Page 61 of Fools in Love

“Hello?” She was still smiling when she answered the call.

“You bitch,” a voice hissed. “You think you can ruin my life like this? I’ll make you pay.”

She held the phone out after the call was disconnected, frowning at it.

“Is everything okay?” Tom asked.

“I… someone just called me a bitch and told me that I’d pay.” She shook her head. “I…”

“Give me your phone,” Tom said, taking it when she handed it to him. “Unknown caller.” He groaned. “Shit. They’ve found you. I should have known,” he said, and she watched him block the last call. “Don’t answer any more calls from unknown callers.” He handed back her phone then took her hand. “I’m so sorry.”

She hadn’t thought anything about answering the call from an unknown caller, since she’d always done so before. His father had been calling him, not her. But after last night, she should have known better.

“It’s not you,” she assured him. “I should have known…” She shook her head and took a deep breath, then shook off the sour mood. “Let’s head next door and get Luke and Leia,” she said with a smile.

When they walked into Carrie’s Sanctuary, Carrie was waiting for them. The puppies had bows on their collars and were playing together.

They walked out of the shop half an hour later with both dogs and enough puppy supplies and toys to last the dogs a lifetime. Tom had bought almost everything in the shop.

Tom carried the bags of supplies while she walked Luke and Leia on their new leashes. Since the puppies weren’t leash trained, it was slow going back to the house. The leashes got tangled, both dogs stopped to pee and poop, and Luke barked at almost every passing car or person along the way.

“Carrie says we should kennel train them,” she said when they walked into the house. “The last thing we want is for everything to be chewed up.”

“I can pick up some kennels tomorrow after work,” Tom suggested. “For now, they can stay in the mud room when we need to leave them alone.”

For the next two hours, they played with the dogs until they each passed out on the sofa. Kate and Tom sat back to enjoy some downtime, but half an hour later, the dogs woke up, and they took them outside to do their business and play in the yard. Then they decided to take them on a walk to the beach. Tom packed them a picnic lunch, and they ate turkey sandwiches while the dogs played in the sand.

It was the most perfect day Kate had ever enjoyed. She felt like she finally had her own family. Her own place in life. Beyond dancing.

“Happy?” Tom asked as they strolled back home.

“Very.” She smiled. “You?”

“Very.”

Her phone had rung only one more time that day. Thankfully, it was only her mother checking in on her.

When they returned home, they lay down and took a short nap with the dogs. When they woke, Tom suggested they make dinner and sit out on the back deck to enjoy the sunset.

While the dogs raced around the yard, Tom grilled fish and vegetables while she scanned social media on her phone.

She hadn’t checked in that day, since they’d been busy, but seeing the hate message on her new business page had her frowning.

“Tom?” She waved him over to the table. “Look at this.” She showed him the message. The account it had come from was named KateFarrowisaBitch.

Tom glanced at her screen and then walked over and turned down the heat on the grill. He sat down beside her and took her phone from her.

“Kate Farrow is a liar and a bitch. She single-handedly destroyed Isabella Ramani and Dmitri Golubev’s careers. The world has been spared from her mediocre performances, and she deserved everything she got and more. The bitch will pay.”

“It sounds a lot like whoever called you earlier,” Tom pointed out.

“Yes, and possibly the brick was from the same person,” she pointed out. When she’d read the message, the first thing that had come to her mind was last night.

“This message was posted last night shortly before the brick was thrown through your window,” Tom pointed out.

Kate glanced at the screen and nodded. “I think someone else might have it out for me instead of your father.” She felt her stomach drop. “But who?”

“What about Isabella? Dmitri basically told us she is responsible for him tossing you off the stage and ruining your career,” Tom pointed out as he walked over to finish grilling.