Miss Impractical Pants (52 page)

             
Yours,

             
Chelsea & Denny Waverly

She handed the note to Lucas and headed into the bathroom to shower.

Swaddling herself in a plush robe, Katie wiped the steam from the mirror and pondered her new image. Even dripping wet, her unskillfully bobbed hair bounced with natural curls that used to hang taut from the heavy length. Days of fasting and worry had eaten away at her figure. Normally, that would have made her ecstatic, except the chapped lips and the dark half circles under her droopy eyes haunted her. The woman staring back at her was a stranger inside and out. She watched the steam gobble up her image, and then exited the bathroom, which Lucas entered without a word.

The lavish suite was big and empty, and Katie couldn’t help drawing the comparison to how she felt inside. She should be happy; she was safe and relatively unharmed. But looking at all the opulence surrounding her, it seemed an undeserved and vulgar contrast from where she’d just been. Knowing the tribulations of not only the people who saved her life, but also those who tried to take it, Katie contemplated her moral responsibilities.
             

She picked at the selection of food in front of her, feeling guilty that her biggest worry was whether she was
more hungry
or more tired.

“What’s wrong?” Lucas asked, fresh from the shower and also wearing a robe, watching a lone tear streak down Katie’s cheek.

“It’s not fair—that I have so much and they have so little.”

“
Shhh
, I know, I know.” He gathered her up in his arms and held her. “But you can’t punish yourself…that won’t help them.”

She sniffed in response. “You’re right, it won’t. But I promise you, I won’t forget about them. I’m going to help them—not just Stanley’s, but all the broken families. Somehow, I’m going to find a way to bring them happiness. I guarantee you that.” She was speaking more to herself than to him, but she knew if she made the promise aloud, she would keep it.

He held her tighter. She didn’t want to move from the position, so she didn’t. She held still in his arms until sleep came to claim her.

“Where are you going?” she asked drowsily when he tucked her into the sheets.

“To bed—in the other room.
Go back to sleep.”

She gripped his forearm. “Please stay.”

Smiling down at her, he tucked a strand of short, jagged hair behind her ear. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered, and snuggled in behind her.

A good night’s sleep did not come as easily as Katie would have hoped. Her dreams were vivid with images of Mensur’s dead body, his haunting sneer etched in rigor mortis. She thrashed as she saw little Marko running in terror, getting nowhere, and she screamed when she saw the medics carry out Lucas’s mangled, lifeless corpse. Three times she woke up, dripping sweat and screaming, and three times Lucas had to reassure her back to sleep.

She was only able to keep her eyes open on the following day because she was terrified of what she’d see if she closed them. Not that it mattered, since she was forced to sit on an overly hard chair in a too-air-conditioned room and dredge up every horrific image she was trying to forget. She studied the walnut wood paneling without really
seeing it while a different General Corporal Prime Minister of the Federal Reserve, plucked every detail from her mind.

As the official thumbed through a file on the desk, Katie thought of Lucas, currently being questioned in another room. Before they were separated, he held her and whispered in her ear: “Stay strong. Janek needs us.” She put her hand against her cheek and flushed, remembering how good his face felt against hers. It wasn’t the time or the place for an epiphany, but nonetheless, she had one.

She had finally found a man she couldn’t reject.

Not because he was faultless—she hadn’t overlooked the stack of sweatpants on his bedroom shelf—but simply because she didn’t want to. She smiled. There was hope for her after all.

Having hope suddenly made everything all right. No matter what, her future was still bright. She made a vow, right there, that somehow she was going to help others have their chance at a bright future—starting with Janek. His fate depended on how she depicted his life-saving change of behavior.

Katie straightened in her chair, looked the General Corporal Prime Minister of the Federal Reserve the Second straight in the eye, and accepted the onslaught of questions with a whole new fervor.

***

Katie blinked her eyes several times. The bright sunlight was a stark contrast to the fluorescent lights in the wood-paneled room where she’d spent the last several hours. The more she blinked, the more she could make out the figures standing in the distance. Lucas walked up to meet her, encircling her in his embrace before leading her toward Stanley, Marko, and Kata, who were waiting in front of the Jeep that would drive them to the airport.

Katie opened her arms as Marko ran to her—for what she refused to believe was the last time. She kissed the top of his head. “I’ll never forget you, okay?” She gave him an encouraging smile as she wiped her tears with the back of her hand. It hadn’t been thirty seconds and already she was a complete bawl-baby.

He wrapped his arms around her neck, nearly strangling her with his hold. “Will you come back?” He could barely get the words out through his sobs, and his tears were running hot down her neck.

She pulled back to look into his big, dark eyes. “Yes I will, Marko. I promise you someday I will come back.”

Stanley gently pulled the boy away and Kata dropped her head against Katie’s shoulder. Katie felt the outline of each and every bone in the woman’s back as she ran a consoling hand over her. When Kata lifted her head, she held Katie’s cheeks in her calloused hands before running all of her fingers through Katie’s cropped hair.

“Thank you,” Katie said, knowing Kata wouldn’t understand anything else.

As
Kata
turned away, Stanley stepped forward.

“Thank you Stanley. Thank you for everything,” Katie sobbed, wrapping her arms around the man who would never again be just Stanley Speedo to her. “There’s so much to say—I…I…don’t know where to start.”

“
Shhh
.”
Stanley pressed her head against his shoulder. “I will miss you, neighbor. I’m sorry for the circumstances, but I’m glad fate brought you back into my life.”

“Me too,” Katie sniffed. She had to be satisfied with that because she was crying so hard she couldn’t say more.

Lucas stepped up to clap one hand on Stanley’s shoulder. “Please
Stanley,
I want you to have this.” He pressed a slip of paper into Stanley’s thick hands.

Releasing his hold on Katie, Stanley unfolded the paper. For a second, Katie feared his eyes would actually pop out of their sockets as he scanned the contents.

A tear, followed by another, crept down Stanley’s cheek. He didn’t bother to wipe them away. He put his hand to his heart as he shook his head. “I cannot. I cannot possibly accept. Thank you, Lucas.”

“Of course you can,” Lucas insisted. “Consider it repayment for saving two lives—plus a pair of pajamas, some Walmart shampoo, and a shirt.
Oh, and Sonja.”

Stanley looked at him quizzically. “Sonja?”

“Katie’s Bosnian toothbrush.”
Lucas shot a glance at Katie to see the blush layering her cheeks, and chuckled.

“It is not necessary,” Stanley protested. “Had it not been for my brother, your lives would not have been in jeopardy.”

“This would have happened with or without Janek’s help. It’s fortunate for us that Janek
was
involved or we never would have ended up in your shed,” Lucas countered.

Stanley opened his mouth to give another rebuttal, but before he could speak, Lucas closed Stanley’s hand around the check. “Please accept—if not for everything you have done for Katie and me, then for Marko and Indira—use it to give them better lives.”

Stanley dipped his head, fighting back a cry. “You are a good man, Lucas.”

“So are you, Stanley—a very good man.”

“Take good care of Katie pretty lady.”

“You can count on it.”

Stanley pulled Katie into another stronghold. As he did, she was able to snatch a peek at the check and nearly had a heart attack. Thinking she must have seen too many zeros, she peeked again. It was no mistake; the writing matched the numbers. She shuddered, but she didn’t know if
it
was out of relief for Stanley or fear of how she’d reimburse Lucas even a fraction of that sum.

“This doesn’t count as my trip to Bosnia. I’m coming back to see you, Stanley,” Katie promised.

“I’ll hold you to that promise. My country is very beautiful—and I swear, despite your experience, peaceful.”

“I know.” She squeezed his hand.

***

Katie stopped short at the sight of the Waverlys’ jet that had been sent to convey them back to England, and gasped. Lucas had to make a quick step around her to avoid stumbling. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her across the tarmac.

As the engines began to hum around her, Katie felt her heart race. She wanted to blame her surge of adrenaline on the thrill of having a jet all to herself, but with the way Lucas’s eyes were watching her, she knew otherwise.

“Is that all my life is worth to you—half the amount of that check?” she teased, trying to cut the sizzle in the air.

“Of course not, Rabbit. You weren’t even close to half the amount. Restitution on stolen toothbrushes isn’t cheap.”

She giggled, thinking how proud his mother would have been of his smart mouth. Then she turned serious. “Lucas, I don’t know how
I’m going to be able to repay you half of that money. I mean, I’ll find a way, but it might take a while.”

He looked as though she’d stepped on his heart. “I wasn’t expecting repayment.”

She wanted to stab herself in the jugular for putting that look on his face. “Lucas, I’m sorry…I…I didn’t mean…”

His mouth twitched into that heart-stopping grin and she almost did a retreating backbend onto the seat as he scooted into her. He smelled like soap and brand-new clothes.

“Maybe we could call it your signing bonus to a company that is no longer operating in the black?” His eyes glinted. He caressed a path along her neck and the curves of her jaw with the back of his two fingers.

Every speck of her rippled with delight at his touch. She had to make an effort to steady the exultant hum in her head, but she managed to put on her best professional front. “Despite that under your employ, I’ve been given a concussion, poisoned with alcohol, taken hostage, knifed, deprived of sleep,
and
pronounced a slut-bag in front of my government, I will accept the position.”

“Thank you.” He bowed his head ceremoniously. “And despite the fact that since employing you, I have been puked on, broken my engagement, shot, deprived of sleep, given away my life’s savings,
and
have gained the reputation of a philanderer, I welcome you aboard.”

He moved in even closer, eyes smoldering.

“Now that we’ve got that settled…you never did tell me what the status is with that boyfriend of yours.”