“What about me?” Lindsay had perched herself on one of the stools at the small breakfast bar with the pizza box in front of her.
Kaitlin set the limes down on the countertop and pulled a long, sharp knife out of the wooden block. “What about you and Dylan?”
“There is no me and Dylan.”
“There was yesterday.”
Lindsay gave her blond hair a quick toss. “He’s dead to me.”
“I like that,” Kaitlin said defiantly, slicing into a lime. It sounded so unemotional and final.
“Have you heard anything from Zach?” Lindsay asked.
Kaitlin squeezed half a lime into the blender as she shook her head. “If I see his number, I’ll hang up. And if he drops by, I won’t answer the door.”
“What about the renovation?”
Kaitlin emphasized her words by pointing the knife tip to her computer on the dining table. “I am doing my full-blown design. I’m adding a helipad and a waterfall. It’ll be fabulous. I’ll probably win an award.”
Lindsay flipped open the cardboard box, folding it back to reveal the gooey, fragrant pizza. “I can’t believe they turned out to be such rats.”
“Dead-to-us rats,” Kaitlin stated, fighting to keep her emotions in check over the thought of never seeing Zach again.
Why had she let herself trust him? Did she think he’d love her, really marry her, have babies with her and turn her life into some fantasy?
She was Kaitlin Saville, penniless orphan. Things like that didn’t happen to her.
Lindsay tore a bite from one of the pizza slices and popped it into her mouth. “You thought he was the one?” she ventured softly.
Suddenly exhausted, Kaitlin set down the knife. “Stupid of me, I know.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It’s all my fault.”
“He played you.”
“And I let him. I encouraged him. I helped him. And now all I have left is revenge.”
“Revenge can be satisfying,” said Lindsay. “Especially when it’s going to save your career.”
“I don’t want revenge,” Kaitlin responded with blunt honesty, turning to squeeze the other half of the lime into the blender. “I hate revenge. I feel like I’m getting revenge against Sadie instead of Zach.” She dropped the lime peel and braced herself against the countertop.
She knew she couldn’t do it.
She couldn’t spend Harper money on a design she knew Sadie would hate. Her laugh sounded more like a cry.
“Katie?” Lindsay was up and rounding the breakfast bar.
“I’m fine,” Kaitlin sniffed. But she wasn’t fine. She was about to give up her career and her future for a family that wasn’t even hers.
“Don’t you love it when you know you’ve been a jerk?” Dylan asked, cupping his hands behind his head and stretching back in the padded chair next to Zach’s office window.
Zach was standing, too restless to sit down while his mind struggled to settle on a course of action.
“I mean,” Dylan continued, “sometimes you’re not sure. But other times, like this, you’re positive you’ve been a complete ass.”
Zach folded his arms across his chest, watching the clouds streak across the sky far away over the Jersey shore. “Are you talking about me or you?”
“I’m talking about both of us.”
Zach turned. He didn’t know about Dylan’s behavior, but he maintained that he’d been put in an untenable position. He never set out to hurt anyone. He was only trying to do right by his company and his family.
“And what should I have done differently?” he demanded.
Dylan grinned at Zach’s upset. “I don’t know. Maybe you shouldn’t have pretended you were married.”
“I am married.”
“I’m guessing not for long.”
Zach shook his head. “She’s not going to divorce me. It’s her leverage.”
At least he hoped Kaitlin wasn’t going to divorce him yet. He wasn’t ready for that.
Dylan crossed an ankle over one knee. “Conning her into scaling back the renovation was one thing. But you’re not a heartless bastard, Zach. Why’d you mess with her emotions like that?”
Zach felt his anger rise. What he’d done with Kaitlin was none of Dylan’s business. It was between him and Kaitlin. It was… They were…
“And what about you?” he queried, deflecting the question. “You slept with Lindsay.”
“That was a simple fling.”
“And what do you think I had?”
Dylan sat up straight. “I don’t know, Zach. You tell me.” His gaze moved meaningfully to the package of papers on the table between them.