Cutter Mountain Rendezvous (26 page)

“
That’s
an affirmative. Sounds like Kate and I have more in common than I thought. Lustful want for your body.”

“You two have nothing in common. You strip a man’s wallet then step on his back to climb higher. With spiked heels.”

“Your cruelty surprises me. I couldn’t even get you to tie me to the bedposts.”

“No, I was fine with a little bondage. I’m just not into pain. Why I ever introduced you to Seth was a moment of insanity. Then he marries you? At least he had sense to divorce you after a couple of years. Did he object to whipping you as well?”

“For your information, sex was great with Seth. I left him for reasons that are between him and me. I will tell you this. He’s the only man that gave me what I really needed.”

“What’s that? A hard spanking.”

“An education. A law degree. I’m a fuckin’ lawyer, Colton, in case you didn’t notice,” she seethed into the receiver.

“You fuckin’ screwed it up.”

“Money of that proportion always wins. It seemed a shoo-in when he didn’t contact me. I was deceived.”

“Call it what you like. I’ve no idea why Seth did this to me other than calling him in the middle of the night a time or two.”

“Seth wanted to prove to you that people change. Reinvent themselves. That’s what you need to do.”

He ignored her comment. “You only have a law degree because Seth paid for it.”

“True, but my practice was started on a shoestring. It was a struggle to turn a profit. When I did, I organized a shelter for abused women and handle their legal problems for free. I’m making it, Colton, and that’s what Seth wanted you to see. You don’t have to play ball to succeed. You can reinvent yourself.”

“Don’t worry about me, sister. I’m reinventing myself just fine...right back onto the pitcher’s mound. There’s such a media buzz about my return, they plan to work me in a few innings next week. I’d like to fly Kate in for a game. To get her mind off things, so I’d appreciate the name of her hotel so I don’t have to call her father.”

“Fine. If you want to go after Kate, go. She’s in a Holiday Inn in the downtown area. Look it up yourself, but I’m telling you. She needs space right now. She came unglued today.”

Colton plucked another strand of straw from the bale he’d been sitting on and ended the call. He lay back to stare at the ceiling of his garage.

Bessie had been back in his garage a week. Knowing Kate was in Knoxville at the hearing, he came out to lie on the straw and wait for Sasha’s call. All thoughts were about Kate and Lindsay. The Half-Pint had captured his heart right away. If he were honest with himself, Kate managed to reel him in without trying. Go figure. Who said God didn’t have a sense of humor?

He tapped a knuckle against Bessie’s back cab window above his head. “What do you think? Should I give her a call?”

Silence mingled with the fresh sealer that made the floor of Colton’s garage sparkle. “What’s that? Whose side you on? I know she told me to get lost, but she doesn’t really mean it.”

Tucking his good arm behind his head, he chewed on the straw. As much as he wanted to contact Kate, he knew deep down Sasha was right. Kate needed space. It would also be wise to figure out what type of relationship he wanted before making that call. It wasn’t as if he never thought of marriage. It was more his reluctance to be tied down when he was on the road all season.

Colton had to admit his comeback was hollow without Kate to share the victory. That thought made him uneasy.

Remembering the list he scrawled out atop Cutter Mountain on a burger bag made him jump off the straw bales. The crumpled bag was retrieved from the floor of Bessie’s passenger side. He laughed out loud after reading it. “You
are
an egotistic prick.”

A new line was added to the list: give Kate six months to get on her feet. Scratching out the six with a bold line he wrote three above it. Three months would tell him if his comeback would succeed and if thoughts of Kate still ate at his gut with a hunger no other satisfied. Not that he cared to date. Baseball was his focus. Maybe if he stayed away like Sasha suggested it would give Kate a chance to figure things out on her own and build her self-confidence. Wasn’t that what Kate really wanted? To prove she could go it alone?

He slid onto Bessie’s bench seat and stared at his cell.

****

Ready for bed, Kate sat at the hotel desk. She stared at a piece of blank paper, trying to get inspired. What better time than when depressed to rewrite the song Colton had promised Trace? The bridge was easy to remember, but the words for the verses eluded her. Too wound up to sleep and too tired to think in any creative way, she tossed the pen at the paper.

She jumped when the phone on the desk rang. Since she already talked to her dad at length, she figured it was her mom who had been off visiting a sick friend. Mom always liked to hear the story first hand. “Hello.”

Silence. Kate’s pulse elevated when she thought she heard paper rustle. “Hello? Colton?” The line went dead.

Why Colton’s name came to mind was a mystery other than he invaded every other thought. She’d been sure he would call when he learned of the fire from the scraps of paper Bobby gave him. That and the rustle of paper put her back on the dock. When he barged in on her privacy and blew her away by packing her a sack lunch. The day was permanently marked in her memory with a first kiss.

She hung up and went to bed. There, in the dark room, thoughts rolled over each other clamoring for her attention. No amount of diversion would erase Colton from her mind. He continued to battle for position.

Over and over you drift across my mind,

Gentle as a breeze, a moment out of time,

Kate threw back the covers and rushed to the desk for pen and paper. Her bare foot tapped out the rhythm as she drew a music grid across the paper.

Was it really all that easy?

When you left without a care,

Retuning to an old love,

You left me standing there.

Losing you was everything,

Losing you was everything...

Words and music flew through her brain more rapid than she could write. When the flurry of inspiration passed, she sat back and looked at the scribbles that made perfect sense.

She really did need to buy a guitar and swiped away a tear to think of the beautiful Martin guitar she’d earned by saying
please.
The sensual night had eclipsed all others and now she saw the pain of his leaving before her in black and white. Would she find the guts to do more than stare at what she’d written? Could she convince Trace it mirrored his own recent breakup?

****

The rush of having cut her first demo tape in twelve years made Kate lightheaded. She placed the CD in her purse and called Trace. His immediate disappointment was her offering a slow ballad versus an upbeat bluesy song he wanted for a new album.

She talked fast in her effort to convince him his deep baritone would give the song the right edge of pain and suffering. Especially after being dumped by a pop singer in a high-profile break up. That caught his attention.

When she headed back to the hotel for lunch, she sat alone at a small table deep in thought. She smiled when the toast on her BLT hurt like the devil against red swollen fingertips. She would have to ease up on playing the new guitar. The steel strings were doing a number on the unpracticed pads of her fingers. Gingerly, she took a bite.

Plans began to fall into place like domino chips. Her next step was to check out of the hotel and drive to Nashville. Trace wanted to hear the song in person.

Upon hearing about the fire, he offered her the use of an empty two-bedroom cottage at the back of his property.

Starbucks, a job she had in college, would provide an easy part-time job. Not only would it keep her busy but it would allow time to write.

This time around, Kate would take small steps instead of giant leaps like when she jumped headlong into the expensive renovation. As crazy as it seemed, it was possible Bonnie did her a favor.

How remarkable to think the fire was giving her a chance to slow down and build the life she once imagined.

She drove to Nashville praying Trace would love the song as much as she did.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kate hated Los Angeles and LAX. Two trips in two weeks made her hope she’d not return to the city in a very long time.

Lindsay sat in the seat next to her busy with the Nintendo Trey bought for the trip, an effort to upstage Colton’s gift. After flying in to tell Lindsay and Trey about the fire in person, she had appealed to him to keep their daughter another two weeks. The time was used to settle herself in Trace’s Nashville guest cottage nestled beneath large trees at the back of his property.

Closing her tired eyes, Kate could see Tinkerbelle’s tail swish happily from the window seat he claimed in the cottage’s small living room. The large bow window made the perfect perch to nap in the morning sun. Gardens and the shimmer of aqua pool waters created a serene view.

Since Lindsay would be starting school soon, it meant the baseball season Kate never noticed in her not-so-distant past was winding down. Colton’s comeback was akin to the second coming of Jesus, if you bothered to read Allison Brant’s Wham Sports blog on a daily basis like she did.

Kate opened her eyes to stare into space at the constant flow of strangers rushing past, when Lindsay jumped from her seat.

“Colton!” her small voice pitched high as she headed into the crowd.

Pure chaos broke out as Kate grabbed their belongings to take off after her. She stopped short when Colton squatted to gather Lindsay into his arms. Had he always been that handsome? Photographers swarmed. Kate’s own excitement was about to overflow yet she stood back from the crowd, an observer careful to avoid the cameras.

“Half-Pint. You’re a sight for sore eyes,” Colton said.

Lindsay’s small voice was lost in the crowd around the duo. Allison Brant stood front and center in the group of sports reporters catching the day’s hot story.

Members of the Bullets team walked around them in route to their gate. At the beginning of the summer, Kate wouldn’t have recognized a single face. Today she could name at least five skirting the reporters with everything from mild interest to wide smiles to shaking heads. Kate waited for Colton to notice her at the edge of the beehive.

“Our house burned down.” Lindsay’s voice drifted above the crowd. He gave her another hug and whispered in her ear.

Tears pricked at the back of Kate’s eyes when Lindsay wrapped her skinny arms around his neck and gave a tight squeeze. Colton’s face flushed as his eyes found Kate in the crowd. His slight nod went unnoticed by the casual observer. Kate’s pride prevented her from returning the gesture. He took hold of Lindsay’s small shoulders. “I need to go. They’re holding the plane for us. Remember what I said.”

“I will.” Lindsay stripped a wad of Silly Bandz off her arm and pressed them into his hand. Flashbulbs fired from every direction before he stood and headed down the corridor. He glanced over his shoulder and returned Lindsay’s wave with his other fist tight around her gift. Kate’s heart broke into a thousand pieces at her feet. She struggled for composure. His small nod said so much yet so little. Only the hurt in his eyes when Lindsay told him of the fire spoke of a heart not hardened.

Soon, the masses swallowed him and Allison Brant, who seemed to be pressing for answers to the unusual meeting. Allison’s blog would rank high on her morning agenda.

“How nice to run into Colton,” Kate said with cool detachment. Cool was anything but what she felt. “What’d you give him?”

“My Silly Bandz for luck.”

“That was nice. What did he whisper?”

“It’s a secret.” Lindsay busied herself with her Nintendo. Kate’s creative and somewhat sneaky ploys to get her daughter to talk failed to weasel out the information she wanted most. Had he asked anything about her?

The plane boarding process soon derailed her efforts.

****

Colton stared out over the endless sea of clouds, thinking what dumb luck to have run into Kate and Lindsay. He fingered the multi-colored bands tight around his wrist: electric blue, hot pink, yellow, and green. A smile curled his lips. He had found himself scanning the boarding gates, wondering if Trey was returning Lindsay to Tennessee. Once he realized Lindsay would have been returned weeks earlier, he quit looking. No more than ten seconds later the Half-Pint flew out of the crowd.

With her came the smell of strawberry chewing gum and a wrist full of colorful bands he now wore. For good luck, she told him. Luck came quick. As they boarded, Coach said he would start in the next game.

He fingered the bands. Lindsay’s sudden appearance was almost as shocking as seeing Kate’s waiflike form off to the side. She wasn’t eating.
Damn.
Even now his gut twisted with regret that the situation made it impossible to talk. Pride swelled in his chest. She had been through hell and back yet there she stood. Erect, with her pointy chin in the air. Christ, he still ached to press her small frame into his and say something profound like, “Hi.”