I stare at him, unable to form any words.
He fills the silence. “Fate put us in the same place for a reason.”
Fate. It’s Gage’s answer to everything. He used to tell me that fate put me in his path the afternoon we met on the campus at UCLA.
I was there to earn a business degree. Gage’s future was in medicine.
“You are my true north,” he lowers his voice. “I was meant to walk into your
store the other day. Our story isn’t over.”
My heart clouds with a dozen conflicting emotions. My knees shake. My ears ring.
I can’t do this.
“Our story is over,” I whisper back.
“Not according to fate.”
I almost laugh at his choice of words. “You waited for fate to find me. All of this time, you never once bothered to look for me.”
He shakes his head, his hand flying into the air between us to stop me from continuing. “Katie, I…”
“Go to hell,” I interrupt him. “Take fate with you.”
Chapter 15
Kate
Gage calls after me as I march out of Tin Anchor.
I look up and down the sidewalk, trying to decide where to go.
I should go home, but I don’t want to be alone. My heart feels like it’s been flipped inside out.
“Katie, wait.”
I glance over my shoulder to see Gage standing at the entrance to his bar with a denim jacket in his hands.
“Put this on.” He moves to drape it over my shoulders. “You’re getting wet.”
I slap the jacket away with my hands. “I don’t need that.”
He ignores my protest and slides it over me, tugging the front together. “You should wear it home. You used to catch a cold whenever you got stuck in a rainstorm.”
I gaze down at the wet sidewalk. “Don’t do that. You can’t keep bringing up the past.”
“I need to.”
His words are bold and direct. There’s no hesitation in them at all.
I look up into his green eyes. I used to stare into them for hours, fascinated by the way they seemed to change hue depending on the light in the room.
They are still the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen.
“I don’t want you to.” I take a step back from him. “We’ve both moved on. Why bring up the past at this point?”
“You’ve moved on?” He questions with a lift of his left brow. “With Preston? I thought you said it was casual.”