Page 8 of Promise Me, Katie (Bennett Sisters #1)

When Katherine gestured towards the ground at her feet without looking, she was pointing at nothing more than an empty patch of grass. In her fear of exposure, she’d forgotten that she hadn’t made it to the tool shed for her clippers, weeder, or hand trowel.

“See… no cuts, not even a scrape,” Katherine said nervously, lifting her arms to show the stranger she was okay, even turning both hands, front to back and back to front, to prove there was no reason for concern.

“I’m glad,” he finally said as the warmth of his voice turned Katherine’s insides all hot and gooey like the center of a molten chocolate cake. Between the fullness of his bottom lip and the striking blue of his eyes, a wave of relief washed over her.

“Maybe I should introduce myself,” he added as Katherine felt her legs start to shake. “My name’s Matthew. Matthew Brandon.”

“Oh…” Katherine blinked in confusion, then blurted out. “My friend told me about someone named Brandon moving to Windsong.”

“So, then, you’ve heard about us?”

“Us?” Katherine said, desperate to recall details of her conversations with Beth Ann and Kimmie.

“Yeah,” he said, motioning toward to house behind him. “My wife and I bought this place from the Kendalls.”

Instantly, Katherine felt her heart sink. Beth Ann and Kimmie hadn’t mentioned a wife in either of their stories, and she wondered what else the dynamic duo had left out.

“Wow!” she hurried to say, hoping her response sounded more happy and friendly than annoyed and disappointed. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”

As Matthew thanked her, Katherine felt guilty that she’d been wanting this handsome stranger to be the very knight in shining armor Beth Ann had described.

Why couldn’t she have stayed rational long enough to stop herself from dreaming the impossible before he could even mention whether he was married or not?

Because, of course, there was always the chance the new man in town could be married, but obviously, she and her love-sick, matchmaking friend never consideredthatpossibility.

“Is your wife inside? I’d love to meet her.”

Although she’d been secretly excited before, it wouldn’t do her any good to keep thinking there was a chance for romance. Better to meet the wife now and get it over with. Nothing like a bucket of ice-cold reality thrown on your hopes and dreams to snap you out of it.

Instead, Matthew explained how he came alone to finalize the purchase of their home and drop off paperwork needed by the Windsong Police Department. Adding how he also wanted to come ahead of his family to clean up the yard and assemble the swing set as a surprise.

“Libby’s my sweetheart.”

As Katherine listened, she realized when he spoke so fondly of this Libby person, he was talking about his child. “And what about your wife? Does she work?”

Immediately, Matthew’s expression changed. So much so that it made Katherine regret she’d asked something that seemed like a sensitive subject.

“Julia’s a television news reporter. Her job is why we moved here.”

“Wow!” Katherine tried to make her voice sound upbeat and interested. She didn’t want to upset him anymore, but she was also distracted by the thought of wanting to hunt down Beth Ann and wring her neck for the screwed-up story she’d given. “News reporter, huh? That’s gotta be exciting.”

“It can be... I guess.”

As Matthew’s demeanor continued to change, Katherine’s face flushed in embarrassment as she watched his expression morph from friendly to cold and disinterested. He obviously heard stuff like that all the time. But there seemed to be more to it. Maybe he wasn’t happy about moving to Windsong.

Between his response, her stupid assumptions, and the fact that the good-looking replacement reporter was this man’s wife, Katherine realized this scenario was getting worse by the minute.

Forcing a smile, she searched her mind for the words that would turn the conversation around and bring back the cheerful, friendly expression he had before.

“Hey, I bet your little Libby is excited to start a new school and make new friends. They say Crescent Elementary is one of the best in the state. My sister Georgie is a kindergarten teacher there.”

Matthew brightened once again. “Libby’s a bit young for school.”

“Oh, so she must be starting in the fall, then?”

“No,” Matthew chuckled. “Libby’s not even two years old.”

Instantly, Katherine’s smile faded as more pieces of the puzzle fell into place. Matthew’s young face. His wife, the new junior reporter. And their daughter, only a toddler.

His family life was just beginning, and she knew what that felt like.

She also knew what it felt like to have it taken away.

And she wouldn’t carry on like the person who had taken it away from her, even if it was just a harmless fantasy.

Because lingering there, enjoying the sound of this man’s voice and the way he looked, made Katherine no better than the woman responsible for taking away her own happily ever after.

“I’m sorry,” she said, unable to hold his gaze. “I-I shouldn’t have assumed anything about you.”

“That’s okay. I can see how the swing set gave you the idea that Libby’s older.”

Katherine nodded, sure that her discomfort was obvious.

“Hey, our houses look roughly the same size. You must have a few kids of your own.”

Katherine swallowed hard, knowing exactly what the next question would be.

“Are you married?”

“No. I’m not married.”

“Really? I’m surprised. It’s such a big house, and you’re so pretty.”

“Excuse me?” Katherine’s eyes widened, wondering if he was being nice or if he was a cheater. She hated cheaters.

“I’m sorry,” Matthew rushed to apologize. “I didn’t mean to upset you. What I meant to say is—”

“Don’t worry about it,” she stopped him. “I was married before, but now I’m not.”

“Any kids?”

“No.”

When Matthew nodded but said nothing more, Katherine recognized that oh-so-familiar curious expression written across his face. The same expression she’d seen time and time again in so many others. And she knew he wanted to know more. Because everybody always wanted to know more.

“I better get to gardening. These tools don’t operate themselves.”

When she looked down and saw only grass at her feet, Katherine felt her face color from even more embarrassment, and she wanted to run.

“Wait… you haven’t told me your name?”

“Huh?” Her head shot up, though she could hardly manage to make eye contact with him.

“You didn’t tell me your name.”

“I thought I had my gardening tools,” she murmured in confusion. “I must’ve forgotten them.”

“Trust me, I understand how that could happen if your mind was somewhere else.”

“I guess…”

“Hey, neighbor,” he said, undeterred by her embarrassment. “You were about to tell me your name.”

“Oh… sorry…” she said, stepping away from the brick wall his body was pressed against. “It’s Katie. My name is Katie.”

Though she felt an overwhelming pressure to say more, her mouth went dry, and her mind went blank.

“It’s nice to meet you, Katie.”

Hearing the handsome stranger call her Katie, Katherine instantly regretted introducing herself by that name.

From her irrational hope for a love-at-first-sight fairy tale to an awkward attempt at an exit, followed by introducing herself with the same name she only ever let Max call her, this little encounter was turning into quite the trainwreck.

“Nice to meet you too, Brandon… I mean Matthew,” she said, nearly stumbling as she stepped backward. “You should come by for dinner sometime.”

“I’d like that.” He smiled.

“I mean, you and your wife come to dinner,” she laughed nervously. “Because, of course, I meant you and your wife. I didn’t mean you and I have dinner at my place, just the two of us.”

Katherine wished she could stop the painfully awkward words from coming out of her mouth.

“And bring your baby. I like babies. I mean, who doesn’t like babies, am I right?”

With increasing concern written across his face, Matthew watched in silence as Katherine was determined to make her escape.

“Again, nice to meet you, Matthew,” she said, somehow collecting herself. “Best of luck with your move, and congratulations to you and your family on the new house. I know how exciting that can be.”

“Katie…” he stopped her. “Do you need to talk?”

“What?”

“Do you need someone to talk to? I’m a good listener.”

Though she’d heard it countless times before, the fact that he offered to be a shoulder to cry on after saying she was pretty made Katherine’s jaw tighten in anger.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know, we could go grab a cup of coffee or a bite to eat, and I could listen if you needed someone to vent to. Sometimes, it’s easier to share your problems with a stranger.”

“Oh really? You’d do that, huh?”

“Well… sure.”

“While we just get a bite to eat?”

“Yeah, why not? You know any good places around here?”

“Andthat’sit?” she snapped. “Just chewing and talking and listening? That’s all you wanna do?”

At this point, Katherine’s eyes were narrowed, and she had to bite her tongue before telling him where he could stick his offer.

“What’s the problem? I was only trying to help,” Matthew said. “There’s obviously something bothering you, and I thought maybe you’d wanna talk about it.”

“Well, I don’t,” Katherine snapped. “And I don’t think a married man should be offering to spend time alone with an unmarried woman.”

“Whoa! Look, lady, you’ve got this all wrong.”

“Excuse me? Lady? I’m not sure you’d know a lady when you see one since you’re not exactly acting like a gentleman.”

Matthew’s brow furrowed. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“You’re a man. And a cop. And apparently a really good listener,”Katherine said, adding air quotes. “That’s more than I need to know.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who—”

“Nice to meet you, Matthew,” Katherine interrupted. “Welcome to the neighborhood!”

And with that, she slipped back inside her house and slammed the door shut.

As he stood there on the overturned bucket, Matthew didn’t know what to make of what just happened. How the hell had that ended so badly? And how the hell did a complete stranger come to the conclusion that he was some kind of smooth-talking cheater?

“Damn,” he said, convinced he heard the same muffled crying from before as he stepped down from the bucket. This time, he knew exactly where it was coming from, and he felt like someone had punched a hole through his chest and ripped out his heart.

Then, he thought about scaling the brick wall that separated their yards to knock on her door, apologize for the misunderstanding, and make sure she’d be okay.

Because despite her explanation that it wasn’t her who had been crying before, he knew now that it definitely was. But he also knew, from how she’d responded, that chasing her down to force the issue wouldn’t make the situation any better.

Still, the unanswered questions in his mind and her dark, sad eyes intrigued him, and he found himself wishing their conversation had gone better.

Later, when Matthew was shutting windows and locking doors to leave, he stepped out onto the back porch and looked over at Katherine’s house. When he heard more crying from a second-story open window, he stepped to the far end of the porch to listen.

The sound alone made his chest ache, and he felt helpless. Matthew never liked feelinghelpless.His very nature, hell even his livelihood, was about helpingothers.But there seemed to be something else toit.Something deeper than just his protective nature to look out for those inneed.

This felt personal, and for the life of him, he couldn’t understandwhy.He’d only just met thiswoman.And she clearly didn’t want any kind of help fromhim.Yet, in some way, he felt an undeniable urge to hold her in his arms and shield her from the hurt she so obviously needed toescape.

It’d been a long time since he felt likethis.He’d even come to believe that going through the motions with Julia while she chased after her career and another man had left himnumb.But now Matthew could see he might’ve beenwrong.

This past year had been one of the worst and one of the best years of hislife.What he felt now lent to both sides of thespectrum.Feelings that he knew could only lead toeven more complications. Yet maybe it was time to consider other ways his life was about to change.

Looking at the house next door, then beyond the roof line, Matthew gazed into thenight sky, brightened by the light of a crescent moon.

“Did it literally haveto be the girl next door?” he asked, waiting for a response he knew wasn’t coming.

Instead, something spoke to his heart, telling him to trust and be patient.