Page 89 of Keep On Loving You

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Sleepingunder the stars was nothing short of magical. Never in her life had Kat seen so many stars. Even living out in the mountains where there wasn’t a lot of ambient light to interfere with the view, that was still nothing compared to being on top of a mountain withnolight at all except for the moon. The stars were like a blanket over her as she lay out in her sleeping bag.

The whiskey had made her a little tipsy, so she’d only had a few sips. She’d surprised herself by getting as comfortable as she had in the wilderness alone, but she still wanted to be sure she had a clear head in case of emergency.

Or wild animals.

Although she’d tried her best not to think of that at all. And soon, she didn’t.

Instead, she spent her evening talking to her dad as if he sat right next to her, and it was all the companionship she needed. Anyone else would have thought she’d completelylost her mind, but Kat couldn’t remember the last time she felt so close to him.

She lay in her sleeping bag, cuddled up against the cool summer evening, and told him all about Andy and how she’d always had a crush on him, but her crush became a full-fledged love affair over the last few months. She shed a few tears as she told him how Andy had fought with Craig and how mad the others had been. And then how she stood there and let him walk away from her even though her heart was breaking the entire time.

Right as Kat was drifting off to sleep, she could have sworn she heard her dad tell her it was okay, and to follow her heart because life was too short to do anything else and her dad was right, it was important to love hard, with no regrets.

When she opened her eyes again, the sky was the milky gray of predawn and her sleeping bag was covered in dew. Kat carefully slipped from her bag and moved herself into her tent to get a few more hours of sleep before she faced the day. When she woke again, the sun was high in the sky. Her phone, although it had no service, told her it was already nine. She’d slept far later than she’d planned.

But then again, she had nowhere to be.

She stretched her arms over her head as far as she could in the tiny tent and relished the feeling of freedom.

She didn’t have any clients. No appointments. No one expecting her. No emails or phone calls to answer. And best of all, none of her siblings were there to give her the third degree about her relationship choices.

Maybe unplugging and going camping was okay after all.

She laughed at herself and reluctantly pulled herself out of her sleeping bag. Her plan had been to wake up, pack up, and get the hell out of there as quickly as she could.

But that had been before.

Kat unzipped her tent, tugged her boots on, and went to stand on the lakeshore.

Before she realized just how purely spiritual it was out there.

She turned and slowly took in her surroundings. The lake was so still that the surrounding mountains gave off a perfect mirror reflection on its surface. Birds chirped all around her; the sky was a beautiful shade of blue, with only a handful of fluffy clouds. There would have been no one more surprised than she was that she didn’t want to go home.

Stevenhadmentioned that her dad hoped she’d stay for two nights.

Kat’s eyes fell to the more than half-full mini bottle of whiskey she’d dropped the night before. “Idohave enough whiskey for one more night.”

She did a quick count of the food rations she had and discovered she had more than enough. Kane had given her a variety of dehydrated meals to choose from, and instead of picking, she’d stuffed them all into her bag.

“I guess there’s no reasonnotto stay.”

He’d done his best to keep busy.

After informing Symon, who fortunately was much more understanding than he’d expected, that he would not be getting on the flight to Switzerland in the morning with the rest of the team, Andy had driven the backroads until he knew exactly which hiking trail Kat had taken.

He’d found her car parked at the trailhead for White Swan Lake and was secretly very proud of her for choosing the longer hike. She’d either been very determined to take on the challenge or just that willing to get as far away from him and her family as possible.

He’d spent the rest of the day and night in her apartment, pacing and trying to sleep when he wasn’t repeatedly listening to the voicemails she’d left when he didn’t have his phone.

Kat: Andy? Call me.

Kat: Where are you? Why aren’t you answering?

Kat: You’re mad. But it wasn’t fair, Andy. Don’t be mad.

Kat: Okay, fine. Be mad at me if you want. But I’m mad at you!

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