Midsummer Sweetheart (18 page)

Katrin put her hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, Erik. Sour end to a great day.”

“It can be fixed.” He looked up at her. “Didn’t ruin anything for me.”

“See you next Sunday?” she asked, smiling, and he nodded.

“It’s a date.”

She gave him a short wave before skipping up the front steps and through the front door, looking back at him one last time before closing it behind her.

Erik stood up slowly, damage to his car forgotten. Since when were “It’s a date” the most amazing, relieving, comforting words he had ever spoken?

Since he met Katrin Svenson. And that’s all Erik cared to think about that.

ENTRE’ACTE

Got all distracted with my car.

I wish I had kissed you good-night.

–M

***

I wish you had too.

–
Ӓ

***

Maybe I’ll come back.

***

Maybe you should.

CHAPTER 10

The wheels made a screeching noise as he turned the car around just north of town, but Erik was back at 73 Hoyt in three minutes flat.

Gravel flew and crunched noisily in front of her building as he pulled back into the driveway sharply. He left the engine running and barely putting the gearshift in park before jumping out of the car and striding to the front door, a man on a mission.

It swung open and Katrin was halfway down the steps as he reached for her, seizing her hips and lifting her easily. She locked her legs around his waist, and he slammed his lips into hers in one fluid, hungry motion. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and his mouth moved frantically, relentlessly over hers.

He hadn’t expected her to jump in his arms, but it set his body on fire for her to be so bold, so spontaneous, and for him to be holding her so intimately with her legs open and locked around his waist. He wanted to push her up against the nearest wall, dispatch the clothes between them and bury himself inside of her until they both cried out in release.

He boosted her up, holding her backside and she turned her face away, but Erik wasn’t ready to stop. He kissed a trail from her ear down her cheek back to her lips, demanding her mouth again, palms flat against her jeans, holding her intimately against him. She pulled him back to her and opened her mouth to him, stroking his tongue with hers, sucking on it until he thought he’d lose his mind. She ran her fingers through the stubble of his hair, moaning softly into his mouth.

Finally she pulled back, panting, and rested her forehead against his. She loosened her legs from around him, and his hands slid to her hips then her waist as her feet touched the ground. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her as close as possible. Her cheek rested on his chest, over his heart, and Erik could feel her breathing, ragged and heavy, as his hands relaxed, resting on her back.

He had kissed her blindly, madly, deeply, lost in her, reveling in the feeling of her body wrapped around his and when he drew back, he only had one thought:
being with Katrin—holding her, kissing her, touching her—is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my entire life.
She leaned away, looking up at him with heavy-lidded eyes and a surprised, dreamy smile. He put his hands gently on either side of her jaw and lowered his lips to hers again softly, a feather, a caress, a promise.

“Erik…” she breathed, eyes closed.

“’Night,
Ӓlskling
.” He touched his lips to the tip of her nose and then drew back, turning to walk back to his car.

He looked back up at her before he opened his door.

One more look.

She stood on the top step, fingers lightly touching her lips as he drove away.

ENTRE’ACTE

Wow.

–Ӓ

***

Wow is right.

–M

***

Morning,
Ӓlskling
.

Woke up feeling fine, then realized I agreed to have dinner with José on Sunday.

–M

PS, Glad I came back last night.

***

And here I thought you were MY date!

How very modern of you.

–Ӓ

PS, Me too.

***

Where are we going for dinner?

Maybe I will borrow some groovy threads from my landlord.

–M

***

How can it only be Wednesday?

The Mountain Lake Lodge.

Groovy threads optional.

–Ӓ

***

I heard from Ing.

She said you sounded “really great.”

Did you tell her anything?

–M

***

What exactly would I tell her, Erik?

–Ӓ

***

I don’t know.

Girls talk.

You tell me.

–M

***

I told her we’ve chosen china patterns and named our firstborn.

She was surprised but pleased.

–Ӓ

PS, Of course I didn’t say anything. You are a jackass,
Minste
.

***

Ӓlskling
?

–M

***

Katrin?

–M

***

Okay.

I am a jackass.

–M

***

Honesty is a tonic for the soul.

See you tomorrow.

Mountain Lake Lodge.

Terra Ristorante.

7:00pm.

–Ӓ

***

Let me pick you up at 5:30pm.

They can meet us there.

Söta drömmar
,
Ӓlskling
.

–M

CHAPTER 11

It had been a very long time since Katrin Svenson dressed up. In fact, the last time she had really dressed up with a purpose, it had been in her wedding dress. But, after months and months of grubby sweats, occasional nurse scrubs and a few weeks of jeans, she was actually
excited
to dress up…well, specifically she was excited to dress up for Erik.

For as cute and sophisticated as she found Skidoo Bay in general, stores for ladies apparel weren’t plentiful and if she really wanted something special for dinner on Sunday, she was going to have to bite the bullet and walk into the only real dress shop in town: J Jones Couture Wedding Boutique. Finally mustering her courage, she beelined with precision for the sale rack of short cocktail-length bridesmaid dresses in the back, hoping to avoid a well-intentioned sales associate intent on selling a white gown to her when she had zero interest in ever buying a wedding dress again as long as she lived.

In the end there was nothing to fear. A sixteen-year-old girl sat behind the cash register, chewing gum and flipping through People magazine, totally oblivious to Katrin shopping. She left the store pleased with her purchase; a dark brown, knee-length, sleeveless dress in simple satin with a rutched v-neck and a simple cream-colored band at the waist. It didn’t look like a bridesmaid dress at all, and she had the perfect pair of cream, patented leather, peep-toe, kitten-heel shoes to wear with it—shoes she’d bought on a whim at the Payless in Great Falls after seeing Princess Kate wearing the same ones.

She hung the dress carefully in her closet, and it waited there for her until today, ready to wow Erik Lindstrom when he picked her up later. She looked at her fingernails, barely growing out now after months of neglect and decided to treat herself to a manicure too. She called the Skidoo Bay Beauty Shop and arranged for a wash, cut and blow dry, manicure and pedicure, then smiled in anticipation, excited to get all dolled up for a date. A real date.

She tried to think of the last time Wade took her anywhere that required she dress up, but she was at a loss, thinking all the way back to the senior prom. She and her mother had gone shopping for a dress and shoes at the mall in Great Falls, only to be disappointed when a very drunk Wade practically rolled out of the limo onto her front lawn. He’d lain there laughing his head off, then turned his head to the side and vomited on the grass. They eventually made it to the prom, but Katrin had been furious with him and broke up with him the next day. It was the first of three or four times that she would break up with him before her father died, before she slept with him and feared, a few weeks later, that she was pregnant.

Losing that pregnancy only a week after finding out had been a sad, mixed blessing. Wade had already “done the right thing” in proposing and assuaged her guilt over having pre-marital sex. But, truthfully, she had never felt good about bringing a baby into such a tumultuous relationship. Plus, they were so young, and as much as Katrin wanted children one day, she knew she wasn’t ready to be a parent yet.

She should have broken off the engagement after the miscarriage, but she was mourning her father, and the baby, too, and she felt like she needed Wade more than ever, imperfect though he was. In his own unreliable, haphazard way, having him in her life was comforting to her then, and her belief in his love for her had carried her through some very dark days. No matter what he had done later, she would always feel a small, certain gratitude for that.

The most recent news about Wade from Ingrid was troubling. Wade had shown up at Ingrid’s hollering incoherently about Katrin and horses and all manner of nonsense at three o’clock in the morning on Tuesday, stumbling around their front yard, making no sense at all. Katrin had never owned a horse, nor was horseback riding something they had in common.

Ingrid and Kristian had warned Wade two weeks before that a second occurrence would result in arrest and they were as good as their promise. The police were called, Wade was arrested and they pressed charges for harassment, and filed a restraining order that prohibited Wade from coming within a certain number of feet of their house. The police added the additional public intoxication charge, which all added up to Wade being in a whole lot of trouble.

It had also gotten Katrin in trouble when her brother and Ingrid discovered that she’d never filed the restraining as she’d claimed. While Ingrid clucked disapprovingly over the phone, Katrin reminded her that the move to Skidoo was protecting her far more than any restraining order could have. Not to mention, if she’d filed one, she’d have a court date looming over her head. Frankly, the idea of facing Wade in court made her shudder. The less contact she had with Wade, the better.

Somewhat mollified, Ingrid shared that Wade was held for seventy-two hours before his parents had arranged his bail and he was released on Saturday morning. No surprise there. The Doyles were good people, but they wore blinders, always holding out hope that Wade would suddenly get his act together. Ing went on to say that it would be a couple of weeks until his arraignment. She assured Katrin that everything was under control and that she shouldn’t worry.

“Kat, it’s about time one of us had his ass hauled into jail. Enough is enough.”

“I was hoping it wouldn’t have to come to that. I hope it doesn’t get worse when he gets out, Ing.”

“Well, he better not come around here, or he’ll be in violation of the restraining order, and that’s serious. Even more serious is how much Kris wants to kick his ass into next week.”

Ing had called back yesterday afternoon with more news. Wade and his parents had stopped by Ingrid and Kristian’s house on Saturday afternoon. Ing said that Wade was in poor shape, but he had apologized for Tuesday’s outburst, if somewhat belligerently, his mother actually prodding him in the back to say the words.

“Sorry for bothering you,” he had muttered.

“Wade’s
real
sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Svenson,” Mrs. Doyle had assured Ingrid and Kristian. “He went hunting up north last Sunday and came back in a terrible mood. But, he’s all fine now, aren’t you, Wade? Hasn’t drunk a drop in three days. We were wondering…if Wade agreed to go down to the rehab center in Great Falls, would you consider dropping the charges?”

Ingrid had asked Katrin her feelings on the matter.

“Oh, Ing, if he’d get help, I think that would be the best thing of all, don’t you?”

“Starting to feel like this intervention stuff may be my calling,” Ingrid had joked dryly, before hanging up.

Ingrid and Kristian had agreed with the plan for Wade’s treatment. They told the Doyles that as long as they could prove that Wade had entered a sixty-day licensed program, they would drop the charges against him and desist with the restraining order. That still left the county’s public intoxication charge, but unlike the harassment charge or the record of a restraining order, it was only a misdemeanor that wouldn’t affect Wade’s permanent record or chances to restart his teaching career.

Katrin spoke to Ingrid one final time this morning and was relieved to hear that the judge had agreed to the dropped charges. Wade would enter the rehab facility on Monday morning for a two-month program. Katrin was pleased that Wade would get treatment and she hoped that he would be able to get his life back on track. It also alleviated her general worries for her family, so she felt light and happy this Sunday morning looking forward to church, lunch, an afternoon of beauty and an evening with Erik.

A knock on the bedroom door scattered her thoughts, and she jumped up to find Gabrielle standing outside her door.

“Tiki, you a-comin’ to church?”

She nodded, following her friend down the stairs and out the front door into the sunshine.

This morning, everything felt possible.

***

“So, Tiki…” They sat at Amazing Crepes after church, sipping good French coffee, waiting for their sweet treats: a dark chocolate and strawberry crepe for Katrin and a walnut and brown sugar for Gabrielle. “Tell me ’bout de bredda comin’ to dinner tonight.”

Katrin had learned that every man, brother or no, was bredda to Gabrielle. She smiled, stirring her coffee.

“Oh, Tiki.” Gabrielle’s dark brown eyes flashed with humor, watching Katrin’s face soften. “You in ag-on-y?”

Katrin shook her head at her friend, smiling. “What’s that mean? Do I even want to know?”

“Oh, you know. De agony. Like de ecstasy.” Gabrielle smiled and raised her eyebrows suggestively, wiggling her hips.

Katrin’s eyes widened in understanding. “Oh, no. We haven’t, um, done
that
.”