Coming Home (Only Time Will Tell #1) by Caroline Spencer

but I know I can trust him. He won’t do anything he doesn’t want to if he really cares about me. And Nadine will be there. I’m sure she’ll tell me if he does anything, not that it’s any of my business. We aren’t a couple, just friends, so what he does shouldn’t really be the top of my priority list. My top priority is finding a way of explaining the last eight years. That’s a tough one.  
    “Catalina.” She says quietly from over the kitchen island, bracing herself against the counter top, bringing herself closer to me. “I want you to stay away from my son. I didn’t like you then and time hasn’t changed how I feel about you. I only want what is best for him and you’re not it. I will make him see that eventually.”
    I shake my head as I turn to look at her, snickering at the old words. “It’s your Son you need to be talking to then, because he’s the one showing up continuously in my life. Not that I don’t like it, but thanks to you, it makes me uncomfortable. You’re an evil bitch and if anyone should stay away from him, it’s you.”
    Barking out a laugh, she replies, “Me? Evil? I just prefer my family to be of a better breed than some worthless, money grabbing whore. You only want to ruin him. You tried before and thankfully, thanks to me, you failed. I’m glad I did that too. I was right.”
    “Right? How is, what you did, right? You-”
    “I’ve called and arranged it with her.” Kyle interrupts as he walks down the hall and comes back over to us. As I watch him, my eyes begin to burn as the conversation replays in my head. I can’t believe she’s happy with this. I can’t believe that I have to hurt him because of her.
    “Cat? Are you okay?” he asks as he stands in front of me and lifts my face so he can look at me closely. A tear breaks free and my heart crumbles.
    “I’m fine. I have to go though. Can you let me out?” I ask making sure I have everything and heading for the elevator.
    He doesn’t know what to do or say. I’d be confused too, if I left the room for two minutes and walked back in to find him close to breaking down.
    He steps into the elevator and kisses me on the forehead, which releases a sob from me.
    “Cat? Will you tell me why you’re being like this? Did I do something?”
    I shake my head as I search for my voice. “No. It’s just me being stupid. Can you let me go though, I want to get this out my system.”
    He looks at me bewildered as he steps out and punches the code in and it’s not until the doors close that I release everything that’s eating me up inside. I hate this.
     

 
     
    I’m so glad that I’ve had a couple of days without seeing Kyle. Not that any of this is his fault, but I hate to look at him and be reminded of everything to do with his mother. Her words keep swinging ‘round and ‘round in my head and I hate that she has this emotional control over me. She knew the exact words to destroy me. Knew exactly what had happened to me, to us, and yet she could stand there and act like this whole thing was a candy wrapper, screwing it up and tossing it away. That woman clearly has no heart.
    Wednesday night was eventful, trying to drink my thoughts away while Nod tried to keep them spurting out of my mouth. I managed not to delve too much into them. I told her what I could without going as far as blurting the whole damn thing, not without speaking to Kyle first. It’s still my number one priority. I just need to find the time and place to do it so that we aren’t both high on emotions or each other. I can cope, just about, with losing him but I need to know that I gave it my best shot and let him hear the whole story clearly before he makes that choice.
    “Oh, oh, oh,” Nadine excitedly shouts from her desk as I’m staring blankly at the figures on the computer screen. “Please, come and look at this dress. I want to know your opinion to see if it’d be a good back up.”
    “Back up?” I ask as I push myself away