Page 16 of Forever King

I still don’t like the idea of Kate being some kind of buffer to this pathetic ex of her friend, no matter how nice she makes it sound, but I guess I can live with it. “Is she the one with the long black hair? That’s Kara, right?”

Nodding, Kate says, “That’s her. Everyone remembers Kara with the gorgeous black hair.” She turns around and adds, “If you want, we can grab dinner after I get back here. Sound good?”

“Sounds great! I’ll be back by five, so we can leave then.”

She stands up and kisses me. “I’ll pencil you in. See you at five! I better get going now. I have to get over to Kara’s by seven.”

“She can’t pick you up?” I ask, wondering what kind of friend this Kara person really is. Kate seems to be doing all the heavy lifting in that relationship.

A look of confusion crosses Kate’s face before it disappears a few seconds later. “Oh, well, she doesn’t want to take the chance of her ex-boyfriend knowing where I live. You know, because he follows her a lot. So I meet her at the park.”

“I thought you said you had to get to Kara’s.”

Kate hurries across the room to get her bag she always carries to work. “Yeah. I meant the park where I meet her. I have to go, or I’m going to be late. I love you! See you tonight!”

The thought of following her to make sure Kara’s ex doesn’t show up to bother them at the park floats through my mind, but I dismiss that. Kate would let me know if she needed help. If she says she’s fine, then that’s good enough for me.

I need to get ready for my day anyway. I’ve got a nine o’clock meeting with Marius and Anderson Jarrett, a friend of our father’s who wants to help the foundation, so I need to get myself dressed in my best suit.

Marius slapsme on the back and laughs as we walk out of the King Industries building. Matthias let us have a full floor for ourwork, which was a godsend since the last thing either one of us wanted to do was have to look for office space for the foundation.

“What do you say we grab something to eat to celebrate our success with Jarrett?” he suggests as we stop a few feet from the door.

I check my watch and see it’s nearly three-thirty. “I told Kate we’d have dinner tonight. We haven’t seen much of each other in the past couple weeks. Between work for both of us, wedding planning, and everything else I’m trying to wrap up so I don’t have to worry about anything but having a good time on the honeymoon, it’s been crazy.”

He grins like I’ve said something funny. “I don’t know why you worry. You and Kate are going to have a great time in Aruba. Forget about everything else and just focus on her. You’ll be fine.”

“I know, but I didn’t want to leave any loose ends for you to have to deal with.”

Just then, I see Kate’s friend Kara. I point her out to Marius and say, “That’s one of Kate’s co-workers. She and Kate have been carpooling into work. I’d know her anywhere from her black hair.”

My brother looks over in her direction and nods. “It reminds me of Eden’s. Hers is a little longer, if that’s possible. I swear I don’t understand how these women handle hair that long. I’d get it caught in something and end up shaving my head out of rage.”

I look over at him and laugh. “I can’t imagine you with long hair. It wouldn’t look right.”

He jokes about something while I wave to Kara and start to walk toward her. She seems to be in a hurry, so I won’t keep her long. I just want to make sure that ex of hers isn’t a bigger problem than Kate thinks.

“Hey, Kara, how are things going?”

She gives me a smile, but I would swear it’s not a happy one. That ex must really be giving her a hard time. Jackass.

“Uh, okay, I guess. How are you?” Her words come off as stiff, which is odd since she’s never been anything but nice to me.

Maybe I’m interrupting something? Then it dawns on me. She’s probably meeting someone, perhaps a new guy, and I’m cramping her style. Kate has told me on more than one occasion that I’m sometimes a bit dense when it comes to social interactions.

I’ll just say what I wanted to say and be on my way.

“I’m great. I just wanted to say I hope things are better now that you and Kate are carpooling to and from work every day. If you ever decide you don’t feel like dealing with driving into the city here, I hope you’ll join Kate in using the car service I have for her. It would be my pleasure.”

Kara’s odd smile disappears, and she stares up at me in what looks to be complete confusion. Did I say something wrong?

Marius joins us just as Kara shakes her head, opening her mouth and then closing it a couple times before finally answering, “Ronan, I’m not sure we’re understanding things the same way.”

“What do you mean?” I ask and then look over at my brother for some help, but he’s got nothing and merely shrugs.

Still looking utterly baffled, Kara says, “Kate and I haven’t been carpooling. I haven’t seen her since she resigned from her position at school. She told me you convinced her she didn’t need to work, and with the wedding and your honeymoon coming up, it just made sense. I thought she loved teaching, especially since she was so enthusiastic about it and the kids loved her, but she said she was okay with quitting.”

A car horn blows just as she finishes, and then every sound of the city surrounding me goes silent, leaving only my heartbeat pounding in my ears as her words filter through my brain. Katelied to me? She quit her job? How long has she been pretending to leave for work each day?