Chapter Thirteen
I woke gradually from sleep to a strange room. The light was slightly muted from the window making me think it was not long past dawn. I paused to take stock of myself. I was still tired, but I felt better than I had done in weeks. I looked around the unfamiliar room, noticing two of my suitcases and my carry on bags were parked at the food of the bed.
Suitcases. Plane. La Push. Emily. Sam.
It came flooding back. I was in Sam's house. We had dinner, then bed? I couldn't really remember much about dinner only that it was good food. I wondered if Emily carried me to bed?
I snorted at the thought. She was taller but I was heavier. There's no way she'd be able to lift my fat arse.
Like the thought had summoned her, there was a tiny knock at the door before she popped her head round.
"I thought I heard movement." She grinned.
"Hey Emily, what time is it?" I held up my arm to check my watch, finding it missing.
"It's just after six, you slept through from about eight last night." She walked to the night stand and plucked my watch off of it, handing it to me.
"I figured I'd take this off as its still showing UK time."
"Ha, thanks. I'll change it later."
"Do you want some breakfast? I'm making pancakes and bacon." Oh that sounded amazing, I heard my stomach rumble at the mere thought.
"Oh yes please. D'you mind if I borrow your shower first. I'm a bit icky from all the travelling."
"Sure, out and to your right. I've left you a couple of towels in there already. No rush, it's still early." She smiled, walking back to the door. "Shout if you need anything. Sam grabbed a couple of bags out of your car, hopefully there's some clothes in there, otherwise I'll send him out for the others."
"I think I'm good, I mixed up the packing in case any of my bags went missing."
"Good idea. As I said, take your time, I'll see you downstairs." She gave a little wave and left, closing the door behind her.
I flopped back onto the bed and relished in the soft cotton. It was extremely comfortable and I had to fight the urge to curl up and go back to sleep. The long sleep had got me on track for Pacific time, and I didn't want to ruin it from over sleeping, so I reluctantly threw back the covers and swung my feet to the floor.
Hefting my cases on the bed, I pulled out a new pair of light washed capri jeans, and a bright red fitted T shirt. Having donated most of my Richard approved attire to charity shops, I made sure my new wardrobe was full of bright colours.
Clean underwear secured from the second case, I grabbed my small toiletry bag from my carry on and peaked my head out the door. Seeing the coast clear, and the bathroom door open and vacant I quickly leaped out of the room and into the bathroom. Being careful not to slam the door shut behind me, I supressed a slightly hysterical giggle at the minor risk of being seen in my undies,
and my stupid antics. My mood had done such a 180 from yesterday it was surreal. Maybe it was because I was here, starting a new chapter of my life. It felt like my cold was better too. I still felt a little under the weather, but not so bad that I would need to take anything for it.
As I waited for the shower to heat I brushed my teeth, thinking back. Just a mere five weeks ago I was in the monotony of work and my life with Richard, and now look at me. I felt a swell of excitement again and did a little hop and a squeal in front of the mirror. This time I did laugh out loud at myself as I nearly swallowed my toothbrush and coughed toothpaste foam over the sink.
I managed to compose myself and get in the shower. I didn't dally for too long, mindful of what type of water heating system they could have in place, and within thirty minutes, I was making my way downstairs.
My trepidation increased as I descended, but it vanished quickly on finding Emily on her own in the kitchen.
"Ah, good timing, foods ready, grab a seat." She called over her shoulder. I noticed there were breakfast items situated at the long wooden table that took up a substantial portion of the room. I made my way over and took as seat just as Emily deposited two loaded plates of bacon and fat, fluffy American style pancakes. She turned back to the nearest run of countertop and grabbed a couple more bits as well as some tongs, and past the tongs to me.
"Guests first. Take as much as you can. Sam will be back soon and he'll polish off what we don't eat."
I looked at the spread before me, noticing toast as well, stacked up to the side.
"Oh, that's good, I was starting to think you were trying to fatten me up. There's no way we could manage all this." I joked as I helped myself to pancakes. I quickly paused on the way to the bacon. "Should we wait for Sam?" I didn't want to upset their morning.
"Oh, no, it's fine, he's due back soon, but sometimes he can get delayed." She grabbed some toast. "Besides, I think you do need a little fattening up. Sam said you've lost quite a bit of weight since he last saw you." She gave me a mock stern look and whereas I would normally take umbrage at a perfect stranger commenting on my weight, she said it just so that I didn't take it the wrong way. She was right however, stuff that fitted when I went shopping with Marc was feeling more than a little loose.
"Yes Mum." I smiled at her and she laughed.
"Mmmm. These are awesome. I've never been able to make these fluffy. I can only manage the crepe like ones." I said around a mouthful of pancake.
"You should try it with bacon and some syrup." She pointed at the pourer to the side. Dubious, I gave it a go.
"Oh, god. It's like an angel came in my mouth." I froze. My playful mood from upstairs had me forgetting where I was for a moment. "Shit. Sorry."
Emily raised her eyebrows at me and grinned. "I'll take that as a compliment."
We continued to plow through the food, making more of a dent on it than I thought possible, although there was still a mountain remaining when Sam came in the back door, only wearing a pair of sweats that looks like someone had hacked them off at the knee with a spoon.
"Does he have an aversion to clothes or something?" I whispered loudly to Emily, grinning as I turned to look at Sam.
She snorted. "Put it this way, you're lucky he's wearing anything at all."
I grimaced at that. Imagining Sam naked. It was on par with my Dad. Urg. Sam made his way to Emily, snagging some toast and planting a gentle kiss on her head before taking a seat and a bite.
"Well, as long as there's no dubious stains on the furniture, I guess that's fair enough, your house after all."
Emily threw her head back and laughed. "Well there was this one time…"
"It was mud, how many times…" Sam huffed and stood back up looking offended and walked to the kitchen. I joined in with Emily's laughter, almost choking on a bit of bacon which sent her into further hysterics. I could see Sam behind Emily trying to hide his own mirth which sent us off into further fits of giggles.
"I'll leave you two to it. I'm going to take a shower." He called as he walked towards the stairs, a cup of coffee in hand.
"Er, where's our coffee, husband dearest?" Emily called to his retreating back, still smiling.
"I wouldn't want to get mud in your cups." He yelled back as he disappeared.
"Ewwww." We said together, causing us to crack up again.
We'd calmed down by the time Sam finished his shower and came back down. This time gracing us with a shirt on too. He pulled out a seat next to Emily and started pulling the serving plates towards him. Emily saw me watching.
"It's fine, he's not fussed if it's a little cold. Plus it saves the washing up."
Fair enough.
"So, what's the plan for today then?" Emily asked. I set down my cup of tea, still eyeing Sam as he demolished the food in front of him.
"Well, I guess it's officially moving in day." I grinned at the thought. "I suppose I'll get my stuff over there, go find a store to get some food in, get myself settled."
"Excellent, well Sam will load up your car then we'll show you where the house and local stores are. I think Forks would be a better place for groceries. The Rez store has the basics, but Forks will have a bigger range."
"Oh, no, it's fine, I don't want to drag you along, you've probably got better things to do." I interjected.
"It's not a problem Kate." Sam spoke up as he finished the last piece of toast. "We're both free for the rest of the day. It will be our pleasure."
"Ok well if you are sure-"
"Stop. We're helping. That's it." Emily stopped me in my tracks. "Sam, go grab Kate's bags will you?" She grabbed my hand and pulled me from the table to the kitchen. She made for the fridge and I stood off to the side. "I made some meals for you so you don't have to cook tonight or tomorrow. I imagine you'll be tired from your first day at work and cooking will be the last thing on your mind."
She pulled out a number of tupperware containers, then reached in for a tin.
"Dessert." She explained.
"Oh, wow, you seriously didn't-"
"Ah! What did I tell you." She loaded my arms with the containers and bumped the door close with her hip.
"Come on, lets go, I'm dying to have a look around your place. I've not seen it all finished." She gathered up her bag, and took a couple of containers from me and lead me to the door and out of the house.
Sam was just closing the boot of my car, giving it a fond pat before he walked up to us and opened the rear door. Emily climbed in as Sam held her containers before depositing them on the seat next to her before turning to me.
"Can I drive?" I asked. He looked at me in surprise.
"Sure, it's your car, you don't have to ask." He replied bemused.
"Well, I'm pretty sure Emily has a competitor for your affection. I didn't want to get in the way." I smirked at him and held out my hands.
"It's a nice car!" He blustered and somewhat reluctantly handed me the keys as he took the containers out of my hands and placed them with the others.
"Sure sure." I replied. He gave me a look but then turned towards the drivers side, and I did the same, bumping into him.
"Oh, shit, wrong side." I turned and hurried around to the correct side as he laughed at me.
"Oh, be quiet you." I told him as we climbed in. "Christ, Sam, it's like you've got giraffe legs." I muttered as I pulled the seat forward, and then forward a little more. "I'm amazed Emily's got room in the back."
"Not my fault you're short." He retorted.
"I'm not short, you're just freakishly large."
"OK children, shall we make a move before the dessert melts?" Emily called from the back.
"What dessert?" Sam looked positively horrified that Emily had not told him.
"Hey, it's mine, hands off." I poked him, then hit the push start on the car. "Ooo, this is nice." dessert forgotten as I took in the dash in front. I did a quick run down off the switches and buttons, and comfortable with the basics, I belted up.
"OK, where am I going?" I asked in general, as I swung the car around and pointed it to the end of their driveway.
"Left out of here then right on the main road." Sam replied with vague hand gestures. I followed them reasonably slowly, getting used to the car. Less than ten minutes later I was pulling off the main road out of La Push and down a long driveway. It was surrounded by trees on both sides, before it opened up to the front of the house.
"Oh wow." I breathed. It looked so much nicer than in the pictures. So much nicer. Was it the same house? The drive opened up to allow for parking, and I could make out a building off the right of the house.
"That leads to a garage. Well, glorified shed really. There's gardening equipment and firewood stored in there. Old Whitefeather didn't use it for his car. Not sure if it would be big enough to take this beast however." He added.
I stopped the car just at the foot of the stairs leading up to the front door, before the drive peeled off to the garage-shed. The house was pretty symmetrical, apart from the chimney poking out from the right side. I unclipped my seatbelt and slid out of the car.
I could smell fresh paint and noticed the shutters were a light blue.
"I've been here most days, just making sure it's all ready for you." Sam said as he walked around the back of the car, helping Emily out on his way. "The outside has a new lick of paint, I replaced the shutters, they were starting to rot. The decking has been repaired, and Em sorted out the planters."
There was so much to take it, but it wasn't hard to miss the vibrant splash of colour that the various flowers made against the white of the walls.
"Guys, it's amazing!" I felt suddenly overwhelmed with their generosity. "You seriously didn't have to do anything, but thank you, it's so lovely."
"We wanted too." Emily added, hooking her arm through mine that hung limply at my side. "Come on, there's more to show you inside."
She tugged me by my arm and I had no choice not to follow. Not that I didn't want to go inside, I was just still processing everything outside, mentally tallying everything they had done. It seemed like a lot of work in just three weeks. I would have to ask who else was involved so I could thank them when I met them.
"Sam, do you have the keys?" Emily called looking over her shoulder to Sam just following up behind.
"It's open, keys are in the kitchen."
"That's a bit risky, isn't it?" I asked, turning my head back and forth to look at them both as we reached the door.
"You're not in London now, Kate. It's safe around here." Emily smiled. She pulled the screen door and Sam caught it above her head as she turned the handle on the wooden door painted the same shade of blue as the shutters.
Inside took my breath away. It was homely. You could instantly tell an older person lived here, but what I imagined the original features of the place were kept and looked to be in beautiful condition. There was a highly polished wooden floor covered by a plain grey runner. The walls were muted cream, but had various black and white photos covering all the wall but for a space for a large mirror to the right of the door. Below the mirror was a long, thin table. I could instantly see me dumping my bag and keys here when coming in.
"We can take the photos down if you want. We weren't sure what to do with them, he didn't have any family to pass them on to." Emily said, seeing my eyes linger on the frames.
"No, it's OK, can we leave them? I kinda like them. It gives the house a history you know?"
"Sure." She tugged my arm again. "OK, left we have the dining room. Right is the main living area. Stairs, obviously, and there's a half bath under them." She pulled open a door on the left of us to reveal a cloakroom under the body of the stairs. She pulled me down the central hallway to the back of the house.
"And here, the best part. The kitchen." She pushed me forward and stood there beaming.
I could see why.
It was big, much larger than my kitchen back home. The cabinet styles were old, but they had been painted a light grey which worked well against the dark wooden floor. I realised the floor followed from the front door and wondered if the whole of the downstairs level was the same.
It was set in a large U shaped with a large run of cabinets under the far back wall that held a huge window above the double basin sink. The U continued around to the right, housing a large double oven and gas stove above. The lower part swung back towards the double width doorway. The were a few wall cabinets on the final wall, otherwise shelves took up the majority of the cooker wall. In the middle was the piéce de résistance. A large square island dominated the room. It's surface was dark wood, much like the floor, one side I could see was bare, with an overhand of the counter top, making me think there should be stools. The other side was full of cooking books tucked neatly into the inbuilt shelves The area should have looked crowded, but the size of the room added into the homely feeling, rather than making it feel cluttered.
"There's no microwave, Old Joe didn't believe in them. The oven is great however, you can cook so much in there." Emily gushed.
"Do I detect oven envy there Emily?" I teased.
"Oh, definitely." She grinned. "I'll show you upstairs."
"I'll get the bags out of the car." Sam said, following us back to the front door and passing through as we made for the stairs.
There were more photos up the wall and as we hit the top there were four large, what looked like wooden bats with a pointed end, staggered up the expanse of the wall.
"They're ores." Emily said as we passed. "Bit of Tribal history right there. I'll get one of the guys to explain it more. I'm not completely familiar with the Quileute histories."
"Oh, are you not Quileute?"
"No, Makah. We're not far from here. Our Tribes are pretty close."
We arrived at the top of the stairs. Back towards the front of the house was a large bedroom with a full bathroom next to it. At the rear was the master room.
"Old Joe used the front bedroom. Here he used the space for his work. We stripped it all out and given the space thought you'd prefer this for your bedroom."
It was the same floor space as the kitchen below, the same grey from the cabinets graced the walls. It reminded me of the grey I had at home and it added a sense of familiarity to the strange space. The bed was huge, much bigger than my king size at home. The headboard was again that same dark wood, imposing in its size, but soften again by the size of the room. The same wood floors clearly decked the whole house. There was a large double wardrobe the right of the room, again with the same wood.
"Why type of wood is this?" I asked as I tapped the study piece of furniture.
"Cedar, I think. They've been in the house for some years. They are lovely pieces so we kept them and restained them."
"It's lovely." I turned to her. "Honestly Emily, this is so much. I can't believe I get to live here. Thank you so much."
She laughed. "Hey, enough of that. It's what we do for family."
"Where do you want your stuff?" Sam appeared carrying two large bags under his arms with two more in his hands.
"Oh, here, on the bed, please." I scooted out of the way quick knowing how heavy they were. I was a bit baffled when Sam didn't seem in the slightly put out by the weight. I did also wonder how the hell he managed to get them upstairs in one go without making a sound. It was probably a good idea he was helping. I'd probably mark up the walls and scratch the floor trying to haul just one up on my own.
"I put the food in the fridge." He added as he placed the last case down.
I figured I'd unpack later when I was alone and had time to properly explore the house. We made for the stairs and back into the kitchen, Emily pointing out the back door to the left of the window and the utility room that I'd missed at first.
"OK, so, the cupboards are completely bare so we need a full grocery shop. Do you want to make a list or wing it?" Emily asked.
"Well, if you are coming with me, wing it?" I suggested.
"Living dangerously, that's what I like." She pulled open a hidden cupboard under the island that I didn't notice and pulled out some reusable shopping bags. "Right, off we go."
We moved out to the car, and we were soon back on the road. Emily said she would point out the main Rez store later, my house being on the way out of La Push, we decided not to double back.
"It's pretty small around here, you can't really miss it."
Forks was a much bigger town than La Push, although still tiny in comparison to London and even my outer London suburb. But, it had a decent enough selection of stores which was the critical thing. I'd have to get use to not having everything on my doorstep. Sam was employed by Emily as trolley, or should I say, cart pusher and together we filled it to the brim with everything I would need. Emily was a God send, steering me away from certain brands, and explaining some goods that we didn't have back in the UK.
Having to stock up on everything from food to laundry and cleaning materials, the final bill at the checkout was up in the $200 range, I whipped out my company Amex knowing it would be taken no problem. I'd have to figure out my personal account for the next shop.
Car loaded we drove back to the Rez, my confidence in the car and being on the 'wrong' side of the road increasing meant we were back within 30 minutes.
The rest of the day was spent with Emily and Sam, unpacking the shopping and Emily insisted on helping me unpack my bags. It should have felt weird to have someone rifle through my clothing, but we had such as blast and my cheeks were aching by the time we had finished from laughing so much.
Sam had disappeared when the underwear sorting started, and we found him in the living room poking the fire place when we came down stairs.
"Have you used a wood burner before?" He asked.
"No, we had gas back home." I shook my head.
He gave me a tutorial on how to light it and how to stack the wood properly. I'd probably have to get a refresher once the colder months kick in, which he agreed to. He then showed me how to work the heating and gave me a quick tour of the back garden, or yard as he called it, and the shed.
"I doubt you'll have to worry much about yard work." He said as we walked back to the kitchen.
"Oh, why's that?" He held the screen door for me and I walked under his arm (without ducking!).
"Oh, the Pac...guys, as long as you pay with food, they'd be happy to help out."
Talking of food. Emily had been busy and pulled together a spread out of my recent purchases and we moved to the porch at the back of the house to eat. There was a beautiful swing under the eves and myself and Emily set ourselves on it, careful not to spill our drinks to much laughter. Sam propped himself on the steps to the garden, half his food already devoured.
It was a pleasant afternoon, shooting the shit about anything and everything. It really felt as though I knew these people all my life. I'd never felt comfortable with making new friends, often latching onto Marc and the circles he walked in, or more recently, Richard's friends became mine by default. I was sad to realise that I didn't really have my own people around me, not since school at least. It was heartening to know I had these two lovely people in my corner.
Emily was explaining the recipe for her chicken stew from last night when Sam paused suddenly and turned his head to the front of the house.
"Marc's here." He said, turning to look at me. I couldn't help my mood plummet at the mention of his name. I'd chosen to ignore the problem until I had to face him, and with the good company today, it had actually slipped my mind for a bit, but now with just his name, I could feel myself tense up.
It wasn't long before I heard the faint crunch of tyres on gravel, and Sam stood, and said he would bring him round. I didn't have time to say anything before he jumped up and vanished around the side of the house. I turned to Emily who was looking worried.
"Everything OK with Marc?"
I sighed, not having enough time to explain the problem before I had to see Marc. I could hear a car door shut and my mind was spinning out not knowing how to approach Marc or explain to Emily.
"Can I talk to you later about it?" I asked. I must have looked a sight as she nodded and reached out to squeeze my knee.
"I'll get Sam to come inside, let you two have space out here." She said.
It was refreshing to not have her want answers immediately. It hit me how Richard was the total opposite, often demanding I explain everything the moment I saw him.
I heard a set of footsteps around the side of the house and taking a deep breath to steel myself, I stood and step down off the porch to the grass and watched as both Marc and Sam appeared.
Sam
I heard the car before the girls did and it didn't take more than a second to pin the high powered engine on Marc's Audi. Not many of those on the Rez that's for sure.
Her face dropped as I mentioned it, and I could literally see her withdraw into herself. I figured that Marc was here, probably to catch up before her first day tomorrow, they might as well clear the air rather than leave this thing hanging over her head. At least she had myself and Emily here for support.
"Hey Kate!" He called as we rounded the house. She stood and Emily moved to pull me towards the house after throwing a small 'hello' at Marc. We walked into the house, well, I was dragged, Emily making a point to close both screen and back doors before moving towards the window.
"Can you hear from here?" She asked at a whisper as she tried to peer through the netted curtain across the kitchen window above the sink.
"Yup. Want me to listen in?" I was going to anyway, I only asked to pass off blame to Emily.
"Yes. Did you see her? She literally sunk in on herself. I want to know the deal before she talks to me later about this." She moved the curtain slightly and I slapped her hand away.
"Leave it, you'll make obvious. Anyway, what do you mean tell you later?" I asked, surprised Kate was quick to offer to spill. Emily gave me a small triumphant smirk.
"She trusts me, what can I say?" She turned serious. "To be honest I think it's because she had to make a split second call and didn't want to be rude. What are they saying?"
Kate
I stood awkwardly in front of Marc, arms crossed across my torso. I tried to paste a smile on my face but it fell as quickly as it formed.
"You OK, Kate? What's wrong?" I couldn't hide my feelings from Marc so I didn't even attempt to. I let my head fall back on my neck, not knowing how to start this conversation.
"I spoke to Brian yesterday? No, Friday. Whatever." I waved my hand in dismissal of my confusion with the days.
"Oh Right? He emailed me late Friday, told me what you did for Dean. That was really good Kate." He laughed, relaxed in his posture as moved closer to me. "I knew I should have made friends with Bob, he did a cracking recovery job with those cancellations."
He reached me at this point and went to lay a hand on my shoulder. Feeling confused and a little disgusted at him, I flinched away. It didn't go unnoticed by Marc.
"What's wrong Kate? Please talk to me?" He's face dropped slightly. "You're not having second thoughts about this are you?" He almost sounded worried.
"I did actually. Have second thoughts I mean. On Friday, after I spoke to Brian. But, as you can see, I'm right here, so I followed through." My words were garbled. It felt wrong to be angry at Marc, but the betrayal was swelling like a balloon in my chest and making my insides hurt.
"Why?" He simply asked.
"He told me you knew about Richard cheating on me. Months before I walked in on him."
He paled slightly at that and stepped back. I watched him and he looked to the ground. I couldn't help but make the comparison with Richard's own reaction that day and it made me sick that someone I trusted completely was just as bad as my Ex.
"You're not going to deny it? Claim Brian was wrong?" I asked.
"No Kate. I'm not. Unlike Richard, I own my mistakes." He said a little abruptly.
I turned my head at the rebuke, feeling angry that he was trying to take some higher ground here. I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and noticed the kitchen curtains twitch. Remembering we had an audience, I tried to compose myself. I didn't want this to descent into a fight we couldn't come back from.
"OK. So, own it then. Explain why you thought it was better not to tell me that you knew Richard was cheating on me. No, first, tell me how you knew? How long?"
He ran his hands through his hair and pointed to the porch steps. I nodded and we moved to sit down.
"How long? Probably six months, maybe seven, I can't remember the exact date." His face screwed up in an apology. I wasn't sure if it was at the length of time or him not knowing the exact date. Either way, both added to the boiling pot of rage I thought I had fully suppressed from first finding Richard in flagrante.
"What the fuck? Seriously? And you just sat on it?"
"Well it's not like it's the easiest thing to bring up? 'Oh Kate, thanks for the Rockwell report, oh, by the way, I caught Richard banging Karen yesterday, thought you'd want to know.'"
The sarcasm died on his lips the moment he realised his mistake. I literally felt my stomach drop.
"Shit, Kate, sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. Ah fuck, this is why I struggled to tell you originally. How the fuck do you even approach something like this." He stood up from the steps and paced the yard.
Yard. Look at me all American, y'all.
Karen.
"Kate, please say something." He moved back to the steps, kneeling in front of me. I pulled out of my stupor enough to ask.
"Tell me."
He huffed a breath and sat back down, dejection oozing from his stance. Usually it would break my heart seeing him like this, but right now. I couldn't really feel anything. Except rage. Lots of rage.
"It was just before Christmas. You were handling the Muller fallout and were at home dealing with that leak in your bathroom."
My mind took me back. I was working from home that week because of a faulty seal on the sink taps in the bathroom. The first plumber never turned up, and the second was busy and took a couple of days to show. I spent a few days working on the Muller case interspaced with emptying and replacing buckets under the basin so the bathroom didn't flood.
"It was the Wednesday. I wasn't expecting you back until Friday, you said the plumber was late or something, so I asked Karen to drop round a stack of paperwork for you. Anyway, Karen took a taxi to yours and about half an hour after she left you turned up to work, I guess the plumber finished early. I tried to get hold of Karen to get her to turn back, she didn't answer her phone. I was on my way out for a client meeting that afternoon and decided to swing by yours in the off chance I might catch her.
"I still couldn't get her on her mobile, so I got the taxi to wait outside yours to knock. She opened the front door with Richard just behind her before I could ring the bell. It was obvious what had gone on."
He hung his head.
"She tried to deny it of course. But he was just in his boxers and she looked freshly fucked."
I flinched at the curse in this context. I remembered that day, texting Richard I was leaving for work after the plumber left. He should have been at work too, clearly he'd doubled back. I cleared my throat.
"OK, that's the how. Now why didn't you tell me?" I asked.
Karen. Fucking Karen of all people… bet the bitch was laughing behind my back.
"I just... I was worried about how you would take it?" He stated lamely. I stared at him and he twitched in his seat. "I mean, would you believe me? He looked at me, clearly expecting me to answer.
"Of course I would-"
"Really Kate?" He asked firmly. I paused then, looking him in the eye.
"OK. What makes you think I wouldn't believe you?" I asked, recrossing my arms.
"He was your boyfriend. He'd never done anything even remotely suspect before, otherwise you would have told me. You know perfectly well that we never liked each other. If I suddenly came out the blue declaring he was fucking my secretary, would you have believed me?" He blew out another harsh breath and jumped to his feet in agitation.
"And Karen. Would you have believed it was Karen of all people? I mean, I didn't even know they knew each other for fuck sake. If I hadn't had seen them for myself I would have said you were barmy if you told me he was nobbing her." He paced the grass, agitation morphing to anger.
"I confronted Karen at work the next day, she was still fucking denying it. I had no proof other than my word against her. She must of contacted Richard and he called me later that same day to basically tell me I wouldn't be able to prove it, pretty much rubbing my face in it. Saying that you'd never believe me and if I did tell you he'd make it like I was shit stirring to get you to break up with him. He was going to play us off against each other."
"So you decided to what? Wait it out?" I asked, trying to process what he was telling me.
"I suppose. The more time passed, the harder it was to approach you. I had this same conversation with myself, you know. Why didn't I tell you at the beginning? I didn't know what to do Kate."
"But you told Brian." I stated, nonplussed.
"Brian's alright, he knew something was up and I needed advice on how to proceed. He agreed that too much time had past and Richard would manipulate you and the situation to his advantage so told me to keep quiet."
My anger made my gut roll. Brian. Nice to know his part in this shit show. Not that I should be surprised I guess, after all, it's not the first time he's apparently twisted a situation to benefit himself.
"I don't think you know Brian as well as you think you do." I said quietly. I decided to lay all the cards out on the table. I was sick of the lies and half truths.
"Do you realise that Brian manipulated both of us to get us here?" I pointed to the ground. Marc looked confused so I continued before he could ask.
"He confessed on Friday that Muller was a convenient excuse to get me over here. To cut a long story short. Thomas Hall were looking to headhunt you. They got a hold of a lot of work that I was involved in from someone at Rockwell. They were planning to get both you and me.
"Equinox found out through one of Brian's buddies at Thomas Hall, and worked the situation to their favour to ensure that both you and me stayed with the company, by effectively throwing me under the proverbial bus that was the Muller offer. They pinned their hopes of me taking the job because after all, it was this or get fired, and they knew you would follow suit because of our relationship together."
Marc's complexion paled completely at my little speech and if I wasn't inches away from hating him, I might have felt sorry. As it was, my anger was rising along with my volume.
"You know, Brian called me your linchpin. I've not a fucking clue what to make of that, only that their little scheme worked."
I stood up, unable to contain my frustrations and I pointed at Marc.
"And to add insult to injury, he then tells me that YOU knew all along, for MONTHS, that Richard was screwing other women, and fucking Karen of all people! So don't fucking tell ME that Brian's alright. Because he's fucking not. Whatever else you've been telling him about us has got it into his head that you'd want to play knight in shining armour to save me when they threaten my job. I'm so fucking lucky this actually played out as they predicted as I know you were bored Marc, I knew you were looking elsewhere, and if you were willing to leave the company that's your prerogative, but they actually expected you to either take me with you or stay for me. If you hadn't shown interest in this role, they would have never bothered to offer it to me, and I'd be out on my ear to make Muller feel better."
I realised the world was blurry as my vision suddenly cleared as the tears finally over flowed. I wasn't done though.
"Do you know how that makes me feel Marc?" I asked him, through the building sobs. "They wanted you so much they were going to risk me. They had so much faith in your relationship with me that they constructed this whole fucking nightmare based on what you've been telling Brian behind my back. Brian told me it was just a matter of time, for what? My relationship to end with Richard? That's all based on what YOU were telling him."
I sucked in a lungful of air, trying to compose myself to finish this.
"It makes me feel like shit. I didn't feel like I was capable of doing this job, regardless of what you and Dad and Brian were telling me. But when I accepted it, I was starting to believe that hell, maybe you were all right, maybe I can do this. Then to find all this out… that it was just for you. Yeah, feeling like shit doesn't even begin to cover it Marc."
He stood there in silence watching me fall apart with the saddest look on his face. I was past caring at this point. He may not have cheated on me, or created this set of circumstances, but he'd paved the way for the manipulation by destroy my trust in him by consealing Richard's fuck up and mouthing off to Brian. As far as I was concerned he was lucky that it had played out like this, because if I had lost my job and this all came to light… well, I guess I would have lost my best friend.
Although, I wasn't sure if he was still my friend right now anyway.
"Is there anything else I should know?" I asked him. "Anything else that Brian's going to hold over my head? Any other little bit of our friendship that he can use against me? Because I'd like to know so I can brace myself for it." My sarcasm was weakened by the tears I couldn't stop.
Marc was still looking at me in silence. I could see him chew his inner cheek in contemplation.
"Oh god, there is something more isn't there?!" I cried. I couldn't believe it. What else? I threw my hands up in the air, exasperated by this never ending shit storm.
"What Marc?!"
He hung his head again and then mirrored my earlier stance by letting his head roll back on his neck to face the sky.
"Brian knows how much I like you, Kate." He spoke, quietly. I was silent, waiting for him to elaborate. He lifted his head to look at me again, clearly waiting for my reaction.
"OK, yeah, we're established that Marc. It's what got us here." I almost spat at him.
"No. I mean." He huffed in frustration and clamped his hands behind his neck, muttering 'for fucks sake' to himself. I took offense at that, but before I could say anything he continued.
"Brian knows how much I love you Kate. How much I'm in love with you."
There was silence as his words, and the way he looked at me… it hit home. Oh.
"Linchpin." I whispered, suddenly understanding.
"Linchpin." He replied.
"Richard knew too didn't he?" I asked, the dots quickly collecting in my head. "That's why he knew you wouldn't tell me because you knew he would bring it up to me, twist it as though you were trying to sabotage us."
Marc just nodded.
My mind was spinning out. How the...I didn't even know what to say. Marc loves me.
"Why did you never say anything, in the early days?" I asked out of morbid curiosity.
"Before Richard came on the scene?" I nodded. "We were having so much fun, I didn't realise it at first, but when I did, I didn't want to ruin our friendship. By the time was admitting to myself I wanted more, Richard appeared and well… you know the rest."
I didn't know what to do now, and rubbed my hand down my face. The tiredness and bone deep weariness from the past week was back in full force. I just wanted to curl up in bed and sleep through this mess.
"What now?" Marc asked. I barked a sharp laugh at that.
"Million dollar question."
"Can we talk about this?" He asked. I was shaking my head before he finished the sentence.
"I think that, right now at least, you need to leave." I did not want to deal with this right now. I needed to step back.
"Are we still friends?" He asked timidly.
"Are you four years old or something?" I spat at him. My tether well and truly snapped at this point. "Honestly Marc, I need time to think about all of this. I'd appreciate it if you stayed out of my way OK?"
"Kate, please-"
"No, Marc-"
"Everything OK out here?" Sam had opened the doors so quietly I didn't hear him until he spoke.
"It's fine, thanks Sam. I was just going." Marc turned back to me, but I kept my head down staring at the grass.
"Kate, can you please call me when you can. I'm sorry."
I didn't move, and after a beat of more silence I saw Marc leave out the corner of my eye.
I flinched as Sam appeared next to me without sound. My rage was still boiling and I was finding it difficult to compose myself in front of him.
Sam
She was wound up like a coil as I approached. Emily was still inside reeling from the information overheard. After the first few minutes, she didn't need me to relay their conversation, they were loud enough to hear from the main road.
I wanted to touch her, but I could feel the anger through the bond and it was telling me she needed to get this out, rather than stew in it. I was starting to realize that she internalized a lot of her feelings to the point of being detrimental.
"You wanna punch something?" I asked. It took her by surprise and she gave a short sharp laugh.
"I'm good, thanks." She went to turn away and I couldn't stop myself from touching her arm. I was half expecting her to push me off, but she paused in her motion and her shoulders sagged
"You're not good, anyone can see that." I could feel her tiredness through the bond, swiftly overcoming the anger from before. No wonder I'd freaked out on Friday. Having heard the reasons for her being here, I could now understand her reactions then and now. I could see why her confidence was knocked and a part of me wanted to fly back to London, find Brian and string him up with his own intestines.
"No, I guess not." She turned to face me with a humourless smile on her face before closing her eyes. "Can I… can we just leave it for the moment? I honestly haven't got the energy to rehash this." She opened her eyes and I nodded, seeing and feeling her energy levels wane.
"Come on, let's go back inside." I pulled her gently and she followed.
Emily gave no pretence as we entered the kitchen, she just surged forward and pulled Kate into a hug. She returned it weakly making Emily frown at me from over Kate's shoulder.
"Do you want us to stay?" Emily asked gently, pulling out of the hug. Kate looked torn at the question and Emily read between the lines. "No, Kate, don't be like that. Honestly if you want us to stay or go either is fine. We completely understand if you want some time to yourself. Besides, it's your first day tomorrow, I thought you might want to plan your day out in preparation."
She nodded, and hung her head. Emily pulled her forward again and, feeling left out, I gathered them both into my arms from behind Kate. The zap was back as well, but it crept up gradually this time, and surrounded us in warmth, pushing some comfort through the bond into Kate.
"OK, call if you need anything Kate? I'm serious, we're here for you, nothing is too much trouble." Emily pulled back, breaking our hug before holding Kate's shoulders to make her look at her.
"I know I said you've got meals for tomorrow, but they will keep, so I want you around ours tomorrow after you finish work to join us for dinner. No excuses. I want to hear about your first day, and all the ass kicking you've accomplished."
Kate nodded unconvincingly.
"I'm serious Kate. Just let me know when you are leaving Port Angeles and I'll have it ready with some wine OK?"
"OK."
"Good. Come on Sam, there's a lawn mower with your name on it."
Emily gave Kate a peck on the cheek then moved to walk past her, grabbing her purse from the counter. I followed and placed a kiss on Kate's forehead and bring her into a half hug, giving her another dose of strength through the Imprint bond.
"See you tomorrow honey." I said, gaining a small but genuine smile from her.
"Oh, keys, I need-" She startled out of herself for a moment but Emily was already ahead of her.
"It's fine, we are walking, it's quicker through the woods than the roads anyway."
"What if there are any animals?" She asked, clearly worried. Emily laughed before pointing at me.
"Don't worry, I'll save Sam from any raccoons. Come on Sam, we'll see you later Kate."
She walked us to the door and watched us leave as we headed down the drive, before we veered off into the trees.
"Is it wise to leave her?" I asked, looking back, making out the house behind us through the foliage.
"Yes. She's an introvert, she needs to recharge."
"You've been reading some dodgy websites again." I half joked.
"No, I read some books from the Council libraries a while back. It makes sense why she doesn't reach out to people, she stews in her own sauce. You could see her practically wilt from that conversation with Marc. She doesn't deal with her emotions well, she just bottles them up. It's not good."
"So, again, is it wise to leave her?" I asked again, watching Emily ensuring she didn't trip on the uneven ground.
"We'll have to work on it with her, but it's too soon right now. Let her get used to having us there when she needs and wants us, rather than forcing ourselves on her. It'll take time, but she'll come round." She stated more confidently than I felt.
We fell into silence as we walked, both lost in our thoughts. I was replaying Kate and Marc's argument over in my head, my mind snagging on the part where he told her he loves her. As much as I didn't want to like Marc in that moment, I actually could see why he didn't tell Kate about Richard. I didn't dare mention it to Emily, I liked my balls thank you very much, but given the little I'd found out about this Richard dude he seemed the type to use any means necessary to control Kate. By buying Marc's silence with his blackmail, he got to have his cake and eat it.
I had a smidgen of respect for Marc as well, I could see how easy it can be to love Kate, and the fact is he never pushed her into that position that would screw up her relationship, or risk their friendship and that took some balls. He recognized it was his problem, and yeah, made the mistake of telling Brian about his feelings, but never involved Kate until his hand was forced. Yeah, some might say it was a shitty thing to do, but if he trusted Brian with that information, who could blame him for going to him when he needed advice?
I wasn't going to say this to Emily either. I knew enough of the girl code and valued my life.
"You know, I feel a little sorry for Marc." Emily piped up.
It's a trap!
"Oh, why's that?" I asked, head down, navigating the path that was invisible to human sight, but denoted the newly created patrol route for the Pack covering Kate's place. Emily stopped in her tracks and if it wasn't for my wolf senses I would have bowled her over.
"Oh, don't play coy with me Sam." She smiled as she turned to face me fully. "I know you feel it too." She placed her hands on my chest. "Otherwise, I'd be feeling your anger towards him."
Shit, this Imprint emotion thing still catches me out sometimes.
"I just think it was kinda...noble… that he didn't want to risk their friendship by declaring his feelings for her."
"True, but why not tell her about Richard cheating?" She asked.
"Hindsight is always twenty-twenty." I shrugged. "It was the option he felt was best at the time, based on advice from Brian, who I assume Marc considered a confident, and his own dealings with Richard."
"Hmm…" She hummed and turned back to the direction home, slipping her arm through mine and we walked side by side.
"Hmmm? Is that you agreeing with me, or planning my death because I'm not agreeing with either one or both of my Imprints? I asked half serious.
"Hmm I agree with you." She turned serious. "I'm aware that the Imprint doesn't mean you have to agree with both of us, and it's refreshing that in your old age you can temper that hair trigger need to defend your Imprint to look at the bigger picture."
She gave me a gentle nudge with her elbow at the age joke, I didn't rise to it, more interested in keeping the conversation on track. She had a good point. Back in the early years of being a wolf and being Imprinted, just the slightly perceived injustice meant immediate retribution was required, but the years had tempered the Pack so now the wolf would wait for the man's take on a situation before flying off the handle.
"So, what are we going to do about Kate?"
"Wait." She stated. "We're projecting how we think she'll take this. We need to give her a chance to think it over and make her own decisions on how to deal with it. You never know, she might come to the same conclusion we just have without us. But, she's entitled to her emotions either way, we shouldn't take that away from her because we think she's wrong."
I stopped in my tracks, forcing Emily to bumped back into me.
"Who are you, and what have you done with my wife?" I asked confused at this sudden overly insightful Emily. She just rolled her eyes at me.
"I just think we need to be cautious of how we play this. She's a grown woman, but she's out of her comfort zone in a new country and she's just found out that she's been played a fool by her job and her ex and now her best friend. We let her take the lead on this, and when she needs us we'll be there to support her."
I nodded and we turned back to the path, quiet in our own thoughts again. I guess I'd take Emily's advice and see how this plays out.
Doesn't mean I can't give Marc a hard time about it. You gotta make the most of these moments, otherwise it gets boring around here.
Kate
I closed the door after Sam and Emily vanished from sight, eternally grateful that they offered to leave, rather than try and force a conversation with me about everything. They'd clearly heard every word, I suppose that saves me explaining some of the problem, but other than the straight facts, I had no idea what to do with this new information.
I rested my head against the cool wood of the door, before giving myself an angry shake. I needed a distraction first. I'd deal with this later.
Head in the sand approach maybe, but I was at the end of my bandwidth and needed something I could get my teeth into to take my mind off… everything.
I pushed off the door and walked to the living room where Sam had left my carryon bags. I spotted my laptop bag, and taking Emily's suggestion, I decided I'd get prepped for work tomorrow. Not that I could actually do much, but the illusion of control would help.
I grabbed the handles and fishing a hand into my handbag I located a travel adaptor. The living room looked comfortable for lounging in front of the TV, but not conducive for my back using my laptop, so I turned and headed across the hallway to the dining room.
It should have felt weird, not only moving into a strange house, but being surrounded by a number of the previous occupants belongings. I set my laptop up, plugged it in and powered it up. Whilst it was going through boot up I wandered over to one of the walls containing more photos. They were pretty mesmerising in their history and content. All were black and white, and not in an arty kind of way, these were the raw deal. I could see the marks on the frames and on the film themselves from age. There were plenty of photos of people in Native regalia, clearly taken during some kind of ceremony. There were also more traditional family photos, and I scanned the photos picking out the people as they grew up and on with their lives.
I thought back to Emily's comment earlier, and felt a sudden sadness that Joe Whitefeather had no family left to pass the house and it's contents onto. It was great it was kept within the Tribe, but it was sad it didn't go to family.
Did he never marry? Or was he the last of his line?
I parked myself at the dining table mulling it over, maybe I'd asked Billy or Sam, see if they knew.
Laptop finally loaded, I logged on and located the wifi name that Sam noted down for me when going over the house details. It made me smile that an old house like this that still had a rotary phone in the hall, had modern technology hidden in its depths.
I soon lost myself in work, sorting through various emails ready for the week ahead. I made a note of the office address in Port Angeles, sending it to my phone and going full old school and writing it down on a piece of paper just in case. The Seattle office had sent me a list of problems that had cropped up in the previous week and I relished getting stuck in to resolving them. A little flare of anger ignited at everything again, but I pushed it aside. I'll use it to fan my determination to walk this job, even if it killed me.
I was fed, and washed up for bed by 10pm, setting my alarm early. I was planning to reach Port Angeles for 7am to get a grip of the location and be there to meet a few temporary Seattle based folks who were hanging about to aid the site hand over.
The day had been tiring and long, and if it wasn't for the confrontation with Marc I would have said it was my best day in a long time. As I lay in bed that night I tried to focus purely on the house itself and the day spent with Emily and Sam. I eventually drifted off to sleep, dreaming of an Native man in full regalia dancing in black and white.