Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
It had been just over three weeks since Kat had crossed anything off her list. If her siblings had noticed, they hadn’t said anything. A fact that Kat was grateful for. They were giving her all the space they needed to do things in her own time, even though there was no doubt that at least half of them probably couldn’t understand what was taking her so long.
Truthfully, she didn’t blame them. If the roles were reversed, Kat knew she wouldn’t be able to be so patient.
But she was the youngest, and she was fully aware that gave her certain privileges. She might as well take advantage of some of the perks.
She tilted her head back and so the summer sun warmed her cheeks, and let herself enjoy every single second of the moment. When was the last time she’d simply sat in the quiet of the lake’s edge and taken in everything?
Months? Years? Maybe never ?
But her painting class instructor, Denise, had told Kat and the other three students who took her Wednesday night class, that part of painting was to sit in stillness and absorb the world around them before they tried to capture it in art.
For a workaholic like Kat, the first few times she’d tried doing nothing , she’d struggled more than she’d expected to. But her brain just wouldn’t shut off. What about her clients? Or the books? Had she ordered all the product she needed for the shop? Andy.
Just. Andy.
It took a little bit of time, but after a little while she got it. Mostly.
She inhaled deeply, letting the fresh lake air fill her lungs before exhaling and opening her eyes to the scene before her.
The lake was quiet for a late July afternoon. She could make out a rowboat with a fishing line cast over the side, off in the distance, and a few ducks swimming along the shore. But beyond that, the water was flat, and the mountains reflected beautifully in the still water.
Capturing the reflection was the hardest part, and she’d been taking her time working to get it just right so she could get some feedback from Denise at the next class.
Kat dabbed her brush in the paint, touched it to the canvas and repeated that a few times before sitting back and letting her vision scan the horizon again.
After a moment, she blew out a sigh and put the brush down on the easel before standing up and stretching out the kinks in her spine .
She was procrastinating, and she knew it. On the painting, on the day, on…well, everything.
But only because before she’d driven up to the lake, Kat made the decision—and then worse, told Andy—that she was going to start looking into the logistics of her overnight solo camping trip.
It shouldn’t be a big deal.
But it was.
The idea of hiking alone in the woods with all the bears, mountain lions, and all sorts of other critters was enough to scare her. But camp? Overnight? By herself?
Oh, hell no.
She’d never been a camper, much to her father’s disappointment. Although all the other kids liked to pack up and trek out into the woods, Kat almost always chose to stay home with their mother—who also wasn’t a camper.
It wasn’t until after her mother died that Kat would reluctantly allow herself to be dragged along. But that was only because there was no other option.
She hated every moment of it, and she wasn’t afraid to let everyone know about it. It didn’t take long before her dad started to arrange sleepovers for her with a friend, so the rest of them wouldn’t have to be subjected to Kat’s constant complaining.
Looking back, maybe she should have tried harder. But it wasn’t just that she didn’t like to camp. That would have been something she could deal with. But she was actually terrified of it. Huddling in a sleeping bag with only a thin piece of nylon between her and whatever was out there in the dark shadows kept her up all night when she was young. She’d toss and turn and drive herself crazy with an overactive imagination of what might happen to her if she so much as moved the wrong way.
Kat never told anyone how scared she was, certain they’d all make fun of her. After all, she was born and raised in the mountains. It was ridiculous that she was afraid of them. But then, as they got older and the camping trips naturally stopped on their own, there was never a need to tell them the truth.
Until now.
Of course, only Andy knew that a solo camping trip was on her list, and Kat planned to keep it that way. At least until it was done and she could put it all behind her. Telling the others would only ratchet up her anxiety. No doubt they’d have questions, and they would absolutely have concerns. It was best to keep it to herself until it was done and over with.
But it was never going to be over with if she didn’t get over herself and at least start looking into what equipment she needed. As far as first steps went, it was a small one. But it would have to do for now.
“I can’t put it off forever.” She spoke to a robin who’d found a snack in the grass nearby. The bird looked at her, snatched up the worm it was working on, and flew away.
“Okay.” Kat laughed. “I can take a hint.”
Twenty minutes later, she was walking through the doors of Summit Style. Run by Kane and Krysta, a brother and sister, the shop was the hub for all things outdoor activities, which meant that in a town like Trickle Creek, it was a very popular place.
“Hey there!” Kat was greeted by Kane, almost immediately. “I heard about your bike crash.” He looked at her wrist. “All better?”
Kat held up her arm and wiggled her wrist. “Good as new.”
“Glad to hear it.” He flashed his handsome smile at her. “Then there’s no reason for you not to join us for our weekly trail rides. Rumor has it you’re not working nearly as much these days.”
Kat shook her head. Kane had been trying to get her out on the weekly bike rides for years, but there had never been enough time in her schedule with the shop and…well, the shop. The ride with Andy where she hurt herself had been the first time she’d been on her bike in ages and besides the whole injury thing, it had been fun.
For all kinds of reasons.
“We’ll see. I’ll try to make it.” She knew she was blushing a little, and she didn’t want to give Kane the wrong idea. Not when he’d been flirting mercilessly with her for years. So she cleared her throat and smoothly changed the subject. “But that’s not why I’m here today. I was hoping you could help me out with some camping gear.”
“That was one hell of a workout today, man. ”
Andy looked to his left to see Symon, dripping in sweat, lean against the wall next to him and drop his head back.
“You didn’t have to join in.” Andy couldn’t help but laugh at his friend. He handed him a bottle of water and shook his head. “You are the coach, right? You don’t have to do the athlete workouts.”
“The fuck I don’t.” Symon stood and stared at him. “I’ve only been retired for a few months…I’m not washed up yet.”
Andy finished tucking his things back in his duffel and pulled the strap over his shoulder. “You are far from washed up, my friend. You killed it out there.” Together, they started walking through the training facility where the Canadian ski team now trained. And Andy officially worked.
A detail he still hadn’t shared with Kat, but the secret was getting harder and harder to keep. Especially with the training camp in Switzerland coming up soon. Andy hated lying to her and the longer it went on, the harder it got to come clean.
But he wasn’t stupid. If he didn’t tell her, she was going to find out another way. And he knew her well enough to know she’d be pissed if it didn’t come from him.
“How’s the house hunt coming?”
Symon’s question pulled him from his thoughts and reminded him of an entirely different issue. Not only did he need to tell Kat about the job and the fact that he wasn’t leaving Trickle Creek anytime soon, but he also needed to tell her that he was house-hunting.
Which meant he would be moving out of her place .
And wasn’t that the real reason he hadn’t said anything?
If it wasn’t the whole thing, it was definitely part of it. A big part.
More than anything, Andy didn’t want to do something that would jeopardize what he had going on with Kat. Quite the opposite. Andy never wanted it to end.
And maybe that was the very reason it should end.
He was getting too close to her in a way that was not familial at all. No matter what lies he told himself.
It was getting far too easy to pretend that he could ever have a chance at anything real with Kat.
“You know what?” He turned to Symon. “I’ve been putting it on the back burner, but I think I should probably make time to look at some of the properties Jess keeps sending me.”
“Oh yeah?” They walked out into the bright sunlight of the summer day and each of them slid their sunglasses on. “Time to get out of Kat’s place? I was beginning to wonder how long you were going to stay there.”
Andy was grateful for the sunglasses hiding his eyes. He turned away, toward his car. “To be honest, I hadn’t thought much about it.” It was a lie. He thought about it all the time. “There’s been a lot going on and since I’m helping her out and…”
“That’s pretty cool of you.” They reached their parked cars, and Symon popped the back of his SUV open. “I know that Charli really appreciates you stepping in the way you have. ”
Andy tried not to feel guilty about why exactly he’d stepped in .
“With the new baby, plus the flower shop and me working more, I know Charli wishes she could be there for Kat more than she is. It weighs on her.”
Andy could believe that. Charli was the caretaker of the family, for sure. Even if there was nothing she could personally do for Kat in this situation, it wouldn’t stop Charli from worrying about it.
“I’m happy to help,” he said without looking at his friend. “But truthfully, there’s not much I can do to help right now. Kat’s taking an art class, and she’s actually getting really good. Not that I’m surprised. I think she’s just naturally—what?” He turned to see Symon had taken his sunglasses off and was giving him a very suspicious look before sliding them back onto his face.
“What’s the look for?” Andy asked again.
“You sound like a proud boyfriend or?—”
“Or a good friend?” He hoped like hell he sounded more confident than he felt. “Because I am proud of her.”
“Right.” Symon crossed his arms and sat back on the edge of his trunk. “As a friend.”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?”
Andy inhaled deeply and turned, his hand on the roof of his truck. “What are you saying, Symon? Because I’m too exhausted to pretend I have any idea.”
Another lie, and they both knew it.
Andy waited a beat and when Symon’s only answer was a raised eyebrow and a sharp shake of his head, Andy blew out the breath.
“We’re just friends, Sy. That’s all?—”
“Who’s just friends?”
Neither of them had seen Craig arrive. Andy almost choked over his words, coughing dramatically as he tried to quickly recover from the fact that his best friend almost overheard something he really wouldn’t understand.
“Me and Jess.” He said as smoothly as he could. “I was just telling Symon that she’s great, and I know Charli was hoping it would be a love match, but…” He shrugged as casually as he could and looked at Symon who, thankfully, had his sunglasses on again—because Andy was sure the other man’s eyes were wide in question, wondering what the hell was up with Andy.
He hoped like hell Sy was smart enough to put two and two together and that if he said anything out loud, they’d be looking for a new trainer for the ski team because Craig would kill him on the spot.
“Jess, huh?” Craig took a moment to digest what Andy said. “She’s great. But not your type at all.”
“Wait.” Andy shot him a look. “How is she not my type?”
Jess was gorgeous, successful, funny, and a genuinely nice person. The insinuation that she wasn’t his type rubbed him the wrong way, and for a moment Andy forgot that the whole point of bringing Jess’s name into the conversation was to keep the focus off the real situation.
“Sorry,” Craig said with a laugh. “I should say that you’re not really her type. After all, you’re more the love ’em and leave ’em type, right?”
He was really starting to regret telling Craig that stupid lie. Add it to the list of lies. They were really starting to build up.
Andy swallowed back his guilt.
“Who? Andy?” Symon didn’t even bother trying to hide his surprise. “No way.” He dismissed the idea with a wave of a hand. “I don’t see it at all.”
Spotting his chance, Andy seized it. “I went through a bit of a phase,” he started to explain. “It was my player phase, I guess.” He turned to Craig. “But it’s totally over now. I’m not at all like that now.”
Fuck.
“Is that right?” Symon asked. “So you’re looking for a relationship then?”
He hoped like hell the man would just keep his mouth shut.
“I don’t know why we’re talking about this anyway.” He turned to Craig. “What the hell are you doing out here at the training center, anyway? Don’t you have a business to run?”
Craig laughed. “I was actually on my way home from the city and thought I’d pop in. I haven’t been here since the team moved in. Show me around?” He directed the question at Symon, who hopped up and closed the back of his vehicle again.
“Sure thing.”
They turned to head toward the building, but before they did, Craig looked at him. “If it’s true that you’re looking for a relationship, Andy, you better get the hell out of my sister’s place.”
Andy froze. He turned slowly, hardly daring to breathe as he faced his friend. There was no way he knew.
He couldn’t know.
“Why is that?”
Craig laughed, the serious expression on his face melting into one of humor. “Are you seriously going to bring women home to Kat’s apartment? I can’t even imagine the hard time she’d give you.”
He blew out the breath he was holding. “Right.” Andy forced a laugh. “That probably wouldn’t go over very well.”
No probably about it, Andy thought as he drove away. It wouldn’t go over well at all. But he had no intention of dating another woman. And that was the real problem, because there was only one woman who occupied his thoughts.
He was in trouble.