“Think about it, Dean. If Katie cut away from her normal life of partying, traveling, and appearing in the tabloids every other week so she could work full-time and stay at the hotel at night watching movies, then we’d all know something wasn’t right. So she started to work, find meaning in her life. I get that. Even actors work on occasion. No one gives up everything in their life without a reason. It’s like when you gave up camping and riding your bike.”
Mike had him up until he started talking about camping. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Don’t get defensive. You know what I’m talking about.”
“No. I don’t.”
“When you were with Maggie, you cut out the things that make you tick. I couldn’t get you to go camping all last year. And it wasn’t until after Maggie skipped out that you found your bike again. Maggie was your reason for strange behavior.”
“Sometimes we do things for the people in our lives.”
Mikey sat forward and met Dean’s eyes. “If falling in love and getting married means I have to give up everything I like doin’, then count me out.”
“I didn’t give up everything.”
Mike snorted.
“I didn’t.” Dean winced, knowing he sounded like a five-year-old. “OK, maybe I did. I was messed up back then.”
“That’s my point, buddy. If Katie wasn’t acting at all normal, we’d know she was messed up. That something had gone down that none of us knew about. And as much as we might hate it sometimes, we all like to keep tabs on each other. Be there for each other.”
Mike was right.
They changed the subject to a local baseball team and grilled a couple of steaks. Katie was never far from Dean’s mind. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something…something big.
Dean wasn’t sure why Katelyn insisted on showing up to the job site before him, but for the fourth time in a week he pulled alongside her rental car and shook his head.
The top of the convertible was down and he glanced in the backseat. A bright pink pacifier stuck out like a bald man in a hair salon. He reached in and picked it up. Maybe the pacifier was hidden under the seat, and the person who rented it before Katie had lost it.
Still, the presence of the infant toy sparked a moment of recognition much like déjá vu, and didn’t let go.
He cupped the plastic binky into his palm and made his way inside.
Jo greeted him and gave him his messages. The light in the conference room was on, and he could hear Katelyn talking on the phone. After the conversation with Mike the day before, and his own nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right, Dean had decided to poke a little more into Katie’s mind.
“Mornin’, Katelyn,” he called from across the room when he heard her say good-bye on the phone.
“Hey, Dean.”
Without bothering to enter the conference room, he asked, “Would you mind coming in here for a few minutes?” Dean walked into his office and waited for Katie to follow.
The space in the trailer was tight; barely enough space for the three rooms.
He sat behind his desk and looked over his messages.
“What do you need?”
Dean looked up, somewhat startled. The sound of high heels, which usually accompanied Katie wherever she went, wasn’t there. When he glanced over her frame, a pair of designer jeans hugged her slim hips and sneakers adorned her feet.
He didn’t know she owned a pair of sneakers.
“Come in, sit down.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Am I in trouble, boss?”
When it came to Katie, Dean never felt like the boss. “Should you be?”
She stepped forward and closed the door.
The snarky smile on his face fell. “You’re limping.” And attempting not to show it by walking slowly and with calculated ease.
When she sat in the chair across from him, she huffed out a breath. “Stubbed my toe,” she told him.
He was out of his chair and at her side in an instant. “Liar. You’re wearing running shoes.” And from what he could tell, only a little bit of that black stuff women wear on their eyes and lip gloss. Mike’s words hung in the air. If Katie wasn’t acting at all normal, we’d know she was messed up.
He knelt down and placed a hand on the foot she was favoring.
“I’m OK.” She pulled away.
He dropped his hand to her side and met her gaze. Just a glimpse of her always knocked the wind out of his lungs. Her porcelain skin and pink lips were more tempting than any he’d ever seen. He remembered those lips on his, the feel…the taste.
“Let me look.” He lowered his voice. “Please.”
Katie rolled her eyes and lifted her leg. “It’s not a big deal. Just a sprain.”
Her ankle was swollen and wrapped in a bandage, her shoe loosely tied. “When did this happen?”
“Yesterday.”
“Here?”
“I’m fine, Dean, really.”
“Dammit, Katie. Those shoes—”
“I’ve heard the lecture already. Monica thinks I sprained it. No big deal.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Monica?”
Katie hesitated. “She is a nurse.”
“But not a doctor. Did you see a doctor? Have an X-ray?”
“I don’t need a doctor. It’s already feeling better. I’m sure you didn’t make me walk in here if you knew I had hurt myself. What did you need?”