Stay With Me(3)

She dragged herself to her feet and stumbled shakily toward the bedroom. When her gaze alighted on the trip itinerary on the nightstand, she closed her eyes and shook her head.

The trip was their last chance. One last effort on her part to put things right between them. To somehow capture something long missing in their relationship. She wanted so desperately to go back to the time when all that mattered was that they were together. In her mind, if she could just get them away for a few days, they would see how far off course they’d gone. And maybe they’d realize that they missed her as much as she missed them.

She went to the large walk-in closet and hauled out her packed suitcase, tossing it on the bed. She blinked and stared down at it. What was she doing?

I’ll tell you what you’re doing. You’re going on that trip. Without Rhys and Logan. I doubt they’ll even notice you’re gone.

She glanced again at the itinerary. Maybe some time away was exactly what she needed.

She stepped over to the nightstand and picked up the sheet of paper with her flight and hotel reservations. With a sigh, she sank onto the bed, the words blurring in her vision.

She couldn’t do this anymore. Pretend that everything was okay. When a wife didn’t see her husband more than a few hours a week, when that husband never remembered important dates, cancelled every plan they had together, it was time to face the truth. Her marriage was over. It had been for a very long time.

The paper shook in her hand. She wasn’t typically a hysterical ninny. She wasn’t prone to overreaction. She’d spent the last five years sucking it up and smiling while on the inside she ached. She’d played the understanding wife to the hilt.

Now looking back, she realized what a huge mistake she’d made. She had no one to blame but herself. But damn it, that didn’t mean she had to suffer any longer for it.

Galvanized to action, she stood and tugged her suitcase. She’d spend tonight in an airport hotel and catch her flight in the morning. Two weeks on a Jamaican beach sounded like a perfect amount of time to figure out what the hell she was going to do with the rest of her life.

Chapter Two

Logan boarded his jet, a smug smile curving his lips. One disaster averted. And it had only taken him two days to accomplish it. Two endless, excruciating days of meetings, phone calls and conference calls with Rhys and Montford. But it was over. The deal was sealed, and he and Rhys were poised to land the biggest contract their company had ever netted.He wanted to call Catherine and share in the joy with her, but a quick check of his watch told him it was after midnight Eastern Time. Instead he flipped open his phone and called Paige.

Her sleepy voice came over the line a moment later, and he cringed guiltily. He didn’t want to wake his wife, but he had no compunction about waking his assistant. A raise. She definitely deserved a raise.

“Paige, I’m on my way back. Rhys is flying in as well.”

“Do you need your driver at the airport?” she asked.

“No, we’ll take a cab to the apartment.” He paused for a moment. “Did you talk to Catherine?”

There was a long silence. “I wasn’t able to reach her either at home or her cell.”

Logan sighed. “She probably let her cell run down again. She’s forever forgetting to recharge it.”

“I went by your apartment after I couldn’t reach her,” Paige continued, her voice tight. He could almost swear she sounded angry. “Your doorman said she hasn’t been home in two days and that she left the same night you and Rhys flew out to San Francisco and Atlanta. The night of your anniversary, by the way.”

Fuck. Fuck, f**k, f**k! His hand tightened around the cell phone, and he closed his eyes as panic, sharp and unrelenting, flooded him.

Their anniversary. Their dinner date. He’d forgotten. And it wasn’t the first time. His chest tightened as he imagined Catherine sitting in the restaurant by herself, waiting for him and Rhys to show up. And how she must have felt when she realized they weren’t.

And then. God. He’d cancelled their trip.

How could he have forgotten? It wasn’t as though it had completely slipped his mind. Her present sat in his desk drawer at work, wrapped and ready to go. But as soon as the deal had started to go south, everything else fled his mind. His only priority had been salvaging the biggest contract of his career.

“Are you still there?”

Paige’s voice seeped into his consciousness. And then he realized what else she’d said. Alarm slammed into his chest.

“You said she’s gone,” he croaked. “That she hadn’t been home in two days. What else did the doorman say? Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” Paige replied without an ounce of sympathy in her voice. “But I can’t say I blame her.”

His lips tightened. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Catherine’s a sweet girl, Logan, but she’s not going to be so forgiving forever. You and Rhys take advantage of her. Horribly. One of these days you’re going to look up, and she’s going to be gone. Maybe she already is. Hopefully she’ll end up with a man who’ll show her a little more appreciation.”

He couldn’t breathe. Paige’s words hit him like razor-sharp darts.

The phone went dead in his ear, but all he could process was the fact that Paige had said Catherine was gone.