move on. The whole conversation really took me by surprise. I figured he’d just back off when I told him I wanted some time to think.”

“
Yeah, me too. I guess he’s not as dumb as I thought. He knows a good thing when he has it
.
But he’s not taking you away from me. That won’t happen to me again
.”

Katie produced a soft chuckle.
“No. It won’t.”

“
Well, what happened? Did you break up with him officially?
”

“
Yeah. But he begged me not to. Pleaded. It was horrible. I feel like such a heartless witch.”

Armando laughed a little.
“
Sweetie, the fact that you feel so bad about it kinda proves you’re not heartless.
”

“
I don’t know. That’s how I feel. You should’ve heard him go on. The last thing he said to me was, ‘this isn’t over.’ He’s not giving up. I don’t know what to do.” Her voice cracked.

“
Shh
,” he said in a soothing tone. “
It’s okay. I wish I could be there to comfort you right now. It’s gonna be all right. I know it hurt to break up with him but you did the right thing
.”

“
I’m afraid to go to my apartment tonight. What if he shows up? What’ll I do?”

“
Don’t let him in. What’s he gonna do? Break the door down? Then you call the cops. It’s simple
.”

“
It’s not that. I don’t think he’s a threat or anything. I just dread hearing him knock at the door. What if he knocks and knocks and I have to deal with him? I don’t wanna have that conversation again, telling him to leave because it’s over. I’ve never heard him so persistent.”

“
Are you sure you don’t think he’s dangerous? Like, he’d threaten you or hurt you? Sit outside your apartment to see who’s coming and going?
”

“
I think he’s harmless but he might be jealous enough to stalk me a little. He really wanted your name for some reason.”

“
Just come straight over here after work tonight, okay? Keep a look out in case he’s following you. If you want I can arrange someone to pick you up
.”

“
No, I’m not scared of him.”

“
Well, maybe you should be. Okay, I just made up my mind. I’ll be in touch before you leave work about finding a way to get you here, unnoticed. Don’t argue with me about it. It’s a done deal
.”

“
Okay. No arguments. I can’t wait to see you tonight.”

“
I can’t wait to see you either. I gotta go, but give me a call if you need me. I can make time for you. I love you
.”

“
I love you, too.”

* * * * *

Katie made it through the rest of her day at work with no more gifts or contact from Mitch. And she practically held her breath all day, wondering if her parents would call. But thankfully, they didn
’t. And that meant Mitch hadn’t gone running to them about the breakup. But she knew she had to tell her parents...soon.

How quickly she would tell them about her new relationship with Armando? She had no idea.

But Katie was on her way to the ranch from work, traveling according to Armando
’s instructions. First, she had to drive to a specified parking lot five miles from work. She left her car there and hopped inside a chauffeured Chrysler sedan that Armando rented from a San Antonio limousine service. The driver was friendly but quiet as they rode to the ranch, mostly in silence.

When Katie arrived at the door, Cara answered, happily welcoming her inside to sit with her in the living room.

“Armando’s in a conference call,” Cara said. “He should be finished in a few minutes. So, you’re having dinner with us?”

“
Yeah. I hope that’s okay.”

“
Oh, sure. It’s perfect. My mom’s at the grocery store right now getting some last minute items for dinner. She’s staying here for a while and she loves having so many people to cook for.” Cara scowled. “Personally, I don’t get it. She lives for cooking, but I hate it.”

Katie nodded, relaxing a bit as she listened to Cara
’s small talk. “I understand. I like to cook sometimes but I definitely wouldn’t call it something I love.” She paused, glimpsing around the room, suddenly feeling nervous again. “So, is Ramon here?”

“
No. He’ll probably be gone for a couple more hours.” Cara gave her a sympathetic frown. “The guys filled me in. Look, don’t let Ramon bother you.”

Katie shrugged.
“How? This is technically
his
house, right? It’s sorta hard to feel welcome inside a house where you know the owner doesn’t like you.”