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.Trust me.”She and Arley frowned.Gwen beamed.“I just don’t know what you think you’re doing,” Grace said.“Right now, I’m on my way home.Go on in.There’s some iced tea in the refrigerator.” He was pushing his luck by flaunting his familiarity with the available beverages in Kate’s kitchen—but he just couldn’t resist rattling their cages.The real truth here, though, was that he owed them.Their fake dinner invitation and their subsequent push to keep Kate from doing anything outrageous with him were the reasons she had been sitting on the patio alone in the dark in the first place.Not only had they given him the perfect opportunity to kiss her, they had also put her in the aggravated state of mind to let him—and he had no doubt that that kiss had led to the night and day he’d just had.He stood back to let them in, then hobbled out the door.The cat came with him, and he didn’t blame it.He expected that the atmosphere in the house was going to be anything but peaceful.The cat escorted him across the yard, looking for coyotes all the way.When he opened Mrs.Bee’s back door, it shot into the hallway before he could head it off.“Sorry, Mrs.Bee,” he said as the cat zipped past her.“Maybe I can bribe her back outside.”“It’s okay, Calvin.We’ve got cat litter.”“Cat litter—I forgot to give you the cat litter.”“Katie brought it over.”“Oh,” he said, wondering when she’d had the chance to do that.“She came over to tell me,” Mrs.Bee added.“Tellyou?”“Where you were.”He tried to let it go, but he didn’t make it two steps before he asked.“What did she say?”“Oh, nothing much.Something about keeping you chained to her bed.”“Whoa! Mrs.Bee!” he said, more than a little taken aback by her candor.He could feel his ears get hot.He’d made it through the girlie-magazine thing, but she’d royally ambushed him this time.“It’s all right, Calvin,” she said, stepping into the kitchen.“I’ve been around—and it’s not that difficult to see how you and Katie feel about each other.That’s how I knew we were going to need cat litter.”He didn’t know how much Mrs.Bee could tell by looking at Kate, but he might as well be carrying a sign.“Mrs.Bee?” he called.The old lady turned and looked at him.“Thanks,” he said.“Forwhat,Calvin?”“For…not getting all pushed out of shape about Kate and me, I guess.”She smiled.“Love is where you find it, Calvin,” she said.“And it’s not to be wasted.Nobody knows that better than I do.The girls are coming later—in case you want to plan your day accordingly.”“Okay,” he said, but then the light dawned.“Mrs.Bee…what you just said.Does that mean the girls know about Kate and me?”“Yes, Calvin,” she said with the same kind of gentleness she must have used on her students whenever they asked really dumb questions.The old lady disappeared into the kitchen.“Oh, great,” he said under his breath.He didn’t have the strength to engage the church ladies.To say that he was tired would have been an understatement.He had missed a lot of sleep in the last twenty-four hours, and he couldn’t have been happier about it.He looked at the stairs, took a deep breath and began the climb to the second floor.Halfway up, the cat joined him, wary of being in strange surroundings but sticking with him, anyway.“If you didn’t have friends in high places, you’d be out of here—you know that, don’t you?” he said to it.When he was inside his apartment, he looked out the window.The Meehan sisters’ cars were still there.He supposed they were working themselves up to give Kate hell when she got home.He toyed briefly with the idea of hunting up something to eat, then abandoned that for the lure of his bed.He lay down on top of the covers and fell immediately asleep.He was vaguely aware at some point that there was a thunderstorm passing over and that the cat wandered around investigating the perimeter.Neither event was enough to bring him completely awake.He slept on, eventually becoming aware that he was not alone.He opened his eyes and looked to his left.Kate was sleeping next to him, her head on the pillow.She was still wearing her nurse clothes.In fact, she still had her shoes on.Apparently, she’d arrived, assessed the situation and crashed.He dropped off to sleep again, waking the next time because she stirred against him and put one arm around his waist.“Hey,” he said, and she opened her eyes.“I’m hiding,” she murmured sleepily.“From the church ladies or the Meehan sisters?” he said, reaching to caress her cheek.“Both,”shesaid.“Yeah, me, too.”“I’ll wake up later, okay?”“Take your time.I’m not going anywhere.”She went immediately back to sleep, and he turned on his side so he could look at her.It was raining still.He could hear it on the roof.He was happy that she had come here, whatever the motivation, but he was by no means presuming anything.He felt closer to her than he’d ever been to another human being in his life—but he had no expectations.None.He was in it for as long as it was going to last—he knew that much.He might even tell her that at some point, but he wouldn’t tell her the rest of it.He picked up a tendril of her honey-colored hair and wrapped it around his finger.I love you, Kate.When she woke up, they went to the grocery store, right out in front of God and everybody, as if she didn’t mind that people they both knew might see them together and conclude that what was happening between them was happening.It took a while to get the shopping done, and then to take groceries to her house to put a meal together
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