Chapter Ten
Keegan
“So go and don’t come back!”Kady’s broken demand plays on repeat in my head.
My chest feels cracked wide open and I rub at the pain as if I can make it go away. It’s cold and misty out and it fits my mood. It’s been four days since Kady hurled those words at me—and meant them—and I've not tried to go back.
“Keegan, don’t be proud, go talk to her. Make a grand gesture, write poetry, whatever it takes to fix it,” Oliver says around a bite of food—my food—and the last I had of her leftovers.
Boomhauer howls long and loud, as if seconding his suggestion. Even if I agree too—which Ido—my pride won’t let me do what the rest of me wants me to. Not after the way everything happened. I'm bitter and frustrated, so I ain’t ready for grand gestures.
We were in this thing together, but she decided for us both that it was over. No hesitation, no chance to talk it out, fight it out, nothing. I gave that woman everything I had. After all we shared she couldn’t give me a few minutes to explain—I think I earned that.
After our first meeting where I blew it in epic style, I had to work to earn her trust. I screwed up and I had to put in the work, but I was more than willing. Once we started dating, it didn’t take long for me to realize trust was a huge thing with her. Hell, Chantel is her best friend and doesn’t have her Hulu or Netflix passwords.
“Holy shit!” I shout as it all hits me full force.
A few days into us seeing each other, I spent a long weekend at her place. I love Halloween almost as much as she does, mostly for the campy movies. While she made dinner, she told me to pick a movie, knowing I’d choose an old horror flick. I can still hear her laugh as she told me her password: her middle name and her address.
Her lifetime best friend doesn’t know it—but she told me.
“She watches the shows I start and tells me everything,”she said as we cuddled with popcorn and a black and white classic,“I don’t trust her not to spoil it for me now.”
“You don’t think I'll ruin anything for you?”I’d been teasing but even then, it felt significant.
“You won’t. I trust you not to. Because...I think you rather watch themwith me.” She’d shrugged it off, but I knew it meant something.
Now I know what it really meant. Kady trusts her best friend with her life. That night, without grand gestures or poetic words, she was letting me know she wanted to trust me with her heart. We’d just started dating and she wanted to trust usand meenough, that she didn’t hold back a single thing.
I repaid her by holding back something that could hurt her.
Oh, I can say I was trying to protect her all I want. But the truth is, I was protecting my own interests. Not in the build or my company. My interest in what I thought I’d invested in us. Last week when Marshall let us know there was confusion with the permits, I knew I was in trouble. I should have gone to her with the truth then, but I protected myself instead.
“I need to do a grand gesture!” I jump to my feet, Boom almost tripping me as he rushes to the door, impatient for me to get to it, “I need to fix it. I had her trust and I didn’t realize what it meant until I lost it. I need your help and maybe some of the crew, too. We have work to do.”
I'm flooded with hope as I rush from the house we share, explaining my plan as we head into town.
As night falls, he lets me know he got a hold of Chantel, who’s in on my grand gesture. She has a few choice words for me but once I let her know I’ll do anything to fix it, she’s game. Baker warns me if I hurt Kady a second time there won’t be a third—and I may not walk right if he gets his hands on me. I give him the same promise I gave Chantel—I messed up with Kady, but I'm a man who learns from my mistakes. I won’t repeat them.
With the girls out for the night, we go to work. I promised her we’d have her house ready in time for Halloween—I’m keeping that promise. With my crew and Oliver’s help, and a huge chunk of change dropped at the Halloween shop, I do her place up just like we talked.
We hang lights and cobwebs, suspend a huge spider on the front porch, and even set up a spooky graveyard complete with gravestones and a smoke machine. It takes us a few hours to get it all done, but we don’t stop until we agree it’s complete. It is a sight and I have no doubt it’ll be the most visited house on Halloween.
I finish it off with a stack of pumpkins that I’ll light once she comes home. Thanking the guys, I send them on their way with Oliver wishing me good luck. I shoot a text off to Chantel to let her know she can head back. Boomhauer takes his spot on the front porch and I let him know I appreciate the backup.
Headlights come through the darkness and my nerves take over. I have never taken a chance like this in my life. I know without a doubt Kady is worth the risk. I could do this right now, she could reject me, and I still wouldn’t regret it. I don’t know what I’ll do if she doesn’t let me fix things, but I do know I won’t ever regret taking this chance.
“Here goes everything,” I whisper as I hear tires stop on the gravel drive.
I sense Kady before I see her climbing from Chantel’s jeep. I am centered the minute she’s close again. It’s been just four days, but it feels as if it’s been weeks. I only feel whole with her near me now. I start to go to her but wait until I know we’re alone.
“Good luck!” I hear Chantel call before she backs out.
I pause for a beat before I hit the button on a remote Oliver worked up. The night glows with the lights trimming the windows and the lines of the house. Smoke from the fog machine fills the air. Spooky sounds play from small Bluetooth speakers and the spider hanging over the roof shuffles back and forth once she starts to move.
“What is...this...?” Kady covers her mouth, taking it all in with an awed look on her face.
“A grand gesture.” I take a step closer, cautious but anxious to feel her again. “Had to be sure you saw me. Wish I’d done something this grand the first time I laid eyes on you, Kady. I saw you walking down Main Street looking like a million bucks and I thought there was no way you’d take a second look at me. I couldn’t offer you a damn thing I thought everyone else could.”