Chapter 5

Edith dropped Kat off around nine pm, which meant she still had plenty of time to enjoy a movie and some popcorn on the couch. She changed into her PJs and made a fire before settling down under a blanket on the couch. She loved the stone cottage, but it did get chilly in there.

With the fire crackling in the fireplace, Kat stuffed some popcorn into her mouth and poured herself some wine. This was actually precisely what she felt like this evening. Her phone suddenly beeped. It was Tamara confirming her blind date for next Saturday evening. Crap, she had already forgotten about that. Oh well. How bad could it be? She wrote ‘Accountant’ on the calendar since she had managed to forget his name already. Excellent start.

The movie was a romantic comedy, which probably wasn’t the best choice, considering her lack of a love life. She should have grabbed an action flick. Or something scary. Although horror movies had sort of lost their appeal after she moved farther out in the countryside, with no neighbors to speak of, and no one to snuggle up next to in bed. Kat’s phone beeped again. She checked the message.

You are right. This room is really depressing. What movie r u watching?

Kat smiled, and her heart skipped a couple of beats. Refusing to acknowledge the fact that seeing Theo’s name pop up on her phone made her ridiculously happy, she typed her message back.

Some romantic nonsense. I don’t know what I was thinking! You?

Just friends, Kat told herself again. He needs a friend. The phone beeped again. It was a picture message. She took a quick sip of her wine while the picture loaded. When it popped up, Kat snorted and started laughing. It was a picture of the green wall and white ceiling in his hospital room.

Exciting stuff! she wrote back.

Yeah. You sure you don’t want to come back and keep me company?

Kat snickered.

I think visiting hours were over a while ago she replied.

I get special perks. They can sneak you in. C’mon, bring your romantic nonsense movie.

Kat read the message a couple of times. Was he being serious?

You are joking, no? she finally typed back.

Not even a little bit. His next message popped up. I’m so bored, pls!

I’m in my PJs! she wrote. She couldn’t believe he was asking her to come back.

Me too he answered. 

Kat laughed out loud and looked at her glass of wine. She had only had a couple of sips so technically she was fine to drive. It was five after ten. 

“Oh, what the hell!” She told herself and stood up. “Gotta live a little!”

She quickly texted Theo and said she would come over and bring the movie. Theo texted her back and told her one of the security guys would meet her by the side entrance and bring her right up. Kat couldn’t believe that she was actually agreeing to this, but about twenty minutes later she was walking behind the security guy in her pajamas and a pair of flip-flops, carrying a bowl of slightly used popcorn and a romantic comedy DVD.

Theo looked over and smiled when Kat walked in. 

“Nice PJs!” he commented with a chuckle. 

Her fleece pajamas had about a thousand kittens on them. 

“Why thank you, but I absolutely can’t stand cats, just so we are clear,” she responded slightly embarrassed. “I might have been single for a while, but I’m not the typical cat lady quite yet!” She grinned at him and he laughed. 

“Well, come on in cat lady!” Theo smiled.

They looked at each other for a few seconds, and finally Kat asked, “Do you always get what you want?”

“Usually,” he admitted. “But that doesn’t mean it falls in my lap. I work hard to get what I want, and I don’t give up very easily.” 

Kat rolled her eyes at him. “Uh huh.” 

She put her bowl of popcorn on the side table by Theo’s bed and looked around the hospital room. She didn’t know if it was hospital standards these days or if Theo did have special perks, but there was a DVD player hooked up to the TV, so she put the movie in and then pulled the chair up closer to his bed, just as she had done earlier that day. 

“Kat, that chair doesn’t look very comfortable. You will fit fine up here next to me. I will move over and as long as we keep this thing”—he fiddled with the IV stand which was still hooked up to a vein on top of his hand—“on the side, we should be good up here.”

She looked over at the bed. He had moved over as much as he could, but he was six foot five and two hundred forty-five pounds, (She refused to admit that she had Googled him again.) and it would still be a tight squeeze. His long arm was draped across the pillows, and his hand rested on the side of the bed, to make sure the IV would be undisturbed when she took her spot next to him. Of course he could have moved the other way, and it would have made a lot more sense, but she didn’t say anything. 

He was dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, and the bottoms of his legs were covered with a blanket. She carefully moved up on his bed, worried that she would hurt him.

“Relax, I’m fine,” Theo said. “You are not going to hurt me. Just get comfortable.”

Kat nodded and moved back an inch at a time until her lower back hit the pillows, and she felt the warmth of his arm dangerously close. 

“Are you ok like that?” Theo asked, and she nodded and focused on the TV.

Now that she was here, she was wondering if she had lost her mind. He was still a married man, and he had made it clear that he just needed a friend, and she was starting to act like a school girl around him. She gave herself a stern mental scolding and it seemed to help. She relaxed slightly but found that she had lost all taste for popcorn. 

“Shane said you have a little boy?” Theo asked her then.

He obviously wasn’t watching the movie so she turned a bit so they could talk face to face. She nodded and smiled at the thought of Joey.

“Joey,” she replied. “He is ten.” 

“Does his dad live nearby?” he asked. 

Kat raised an eyebrow. 

“You know, come to think of it, how come you assumed earlier that I’m not happily married to his father?” 

“Well, not to sound like a stalker, but Shane found out some things when he tried to locate you for me. And now you are sitting in my bed in your PJs, and no one is here with a shotgun.” Theo laughed. 

“Total stalker!” Kat teased him.

“Haha!” He smiled back. “Aren’t you full of jokes tonight?” 

“Always!” She snickered. “No, but you are right. We have been divorced for five years or so. He lives about fifteen minutes away, so it works out pretty good. How about you? You must miss your family something terrible.”

Theo got very still, and she saw the muscle in his jaw twitch. 

“I miss the girls,” he finally said. 

“You have two, right?” 

“Yeah. Emilia and Hannah.” Theo smiled sadly.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up,” Kat apologized. “We can talk about something else.”

“It’s ok, really. It’s just complicated. Believe me, I could talk about my daughters all day every day. It’s the rest of it that’s hard. His eyes shifted up to the TV. There was a preview of an action movie showing. “Now why didn’t you get that one?” he asked accusingly as she turned to look. 

“You are awfully bossy for someone who was begging for my romantic nonsense movie!” Kat retorted and turned to give him the evil eye.

“Ouch!” Theo laughed. “That’s the look of disapproval, huh?”

Kat nodded with a stern look on her face.

“Well then ma’am, I’m terribly sorry for my inappropriate behavior!” 

“I guess I will forgive you this time. But only because you are weak and sickly,” Kat added with a look of mischief.

“Pfffttt. I’m not weak!” he argued, but she hushed him, turned her back and focused on the TV again. She heard him chuckle behind her. 

“Hey, thanks for coming back out to cheer me up,” he added, and she felt him tug gently on her braid.

“Anytime,” she replied, and it scared her when she realized that she meant every word of what she said.

Theo tugged on her braid a little more insistently.

“Hey!” Kat cried and swatted at his hand. 

“Move back here!” Theo suggested and tugged on her braid again. “I’m not going to bite you. You can lay back and get comfortable.”

“Bully!” Kat mumbled, but she leaned back and rested her head against his arm.

“Better?” he asked her softly. 

It felt as if his mouth was very close to her hair, but she wasn’t planning on looking up to find out. She ignored his question and tried equally hard to ignore her heart that was beating about a million beats a minute. When the door to the room opened and the nurse from the evening of the accident walked in, Kat felt both relieved and disappointed at the same time. 

“Oh how nice to see you, Mrs. Collins!” the nurse exclaimed cheerfully. “He was a bit bored with just our company.”

Kat managed not to laugh and answered politely.

“Thank you so much for taking such good care of us. You really are a treasure.”

“It’s my pleasure!” the nurse answered while checking on Theo’s IV. “Make sure he gets his rest!” 

Katrina promised she would, and the nurse left just as quickly as she had appeared.

“I think she just s***** my IV with something fabulous, Mrs. Collins,” Theo mumbled, and he sounded as if he was asleep already.

Kat turned her head to look at him, and his hazel eyes were still open, but she could tell that his suspicions were probably right. 

“Go ahead and get some rest,” she whispered. 

Theo bent his head down and softly kissed her forehead. Kat was certain she had a small heart attack. Her heart felt like she had just sprinted a mile and she hoped he couldn’t tell. Maybe the d**** the nurse had just given him were a God's send. 

“Will you please stay?” he asked, and she saw his eyes close. “Everything feels so easy when you are with me.” His breathing slowed, and she could tell he was done for the night. 

Kat pulled the blanket up to cover them both and then leaned back again. It was almost funny that the first man she was spending the night with in several years happened to be married. Well, it really wasn’t funny, funny, but it sure felt like her kind of luck. Let’s go ahead and crush on the guy you can’t have, Kat! Great idea, she thought to herself. Beside her, Theo’s slow and steady breathing was very calming, and before she knew it, she drifted off to sleep.

Their wakeup wasn’t quite as peaceful. As always, Kat was a bit slow to wake up, but she finally stirred and quickly realized that she was not in her own bed. In fact, her face was in someone’s armpit. When she heard Shane’s voice, she moved away from Theo and slowly sat up. She covered her mouth and yawned, discreetly wiping away some drool that had gathered at the side of her mouth.

“Morning,” Theo said sounding slightly amused. 

“Are we sure about that?” Kat asked a bit grumpily and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. 

“A morning person I see?” Theo remarked with a chuckle. Kat scowled back and rolled her eyes. 

“Good morning, Katrina!” Shane interjected, and she could have kissed him for acting like this was perfectly normal. “Well, I’m truly sorry to barge in like this, but it seems we have a bit of a…situation.” He looked a bit embarrassed, and she felt Theo tense up beside her.

“What kind of a situation are we talking about, Shane?” he asked, his voice harder than Kat had ever heard it before.

“Vienna is here. She is outside with the whole entourage,” Shane admitted with a grimace.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Theo said with a sigh. “The cameras?”

“All of it,” Shane confirmed. “I told her the hospital doesn’t allow the cameras, so she finally agreed that just she and the girls will come in and see you.”

“I can’t believe this shit,” Theo said. “Kat…” he started, but Katrina had already climbed out of bed and was getting the movie out of the DVD player.

“Hey, don’t even worry about it. You get to see the girls!” She smiled at him, and he smiled back when she reminded him of his daughters. 

Before Theo could say anything else, she winked at him, patted Shane on his shoulder, and snuck out of the room. Once outside she stopped for a second and took a deep breath. Kat told herself to ignore that small stab of pain and be happy for her friend that his family was coming to see him. She collected her thoughts and then found her way to the trusted ‘Staff Only’ side door where she exited the hospital and got in her car. 

It was a short drive home, and by the time she was enjoying her first cup of coffee, she felt almost normal. She saw a text from Theo, apologizing again for the morning and her having to rush out. She sent him a message back letting him know everything was fine, and to just enjoy the visit with his family. 

It was Sunday. Katrina shook off the unpleasant morning and went to tackle her normal Sunday tasks. Tomorrow it was back to work and back to life as she knew it. She should know better than to let herself get close to a guy that was obviously far from available. 

Joey came home in the early afternoon, and as usual, his presence made Kat forget all negative thoughts. When her phone rang, she checked it and saw that it was Theo calling. She let the phone go to voicemail before texting him back to let him know Joey just got home, and it wasn’t a good time to talk. He responded that he understood and asked her to let him know when she had a moment to chat. Katrina sighed and put her phone away.

Trying to keep him out of her thoughts proved difficult. The accident was still in the news, where Theo’s condition was discussed together with thoughts on his contract as he would be a free agent after the season was over. Katrina was just about to change the channel when the footage from the hospital that very same morning started rolling. There was Vienna looking impeccable and their two girls holding on to her hands as they walked from her chauffeured car to the hospital doors. Vienna’s heels were seriously high. Feeling slightly immature, Kat hoped she would trip or stumble. Something to show that she wasn’t as perfect as she seemed. 

“Are you back for good?” a reporter shouted as Vienna started to pull the glass door open.

Vienna turned to face the camera, her oversized Gucci sunglasses covering her eyes. She paused and gave the reporters an annoyed sigh, which was almost funny to Katrina since she knew Vienna traveled with the whole camera crew and they didn’t just show up to hound her. 

“My husband had a serious accident. Of course we are back to be by his side! Come on girls.” 

Vienna turned her perfect backside to the cameras and then disappeared inside the hospital, Emilia and Hannah trailing behind her hand in hand.

Katrina changed the channel and ignored her slightly unsteady hands. So Vienna was back to stay. She assumed that’s why Theo was trying to reach her. It was time to stop dreaming about this guy and start looking forward to her date the next weekend. The distraction was just what she needed.

Theo called again, and once more Kat let the phone ring. She texted him in the evening and apologized for not getting a chance to call him back and that she would text him in the morning. He responded and still seemed understanding, but she got the feeling that he was getting irritated that she wasn’t calling him back. When she finally got in her bed, it felt very empty and very cold.