He wasn’t quite as convinced, but he hoped that was the case. “Yesterday, I dropped her off for an interview at the coffee shop a couple blocks down the road. She was in a great mood. We had a great night and an even better morning together. I thought she would come by after her interview—she didn’t. I called her yesterday afternoon and asked her if she’d like to get dinner and she agreed. I could tell something was a little off but chalked it up to her being distracted.”
Rachel was nodding her head. “Okay, so far I see nothing wrong.”
“Exactly!” he said, smacking his open hand on the desk.
“Then what happened? How did we get here with you dragging your knuckles into work?”
He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t know. I showed up at her house, right on time, and she wouldn’t answer the door.”
Rachel looked stunned. “What? Why?”
His shoulders drooped and leaned forward. “If I knew why, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you about it.”
She sucked in an exaggerated deep breath. “Alright, alright, relax, take a deep breath. Let’s review.”
He hated when she got all motherly. “It has to be Tim. I’m going to call Meredith and see if he was served with the papers. Maybe he showed up at her house,” he said.
“Don’t you think she would have told you that? I mean, I think it’s pretty clear you’ve got her back when it comes to that guy,” Rachel pointed out.
“Maybe she wants time to process what it all means.”
Rachel shook her head. “She’s been trying to escape him for years. I can’t imagine she would suddenly regret filing for divorce.”
“She was afraid of what he would do. Maybe he threatened her,” he suggested.
“What exactly did she tell you last night?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “She said she wanted to be alone, that she was feeling overwhelmed. She apologized a few times. I could see she was upset, really upset. I didn’t push it, I didn’t want her to see me as one of the things in her life that overwhelmed her.”
Rachel smiled and waved a hand through the air. “That is normal. That is girl-talk for I need a day to myself. We all need a little downtime where we don’t have to worry about looking pretty and can pig out on junk food.”
“She can do that with me,” he pro
tested.
Rachel giggled. “It’s not the same. Maybe after you’ve been married five years, but you two are still in a fairly new relationship. It’s the honeymoon period.”
“Why didn’t she just say that?” he said, a scowl in his face.
“I don’t think you have anything to be worried about. She isn’t ditching you. You know she’s been a loner for a long time. You two have been hot and heavy these past few weeks. Maybe it’s time to slow down and ease into things.”
Ben leaned back in his chair, knowing she was right. He’d been telling himself the same thing for days. Even he was a little worried about how much he cared for her. No, he loved her. He was nervous. This was uncharted territory for him. He wasn’t the type to fall in love. It made him nervous to have fallen so completely in love with someone, and given them your heart. The idea of being hurt and rejected didn’t excite him. If he could avoid it, that was what he was going to do.
“You’re probably right. I’ll wait before I call her. She’s probably sleeping in and she’ll call when she gets up,” he said, hoping the words were true.
“Exactly. Alright, with that crisis solved, I’m going back to work. I emailed you a list of calls that need to be made along with emails you’ll need to answer,” she said, turning back on the efficient secretary persona and heading out the door.
Ben took a deep breath, feeling better about the situation. Rachel had talked him off the ledge—again. He turned his attention to email and began to answer the most important ones first, feeling accomplished as he ticked his way down the list.
By eleven, his worry for Katherine was too much to ignore. He’d called her twice and she hadn’t answered. He’d sent a few text messages as well. Those had gone unanswered. He could feel something was wrong. She would have at least told him she was okay, or she was busy. No response was not like her.
He grabbed his keys and walked out of his office.
“Where are you going?” Rachel asked, covering the microphone near her mouth.
“I’m going to check on her, something isn’t right.”
She nodded her head. “Let me know.”