Chase Me (21 page)

“She is walking over to the courthouse, but we are supposed to patch you through whenever you call. Give me a minute.”

Then I heard some dialing and then a ring. I wanted to shout into the phone for her to pick up.

“Brooklyn Montgomery.”

“Do you have any idea where I am?” I asked and she laughed.

“Yes, I know where you are, but it is only for a couple days. The judge issued an immediate warrant to pick Kurt up on suspicion of murder and for violating his restraining order. Once they take him into custody bail will be denied and you won’t have to see him again.”

“Eddie is like all business like in the city and out here he is some kind of farmer who cleans. Oh and there are bears. Did you know there are bears?” I was rambling my problems and Brooklyn was laughing.

“Consider it a vacation, because when you come back you will see its somber here.”

“How is my mom?” I asked and I could hear her mumbling to someone to give her ten that I was an emergency.

“Your mom is good. She is thinking of stopping her treatment so she has more time with everyone now that Liza is gone.”

I didn’t want to talk about it because I would just cry. I should be there right now. Fixing her hair, and dressing her up for a night out with Mike. Helping her get her happily ever after.

“How is the baby?” I asked cause I cared a little.

“She is a fighter. She originally came in at four pounds or just under that, but she is breathing on her own, and healthy. She has to stay in a incubator and wear a oxygen tube, but she is good. Henry is going to name her Rose, after his mother.”

“Does she look anything like me at all? Any family resemblance?”

“No honey you farted out of the sky,” Brooklyn laughed and I did too.

“Eddie told you about that didn’t he?” I asked, but the answer was already there.

“Kate, you are out there for your own protection physically, but if you stop guarding your heart while you are there you might find out whether or not you and Eddie have a future.”

“What if the answer is no?” I asked because I was scared he wouldn’t be the one for me.

“Then you know,” Brooklyn sighed. “Look at it this way. If its not him, then he was your doorway to realize that you didn’t want to live the life you were living anymore. He was the angel sent down to show you that you deserved better than what you were giving to yourself.”

“Thanks Brook,” I gently replied. “You always know what to say.”

“The hell I do,” She responded sharply. “I read that inside Cosmo just now.”

We both burst out laughing and I was feeling a little better about everything.

“Kate, breakfast,” Eddie called and Brooklyn heard him.

“He made you breakfast?”

“Eggs, bacon, sausage, French toast, and looks like I have a wide array of fruit,” I replied peeking through the window.

“Okay, how about you get him for the weekend and I get him for life?” Brooklyn laughed. “I need to find a new man and move on past Mark,” she replied and I knew she missed him. If only he would stop being an ass hat. “Go eat your breakfast and call me later. If there are any updates at all they will let me know.”

Chapter 18

I hung up and walked inside. I walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table and began to eat my food. It was so delicious it was hard to keep a straight face.

“You are seriously going to give me nothing?” Eddie asked and I looked at him with confusion as I took another bite. “I can’t tell if you love it, hate it, or anything. Your face makes you look constipated.”

I burst out laughing and threw a strawberry at him. He threw another back and it landed in my cleavage. He threw his hands in the air and screamed ‘Field goal was good.’

“What are we going to do today?” I asked and Eddie started cleaning up his plate.

“I thought I would show you around. Then I have some old vhs movies that should still work, or we can go fishing on the lake. Whatever you want to do,” Eddie was being super sweet, and it made me nervous.

I got up and handed him my food as my appetite was only present when we were laughing. Then I walked to the bathroom and closed the door. I climbed out of my clothes and turned on the hot water. Only there was no hot water.

“Eddie,” I wrapped the towel around myself and opened the door. “Eddie there is no hot water.”

Then Eddie walked around the corner with a look on his face that said he was finding humor in this, but I wasn’t going to be happy.

“Darlin’,” he said like the south had just rose up and invaded his accent. “Use the lake.”

I groaned and then I walked out in my towel and put on the flip flops he had gotten me and I walked out to the lake.

I dropped my towel and dove into the icy water. It was teeth chattering cold.

“Hey,” Eddie called out. “You might need this,” he shouted and threw me a bottle of baby three in one. Shampoo, conditioner, and body wash that was environmentally friendly. Oh my god I was in hell.

I quickly washed, rinse, and swam it out. Then I climbed out of the lake only to get my feet covered in mud. I couldn’t win. I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around me as I carried my flip flops to the porch.

I sat in one of the old rockers on the back porch as I picked mud off my feet. Eddie walked out the door carrying a silver tub.

“Put your feet in here,” he said and I did as soon as he put it down. I was in Heaven. He washed my feet and gave me a foot rub while I closed my eyes and listened to the birds sing about whatever was happening in their world.

“Wait,” I shouted when realization came to me. “Where did you get the hot water?”

“I boiled it on the stove and then let it cool waiting for you to get out of the lake.”

I sat back in my rocker content with that answer, but he laughed and I glared at him.

“The pilot went out. I re-lit it. In a few hours you will have hot water,” he laughed and I threw my towel over his head and pushed him down on the porch as I walked into the house.

I grabbed the bag with the new clothes in it and went into the bathroom. I donned a pink t-shirt that said I was a ‘c-u-tie pie,’ and a pair of gray sweatpants. I looked ready to be homeless.

I walked out the door to see the officers talking to Eddie. I stopped in my tracks to hear what they had to say.

“Mark says you should let him put her up in a hotel in the city, and to stop listening to Brooklyn,” the younger officer said. “Brooklyn said don’t listen to Mark he just wants Kate close so he can see Brooklyn,” the older one said. I laughed and then walked up to the door.

“Sounds like mom and dad are fighting, so while we are in here fucking why don’t you call them to report back and put the phones on speaker and let them yell at each other for a while.”

Eddie and the officers all snickered their amusement and then I shut the door in their faces.

“Kate would you like to take a walk with me?” Eddie asked and I looked at the guns. “No bears I swear it.”

I nodded and he held out his hand. We walked along the edge of the lake until we came to a curve in it. Then I noticed all these wooden posts with vines on it.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“When I was little my parents fought about money a lot. My dad wanted to live on a budget within our means and my mom wanted to drink lots of wine and travel the world buying ugly art. So, when my grandpa gave them half the land he owned my dad built a cabin to live off the land, and my mom climbed up on the hill and planted a vineyard.”

“This is a vineyard?” I asked without trying to show too much excitement.

“Yes,” Eddie replied and he took my hand and led me over to the vines. He picked a few grapes and walked them over to the water pump and lifted the handle up and then pushed it back down. He did it a few more times and I thought it was dry, but then the water flowed out of it.

He held the grapes under the cold water and allowed them to be rinsed. Then he plucked one off the vine he had picked and brought a grape to my lips. I took it in my teeth and sucked it into my mouth and savored the flavor. These weren’t like the ones you got at Trader Joe’s these were fresh, juicy, right off the field grapes.

“This is good,” I praised the grapes. “I want to take this home with me,” I joked. Eddie took off his t-shirt to show me his rippled abs in the sunlight. I understood now why he was built like G.I. Joe, it is because he spent a lifetime working, and continued it in the gym when in the big city. He used his shirt to let me pick a bunch of grapes.

I took my new grapes and wrapped them as we walked back toward the cabin. A hound dog came out of nowhere and started sniffing the grapes in my hands. Then he howled. Eddie walked up and wrapped his arms around me looking down at the dog.

“Bryant you can’t have any,” Eddie stated and the dog whimpered. “They will make you sick,” Eddie tried to tell him no without saying the word, but the beautiful black and caramel hound just tilted his head and barked.

I turned my head to see there was two of them. I laughed when she tried to pry Eddie and I apart with her nose.

“Lily and Bryant meet Kate,” Both the dogs barked and they didn’t know what for.

“Friends of yours?” I whispered and Eddie nodded.

“They belong to the elderly couple down the lake. I swear to you these dogs are as old as I am if not older. They have been out here since I could walk.”

I laughed and we headed toward the house as the dogs followed us and Eddie made them promises of hot dogs and bologna.

Eddie and I snacked on fruit for lunch and fed the dogs who walked in and out of the back door as if they owned the place for hours. The sun had started to set as we laid on the couch snuggled up watching a old cowboy movie.

Something had been bothering me about my inability to express myself to Eddie. I usually had no filter, but when it came to Eddie and my feelings my lips were sealed. I had to get it out there.

“Eddie,” I whispered when his breathing was stable as if he was sleeping. I knew it was now or never. “I wanted you when you brought in the car. I liked you when you stood up for me in the diner. I had grown attached to you when you came and stayed at the hospital during my mom’s surgery, but the moment I fell in love with you was on the roof top that night, and I knew it when I saw you taking care of my mom in her hospital room.

“I told Kurt I loved you and didn’t even know if I meant it or I just wanted to hurt him. I had never loved anyone before so I wasn’t sure, but our time apart showed me that I missed you and it wasn’t going away. The ache it left in me was easy to hide because of who I am, but it grew deeper every minute.

“Now we are out here in the middle of nowhere and it terrifies me to let you in because I don’t want to wake up back in the city and know it was all a dream. I don’t want it to have all been one sided or a lie. I’m terrified.”

I moved my arm to wipe the tear from my eyes when I felt lips on my cheek instead.
Damn it I thought he was sleeping.
He turned me into him and held me tightly.

“I care about you a lot more than I should Kate,” was the only response I got before we walked into the only bedroom and climbed in the old log bed.