in her tracks. “Please tell me he wasn’t screwing his secretary on his desk.”

“What? No!” Kathy shook her head. “You really do think the worst of him.”

“How can I not?”

Kathy began to think that maybe Moira wasn’t the best person to talk to about this, but then she didn’t really have anyone else she was close enough to. They continued down the street.

“For the record, he doesn’t have a secretary.”

Moira snorted.

“We had a picnic on his office floor. He asked me to spend the night at his place.”

“Okay.” Moira drew the word out as if waiting for a bomb to drop.

“He gave me the key to his apartment so I could go there and wait for him.”

Moira pulled open the door to the restaurant. “Still not seeing a problem.”

“I know. That’s why I’m an idiot.” They went to the counter, placed their orders, and sat at a table to wait for their food.

Once they were settled, Kathy finished her story, telling Moira about freaking out, blowing Kevin off, and him coming to the shop this morning.

“I give him credit for waiting until morning. Kind of surprising when I think about it. Those O’Malley boys aren’t known for their restraint. I’d have expected him to pound on your door when you didn’t show up.”

“Me too, I guess. But he said when my phone went to voice mail, he knew it was off and I was probably asleep. So at least he wasn’t worried.”

“Be glad for that. Jimmy would’ve had the SWAT team knocking down my door.”

Kathy laughed because that sounded like exactly what Jimmy would do. Their number was called and Moira grabbed their food. When she returned to the table, they spread everything out and dug in.

“So what’s really the problem?” Moira asked.

“Ultimately, I don’t trust him.”

“Understandable.”

“Yeah. And he totally owns that, which makes it worse. He’s trying. He really is. I just don’t know what to do. He gave me his freaking key to go to his apartment without him. That’s total trust. He had nothing to hide.”

“That’s good. That’s what you need from him, right? Complete transparency?”

“In a way, yeah. But I don’t want to be the kind of woman who’s always checking up on him and verifying things just to make sure he can be trusted. I can’t live like that. I need to be able to trust.”

“It’s not like you’re asking too much. What does he say?”

“That he’ll do whatever I need to gain my trust.”

Moira put her burger down. “What does that mean?”

Kathy rested her head on her hand. “I don’t even know.”

“Maybe you’re saying you’re giving him another chance, but you’re not.”

“Huh?”

“What did he say about the last time you guys were together? Why did he cheat?”

Kathy’s stomach tumbled again. This wasn’t a good conversation to have with Moira. Moira was there after Kathy had caught him last time. Or thought she’d caught him. “We’re not even sure he did cheat,” Kathy said quietly.

“We’re not? Since when?”

“Since Kevin and I talked about it.”

“Oh, this’ll be good. That man can talk his way out of anything. No wonder you’re so twisted up about whether you can trust him.” Moira leaned closer, her ample chest pushing forward. “Maybe you just can’t.”

Kathy leaned back in her seat. “See? That’s a problem.” She pointed at Moira. “You can’t be objective when it comes to Kevin.”

“I don’t need to be objective. I need to be in your corner. Which I am. Always.”

“When I saw him with that woman five years ago . . . I didn’t confront him. I turned tail and left. I came to you and being the best friend that you are, you bashed and berated him.”

“One of my favorite pastimes,” Moira said with a smile.

“But an objective friend might’ve questioned what I saw and if I’d asked him about it. If I had, I would’ve found out that he hadn’t slept with her.”

“What?” Moira’s voice was loud enough that other people turned.

Kathy hung her head.

Moira clamped her mouth shut for a minute, sucked in a breath through her nose, and then asked, “Do you believe him?”

Kathy nodded. “I know you think he’s lying to get me to trust him, but it’s what he said after that made me believe him.”

She explained the rest of the conversation, including Kevin’s admission that there might’ve been other drunken hookups. “He thought we were casual. I didn’t. Both of us felt that it wasn’t casual, though. He just wasn’t ready.”

“Stupid O’Malley.”

Kathy looked at her friend for further explanation.

“The whole lot of them are emotionally stunted. God forbid they just admit how they feel.”

Kathy laughed and it was more at herself than at what Moira had said. Kathy herself was every bit as emotionally stunted.

Moira reached out and covered Kathy’s hand with hers. “You need to decide what matters. What might’ve happened five years ago or what you might have today. If you can’t really give him a chance, let him go.”

Kathy nodded. She knew Moira was right. She wanted to give Kevin—to give them—a chance. She thought she was ready. The real question was whether she believed he was ready this time.

“I mean, you could make him suffer some first. I’d be on board for that.”

“Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

Moira winked.

Chapter Fifteen

Kathy felt good about where her life was. Better than she’d felt in a long time. Kevin had been true to his word. He called when he said he would, and if she said she didn’t have time to talk or couldn’t meet him, he left her alone. Mostly. He whined a little. Maybe tried to get her to change her mind, but no real pressure.

They’d gone to some big society function two nights ago, and as much as she’d wanted to go home with him, she’d been exhausted and needed to leave early to get some rest. Now she was getting ready for a charity benefit on the beach. She could think of worse ways to spend an evening.

And Anna was opening

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