Somewhere Only We Know (8 page)

“Thanks James,” Callum replied, genuinely grateful. “Tell him he can reach me on my cell, I am booking a f
light and heading to Seattle tonight.”

“Maybe you should wait,” James suggested
, but he knew his little brother, and he knew his mind was already made up.

“
How can I wait?” Callum replied. “If she is there, then I need to be there too. James, I love her. I can’t lose her too.”

“Okay little brother,” James smiled knowing there was nothing that could change Callum’s mind. “I will call Felix and get things moving.”

“Thanks, James,” Callum said. “I really do appreciate this.”

“We will find her,” James assured Callum.
“That much I can promise, everything else is up to you after that.”

“Just do me one favour,” Callum added
knowing he was already asking so much of James. “Don’t tell Mom and Dad, not yet. I am barely keeping it together, I don’t need their drama too.”

“Okay,” James replied with a laugh.

When Callum hung up the phone, he instantly pressed the intercom button.

“Yes, Mr. Greyson?” Alisha’s voice nervously squeaked through the intercom.

“Alisha, I need you to cancel all my appointments for the rest of this week.” Callum instructed her. “And book me on the next available flight to Seattle.”

“Seattle?” she repeated, surprised at his request.

“Yes,” Callum replied abruptly, as he grabbed his laptop and cell phone from the table, quickly stuffing them into his bag, before he headed for the door.

Kate was
on her knees on the back porch, painting the beams of the deck. She found some old paint, as she rummaged through the shed at the back of the garden and decided to freshen up the back porch. She was almost finished and it was looking good. She smiled, as she looked at her work, feeling very pleased with herself.

Then she realised what she had done. She was so focused on painting the deck of the back porch, lost in her own thoughts, she hadn’t noticed she had painted herself into a corner and she was stuck.

“FUCK!!” She exclaimed, as she stood up and tried to figure out how she was going to get herself off the deck without walking on the wet freshly painted porch. She had no idea what she was going to do. She was stuck. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Suddenly, the front door bell rang.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Kate cried, as she stared down at the freshly painted boards, they were perfect, she refused to stand on them and ruin them. Then she looked down and realised she was in her bare feet.

“Fuck
!” she screamed.

“Hello,” she heard a familiar voice call over her side gate. She was fairly sure it was Finn, Jacks son.

The day she brought Jack home from the grocery store, she ended up spending the whole afternoon with Jack and Finn. Jack was a joy to listen to, as he told both Kate and Finn stories about when he and Kathleen first met and when they first got married.

Jack’s face lit up
, as he spoke about his beloved Kathleen. Kate was a little surprised when Jack showed her a photo of Kathleen, she did resemble her slightly. They had the same long auburn hair and deep chocolate brown eyes.

Finn and Kate
had really hit it off well, too. He was just as charming as his dad and even a little bit flirty, but for the most part he was just really friendly and good company.

When Kate finally said it was t
ime for her to be heading home, Jack insisted Finn followed Kate home in his car as it was getting dark.

When they reached her house, Finn
climbed out of his car and hurried to open Kate’s car door. He then walked Kate to her door.

“I had a great time today,” Kate said
, as she shifted nervously from one foot to the other. It had been over ten years since she had been single and she had no idea how to act around men. She felt awkward and clumsy.

“Me too,” Finn said, his eyes never leaving Kate’s. “I think my dad really likes you.”

“Jack is a very sweet man,” Kate replied with a smile. Finn stepped closer and Kate knew he was going to kiss her and her heart began to race.

“He has great taste in women too,” Finn
whispered and moved even closer.

Kate blushed and laughed nervously.

“I was wondering,” Finn continued. “If maybe you might come to dinner with me sometime?”

“I…eh…yes,” she replied, surprising herself a little. “That would be lovely.”

“Great,” Finn said, stepping even closer to Kate, his eyes locked firmly with hers. She could feel his breath wash across her face and her skin tingled with excitement. Her gaze dropped to his prefect mouth and all she could think of was how it would feel to kiss him, how different would it be from kissing Callum.

Callum!
She screamed in her head, as she jumped back from Finn, almost like she had been hit by lightning.

“I…I should be getting inside,”
she said, suddenly unable to look him in the eye. Her face flushed with embarrassment, as she turned quickly to try and open the door.

She fumbled with the keys, trying to open the door
, but her hands were shaking.

“Is everything alright?” Fi
nn asked, as he moved beside Kate so he could see her face.

“
Everything’s fine,” Kate replied, forcing a big fake smile onto her face, but feeling angry with herself inside for allowing herself to get into this situation. She couldn’t seem to get the key into the lock and she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, as she became frustrated. “I just need to open this stupid door.”

“
Kate,” Finn said stepping closer to her. “It’s okay.”

He took the keys from her and opened
the door for her, then stepped back.

“Thank you,” she said, still refusing to look at him. “Goodbye Finn.”

Before he could reply, she hurried inside and closed the door behind her, leaving Finn standing on her front porch completely confused about what had just happened.

Kate’s face burned with embarrassment at the memory of that evening. For a moment she considered not responding
, but when she looked down at the wet paint she knew she needed his help.

“Kate,” she heard Finn calling her from the side gate once again.
Kate closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“I’m here,” she called out. “I need help.”

“I’m coming in,” he called, sounding a little concerned. Moments later, Finn appeared from around the side of the house. When he saw Kate standing on the deck in one piece, the relief was clear on his face. “Are you okay?”

“Kind of,” Kate said
, as her face burned with embarrassment. She forgot how gorgeous Finn was and now he was standing there in front of her, looking even more gorgeous than she remembered, while she was a paint covered mess, and one who had stupidly painted herself into a corner of her own back porch and was now trapped. “I’m stuck.”

“You’re stuck?” he asked looking at her in confusion. Kate pointed down to the deck and a big smile filled Finn’s face when he r
ealised exactly what she meant. He burst out laughing and Kate could feel her face burning hotter and hotter.

Bastard!
She thought to herself.
And why does he have to be so damn gorgeous?

“It isn’t funny,” Kate said and tried not to laugh. She was completely mortified.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said, as he slid his phone from his pocket and pointed it at Kate.

“Finn
Morgan, don’t you dare,” Kate cried and she meant it. “You do not take my picture, I am not even close to kidding.”

“Fine,” he replied with a laugh and shoved his phone back in his pocket. He walked towards the
porch and looked around for a way to get her off the deck. “Can’t you just walk off?”

“And ruin my hard work?” Kate replied. “Oh hell no. Besides I am in my bare feet and that paint would be a nightmare to get off my skin.”

“I could lift you off…” he said and he went to step up on to the deck.

“NO!” She screamed and raising her two hands up to stop him. “You will ruin the pain
t, and it took me ages to get it so perfect.”

He laughed
, as he stood and watched Kate for a moment. Then a mischievous smile flittered across his face.

“Okay, I will get you off without ruining all your hard work,” he finally said. “But first, I want you to tell me why you freaked out the other night.”

“I didn’t freak out,” Kate said trying to appear calm, but she was anything but. She totally freaked out, but she had absolutely no intentions of discussing it with him, not even to save her hard work.

“You completely freaked out,” Finn said, as he crossed his arm
s across his chest and smiled brightly. “I thought we were getting on okay, I thought you liked me. You even agreed to go to dinner with me. Was I wrong?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,”
Kate said unable to look him in the face. “Now are you going to help me or not?”

“Oh I will help you,”
Finn replied locking his eyes with her. “But I want to know what I did that upset you so much. It’s the least you could do.”

“Look if you are not going to help me,” she said, finally allowing her eyes to meet his. “
I will do it myself.” She went to step on the wet paint, no longer caring whether or not she ruined it. She was not having this conversation, and she was angry with Finn for trying to use her stupidity, to get information out of her.

“No, wait!” he exclaimed
, as he quickly stepped closer. “I’m sorry, I will help.”

Kate put her foot back on the unpainted part of the deck.
She stared at Finn for a moment and breathed out a breath she didn’t even realise she was holding.

“Okay,” she finally said
with a nod, and was rewarded with one of Finn amazing smiles.

“Okay,” he replied, rubbing his hands together. He too had been holding his breath. He wasn’t sure why this girl was
so guarded, but she was. However, there was something about her that he found intriguing and he was determined to break through this invisible wall she had built. Also, she was probably one of the prettiest girls he had ever met and something told him, she was worth the effort. “So I was thinking, we have two ways of doing this. We could make some kind of bridge with a plank of wood.” He looked around the garden looking for something to use.

“What’s the other way?” Kate asked realising there was nothing in the garden that they could use as a bridge.

“You could jump,” Finn said and Kate burst out laughing, but then realised he was serious.

“I can’t jump that far,”
Kate replied. “I will break my bloody neck.”

“
Yes you can, I will catch you,” Finn said and laughed at the top of his lungs.

“You’ll catch me?” Kate repeated.

“I will,” he nodded and smiled. “You just have to trust me.”

“Trust you?” Kate repeated his words once again.

“You know you can trust me,” Finn said, and the sincerity in his voice touched Kate’s heart. She knew he meant more than just catch her when she jumped.

“I know I can,” she replied.
“Okay, let’s do this.”

“Okay, on the count of three,” Finn said
, as he widened his stance, so he was more stable and raised his hands. “Okay, one, two…”

“Wait, wait,
wait!” Kate said, urgently “One, two, three and then go?”

“If that is better for you,” Finn nodded, then raised his hands again. “O
kay, one, two, three.”

Kate jumped across the deck into Finn’
s out-stretched arms and screamed, as he tumbled backwards onto the grass, landing with a bump, as Kate landed on top of him.

Kate couldn’t contain her laughter
, as Finn groaned beneath her.

“I think you may have killed me,” he said breathlessly, still holding his breath. “But I didn’t let you fall.”

“No you didn’t,” Kate said with a nervous giggle, as she looked down into his eyes, their faces so close, their noses were almost touching. She could feel his warm breath on her face. Neither said a word for a couple of moments. As Kate stared down into his eyes, she could barely breathe.

Finally
, Finn leaned up and pressed his lips softly against Kate’s. He slipped his arms back around her waist and pulled her tighter to him.

For a moment Kate didn’
t respond, but finally she returned his kiss, softly at first. Then as his kiss deepened, she kissed him harder in return.

Suddenly her mind cleared and she knew she needed to stop this, this was wrong.

“I can’t,” she whispered against his mouth. Then without saying another word, she stood up and headed out her side gate, straight to her front door, hurrying inside she slammed it behind her. She slumped against the door and slid down it until she reached the floor.

“Kate,” she heard Finn say through the door. “Kate
, please open the door. I am sorry, just let me see you are okay.”

Kate didn’t respond, instead she buried her face in her hands and
began to cry.

Why should she feel like this, Callum did this to them, not her. He found someone else without even thinking about her, why
should she have to think of him?

But she just wasn’t ready, she wasn’t ready to move on. She still loved Callum,
and her heart was still broken. As much as she liked Finn, and she did like him, she just wasn’t ready to take that step yet.