Page 85 of Serenity Harbor

Once more, she was letting her emotions rule her head, letting her desire to be cherished and important make her forget everything important to her.

She stood up and moved toward the trail. “We should get back. I have no idea how Milo will do with the fireworks, and he might freak out if we’re both missing.”

He stood as well, looking as if he wanted to pull her back into his arms. Oh, she hoped he didn’t.

“Kat,” he began. “We need to talk about this...thing between us.”

No. She couldn’t bear it. “There is nothing between us,” she said harshly. “Nothing real, anyway.”

“Funny. It feels pretty real every time you’re in my arms.”

She felt tears burn behind her eyes but couldn’t give in to them. Not here. Not yet. “Yes, I’m attracted to you. Big deal. I’ve been attracted to lots of guys before. Just ask Sam. She’ll tell you.”

Hating herself, she forced herself to go on. “That’s all it is. Believe me, it will pass. And here’s the thing. I’m not a shallow, silly girl anymore, willing to give up something important to me simply because some great-looking guy makes my toes curl. I can’t be that girl. Leave me alone, Bowie. Don’t kiss me again. I mean it.”

For an instant, she thought she saw something deeper than male disappointment in his eyes, something dark and filled with pain, but she told herself she was imagining it.

Drawing on every last ounce of strength, she forced herself to pull away from him, to turn away and hurry back up the trail.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

BOWIESEEMEDTOtake her words to heart. He worked all day Sunday, claiming another urgent problem at Caine Tech. In the morning, she and Milo went on one of her favorite hikes with Wynona and Andie Montgomery—plus Andie’s children, the Montgomeries’ adorable little dog, Sadie, and Wyn’s beloved dog, Young Pete.

The hike gave her a good chance to talk a little more with her future sister-in-law and offered Milo a chance to interact with children. She was thrilled at the sweetness of Andie’s son, Will, who quickly picked up a few ASL signs to communicate with Milo and seemed to take the other boy’s sometimes odd behavior in stride.

Whenever she had cell service along the trail, Katrina tried to reach Sam, but the silence on the other end was deafening. Apparently Sam was screening her calls and ignoring her texts.

When they returned to watch the fireworks the night before, Sam had been nowhere in sight. Linda said she thought her daughter might have eaten some bad potato salad earlier in the day and she wasn’t feeling well.

Katrina doubted the veracity of this claim but couldn’t very well tell Linda she thought her daughter was lying to her.

When they returned from the hike and Sam still hadn’t responded to any of her attempts to reach her, Katrina decided the situation called for desperate measures. The store was closed on Sundays, so she and Milo took a bike ride, with him on the tandem trainer attached to her mountain bike. He pedaled only half the time, but she’d been able to find one that had a seat back with a seat belt so it was more like a bike trailer for big kids that also had pedals and handlebars.

On their ride, they not so casually swung past the Fremont house, where Linda informed her Sam had gone to Boise for the day to have lunch with a friend from college.

“I told her I didn’t think she was up to it after her food poisoning yesterday, but you know how stubborn she can be,” Linda said.

Katrina knew that, all too well.

“It surprised me, when she told me her plans this morning, since she hadn’t said a word all week about it. I would have thought she’d want to spend her day off with you. Maybe she thought you’d be too busy with him.” Linda inclined her head toward Milo.

Or maybe she was angry and hurt and wouldn’t ever speak to Kat again.

Nowshefelt like the one who had eaten bad potato salad. Depressed and not knowing what else to do, she said goodbye and took off with Milo again back toward Serenity Harbor.

Sam was her best friend and had been since the StupidKat days. She was loyal and funny and generally kind. Katrina hated knowing she had hurt her, that Sam felt she had betrayed her.

Shehadbetrayed Samantha. She should have been more honest with her friend from the beginning.

What would she have told her, though? That Bowie had kissed her a few times? That she was afraid she was losing her heart to him, just like the dozens of other guys she had once been infatuated with?

No. This was different. Shehadlost her heart to Bowie. All those other guys meant nothing, not compared with this vast, aching reservoir of emotion. She should have told Sam something was happening to her, that her feelings for him were growing and changing, becoming more real than anything she had ever known.

Katrina hadn’t said anything because she had been afraid to admit it, even to herself. As a result, she had hidden something important from her dear friend and had caused pain for both of them.

She had screwed up, and she had to make it right. She would be leaving Haven Point in three days.

Saying goodbye to Bowie and Milo would be tough. The thought of it left her feeling like her heart were being shredded apart, bit by bit. She didn’t know how she could bear to leave Samantha behind, with her friend hating her.

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