Page 42 of The 7 Rules of Moving On
“Oh, it wasn’t Billy.”
“It wasn’t?” Trig asked, rejoining the conversation after settling up a few bar tabs. Most everyone had cleared out of the bar by now, heading down the hill toward town for the Montgomery’s party.
He watched Kissie pour a beer, wondering who it was for until she handed it to him.
After pouring another for herself and taking a long sip, she asked, “What was it, then?”
Kathleen turned around on her stool and pointed out the window. “It was this place. Mystic. I didna want to leave Scotland. Not even for Billy, who I knew damn well was the love of my life. But this? Leaving home for a tiny town in Montana of all places? To be a baker’s wife?Ooch, not a snowballs chance in hell. Until I came here. It was late. I’d scaled the fence. Sorry about that, Trig,” she said as an aside.
He only smiled.
“The night was black as pitch, and I was the saddest woman alive. I was set to tell Billy goodbye. I had my plane tickets in my purse, my bags packed. Some chances are too big to take, ye ken? I was too scared to take this one. But then, floating on my back, looking up at the sky, like a beacon showing me the way home, I saw them.”
“The northern lights?” Kissie asked in an awed whisper.
“Aye. Just like the ones we had at home, just as magnificent. And I swear on my life while I was floating in that pool, watching those lights, something came to me straight out of the woods.”
Kissie’s eyes doubled in size. “What was it?”
“Here we go again,” said Billy under his breath.
Ignoring him, Kathleen revealed in a hushed tone, “It was a bear.”
“A bear?” Kissie repeated.
“Aye. Big as a house. And it walked right up to the edge of the pool, looked down at me, and said, vera quiet, ‘It isna the place, but the people you love that makes you call a place home’.”
“The bear talked to you?” Kissie asked at the same time Trig said, “Are you making this up?”
“I’m no making it up, ye daft fool,” Kathleen hissed.
Trig winced. “All right, all right. Just checking.”
“As quickly as he’d come, the bear vanished back into the woods. And I realized right then, like a bolt of lightning striking me down, that the bear had been right. This town wasna small. It was as vast as the sky. It was as big as I would make it. It was where my heart lived, then, now, forever. It was home.”
While Billy leaned in to kiss Kathleen on her cheek, Trig couldn’t help but feel all gooey inside, even if her bear story was total horseshit. But then he noticed Kissie’s lips press tight, her brow momentarily creased.
“That’s such a great story,” she eventually said, her bright smile fighting its way back in place. “Would you mind if I used it for a project I’m working on with Trig for Mystic?”
“Not at all,” Kathleen replied. “I owe my happiness to Mystic. I’ll do anything I can for the place.”
“Same here,” Billy said, draining his beer. “But we should get going, sweetheart. Are you two coming?”
Trig did not want to go to the Montgomery party. At all. But he knew Kissie might, so he kept his mouth shut, waiting for her to answer.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “It’s my last night here, and I need to spend it working on—”
“Yer project?” Kathleen said, a brow raised when she glanced sideways at Trig.
Turning to face him, Kissie said, “Unless you wanted to go.”
The moment her eyes met his, the entire bar emptied out, the town, the universe, until it was only the two of them and an entire night of possibilities. “Nah. I’m exactly where I want to be.”
“I think that’s our cue.” Billy rose to his feet, helping Kathleen to hers.
“I hope to see ye again, Kissie,” Kathleen said. “Missoula isna vera far away, ye ken?”
Kissie’s throat worked through a swallow. Something was bothering her, he could tell. But she only said, “I hope to see you again too, Kathleen. You too, Billy. Have fun at the party.”
