Page 79 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

THICK AS THIEVES

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“Why are you doing this?” Cameron Levery asked, shaking his head in frustration. “I just don’t get it.”

“Cam, I’ve explained this to you a thousand times. I don’t know what more I can say.” Cat eyed her brother with the patience of the frequently nagged and resumed packing.

“Catherine, I didn’t want to bring this up, but you’re leaving me no choice.” Cam cleared his throat as if stalling for time. “Are you leaving because of Matthew?”

Cat sat back on her heels and sighed. Her beloved, older brother only used her full name when he was feeling particularly paternal. Which seemed to be all of the time lately. She felt a bead of sweat trickle down her neck, and she reached for her glass of lemonade. Sipping the cool, tart liquid, she considered her brother’s question.

Matthew Gerard – or the big dumb jerk, as she liked to think of him – had been her fiancé. Six months after their engagement, she’d caught him with his pants down, literally, in his accountant’s office. She winced when she thought of it. His accountant, a buxom brunette, had control of more than just his tangible assets. When Cat had confronted him, the big dumb jerk said she was boring, that he felt strangled by their relationship.

It had been a sock in the ego to be rejected, but much to her surprise, relief had crept in. Matthew was right. She’d been a clinging vine, entwining herself so tightly about him and his needs that there had been no room left for herself. She’d become a bore.

By focusing so much energy on Matthew, she’d managed to alienate most everyone else. She’d lost touch with her friends and dropped most of her hobbies. The only constants in her life outside of the big dumb jerk were her job and her family.

“Hello?” Cam waved his hand in front of her face. “Are you in there?”

“Yes.” Cat shook her head. “I am leaving because of Matthew, but I’m also leaving because of you.”

“Me?” Cam gaped at her in confusion.

“Yes, you,” Cat repeated. “And Julia, and Mom and Dad, and everyone else who’s been taking care of me for as long as I can remember. I’m twenty-six years old. I need to be on my own.”

“But to move to Arizona,” Cam argued. “Isn’t that a bit extreme? If you have to move, why can’t you stay in Massachusetts or at least in this time zone?”

“Because Sally Jenkins, the teacher I’m swapping positions with, lives in Copper Creek, Arizona,” Cat replied.

“I don’t like it.” Cam frowned. “I mean what kind of school system hires a teacher they’ve never even seen?”

“The kind of school that has all of my records and that has interviewed both me and my principal online.” Cat put down her lemonade and taped up the box.

“Why do you have to drive? Why can’t you fly out there and have your things shipped?” he asked.

“Because I have never been out of New England,” Cat explained with an eyeroll–no longer feeling as patient. “This is my chance to see the country. How could I pass it up?”