Tomorrow Will Be Too Late (11 page)

‘With me away for quite a while
,
it will all fizzle out
,
of course
.
’
H
e smiled politely, once again giving her the impression of a polite stranger discussing some banal issue that didn’t really matter. ‘
When
I
’
m back in a few months, no one will remember that we were an item.’ His face tightened just a fraction into a cold
grimace.
‘
One thing I
’
ve learned from my dubious brush with fame and being in a spotlight is the fact that these things don’t really last. People get bored and move on to something new, exciting
,
and shocking.’

He remembered the storm his divorce kicked up, of course. She
had
r
u
n away fast enough to avoid being confronted with the fruit of her labor, but had a pretty good idea how much it must have featured in the local news. He must have been dragged through dirt and grime, the truth about the split buried under an avalanche of exciting speculations and plain fabrications that sold the paper
s
ten times better.

‘You can think about this
until
tomorrow,’ he said now, his blue eyes cool. ‘I believe we will have some rehearsal then
.
Thomas was all tied in knots about it when we spoke earlier today.’

She had no clue about it
,
and she cursed Alice, realizing what
had
happened. Her sister
had
decided once again to leave it for the last minute. Most probably she had decided that it would be easier to give her just enough info bite by bite, making it more digestible
that
way. Kate had never been one to love social gathering
s,
and Alice would remember
that,
of course. Not spooking
Kate
too much must have been her credo of the day, she thought resentfully,
imagining the phone call that would follow later in the evening. Her sister was a great strategist and would decide how much time
was enough to reel her in a bit more without balking.

‘I see you had no idea?’ W
as there anything he didn’t notice? ‘
Well
, we
’
re supposed to have a meeting at the church to discuss the ceremony with the pastor, as I
’
ve been told. It’s
a very
official thing done with his family, or at least some of them. I
’
m sure your sister is stressed out enough
trying to orchestrate
it in the best possible way.’

Was he actually taking Alice’s side here? She looked at him dumbfounded, as he nodded casually, leaning forward.

‘
As
such
,
I hope you will make the right choice, Kate. It will go much smoother if we are on the same page, you know.’

‘
And
if we aren
’t?’ S
he had to ask, even though she knew the answer. ‘
What
if I turn you down, Justin? Are you going to do some spectacular announcement at the church, humiliating my family? Is that what you’re threatening to do?’

He looked as if he wanted to answer something spontaneous, his eyes darkening dangerously. But
the
n
he must have thought otherwise because his beautifully cut lips pressed firmly together for a second, the already familiar sarcastic smirk returning to his handsome features.

‘
Well
, that’s for you
to find out, isn’t it, Kate?’ H
e rose to his feet in one fluid motion, the room shrinking to the size of a shoebox. No man had a right to be so overwhelming, she thought unhappily as she followed him to the door in an almost instinctive response.
He was like a magnet pulling everything to his center, she mused as she watched him open the door.
Unstoppable and powerful, he
brought
the rest of the world gravitating toward him, including
her,
it seemed.

‘I’ll pick you up tomorrow at
two
,
’
he
said, his hand on the
doorknob. ‘If
you think about disappearing and making me a fool a second time, I’d strongly
advise
against it.
And
,
’
he
seemed to hesitate for a moment, before adding, his face impassive
,
‘
this
dress looks amazing on you, Kate. I thought that poppy red was your color so far, but I stand corrected. See you tomorrow.’

He left, leaving her standing in the middle of her hallway. She felt frozen, the warm sunlight pouring from the living room doing little to warm her icy body.
It
was late afternoon
,
and the rays of sun that usually brightened her
townhouse
’s west side windows reached her, playing peekaboo with the shadows.
She could feel their warm fingers on her skin, slowly melting the icy ring that his presence had brought into her home. And with it, the panic set in because she knew, deep down and with unwavering
certainty that
this nightmare wasn’t over.

It was just starting
,
and she was right in the midst of it, the deceptive calm around her making her think of the eye of the storm. The silence wouldn’t last forever, the roaring of the unleashed powers soon pulling her in only to spit her out
,
battered and bruised. And she wasn’t sure she could survive it.

Justin
looked around the church leisurely, allowing his gaze to travel slowly over the dim interior. His eyes grazed the solemn faces of the saints around the altar, the light falling through the stained-glass windows
bathing them with
a
rainbow of colors. It was a small,
old-fashioned
church, a far cry from the cathedral
-
like status Thomas’
s
family would have preferred.

He liked it here, he thought
,
almost surprised with the
path his thoughts were taking. It was peaceful and festive, his mind calming enough to allow him to cast aside the stresses of the last few weeks.

The main reason for
his stress
stood just a few feet
away
,
deep in a conversation with Alice and some other women he didn’t know. It didn’t matter, anyway, since he wouldn’t remember any of their names. It was difficult to concentrate on anything else in presence of this slim, dark
-
haired girl with
the
pale face and a mouth that promised sweetness he had already explored and could attest to, however unwillingly.

It was still hard to believe she was here, he thought as he watched the colorful lights illuminate her solemn face, the blue, red and green rays making her look almost ethereal.
He
thought
of
paintings
from
the
Middle Ages, where slim damsels in long, flowing robes looked just as somber and delicate as she did. Only she wasn’t really dressed for the part, he had to admit, his mouth twitching.
She was dressed very
casually
,
the blue shirt and jeans
making her look utterly
pure
and vulnerable. But she wasn’t
that
either, was she? He had but to close his eyes to bring back the image of a sultry beauty with enough sex appeal to set the whole town on fire. She definitely set him on fire, he remembered cynically, once again the familiar sensation of anger coming back to him as it
had
many times before. Was it the fact that she humiliated him so completely
,
or was it the bitter sense of disappointment that he
had
failed
? The one
and only one time when he
had thrown
caution
to the
wind and followed his heart
had proven
to be the lowest hour of his life.

‘
Y
ou
’
re one sneaky guy.’ Thomas was suddenly at his side, looking rather
frazzled
,
with
sweat
glistening
on his forehead. He might
try
to joke and seem lighthearted, but it was obvious that his nerves were eating him up. No amount of friendly bickering could cover it
, Justin
thought wryly, the panicky expression in his friend’s eyes something he had to get
use
d
to. Thomas
had been
the most laid
-
back person he could think of up to this point. His new
,
frantic behavior had to do with
the slim, elegant woman
with a dark bob haircut and resolute eyes
who
was discussing something with the priest.

‘Am I really?’ H
e grin
ned at him, his face relaxed. ‘
And
why would that be?’

‘
Well
, look at Kate,’ his friend offered, visibly pleased with his match
-
making abilities. ‘
You
two seem to be getting along just fine. And here I was wondering what would it take to warm you up after all this lofty talk of writing women off.’

‘We seem to have a lot in common
,
’
he
agreed lazily, his gaze going to Kate. Suddenly, as if she felt his eyes on
her,
she glanced
back,
the space between
them
sizzling with electricity. There could be no one else in the church, he thought dazedly, the strong emotional response she managed to raise from him with just one glance of her soft hazel
eyes
still a mystery that needed solving.

‘I’ll say,’ Thomas smiled, his stressed face momentarily happy. ‘
At
least someone looks happy here. And to think that Alice was worried about you two not hitting it off. She worries about her sister a lot, you know.’

‘Why?’ I
t was innocent
enough a
question to ask, he hoped.
But he was curious
as
to
why Alice
would
worry about the woman who had proved
to be
more than a match for him.

‘Well, you know, she isn’t that much into dating and all
.
’ Clearly uncomfortable to talk about
Kate
behind her back, Thomas sighed, his eyes darting to Alice. ‘
Like
in the last two years, she didn’t even look at any man at all. Alice was terrified to tell her about you guys meeting, thinking she would bolt away as she supposedly did a few times before.
She
invited some friends over
for
Christmas the first year when
Kate
came home for a visit from Australia, but it was a disaster.’

‘T
ommy, come here for a second
,
’
an
impatient voice called out, and
Justin
watched
Thomas
trot obediently away to his mother, her slim, still
-
pretty face visibly agitated even from afar. ‘
Maybe
you can talk your fiancée out of this idea
.
’
Her
voice trailed off dramatically, the closest
-
standing people pretending to be busy, their faces uncomfortable.

His eyes went to Kate almost instinctively, the semi
-
darkness of the church’s interior making it easier for him to watch her unnoticed. He didn’t
particularly
care for his friend or anyone
else
to make jokes about them as an item. She didn’t notice it, luckily. She was too absorbed watching her sister and the little drama that was unfolding, a worried expression on her lovely face.
She’d better get used to it, he thought with morbid amusement
.
Thomas’
s
family
was
not one to let go easily of the thirty or so years of full control. What was happening right
now
was nothing more
than
a show of power, the term of cold war taking on a completely new meaning. Thomas’
s
mother was making a point by rejecting some previously planned part of the ceremony, if only to show
who ran the show to
all the gathered guests.