Return to Lone Oak (Harlequin Heartwarming) (18 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

B
UT
EVERYTHING
WASN
’
T
OKAY
.

Katie packed up the equipment that belonged to her after the climb, feeling empty and more than a little concerned.

What was wrong with her?

The only thing that had gone well today was the climb itself. She’d been out of sorts and had let her mind wander too much beforehand. And now that it was over, where was that sense of accomplishment that usually made her feel lighter than air?

Normally after an “eyewitness,” she was on top of the world, invincible. Today, she was just...mellow. And couldn’t wait to get back to her hotel room.

She and the others from
Rush
—a photographer and her editor—piled into their rented SUV to make the drive back to their hotel. Derek, the photographer, was driving. Katie sat in the backseat and kept to herself.

“Salinger, what’s wrong with you?” Derek asked. They’d worked together plenty and usually got along well. “That was an amazing climb. Usually you won’t shut up afterward.”

She shrugged. “Guess I’m tired today. I think I’ll take a nap when we get back.”

He glanced at her in the rearview mirror, his forehead creased with concern, so Katie threw him a smile. Anything to get him to leave her alone.

At the hotel, she made a beeline for her room. Once there, she stretched out on the hard bed, but it turned out she wasn’t sleepy. She was restless, out of sorts.

She sprung to her feet and looked around. For what, she didn’t know—she was wondering what on earth was going on with her.

Her usual routine after an exciting day was to come back and have a drink with any colleagues who’d traveled with her, grab some dinner and hang out with them. Derek was one of her favorites, but she’d just as soon watch paint dry as be social with him—or anyone else—this evening.

She looked out the hotel-room window and saw a fast-food place just across the street. Grabbing her purse and throwing on some shoes, she set off for something to eat, hoping that would snap her out of her mood.

Waiting in line at the restaurant, she grew impatient. She wanted to go home. Immediately. This hotel, this city, this hamburger joint... None of it was doing a thing for her.

She made a snap decision and felt a small amount of relief.

Katie opened the oversize purse she used when she traveled and dug out her airline confirmation form and left the restaurant without bothering to get any food. She punched in the airline’s number on her cell phone as she headed back across the street. Finally, an attendant answered and asked if he could help her.

“Yes. I’d like to move my flight up from tomorrow morning to tonight.”

* * *

K
ATIE
HAD
SPENT
THE
FLIGHT
back to St. Louis deep in thought, mostly about Noah. Why she was thinking about him now, she couldn’t say. Of course, he’d been on her mind almost nonstop since she’d driven out of Lone Oak, but she would’ve thought that today, of all days, she could push him aside and focus on the job that meant everything to her.

She paused, the key to her apartment in her hand.

The job that
used
to mean everything to her.

It hit her now, suddenly, as she let herself in, that something else meant more.

Someone else.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. She could quit her job and move back to Lone Oak. But that would only solve half the problems between her and Noah. It would still mean he couldn’t accept a very important part of her life—a very important part of
her
.

Katie went to the freezer and pulled out a half-eaten pint of Ben & Jerry’s. She grabbed a spoon, then sank down onto the couch, feeling despair in a way she’d never felt it before.

Not only was it impossible for her to be with the man she loved, she was discontented with the career that had previously defined her.

What she wouldn’t give to be with her family right now, back in Savannah’s kitchen arguing over lasagna or letting off steam with her niece and nephews at the playground. She missed her dad, even Claudia. And she would kill for a home-cooked meal.

She dug out the last spoonful of ice cream and found she was still unsettled and completely unsatisfied.

Maybe she just needed to sleep on everything, see how her life looked tomorrow. Because right now, it all seemed about as wrong as it could get.

She couldn’t convince herself to get up and unpack or even flop down on her own bed. Instead, she flipped off the lamp and stretched out on the couch, fighting back tears. She should be exhausted enough after the climb, the trip home and the emotions that plagued her to drift off to sleep without a problem. Key word being
should
.

She still hadn’t moved forty-five minutes later, except to turn over several hundred times trying to get comfortable, when someone knocked on the door.

Katie sat straight up, thinking she’d heard wrong, since it was well after midnight. No one would visit her this late.

She sat stock-still, listening. A few seconds later, she heard a knock again, a little louder than before. She crept to the door and looked out the peephole. Her heart jumped up into her throat when she saw the outline and blur of a man with Noah’s build and hair color. Forgetting caution, she unlocked the door.

“Hello, Katie,” he said, the familiarity of his low, smooth voice warming her to her toes.

She stood back so he could come in, but she didn’t know what to say. So many thoughts were racing through her mind, she couldn’t keep up. Her apartment was still dark, the only light coming from the outer hallway, but she didn’t even notice. She shut the door and locked it out of habit.

“Did you forget to pay the electric bill?” She could hear the humor in his voice, and when the question finally registered, she felt her way to the lamp by the couch and turned it on. And feasted her eyes on him.

His hair was messy, clothes wrinkled, eyes tired...but they also had a bright spark of happiness in them.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Just flew in from Denver.” He looked at her as if that should set off some kind of realization, but it didn’t. Other than registering that she’d just come back from there, as well.

“I did, too,” she said, which made him smile. Knowingly. “Noah? What’s going on?”

“I saw you there, at the cliffs.”

“Granger Cliffs? You did?” She sat on the couch, curling her legs under her, trying to absorb the implications. “What... Why? How?”

Noah chuckled. “That medical seminar I told you about? The one in Denver? I ended up signing up for it.”

“Ohh,” she said, trying to understand, but not quite there yet.

Noah sat down on the coffee table right in front of her. “I’ve missed you so much, Katie.”

Her heart threatened to pound right out of her chest.

“I was lost when you left,” he continued quietly. “How that happened so fast, I don’t understand, but it did. It took me several days, but I finally figured out that I had to do something about the fear that was running my life. Ruining our chances together.”

He rested his elbows on his thighs and took both of her hands in his. Katie stared at their intertwined fingers, unable to sort through her thoughts enough to say anything.

“Long story short, I used the seminar as an excuse to show up at your rock climb this morning.”

“You were there? I didn’t see you.”

“I didn’t want you to see me.”

“Why not?”

“Because what if I went all that way and then still freaked out, as you would say, when you started up the side of the mountain?”

“But you didn’t?”

“I didn’t have the chance to, when you called off the climb.”

“Postponed. We went up an hour and a half later.”

Noah was smiling widely, shaking his head. “It didn’t matter. Because I finally figured out something.”

“Like what? That I’m fabulous and I’ve been right and you’ve been wrong all along?”

He laughed. “Actually, that’s pretty close to the truth. I need to apologize for the way I’ve misjudged you.” All signs of joking disappeared from his face. “I made the mistake of thinking you were just like Leah—wild and irresponsible—from the very first time I met you.”

Katie tried to stop the smile that was tugging at the corners of her mouth. “I may have egged you on a bit in that direction.”

“A bit?”

She pinched her index finger and thumb together. “Tiny bit.”

He grabbed her fingers and kissed them.

“In all seriousness, you scared the daylights out of me, Katie. But today, I finally understood. You’re not the same as Leah. You may be half crazy, but at least you do it in a responsible way.” He looked earnestly into her eyes and Katie melted. “I’ve figured out you don’t want to die, that you do everything you can to protect yourself from harm. Like the shoes on the roof...”

Katie’s eyes widened. “My climbing shoes?”

“I had no earthly idea those were climbing shoes until I saw you in them today.”

She lost herself in howls of laughter, falling back on the couch, closing her eyes and chortling from deep in her belly like she hadn’t done for years. “You thought I was prancing around up there with no extra traction?”

He didn’t answer, or if he did, she missed it because she was still laughing so hard. When she could finally breathe again, she straightened. “I knew I was messing with you but I thought it was obvious that those shoes helped me not to slip and slide off the edge.”

“No. I didn’t know.”

She snickered again. “So you figured that out today.”

He nodded.

“And if I’d just explained to you that I wasn’t as nuts as you thought I was and that I was actually pretty careful up on that roof, would we have alleviated all the awfulness of the past few weeks?”

He was pensive for several seconds. “No. I still needed to put it all together.”

She became serious. “So are you telling me that you can handle my career now?”

He sucked in air slowly. “I don’t know that I’m worry-free, doubt I’ll ever be. But what I can tell you is that I trust you, Katie. I understand you don’t want to get hurt any more than I want you to get hurt. I’d like to watch you on a few events, try to work through the panic. I’m ready to try that now. Because frankly, panicking about your antics is still far better than not having you in my life.”

Katie threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around Noah, then pulled him off the table and onto the couch with her. She drew his lips to hers and kissed him to make up for every day they’d been apart. “I love you,” she said when they finally stopped to breathe. “I’ve been so messed up in the head, but the one thing I know is I want to make it work with us.”

“Me, too. I’m not sure how to do that yet, being in different cities, but we can work it out.”

“You know,” she said, everything falling into place at last. “I may be as crazy as you thought, because suddenly, quitting my job doesn’t seem like a problem.”

“You can’t do that. It’s too important to you.”

She put a finger on his lips to silence him. “This job specifically?” She shook her head. “I think, if I talk to my boss, I could probably continue to work as a freelancer with
Rush
. And I have other contacts in the industry, too. A travel magazine with an extreme travel column—they’ve approached me before. If I freelance, I can work from anywhere in the world.”

“Including a small, peaceful town in northern Kansas?”

“Especially a small, peaceful town in northern Kansas.”

“Katie, are you sure that would make you happy? Is that what you want?”

She didn’t hesitate, nodding. “I’ve missed my family since I left. Lone Oak wormed its way into my heart over the past couple of months. But mostly there’s just this overserious, worrywart doctor I can’t seem to live without.”

“To think you told me there was nothing for you in that little town.” He held her close and kissed her slowly, full of tenderness. “I love you, crazy Katie.”

Her heart felt as if it would float right out of her body as she hugged him tight.

“So...” she said in his ear. “Where do we go from here?”

“Well, I happen to have this big house. It’s a bit oversize for a bachelor. It definitely needs to be filled up with a family. I think you just might like it.”

She laughed. “I think I just might, too. So when would this house-sharing thing start?”

“As soon as possible. Let’s get married right away. What do you say?”

She ran her fingers through his thick hair and stared into his no-longer-weary green eyes. “I’d say that sounds like the biggest and best adventure ever.”

* * * * *

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