“What?”
“I never felt like this before.”
She swallowed. “How do you feel?”
“Connected to another person. Not because of God. I do feel that connection with the members of the congregation. Kathy included. But this with you is very different. It’s like the first time anyone ever noticed me. And then you stayed. Or maybe I should rephrase that, you wanted me to stay.”
Her heart hurt as it swelled. She could give him that. There was no changing the things he missed out on, including a normal parent figure and family dynamic. He made his own family with the church and the people he worked with. He’d come far with his education and using his above average intelligence to achieve good works. But he never was with another person for any length of time. He was never cared for and worried about.
He leaned down, tipping his head forward, and she rose on her tiptoes and leaned her forehead against his. She gave him a small smile as she whispered, “I think I’ll be in love with you soon.”
His breath hitched and he went still before he visibly swallowed. He whispered back, “I think I already am.”
Her heart almost stopped. She didn’t say anything but let the smile on her face beam as they simply grabbed each other in a long, warm hug.
Chapter 17
“SO, MY SISTER, HUH?”
Wincing, Jim turned toward Kathy’s voice. But to his astonishment, he found her smiling with a teasing glint in her eye and her hands on her hips, elbows poking out. “Yeah. Your sister. Believe me, she was more surprised than you even. And I’m sorry. It’s an odd development neither of us ever expected, to say the least.”
Kathy cleared her throat. “Not like Eric and I could call it anything but an odd development when it happened to us.”
Jim let out a short laugh. “We were the worst engaged couple ever. I mean, both Eric and Kayla could have disqualified us from the start. It’s a miracle we’re still being so civil to each other.”
“We could star in a raucous, reality-TV show. I mean, take the stepdaughter of a rock star, which draws initial interest, who falls for her freaking bodyguard behind the back of her pastor fiancé—”
Jim threw his head back and laughed out loud. “No one would ever believe it happened behind my back. It was right in front of my face and I just failed to notice…”
She let out a sheepish grin. “So you end up with my sister, the other stepdaughter. It could have the makings for either a really bad reality show or at the minimum, a super tacky, daily talk show forum.”
He smiled. “It really could when you lay it out like that. Too bad you never threw anything at me or called me horrible names.”
“Ditto that back to you. I was the first one to… cheat? I know that’s what it’s technically called, but it feels so awful to say that.”
“In the first place, our story will never come out in some tabloid, correct?”
“Oh, no. Never.”
He nodded and continued. “So we simply admit you and I were best friends who fell in love with other people and now we’re much happier that we both found the right person to love. That’s not cheating. Our engagement shielded us from losing our companionship while preserving our emotions for other people.”
“Yes. Ironically, it was our mutual fear of intimacy that kept us together for so long. I’m so glad you see it that way because it’s exactly how I feel.”
“That’s because we were, and I hope we still are, best friends.”
Kathy had to chuckle softly. “Yes. To be honest, I was so happy when I discovered you and Kayla were seeing each other for real. I’ll admit being flabbergasted for a few moments when she first told me but after I thought about it, everything started to make sense. Seeing you two being so contrary to each other all the time threw me off. In a different context, you were playing off each other, like two tigers circling, before you both pounced.” She winced and blushed. “Well, maybe that isn’t the right analogy. But something always drew you to one another and the chemistry was there. Under those circumstances, it should have been the next step and no surprise at all.”
“I guess it was always there but we refused to let it be.”
“Because of me? I mean, us? But at least no one got hurt. This could have resulted in a disaster that left all four of us feeling miserable. I’m so glad we’re not enemies now and nobody was the sadder for it.”
He shook his head. “You’re so right, Kathy. I have to thank God that we didn’t hurt each other and Eric and Kayla.”
Sighing, she nodded. “I guess it’s a lesson in being honest. I mean, if either one of us were honest in the beginning, we wouldn’t have hidden our feelings, or lack thereof, to start. We would have owned up to each other without needing Eric and Kayla.”
“Amazing how we were both so clueless? So scared to be honest with ourselves, maybe? I don’t know what it was.” He added, “It’s almost as if we hid our true selves inside each other, as weird as that sounds.”
She rolled her eyes and giggled. “It all is weird when you say it out loud, but I know exactly what you mean. We did that. Both of us. I always thought it was just me after I realized it. Knowing we both did it? I guess it drew us together because we’re so much alike.”
“That’s completely true. And it makes sense why we became so close even if we misunderstood what it actually meant.”
“It was due to our inexperience. Hard to detect the difference between friends and the people who become so much more than friends.” She snorted.
“Obviously. Because neither of us experienced the difference before.” He flinched, thinking of how different his relationship
