Page 13 of Give Me a Reason

“It is not fine,” Bethany screeched in outrage when she lifted the towel away from the injured thumb. “The towel’s soaked through with blood, for God’s sake. I think you might need stitches.”

“May I take a look, Anne?” Joe squeezed past Bethany and a distraught Katie. At Anne’s nod, he took a gentle hold of her hand and studied her cut with calm efficiency. She’d forgotten that she was surrounded by EMTs. “It’s a nasty cut, but you won’t need stitches.”

“Lieutenant, here’s some hemostatic gauze,” Michelle said, handing it to Joe.

“Thanks, Michelle.” Joe opened the package of gauze and wrapped it around Anne’s thumb. “Just keep putting pressure on it. The bleeding should stop soon. Then we’ll get it cleaned and dressed. You feeling okay, Anne?”

“I’m fine.” She plastered a smile on her face, even though her thumb throbbed painfully, and she couldn’t stop thinking about the warmth of Frederick’s body curved protectively around her. “Sorry for alarming everyone.”

“Joe and I’ll take care of serving dessert.” Coraline nudged Anne toward the dining table. “Go sit down for a bit. You’re as white as a sheet.”

Anne dug her heels in, seeing the blood splattered on the island and the floor. “Let me clean up this mess first.”

Out of nowhere, Frederick reappeared at her side and ushered her to the dining table with a firm grip on her elbow, his touch sending bolts of heat through her body. He pulled a chair out with a rough yank, and Anne had the sense to park her bottom on it without protest.

She glanced up at the tautness of his jaw and the stern set of his lips. Even though he wouldn’t meet her eyes, she could tell he was worried about her. Her throat tightened as a jumble of emotions clamored inside her.

When she settled in her seat, he promptly dropped her arm and spun away from her. In that moment, she would’ve given anything to catch his hand and keep him by her side.

“Who wants blueberry cheesecake pie…” Pete’s smile melted off his face as he scanned the scene in the kitchen. “What’s going on?”

Frederick stomped out of the kitchen, clipping his friend on the shoulder.

Pete barely managed to hang on to the pie his wife had sent him to retrieve.

His eyes sought and found Katie, who stood against the far wall with her arms wrapped tightly around her midriff, pressing her trembling lips together.

A frown drew his brows low over his eyes.

Then his gaze shot toward Anne and dropped to the bloody gauze wrapped around her thumb.

Pete hurried to Anne’s side with concern crinkling his forehead. “Anne, are you all right?”

“Just embarrassed for being so clumsy.” She hoped she wouldn’t cause any trouble between Pete and Katie. He seemed to intuit that something had happened between her and his wife, and he was not happy about it. “It’s just a cut. Joe said it’ll be fine.”

With a somber nod and a gentle squeeze on Anne’s shoulder, Pete made his way to his wife.

Anne tried not to stare as the couple seemed to have a heated argument with their eyes.

When Katie dropped her head, her bottom lip quivering, Pete sighed and gathered his wife in his arms. A burst of envy worked its way through Anne at the obvious love between them, and she had to look away.

Bethany and Joe wiped off the blood and disinfected the kitchen island and the floor.

Coraline and Michelle picked up the pie-cutting mantle.

And Tanner, Sandy, and Nick joked and roughhoused while they loaded the dishwasher.

Everything seemed to be returning to normal in the kitchen, except Frederick was still missing.

Anne glanced back at Katie, who nodded at something her husband said, then pointed her chin toward the door. With a heavy sigh, Pete walked away from his wife and out the kitchen, probably to hunt down Frederick. Where did he go?

She was trembling despite her assurances to everyone that she was fine.

She took deep breaths to calm herself before anyone noticed she was more shaken than she’d let on.

She wasn’t so much unsettled by the cut, which beat like a second heart under the gauze, but by what happened after she’d sliced her thumb.

Frederick had rushed to her side before anyone else could even react. He couldn’t stand by and watch her hurt even though he’d treated her with cold disdain. Anne blinked away her tears as she remembered his gruff concern and gentle touch.

The calming breaths weren’t doing their job, and her heart beat frantically.

He was a kind man who would’ve done the same for anybody.

It didn’t mean anything, but her foolish heart didn’t seem to care.

She couldn’t stop herself from hoping that even after everything, maybe he hadn’t stopped caring. Not completely.

Composed but subdued, Katie sat down next to her and placed a first aid kit on the table with a soft clack .

Even though the other woman didn’t say a word, Anne stiffened in her chair, heat infusing her cheeks.

Her past choices tormented her, but they were hers .

She was furious anyone other than Frederick would dare judge her for them.

Without meeting her eyes, Katie held out her palm in a wordless request. After a brief hesitation, Anne placed her injured hand on Katie’s outstretched palm.

Frederick was lucky to have such a loyal friend, but that didn’t mean Anne should lie down and let a stranger shame her for her choices. She paid for her mistake— her mistake? —every day she existed without him by her side.

Neither of them spoke as Katie cleaned the gash in Anne’s thumb with care. She clucked her tongue sympathetically when Anne hissed at the sting of the antiseptic. Only when she finished wrapping up the wound did Katie finally look up at her.

“I’m so sorry I startled you earlier. I feel awful that you got hurt,” she said in a small voice, then raised her chin a notch. “But I meant what I said.”

“You have nothing to worry about because I won’t get another chance to break his heart.

He hates me. I can’t say I blame him. He gave me the most precious gift in the world, and I threw it in his face.

But that’s between him and me . No one else.

” Anne’s chest rose and fell rapidly, and her hands fisted on her lap, even the injured one.

She couldn’t remember the last time she went off on somebody.

It was both terrifying and exhilarating to say what she really thought.

“And if by some miracle he entrusts me with his heart again, I’m holding on to it with everything in me.

I will guard it with my very life . Nothing you or anybody else says will ever make me let him go. So with all due respect, back off .”

“Oh my God.” Katie’s eyes widened, and her hand fluttered to her mouth.

Anne instinctively reached out to comfort the other woman, even though her chest still heaved from the height of her emotions. She wasn’t even sure what she’d said. Words had poured out of her before she could process them. Did she say something hurtful to her?

“Why do you have to be so cool ?” Katie whispered.

“I…” Anne’s hand froze in the air. “Excuse me?”

“I tried so hard to hate you, but I just can’t do it.” The woman slumped in her chair, clutching her head in one hand. “What you just said? It breaks my heart for the two of you, but I can’t help but admire your strength and honesty. Will it make me a terrible friend if I butt out like you asked?”

“No?” Anne didn’t mean to make that sound like a question, but she was getting emotional whiplash.

She tried again. “No, that wouldn’t make you a terrible friend.

You’re fiercely loyal, and I’m glad Frederick has you by his side.

But he’s a grown man. Trusting him to choose the right path for himself makes you a good friend, not a bad one.

Again, neither he nor I need your interference, no matter how well-meant. ”

“Wow. You have that kind-but-firm thing down to an art,” Katie said with enough awe to make Anne blush to the roots of her hair. Then the woman smirked mischievously, obviously not someone to stay cowed for long. “Okay, I’m backing off . But I’m available to assist anytime you need.”

“A-assist?” Anne stammered, unable to keep up. “Assist in what?”

“Assist in making miracles happen,” she said like it was the most obvious thing.

“I don’t… I’m not… I’m not looking for a miracle.” Anne sighed, giving up the pretense of not understanding her meaning. “Besides, why would you help me? You were trying to warn me away from him less than thirty minutes ago.”

“That was before I knew.” Katie shrugged.

“Knew what?” Anne wanted to retract her question as soon as the words left her mouth. Her breathing grew shallow as her heart thumped against her ribs, and cold sweat prickled her scalp and dampened her palms. She didn’t want to hear what Katie thought she knew.

“Pie time,” Coraline announced, unwittingly saving Anne from a truth she wasn’t ready to face.

Weak with relief, Anne pushed back her chair with some vague plan to eat her emotions, but Katie placed a firm hand on her shoulder. Anne glanced up with round eyes, her stomach lurching with renewed panic. Oh God. Katie might still answer her question.

But wasn’t it too late to hide from the truth?

Didn’t she already admit it? Nothing you or anybody else says will ever make me let him go.

Her mind exploded like a water balloon dropped from the rooftop, her lies splattering around her.

Anne not only wanted to make amends with Frederick—she wanted a second chance with him.

“Please don’t get up. I’ll bring your pie over,” Katie said kindly. “You shouldn’t carry anything with that hand.”

“We’re way ahead of you, Katie.” Joe placed a slice of apple pie in front of Anne. “Coraline said this is your favorite.”

“And I know exactly how you like it.” Bethany plopped a big scoopful of vanilla ice cream on her plate.

Anne stared blankly at the apple pie à la mode, then she gave her head a sharp shake. She couldn’t fall apart. Not here, not now.

“Aww, you remembered.” She smiled at her cousin, then at Joe in an Oscar-worthy performance. “Thank you, guys. Did you bake this, Bethany? It looks delicious.”

“It tastes even better than it looks.” Her cousin winked cheekily, then raised the ice cream scoop in the air. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go play à la mode fairy.”

Joe rejoined Coraline at the kitchen island as Bethany headed for the other side of the table, where Tanner and Michelle had just grabbed their seats.

“Enjoy your pie, Anne.” Katie patted her uninjured hand. “I hear my pumpkin pie calling. Or it might be my sweetie pie.”

Katie hurried over to the kitchen island, where her husband and her pie waited.

If Pete was back… Anne’s hand flew to her throat in a jolt of panic.

Vulnerable from her revelation, she wasn’t ready to see Frederick.

She suddenly couldn’t recall a single acting skill to mask her true emotions.

What if her face revealed everything she felt for him?

But her anxiety receded the moment she spotted Frederick across the kitchen.

He stood leaning against the sink with his long legs crossed at the ankles, grousing at the rookies as they finished handwashing whatever didn’t fit in the dishwasher.

He laughed at something one of them said, throwing back his head.

She’d always loved the sound of his laugh—deep, rumbling, and joyous. She would give anything to place her hand against the strong column of his throat and feel his joy vibrate through her body. She released a long breath, the last of her tension unclutching her lungs as she embraced the truth.

Anne didn’t yearn for the past or for a future she couldn’t have.

She yearned for Frederick. For him alone.

The want drove deep into her soul, twisting inside her like a knife.

But it felt amazing to know what her heart wanted with bone-deep certainty.

She wanted Frederick with everything in her. She had always wanted him.

Katie gingerly approached Frederick with a plate loaded with every kind of pie and held out her offering with both hands. He accepted it with an easy grin and gave her a sideways hug. Anne smiled, happy that no trace of his stony anger remained.

As he dug into his dessert, chatting with his friends, Anne remembered the gentleness of his touch, the depth of his concern, the protective curve of his body at her side.

A seed of hope burrowed into her heart. Maybe it’s not too late for us.

The rising stakes terrified her, but she would risk anything for a second chance with Frederick.