And hope that one day it sinks inside and becomes a part of me.
Caden
Iknock on Wyatt’s office door, and he calls for me to come in.
When he sees it’s me, he gives me a hard nod. “What’s up?”
I point to the chair. “Got a minute?”
He shrugs, and I take it as permission to enter and slide into the chair. “I wanted to talk to you about a few things.”
He leans back. “All right.”
“I want to be with Cat.”
His brow rises. “Don’t you think you should be discussing this with her and not me?”
“Well, since she wants nothing to do with me right now, I thought it best to come to the brother who’s been with her through thick and thin.”
“I’m listening,” he says.
I take a deep breath and plunge in, hoping for the best. “I’ve made some mistakes, and I’m sorry about that. I tend to be shit at making things right, even when I want to.”
He nods. “Seems that way.”
I give a gruff bark of a laugh. “But I love Catarina, and I want to make things right. I’m going to work as hard as I can to make her believe I’m worth taking a risk on.”
“Are you, though?” His expression is skeptical.
“I can’t blame you for wondering, but I’m not going to give up on us just because the odds aren’t great. Which leads me to the purpose of this visit.” I lean forward and put my elbows on my knees. “After the opening, I’m going to have to quit.”
His brows slam together, and his shoulders bunch. “Why’s that?”
I huff out a breath. “The job, the similarities between Happy Harvest and here, they give her reason to believe I want the job and not her. I’m trying to eliminate roadblocks.”
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“You got a better idea?” I’ve thought long and hard about it, and I’m not sure I see another way.
He rolls his eyes. “You think I want my sister involved with an unemployed drifter?”
“I hadn’t thought of it like that.” I smile a little. “But this is about what Cat wants, not you.”
“Cat’s smart enough to not want a bum for a partner.”
“I’ll get something else.” I run a hand through my hair. “I need her to see it’s her I want. I don’t care about anything else but getting her back.”
“What about the woman sitting in the motel not too far away?”
“I’m taking care of that.” I clear my throat. “Her being here hurts Cat, so my goal is to get her out of here as fast as I can.”
“Well, I don’t think quitting solves anything.”
“I won’t hand in my notice until after the dust settles from the opening, and I’ll try to convince Cat before I take that step. But if it comes down to it, I’m going to choose Cat.” I stand up. “I have a few things I need to take care of this afternoon, but I wanted to be upfront about my intentions.”
I turn to leave, but he stops me. “Caden?”
I swing back around. “Yeah?”