Cutter Mountain Rendezvous (23 page)

Colton began to itch. “I’m headed back to Chicago, and I’m sure as hell not turning around because you decided to make an unannounced visit.” Colton used the corner of his leather seat as a scratching post. “Where’s this fellow you were talking to now?”

“I don’t know. He wandered off. He was very shy. The type that doesn’t look you in the eye. I figured he was a worker here on the property. He was kinda dirty. In fact, I’m not sure he was a man. He might have been a woman dressed as a man.”

“Mother. Get off that property this instant.”

“Why?”

“Because there is no worker at Kate’s place.”

“No? Well he was very courteous, even if he was shy.”

Colton heard a clink and a thump. “Mom,
MOM
.”

“I’m here, Colton. No need to shout. I dropped the cell while jumping off Bessie. Guess I’m not as spry as I thought.”

“Look around. Do you see the he-she man anywhere?”

“No. Do you want to talk to him?”

“I want you to get in your car and leave.
Now.
”

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit dramatic. It’s your fault I didn’t know you were heading back to Chicago.”

“What are you doing now?”

“Walking to my car. No sense staying here. I’ll need to find a room.”

Here was a dilemma he didn’t need. He would tell his mom to stay at Kate’s but he didn’t want her there with a stranger roaming around. It was probably the construction pile thief. When he heard the car door slam and her ignition start he let go of the breath he didn’t realize he held. “You sure Kate’s nowhere around?”

“What? You’re breaking up. I’m under trees and headed down the—I think I’ll head back... Chi...until...”

Colton was about to protest, when the line disconnected. “Mom? Mom?” Colton cursed and pressed the end button. His mother was in one of the many dead zones around Kate’s place. He would keep trying to reach her.

Where was Kate? One thing was certain. She wasn’t at home pining over his wee-hours departure. Why that put a burr in his breeches was uncertain. He eased up on his vise-like grip on the steering wheel.

Lindsay crossed his mind. Kate talked to her last night but intended to call again today. Maybe something had gone wrong in California, and Kate was headed out West.
Damn.
If not, he certainly didn’t want Kate coming home late tonight and be greeted by the same man, woman, whatever, who greeted his mom.

He opened his cell, hit contacts, and connected to a number he had been sure to put into his phone. Carter Crockett.

****

Anxious to get back home and try the new song on the guitar she’d earned in a most inventive way, Kate closed the notepad. A BMW pulled up behind her car. A tall, middle-aged woman dressed in olive khakis and zipped pink hoodie strolled to the stone wall. She stretched her arms heavenward and breathed deep. Her blond hair was cut in a stylish bob. “Goodness. Look at this.” She seemed to be talking to no one in particular. “I don’t believe there’s a more beautiful place on earth. At least not today. Not while I’m standing right here this very minute. Tomorrow, I might find another such place.” She chuckled and turned to Kate. Fine lines crinkled around her eyes the color of warm honey. Colton’s eyes. “You live around here?”

“Yes. I was raised in Bear Creek and live here on Cutter Mountain.”

The woman who Kate instantly knew was Colton’s mother placed a foot on the low stone wall. “It’s lovely here. Simply. Lovely. When I lived in Wyoming, I didn’t think there was a prettier place on earth. Then we moved to Chicago, and I loved the hustle and bustle. But this place, um. This place is heavenly. I could build a house right on this spot and spend the rest of my life admiring this view.”

The tightening in Kate’s chest worsened with each piece of information.

“I’ve come to visit my son. Colton. Colton Gray. Have you seen him in Bear Creek?”

The crawl of unease turned to pure discomfort as Kate struggled to stay anonymous. She cleared her suddenly clogged throat. “Um, yes. I’ve seen him.”

“Well, he’s left me in a pickle. I came to surprise him with a visit and he’s taken off for Chicago. The scamp. Oh my, what a lovely spot.” Colton’s mother turned her attention back to the view. “Can you recommend a place where I might rent a room for the night?”

“There’s Beulah’s in town. It’s a motel with a great home-cooking restaurant. There’s also a bed-’n-breakfast off Main in a nice two-story farmhouse called Seven Gables on Rosedale. You can’t miss it. Rosedale is the only corner on Main with a blinking yellow light.”
Criminy!
Must she have the
same
conversation with Colton’s mother as she had with the cowboy? “There’s also a Victorian on Main Street you can’t miss.”

“Thank you. I’ll give them a try. If they’re full, I’ll head back to Knoxville. But right now, I’m going to sit on this wall and take in the beauty.”

Kate smiled. “Enjoy your stay in Bear Creek. I’m sure either place will have a vacancy. ’Bye.”

“’Bye. And thank you.”

Kate began to head for her car and stopped. “Mrs. Gray?”

“Yes.”

“I just came from town. There was a woman reporter from Wham Sports at Beulah’s asking questions about your son. I told her he’d taken off for Chicago early this morning.”

“Allison Brant? Here in Bear Creek?”

“Yes. That’s her name. I’m afraid news of Colton’s return to the Bullets will get to Chicago before he does. Warn him, would you?”

Colton’s mother lifted her head and laughed. “That woman is certainly persistent. I’ll give her that. She’s been driving Mason—that’s Colton’s brother—crazy. Personally, I think she has a thing for Mason, poor thing. Mason thinks she’s the most irritating woman he’s ever met,” she said, conspiratorially. “I knew she was following me but I liked her company on the road.”

Kate had to smile at the twinkle of mischief in her eye so like Colton as she continued her story. “If she managed to tail me here to Bear Creek, then she deserves the story. Mason, the devil, sent the poor girl all the way to Wyoming. My boys can be downright children at times.” Colton’s mother heaved a large sigh. “Just wish I had warned Colton I was coming so I wouldn’t have missed him.”

“I’m sure he’s sorry as well.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. Colton’s been avoiding me. He doesn’t like my straight talk. Well, thank you once again. Colton will appreciate being prepared for a crowd of reporters waiting outside his house. What did you say your name was?”

“Kathryn.”

She waved and quickly got inside her car, worried the spark of recognition at hearing her name might prompt more conversation.

Regret did a somersault in her stomach. How she wanted to linger and get to know the woman who raised Colton. Let her know she was Kate Crockett. That her son stayed at her place for a spell; a cowboy who was really a celebrity ballplayer who she’d fallen in love with when that was the last thing she wanted to feel at this point of her life.

The sun was high in a clear blue sky. A hawk circled overhead. His shrill call penetrated the air along with the wood smoke turned darker in color.

Despondent and missing Lindsay, she drove home to the waiting guitar and the new tune she’d composed.

Over and over, you drift across my mind,

Gentle as a breeze, a moment out of time...

The smell of smoke became more acrid as Kate drove closer to home.

Licks of orange flame flickered through the trees and sent terror to her heart.

Pushing the gas pedal to the floor, she raced along the highway with her heart in her throat. Fishtailing into her drive, dirt and gravel spun beneath her tires as she sped toward her burning house. Flames shot through the roof at the back of the structure.
Oh God.
Her newly finished bedrooms. Had the fire started there? Near the paint cans and turpentine?

Jamming the gearshift into neutral, she hopped out to sprint inside.

“
TINKERBELLE. TINKERBELLE,
” she shouted, grabbing a dishtowel to hold over her nose as she headed up the back steps to the bedrooms. She could see the pantry roof was partially collapsed. Angry flames darted through the opening. Heat filled the stairwell and blistered the paint as she took the steps two at a time.

“
TINKERBELLE.
”

Kate skinned her knees against the hard fabric of her jeans as she threw herself to the floor to search under Lindsay’s bed, Tinkerbelle’s favorite hiding place. The cat was crouched in terror. She made a grab for his back leg and pulled him out.

An explosion rocked the house. The sickening crack of the back stairs giving way felt like a death peal. She was trapped. Coughing as smoke billowed down the hall into the bedroom, she knew she had to get Lindsay’s door shut if she was going to escape though the front windows. No time. She couldn’t breathe. Heat and blinding smoke rapidly rolled inside the bedroom. She threw open the window. The backdraft blew her outside.

Her last conscious thoughts were of Lindsay and Colton and Tinkerbelle, who was jarred loose from her arms. She rolled off the porch roof and landed on her back. Gasping for breath, she saw Tinkerbelle dart off. Sirens blared and a lanky man pulled her by the arm to a shady spot of cool grass before everything went black.

****

“Kate. Sweetheart. It’s Dad. Come on, honey, wake up.”

The authoritative voice sounded far, far away. Her dad was calling to her. Why did he sound frightened? She had never known him to be afraid of anything. The quiver in his voice made her open her eyes to see the very thing she feared most.

Fire!

An embedded childhood fear created when a neighborhood house burned to the ground.

Now her own house burned. With it came the same smells and sounds. Memories rose of the day after when curiosity to see the damage made her gag at the sight and smell of wet charred wood.

Kate clung to her father. The bursting rumble of heat and flame that engulfed her house drew an anguished cry from her lungs that burned hot with smoke. She struggled to stand. Her dad supported her and kept a tight hold. His words of comfort were heard but not processed.

Shaking uncontrollably, tears streaked paths down her sooty cheeks. She clung to her dad when he wrapped his arms around her and turned her face from the fire with a gentle hand. “Tinkerbelle...” she whispered against his chest.

“He’s fine. He’s fine. Shhhh. Things’ll work out. They always do.”

“Jeff’s hard work—”

“He’ll be heartsick but glad you’re safe. I’m glad you’re safe. Thank God. Thank God,” Kate heard him say through her sobs that built to a crescendo of uncontrollable wails from the depth of her pain.

All is lost. All is lost.

These three words were her constant companion in the early hours after the fire—an event that would shake her belief in a loving God. No matter her lack of faith, God protected Lindsay by being sure she was out of her care when the fire erupted. For this, she was thankful beyond words.

How many tests to her strength must she endure? What about Colton? Was he a test she failed to pass and now this?

Although her father’s words of comfort were sincere, she wondered if they masked yet another disappointment in his only child.

All is lost. All is lost.

****

The sign ahead read
Chicago 80 miles
. Kate’s tip-off and the long ride gave him plenty of miles to prepare a statement for the waiting press. Her willingness to warn him under the circumstances also meant she was more woman than any before her. That eased his guilt over the way he left. There was too much spirit in her to let a night with him shake her foundation.

As for his foundation, there was a surprise. Nothing like the type of woman who usually caught his eye, she somehow managed to shake a few bricks loose. Kate was the kind of woman you married when you were ready to settle down. Those days were far off where Colton was concerned. You didn’t settle down when you faced the hard road of an uncertain comeback.

If he had figured out anything over the last weeks, it was the lure of a ballpark outranked the part of him yearning for the life Kate was trying to build. Bad timing. There would be other chances to fall in love once he was ready to retire. Right now, baseball was back where it belonged. His destiny would not be denied. He would beat the bull that ended his father’s career in his prime.

The drive back also reaped one of the best talks with his mother since the death of his father and the subsequent dirt bike accident. She sounded good—at peace. More accepting of the blow life dealt her. So much so that she left Cutter Mountain while they talked and headed for Chicago. It didn’t take much convincing to make her stop in Nashville for the night so he wouldn’t worry.

They also talked at length about his decision to try for a comeback. There were a lot of unknowns spinning around his head. His trainer and doctors would have to sign off on his health before the Bullets would even consider putting him back on the mound. He would relief pitch at first. Starting would be his goal. He had even come to terms with sitting on the bench.