Chapter 180
Chapter 179: Making Contingencies
Catherine’s POV
Alina called at eight on a Thursday morning, which was her way of checking in on me without making it a check-in officially. Besides she preferred calls because it gave off the texture of having an ordinary conversation rather than the structure of a debrief that was short and precise to the point. Also the call gave her more space to operate and get more information that she wanted.
I was at the kitchen island in my apartment, still in my training clothes from the morning session that I had just finished where I was still recollecting myself, breathing heavily waiting for my breathing to settle into something less tense, with my coffee in hand.
The shoulder felt good and worked up by but not being used to the limit like it had been feeling and there was no severe pain when I did anything. It had been feeling good for three weeks now, that kind of good where something had indeed healed more than what was being managed.
I had kept the healing stage longer than necessary because I used the moment at that time to get closer to Nick, making sure that he saw me as an ally and not an enemy, and it had done well, worked successfully and he no longer saw me as the reason why his mum left.
“Tell me where things stand,” Alina said, which was how she sounded when she wanted a summary of the
story.
I told her.
Logan was back from Seattle, which she knew-I’d messaged her when he’d come home, because it was information she’d been waiting for and had been checking it up from her own end.
Logan had been back home and the remaining days in this month in Seattle had brought nothing aside a stalking complaint from the Preston family and a motel bill that came from how long he had been living in a motel waiting for one chance to see his ex wife without succeeding.
“The Sedona situation, what about it then,” Alina said.
“Over,” I said. “Or as close to over as it’s going to get. She filed a custody case, which his lawyer told him about when he came back home and he’s fighting it because he doesn’t want Sedona to have everything, but-” I paused. “He’s going through the motions. I can see it. He’s refusing everything because refusing is what he knows how to do when he doesn’t have another play. But the thing underneath it, the belief that he was going to get her back-” I stopped. “I think that’s gone p>
“Think or know?” Alina said
“Know,” I said. “He looked at me last week in a way he hasn’t looked at me in a long time. Not the way he looks at something he’s taking for granted. The other way, the way he used to do when Sedona was still in his life but as a doormat to him p>
“The noticing way,” she said.
1/3
Making Coptrigenes
“The noticing way.” I confirmed her words as she hummed.
Claim
Alina was quiet for a moment in the way that meant she was processing something she’d already formed an opinion about. “And Nick?” she said.
This was where I was most confident.
Nick had been the complicated piece. He’d been difficult at first, which I’d expected and prepared for. Closed off but I had not tried to insist or to force him.
That had been the key decision. I’d talked about Sedona instead-the counter-intuitive approach, the one that felt wrong when I was doing it and had turned out to be right. I’d made her real and present in the room rather than pretending she wasn’t the organizing principle of Nick’s thinking. And I’d been patient
with Nick.
And it had worked.
“He’s close to me now,” I said. “Genuinely. He asks for me when I’m not there. Sherry told me he mentioned me specifically when Logan called from Seattle-said Catherine had fixed the cream.” A pause. “That was significant. The cream was Sedona’s thing. He’d associated it completely with her. When he said I’d fixed it, he was-he was letting me into the category where she lived p>
“Smart,” Alina said, and she meant it as a professional assessment rather than a social compliment. “The cream was good p>
“It took me three attempts,” I said. “The first two were wrong. But the third was close enough p>
“Close enough is usually sufficient,” she said. “How does Logan read the Nick situation p>
“He’s grateful,” I said. “He sees what I’ve done and he’s grateful for it. He’s also-” I thought about how to describe it accurately. “He’s a man who’s been away for a month and come home to find his house functioning, his son happy, his mother singing my praises. He’s been given a picture of what this could look like p>
“Does he know what the picture looks like p>
“He’s starting to see it,” I said. “He’s not there yet. He’s still in the phase where he’s processing that Sedona isn’t coming back. Men in that phase need time to complete the processing before they can look at what’s in front of them.” I paused. “But Sherry is helping p>
Alina made a sound of appreciation. “You’ve managed Sherry well,” she said.
“She was already halfway there,” I said. “The guilt about Sedona had softened her. She was looking for somewhere to put the care she’d been withholding, and I was there to receive it.” A pause. “She told Logan directly that I wouldn’t wait forever. That I’m almost thirty, that there are other men. She planted it herself. I didn’t have to p>
“The jealousy strategy,” Alina said.
“The returning season strategy,” I said. “Which is real, not manufactured. I’m going back to the circuit in January. The invitational in Chicago in February is confirmed. Logan is already talking about bringing Nick to watch.” I paused. “When I’m back on tour, I’ll be surrounded by people. Sponsors, teammates, the full circuit life. The men in that world are-” I didn’t need to finish the sentence for Alina.
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Making Contingencies,
“And Logan will see it,” she said.
Claim
“He always watches my matches,” I said. “He’s been watching since we were twenty-three. Even when we weren’t together, even when there was nothing official between us, he watched.” I drank my coffee. “Put me on a court in front of an audience with the circuit energy around me, and Logan Hayes forgets all the complications and remembers what he felt about me when he was twenty-three. That’s not a theory. That’s twelve years of evidence p>
Alina was quiet for a moment. “He’s watching the Dante Wells situation,” she said. “You should know that. He asked someone who told me about Dante Wells when he called from Seattle and was gossiping to me knowing that I had you as a friend and you were going to be in the same wavelength as Dante Wells very
soon p>
Florence
A passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.