Meet Me at Taylor Park (19 page)

“Liz?”

“Yeah, that one you kissed in the hallway the day after we broke up.”

Brandon looked sheepish. “It was just someone I hired to make you jealous. You were supposed to see what you would be losing if you went away.”

Katie scrutinized him. “So you have no feelings for her?”

“None at all,” he said firmly. “We were together for a while, for all the wrong reasons, but I didn’t love her.”

“For six years, you let me believe that you got over me 24 hours after we broke up.” Katie struggled to breathe.

“And it’s something I have been regretting for the past six years.” Brandon looked sincere. “It was the worst mistake I had ever made and I’d do anything to take it back.”

He grabbed her hands. “It’s you. It’s always been you.”

“Why me?” Katie tried to move away, but his presence was too attractive.

“Because we weren’t just a high school fling. We weren’t just puppy love. What we had is real…and rare. It’s the real deal.”

She thought about what he had said and realized he was right. What they had was real. She had never been able to find it with anyone else.

At that moment, Katie felt herself give in. All her doubts were destroyed in an explosion.

Brandon pulled her into him, and she melted into his arms.

“Come away with me,” he whispered. “Leave your fiancé for me.”

Katie looked at him, surprised. “What?”

“Do you love the guy?”

She knew the answer to this. She had been suppressing it all along, but the truth was always there. “Not like how I love you. Not even close.”

“Then do it. I’ll take care of you. It was always supposed to be my job.” He was deep in thought. “No, not job,” he added. “My honor.”

Katie felt her entire body float. The idea was tempting. Steven was stable, predictable and a good provider, but he lacked an indescribable something that Brandon oozed out naturally. An X factor.

“Yes.” She felt herself getting excited. “Yes. Let’s do it!”

Brandon smiled widely. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this?”

Katie pulled back slightly.

Brandon cocked his head to the side. “Is everything OK?”

She lowered her head, looking up at him. “Would you just please promise me one thing?

Just promise me no more drama. I can’t deal with all the drama.”

Brandon nodded. “No more drama.”

She grabbed Brandon’s ring out of her pocket.

He took it and put it on her ring finger.

She looked at it and smiled.

There it was, finally. The moment was right.

He beamed. “We could live wherever we want.”

He started shaking and when he looked at Katie again, something was different. At first, she did not know what it was, but then she saw tears forming in his eyes.

He wiped them away. “I’m going to make you forget all about Steven.”

He leaned in and kissed her hungrily and Katie lapped it up.

She had a feeling that everything was going to be fine. She was with her prince charming and everything was going to be grand.

This was it. It was just the two of them from now on. The future was bright. She was excited she could have her fairy tale ending after all.

*

Chapter 14

2011

Ashley was playing with her hair. “That’s it? That doesn’t sound like a great love story like you promised. And you still haven’t told me if daddy was your first love.”

Katie frowned. “I’m not done yet.”

“I’m underwhelmed.”

Ashley yawned.

Katie shook her head. “Teens these days.”

In the next room, the coughing became raucous. Katie grew alarmed. “I better go check on your father.”

She stepped out of her daughter’s room and approached the master bedroom. Knocking on the door, she called out, “Are you OK in there?”

“I’m fine!” a male voice called back.

“I’m talking to Ashley. I’ll be in to check on you when I’m done. It should be pretty soon.”

“Take your time,” the voice said. “I’m fine in here.”

Katie hesitated, but then turned around and headed back into Ashley’s room.

Her daughter looked concerned. “Is daddy alright?”

“He’s going to be fine,” Katie affirmed. She sat back down on her daughter’s bed.

“Where was I?”

“You were about to run away with Brandon.”

“Oh yeah.”

“And did you?” Ashley leaned forward in anticipation.

Katie smiled secretively. “Can’t tell you yet. You’re going to have to listen to find out.”

“I bet you do. And you have your fairy tale ending and live happily ever after.”

Katie chuckled wryly. “If only life was that easy.”

She continued her tale.

*

Chapter 15

Katie and Brandon were sitting on the bench at Taylor Park. Katie spotted a sharp stone on the ground and picked it up. Turning around, she looked at their initials that were etched into the bench, so long ago.

B.M. + K.S. = Mouth shape

She crossed out the mouth shape and carved something else after the equal sign. It was a heart.

Brandon smiled, taking her hand. He kissed her lips and she relished it.

Katie pulled back and said, “I’m going to go home and pack. Let’s meet here in an hour.”

“OK.”

Katie kissed Brandon goodbye and hurried out of the park. The chilly wind whooshed in her face. It was the most deliberating feeling in the world. She felt light, as though she could soar through the air. It felt like her life was finally beginning.

*

Katie bolted to her mother’s house with a gigantic smile on her face. When she stepped up to the front door, she saw a familiar pair of shoes. Her smile disappeared.

She opened the door and stepped inside.

Her mother was sitting on the stairs in her nightgown. She jerked a thumb toward the kitchen. “You have a visitor.” Her mother yawned. “I’m going to bed.” She marched up the stairs.

Katie prepared to face the music. She felt something stuck in her throat as she entered the bright kitchen.

Steven was sitting at the kitchen table in a green sweater vest. A giant envelope lay on the table. He looked up when she entered.

He looked worried when he saw her flushed face. “Are you OK?” he asked, getting up.

She held up a hand. “I’m fine. You don’t have to come over.”

She looked at him, wondering how he had gotten here so fast. “I thought you weren’t coming until tomorrow.”

“I hired a private jet and paid the pilot a bonus to get me here faster.”

She nodded. She decided she was going to be brave and get it over with right away. She held out the hand where the Brandon’s ring was. “I don’t think we’re meant to be, Steven. Brandon was my first love. I still have feelings for him.”

Steven nodded calmly. “So you’re marrying him instead?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice calm. “Yes, I am.”

Steven smirked.

Katie was worried. This was not the reaction she was expecting.

Steven grabbed the envelope on the table and took out a couple of enlarged photographs.

Katie approached the table. The lump in her throat had gotten worse.

Steven took off his glasses, revealing beady black eyes. He pointed to the pictures with his glasses. “I didn’t trust this Brandon guy when I first heard about him, so I had an old private detective friend tag him. Turns out he had dirt.”

He held up the picture, which glared in the bright kitchen lights. “Do you recognize who these people are?”

Katie took a closer look. It was Brandon and some blonde girl on the sidewalk, leaning against a building. They were kissing. The blonde girl looked very similar to the girl that Brandon had hired to make Katie jealous.

A wave of nausea came over Katie. Her stomach did a backflip and she felt like throwing up. Then, it dawned on her. Brandon still had feelings for Liz. And he had lied to her, stringing her along like some helpless puppy.
 

Steven stood up with her arms wide open. “You see? Brandon doesn’t love you. I’m the only one who does.”

Katie’s nausea turned into anger.
 

Steven was still standing with her arms open. “Look,” he said, his face softening. “I know I have my shortcomings but we can work on them.”

Katie felt her legs shake. “I need to sit down.” She took a seat.

Steven sat down. He reached across the tables for her hands. They were ice cold but he took them anyway.

Katie nearly winced and pulled them away, but she let him hold her hands.

Steven had on this pleading face. “I know what my faults are. I’m not as emotionally available as you would like. I’m working on that.” He looked hopeful. “I wasn’t brought up that way. I had different parents from other people. They didn’t show me much affection. It’s hard for me to express my love, either physically or emotionally. You know how awkward it was for us when we talked that stairwell in Prattico’s Building after you were fired.”

Katie nodded. She barely heard him though. The betrayal from Brandon had stung her numb.

Steven took a breath and continued. “But I am working on that every day so that I could be the man you deserve.”

Katie looked at the man who she knew loved her. The question was whether she loved him back. She still was not sure.

Steven put his glasses back on. “And I can provide for you. I am being promoted to partner at the accounting firm.” He lowered his voice. “I did some research on Brandon, and it turns out he’s some charity fundraiser who’s in debt.”

Steven squeezed her hands tighter.

Katie wanted to cry, but she could not.

Steven came over to her side of the table and hugged her. His hug was awkward, since he was standing and she was still sitting down.

She could take no comfort in his embrace, but she accepted it anyway.

Then, he got down on his knees and looked up at her.

“Be mine, Katie Simpson. And you’ll never have to work another day in your life. We could travel the world whenever we want. As partner in the firm now, I am pretty much free to do what I want.”

From what she could tell, he was genuine.

Katie looked at him and did not know what to tell him. Sure, she was furious with Brandon, but she did not know if she wanted to travel the world with Steven.

Suddenly, exhaustion invaded her body. She was too tired to talk. She just nodded and put her head down on the table.

Steven patted her head. “I’ll take that as a yes. Let’s go to sleep now and talk in the morning.”

Katie was too tired to answer.

She felt Steven slip off Brandon’s ring from her finger, and put on his own. Then, she went to bed.

Somehow, she dozed off soon after.

Steven looked at his fiancée and smiled.

He rested his eyes. It had been a long day.

*

Meanwhile, Brandon returned to Taylor Park after packing and changing out of his prince costume.

He was now waiting in the autumn cold in a dressy suit, sharp enough to be a groom. His bags were packed in the car and everything was set.

He imagined life with Katie. They would get married, move in together, and have the one boy and one girl that they had always wanted. He was giddy just thinking about it. It was so overwhelming that he expected to be killed in a car accident before he could marry her. It was too good to be true. He was expecting a tragedy just so the universe would be balanced. No one should be allowed to be this happy.

He watched as the moon journeyed across the sky. He watched as the clouds covered it

up.Then he looked at this watch. It had been two hours already.
 

In his gut, he felt something was wrong.

He dashed to his car and drove like a maniac to the house of Katie’s mother.

When he arrived, the house was dark. He got out of the car and snuck up to the house.

Brandon felt like he was in a horror movie, the part where the hero stupidly goes into a haunted house as the audience is screaming at him not to.

He tried the doorknob, but the door was locked. Gently, he knocked on the door.

“Katie,” he whispered. “You there?”

No answer.

He knocked again, but there was still no answer.

Brandon went around to the side of the house and peered into the dark windows. He could make out a shape lying on the couch. He wondered Katie had been so stressed from the events of the day that she fell asleep and forgot about him.

He tapped on the glass. The person on the couch stirred. Brandon tapped the glass again.

The figure got up from the couch.