Beauty & The Beast (Book 1)

28. Rejected

Cat's conversation with her father didn't go too well. She broached the subject of Brooke being married already carefully, and her father told her he knew.
Apparently the ex husband was stalking Brooke and they were trying to get him to sign the divorce papers to which he was refusing. Her dad seemed hurt that she would go as far as looking into Brooke without trusting him and asking first, calling her judgmental.
She tried to tell him she was just looking out for him but he wasn't hearing it and told her dinner was off and then he left her sitting in the break room, kicking herself for acting first, again, and not asking.

This entire scene replayed in her mind later that night when she was getting ready to go to the art gallery opening with Tess so they could do some undercover questioning, who was on the phone with her as she dressed in a black cocktail dress.

"Art openings are pretentious, we just figure out where the money's coming from and we get outta there," she tells Tess, not really wanting to stay longer than they had to.

"Well, unless we meet some handsome art lover..."

Cat laughs, picks up one of her shoes but doesn't out it on yet. "Focus. I checked Nicholas's credit reports, he applied for an apartment two days ago. According to the landlady he was gonna move in with his girlfriend. What are you wearing anyway?"

"Ugh, whatever's clean. Wait, he was moving in with the girlfriend that dumped him two weeks earlier? That is wishful thinking. What are you wearing?"

Cat picks up the other shoe after putting the first on and then groans. Her shoe's heel was completely detached, meaning she couldn't wear it. "Heather's shoes, apparently."
She sighs and kicks off the shoe she has on before getting up from the bed. "I'll see you there," she says and hangs up, walking to her sidetable and getting her earrings.

Vincent steps into through the veranda doors behind her, bringing a breeze with him. She gasps slightly and looks at him in the mirror, busy putting in the jewellery. She lets out a slow breath seeing it was only him.

"Hi."

"I'm in a hurry Vincent, I'm on my way to a case," she tells him, turning to look at him fleetingly before she walks out of the bedroom towards the living room after grabbing the pair of shoes she needed from Heather's room.

"Little overdressed for a case," he says, following her down the hallway with his hands in his jean pockets.

"Murdered painter. I'm going to a gallery opening," she explains, fiddling with the last earring. She steps into the heels and turns to look at Vincent when he only stands there. "Vincent, what are you doing here?"

He shrugs. "I was just in the neighborhood."

"Really?"

He nods and smiles a little. "Yeah." He was happy to see her. She sees this.

"It's just, one minute I think we're moving in one direction and then we're moving in another?" She looks down to clip the straps.

"Catherine," he steps towards her, taking one hand from his pocket. "I know that you can't wait around for me, I mean - "

She starts to walk back, lifting her hands and laughing humorlessly to herself. "You don't have to let me down easy," she says and takes her purse and keys from the counter, moving the whole time, not really looking at him. He stops, the words still on his tongue. "I get it," she places her phone in the purse. "You and I... this...it's too complicated." She looks at him finally.

He stares at the floor, rejected, nodding like he gets what she's saying, but he doesn't. In a way he does, knowing he's been stringing this along.

"I don't know what I thought," she scoffs. "That you'd come over for dinner like some normal guy?" She laughs bitterly at herself. She really thought there was something, she hoped, but here he was again, letting her down easy. "I realize that was stupid of me."