Above Rubies (Rockland Ranch) (26 page)

             
This time when Kit left, it wasn’t quite as bad as the first time.  She was concerned about being on time to class so she had to just leave and she didn’t want to look like she’d been crying for two hours, so she tried not to.

             
She called Joey to see if she knew Nate’s phone number so she could attempt to fix her Friday night plans.  He hadn’t asked someone else yet and she was glad she called.  If he’d seen her there he would have thought she’d lied. 

             
When she talked to Joey, she asked about going to LA and Joey was stoked, so they arranged to miss that week's Thursday’s classes and made plane reservations.   Dr. Mitchell was thrilled and insisted they stay at the same hotel as he and his wife and even said he’d get his musician friends to pay for it.

             
Saturday morning Kit, Joey, and Treyne, all three, came home for Cooper’s talk in church the next day and they had a mob of family and friends over to the house to eat Sunday afternoon.  Kit was still concerned about gossip and she put Mimi in her pack and took her for a walk around the ranch.  They ended up at the pond where Kit let her play in a few inches of water at the pond's edge and Mimi thought it was great.  She’d splash and then startle when the water hit her in the face and it made Kit laugh.

             
                                          **** 

             
Rossen found them there, late in the afternoon.  He watched them for a few minutes as he skipped rocks.  He knew why she was out here and it frustrated him to death.  It wasn’t fair for her to feel like she had to fade into the woodwork around their neighbors and friends, but she felt like she should.  And the sad truth of the matter was that there probably were those out there who did talk, even though Kit and the baby, and even he were not at fault.  Slade and Isabel came around the pond holding hands and even that frustrated him.  What would he have given to be able to take Kit’s hand, instead of having to watch from a distance and be only a friend?  

At length she came over to him and said,
“So I told you how my dates went.  How were yours?” 

             
That’s probably why he was so irritable.  He'd been miserable both nights.  And to make matters worse, both of the girls he'd taken had texted him several times.  At least they'd had a good time. 

To Kit he said, “They were fine.”  She laughed at him and he knew she was reading him like a book again.

              Kit had to leave on Sunday evening with the others this time.  They'd all come in the same car and Treyne had an early Monday morning class, so she had no choice.  When she kissed Mimi Star goodbye in his arms again, he knew it was far too hard.  When Treyne turned on the radio as they got in, Rossen knew Kit turned her head to the window to cry.

             
                                          ****

             
On Wednesday morning the college bunch drove to Salt Lake where they met the rest of the family and drove to Provo to take Cooper to the MTC.  When they returned and split up again, Kit had never felt so lonely in her life. Cooper gone for two years, on top of being away from her baby and home, seemed like more than she could stand.  When they pulled into their house in Logan, Treyne asked, “Kit, are you gonna be okay?”  She nodded and he added, “Maybe you should just do this for one semester.  You don’t seem very happy.”

             
She hugged him as she went past him up the steps.  “I have to do this, Treyne.  Otherwise Rossen will feel like I missed a whole season of my life and he’ll never forgive himself.  It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in a way, but it’s something I have to do.  But you’re right.  I’m a one semester flash in the pan.  Just don’t tell him that.  I don’t want to argue about it until I have to.”  She gave him a watery smile and went in and picked up her guitar. 

             
Later that night when Matt came by and asked if she wanted to go workout, she went with him gladly.  She worked until her breath was coming in gasps and Matt finally took her hand and led her outside.  He walked beside her for more than half an hour before he finally asked, “You ever gonna tell me what’s wrong, or am I just going to have to keep trying to come up with ideas on my own.?” 

She started to cry and he turned and pulled her into a hug.  She finally admitted that she was homesick and told him part of the story.  She told him about
Cooper leaving and how much she'd come to love him as a younger brother.   She told him about Mimi and the Rocklands and that she didn’t really feel strongly about college, but felt she needed to be here for a while to put the missing this season thing to rest.  

             
He took her hand and started walking again.  Eventually, he asked, “Does he know you love him?”

             
She turned to look at him in the dark.  “Who?”

             
“Whoever it is who has your heart in Wyoming.  Have you ever told him?” 

             
Kit sniffled. “I‘m sure he knows.  It’s just something we can’t talk about because I’m only eighteen.” 

             
They walked for a while longer and when he took her back to her door, he hugged her again and whispered into her hair, “It’s all going to be okay, Kit.  You’re a strong woman and you can do whatever it takes.  I know that about you.”  He kissed the top of her head.  “See you in the morning.”

             
                                          ****

             
When she and Joey walked in the next morning a few minutes before class time, he came over to her and looked at her and then asked Joey, “Is she doing any better today than she was last night?”

             
Kit smiled self-consciously and Joey laughed and said, “Yes, she is.”

             
He smiled. “Good, ‘cause she’s a wimpy martial artist when she bawls!”  At that Kit came at him and actually kicked him pretty good before he rounded on her and threw her to the matt.  Then he collapsed next to her to look her in the eye.  “You look better.  You okay?”

             
“Yes, thanks to you.  Thanks for walking with me.  It really helped.”

             
He stood up and pulled her to her feet.  “You're welcome.  Anytime.”

             
The Karate class was turning out to be awesome and both Kit and Joey loved it.   Matt had arranged to hold an extra class every weekday morning at eight and they both went almost every day.  When Kit began working out on Monday and Thursday afternoons with him too, Joey started to tease her.  Kit only smiled and said, “Rossen wants me to date, and I want to learn Karate.  It’s a two birds with one stone thing.  Plus, Matt's really fun.”  Kit was getting good fast and Joey had to work to keep up with her.

             
Her academic advisor had arranged for her to take a series of CLEP tests to effectively test out of classes.  They staggered them so Kit wouldn’t be overwhelmed, and she started with a basic English class the next week out.  Kit was surprised that it seemed simple to her.  She’d expected it to be much more difficult.

             
That Thursday morning, she left the Rocklands’ knowing she wouldn’t see them again for six days.  Even though she was getting tougher about her goodbyes, that seemed like a long, long time.

Chapter 14

             
She and Joey boarded the plane with mixed emotions.  It was the first time flying for Kit and Joey knew she was a little nervous about the whole thing, so she was trying to look out for her.  At the same time, they were both excited to be on an adventure.  When they arrived, Dr. Mitchell and his wife ushered them into a waiting limo and Joey laughed as Kit swallowed a huge lump in her throat.  She was suddenly beginning to wonder just what she'd gotten them into.

             
They stopped at their hotel and dropped their bags, then got back in the limo and went to meet whomever it was that they would be working with, for lunch.  The car stopped in front of a trendy restaurant and the door was opened and they were led inside.  Dr. Mitchell leaned over and apologized for the marked attention they received as they climbed out of the long limousine.  “Try not to let it bother you.  You’ll soon get used to it and it’s nice to always be picked up and dropped off.”

             
By the time they were seated, Kit had decided she either had to quit worrying that she was going to do something socially incorrect, or she couldn’t even consider doing this again.  She knew she wanted to try to play here, so she let the worry go and tried to remember that she was the same person here as at home.

             
They were in a relatively private dining area and Dr. Mitchell took a phone call and then reported, “Nick's going to be late, so let’s go ahead and eat.  If he doesn’t make it here, we’ll meet him at the studio.”

             
They ordered and were served and it was a good thing Kit wasn’t terribly hungry.  The portions were miniscule and even though they were colorful and unique, they weren’t very tempting.  She forced herself to eat, wishing for Naomi‘s home cooking.  She was losing weight fast at school and didn’t have a whole lot to spare.

             
They were just finishing when Kit heard Joey say, “Holy Moly,” under her breath.  Kit looked at her to see what was up and followed her eyes to see three men walking toward their table.  The one in the lead was rock star Nick Sartori. Kit had played his song for Dr. Mitchell just a couple of weeks before.  Kit didn’t recognize the next two, but they stopped as they walked by a table to talk to someone else who looked familiar.  Nick spoke to him and gave him a handshake of sorts as they walked by.  She was grateful she'd brought Joey as she thought to herself,
He told me some of the biggest music stars in the business.

             
Nick continued on to their table.  As he looked from the Mitchells to Joey and Kit, he raised his eyebrows appreciatively.  “Which one is the guitarist?”  Dr. Mitchell indicated Kit, and Nick took her hand in both of his to shake it.  “You said she was good.  You didn’t say she was gorgeous.”  He smiled at Kit as he released her hand and turned to Joey.

             
“Please tell me you’re a musician, too.” 

             
Joey laughed as she deftly removed her hand from his.  “The closest I come to being a musician is singing in the church choir when they're truly desperate.”

             
He didn’t look like he believed her and said, “You’re her agent then?”

             
“Actually, I’m a mechanic.  Kit is my sister.” 

Nick looked Joey up and down
, and then looked from her fair hair to Kit’s all but black hair.  He chuckled. “A mechanic and her sister.  Right.”  He acted like she was making a joke and they both let it go, but neither of them smiled.  He looked at them again.  “You’re serious?”

             
At that, they both laughed and Joey said, “I’m serious.  Kit is sort of adopted.” 

             
“I see.”  He looked somewhat skeptical as he pulled out a chair and sat down.  He waved the waitress away and turned to Dr. Mitchell, surprisingly all business.  “We‘re too late to eat.  And we really need to get going.  We’ll send out for something later.”

             
On the way back out of the restaurant, he stopped at the table of the other man again, and Kit remembered where she’d seen him.  He was Bryan Cole, a country music singer who had recently received an award for his music.  Kit remembered Joey had been disappointed at the time because she thought his lyrics were crude and demeaning to women and marriage.  She'd turned him off in disgust.  Kit turned to look at Joey, who was watching it all with a bland look on her face, and wondered what she was thinking under that innocent façade
.

             
Nick was telling Bryan that they’d be recording for the next few days and concluded with, “We’ll be ready for you on Saturday.  Be there about eight.”

             
Bryan nodded, watching the girls as he did and said, “I’ll see you then.”

             
Back in the limo on the way to the studio, Nick and Dr. Mitchell had an in-depth conversation about what they would be doing.  As they drove, Kit quietly watched Nick.  He was not what she would have expected from a rock star who specialized in loud, rowdy, hard rock.  He was obviously a serious musician who appeared to be an astute businessman, too.  Kit understood they were going to be working on songs he was recording personally, as well as a movie score and several commercials this week end. 

             
She studied Nick as they talked.  He was dark and very good looking.  Flashily dressed, he wore chains at his neck and a huge diamond stud in one ear.  His hair was a tousled mess that must have taken hours to achieve with the help of a lot of hair product.   Probably just over six feet, he had a distinctive air about him.  He was confident almost to the point of cockiness, but not obnoxious.  Kit was frankly floored by his level of diplomacy.  The two other men were apparently members of his band and he handled everyone with an air of respect that she hadn’t anticipated.  The tabloids and press had painted a spoiled and selfish image of most stars and Nick was a pleasant surprise.