Sweetest Goodbye (Navy Book 3)

Chapter 11

Kate hadn't seen Lee since the day before, when she had locked herself in her room. She had eventually moved to the kitchen to get herself some dinner, determined not to be a prisoner in her own home, but there was no sign of him. When she had gone to bed, well after midnight, there was still no sign of him.

It was just after noon, and she was due to get off at her regular time, but she was in no rush to get home. She knew Lee's friends were coming and she really didn't feel up to playing nice. She felt herself doing what she always did when the anniversary of Colten's death drew near, she was closing herself off from the world.

Maybe she should give into Lee, take him up on his offer of an affair, it might allow her to feel something other than the constant ache in her heart.

Kate thought that she had been hiding the pain well enough, but Chuck had been trying to make her smile all day with his corny jokes, so she must not have been very successful, and he had actually succeeded just as she turned to see Lee enter the diner with a distractingly beautiful redhead. Kate felt dowdy by comparison, in her well-washed t-shirt and blue jeans. She had managed to scrape her brown hair up into a ponytail, but all other attempts at beauty had been neglected.

Kate did her best to keep her smile in place as she watched the redhead and Lee walk to a table in the middle of the room and Kate, along with everyone else, didn't miss the baby carrier he was carrying.

"It looks as if Lee is still up to his old ways," Irma whispered into Kate's ear. "You sure you wanna get involved with a man like that honey, raising a kid alone is no easy thing, and I promise you, as soon as he's realized he's knocked you up he'll hightail it out of town."

Kate held back a cynical laugh and the desire to ask Irma what she knew about being a single parent as she picked up a couple of menus and walked over to the table.

"Hey y'all, what can I get you to drink?" Kate asked, doing her best to ignore the sleeping baby which was parked on the seat next to the woman.

The redhead looked up from the baby with a smile that was full of warmth. "Hi, are you Kate?" she asked looking at Lee and then back to her.

"I am," she confirmed with a smile in return.

The redhead held out her hand. "I'm Devon, Josh's wife."

Kate took her hand, willing to like her since she knew that she was married to someone else. She still couldn't look at the baby.

"Thanks for letting us stay with you, I wasn't looking forward to staying in a motel with a baby." She looked back over at the sleeping cherub. Kate snuck a quick look and noted a patch of red hair and rosy cheeks. "You'll have a full house with us, Kellan and Lee."

"Kellan?" Kate darted a quick look at the baby, thinking that that was his name.

"Thanks Devon, I hadn't told her about Kellan yet," Lee said drily.

"Oops, I have a way of putting my foot in it sometimes," she said, not seeming to care in the least as she reached over and picked up the baby.

Kate turned away from the baby and looked at Lee questioningly while noting that he looked decidedly uncomfortable. "Kellan?" she asked again.

"Kellan worked with Josh and me, and he tagged along with Josh and Devon to help, I thought he could have the guest bedroom and I could take the couch."

Kate stared at him hard, hoping to make him uncomfortable. Her southern roots wouldn't allow her to be rude in front of Devon. Even if she, Josh, and this Kellan weren't welcome, she couldn't let them know that.

He returned her stare unfazed.

Devon watched their stare down, fascinated. "It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission," she joked.