“What’s wrong, Dad? Am I in trouble?”
“No, son. But I got some news this morning that you have a right to know. It’s about your mom.”
“The lady in the pictures you showed me?”
“Yes.”
“Is she coming to see me?”
As Kate watched Cabot’s face, she saw that the slight hope in Ty’s voice took a huge toll on the father’s heart.
“No, she’s not,” he said quietly, then reached out and put a big hand on the boy’s shoulder. “She was in a car accident. I’m sorry, son, but she was hurt really bad and didn’t make it.”
Tyler blinked. “She’s dead?”
“That’s right. I’m really sorry to have to tell you this.”
“I know.”
Cabot was studying the boy carefully. “This is a lot to take in, buddy. How are you feeling?”
“I’m not sure.” He shrugged his thin shoulders. “I guess I thought someday she’d want to see me.”
A muscle jerked in Cabot’s jaw. “It’s natural you’d feel that way.”
“Now she never can.” The boy’s tone was wistful but not miserable.
“No, she can’t.”
“Daddy, am I s’posed to be sad?”
“Is that how you feel?” Cabot asked.
“Maybe.” Ty shrugged. “A little, I guess. But not too much. Is that bad?”
“No, buddy. Whatever you’re feeling is just fine. There’s no right or wrong about it.”
“Okay.”
He gently pulled the boy into his arms. “I love you, son.”
“I love you, too, Dad.”
Tyler stepped away, a thoughtful expression scrunching up his face. “Do I have to go home?”
“You can if you want.” Cabot stood and ruffled his son’s hair. “Is there something else you want to do?”
“I’d really like to practice with Kate.” He glanced at her, then back to his dad. “And it would be cool if you stayed to watch.”
Cabot smiled down at his son. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”
“Cool.”
Tyler chattered to his father about nocking an arrow, the best stance for a beginner and how he needed to buy a guard so the bowstring snapping his arm wouldn’t hurt. Then he took his mark and started shooting one arrow after another, most of them hitting the target circle, although no bull’s-eye yet.
Cabot stood to the side, watching, encouraging, approving. And talking to Kate in between.
“That went well,” she said in a voice low enough that Ty couldn’t hear. “You were so good with him.”
“Didn’t feel that way.”
She understood that. How was there anything good about telling your child he would never get a chance to meet his mother? But the patience, sensitivity and concern this man had shown were pretty awesome. “It was the right thing to do. Telling him, I mean.”
“It doesn’t feel right, either.” Anger swirled in his eyes. “There’s nothing right about what she did. She left him twice. Once by walking out and then by dying.”
It was time to change the subject. “So, what do you think about your son’s skill with the bow and arrow?”
“He’s really come a long way.” He smiled over at the boy, who was busy retrieving the arrows and replenishing his quiver. “You must be a pretty good teacher.”
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
“Seriously?” He grinned. “I saw you on that magazine cover in a bathing suit, holding a fishing rod.”
“Don’t let the bikini fool you. I was in that magazine because I conduct seminars on survival techniques.”
“Everyone in town is talking about the cover girl in our midst. You know Caroline knows the truth about you, too.”
“She does. Nolan told her,” Kate confirmed. “We talked about it this morning.”
“I talked to her, too,” he said. “And she thinks you should expand the camp-survival class we already have and teach it.”
Kate could not describe how exhilarating the feeling of being good at something, and getting recognized for it, felt. She wanted to hug him and just barely managed to hold back. “I’d love that. Sounds like a plan.”
It was probably good to have a plan, and someday soon Kate needed to get one. For goodness’ sake, she’d slept with the man. That was not something she did lightly. She wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of girl, which meant she was developing feelings for him.
For so many reasons she shouldn’t be, not the least of which was that he might still care about a woman who had treated him and their child badly. Sydney had said anger and love were flip sides of the same coin, and Cabot was clearly furious at Ty’s mother for her double abandonment.
Cabot might mourn the loss of hope in reuniting his family. But Kate mourned the loss of any chance to tell that woman off, to say to her face that she was a terrible person for throwing away her beautiful son and a good man.
Kate had run from a man who wasn’t even in the same league as Cabot. If she didn’t stop herself, she could end up falling for the rancher. And leaving Blackwater Lake would be a lot more traumatic than what she’d been through just before she’d arrived.
Chapter Eleven
Cabot sat in the dining-room-turned-classroom and watched Kate teach a group of twelve kids basic survival skills. Not only did she seem to know her stuff, but also she looked really good up there talking about it. Hard to believe the summer was already more than half over. It had been an eventful one, including getting closure with his ex. In the past two weeks he’d been watching his son carefully, looking for emotional aftereffects from the news about his mother’s passing. Ty didn’t seem to have any issues.
Cabot was glad he’d told the boy everything and also grateful for Kate being a sounding board and gentle presence when he broke the news. With the archery range close by, Ty had an activity to distract him. And the kid was getting pretty darn good with a bow and arrow.
What pleased Cabot most was Kate saying how well he’d handled the situation. He hadn’t known her long, but in all that time he’d never seen her hold back, whether her opinion was good or bad. So he took her words as a compliment.
She was standing in the front of the room with a dry-erase board propped on a chair. He’d come in quietly after her presentation started and sat off to the side and near the door, a place where he could observe her and see kids’ expressions to determine if they were understanding the material presented. As far as he could tell, no one had noticed his entrance. The kids in attendance ranged in age from nine to thirteen and were mesmerized by what Kate had to share. This class was mandatory for any child signed up for the overnight campout, but Kate had expanded the basic program and Cabot wanted to monitor the new material.
“Before hiking or walking an area, always do your research,” she was saying. “Know your surroundings. Learning about local plants and animals could save your life.”
A blond boy raised his hand and said, “How?”
“Food. So you know which berries are safe to eat, for instance.”
“What about animals?” This was from another boy, a redheaded, freckle-faced kid who looked as though he could stir up mischief without a firm hand to rein him in. “Or bugs.”
Kate’s expression didn’t change. She must’ve known that he wanted a creeped-out-girl reaction and wasn’t going to give him one. “They can be a good source of protein. I hope it never happens, but if you get hungry enough, you’ll be grateful for that grasshopper.”
“Ew.” This was a collective reaction from the rest of the kids in the room.
Kate grinned. “Okay, listen up and you won’t get lost in the woods long enough to have to eat bugs.” She looked around. “Now, then, always make sure to tell someone where you’re going and how long you’ll be gone.”
“That’s what my mom always says,” the redheaded boy chimed in.
“Parents know best. It would be a good idea to pay attention to them, Aaron.” She looked at Ty and sympathy lurked in her eyes. “Next, remember to bring a cell phone or CB radio, some communication device in case you’re lost or injured. Bring survival gear like a knife, matches in a waterproof container, a whistle, signal mirror.”
When she met his gaze, Cabot knew she’d seen him come in and was now remembering the night she told him about how to make a fire without matches. By using a condom. He smiled to himself, thinking how much he preferred using it the way they had the night of the rainstorm. That had been a couple of weeks ago, and there’d been no opportunity to get her alone since. Not for lack of wanting to.
His gaze dropped to her tanned legs, beautifully showcased in her denim shorts. Memories of them wrapped around his waist kept him awake nights. The rest of her was equally as tantalizing. This wasn’t the first time in his life he’d been relieved no one could read his mind, but it was quite possibly the most inappropriate setting for what he was thinking. A lot of kids were in this room, including his own son.
“All of those things are what you should have if your day in the woods is planned. Now we’re going to talk about what to do if you lose sight of the group.”
“Like if you’re the last in line and everyone else in your family walks away?” The little dark-haired girl’s voice shook a little.
“That’s right, Gina.” Kate walked over and squatted beside her. Obviously she’d heard the anxiety, too. “Did that happen to you?”
Gina nodded solemnly. “I stopped to look at a flower and they kept going. Then I couldn’t hear them anymore.”
“That must have been scary.” She put her hand on the little girl’s arm. “What did you do?”
“I bet she started to cry,” Aaron said.
Kate looked at him, anger briefly flashing in her eyes, but when she responded, her voice was calm and even. “Crying when you’re sad or scared is a perfectly normal reaction for anyone.”
“I did cry a little,” Gina admitted, giving the boy a blistering look. “But I just stayed still and they came back for me.”
“That was exactly the right thing to do.” Kate stood and walked back to the front of the room, then took a stack of papers from the chair. She handed them to his son. “Would you pass these out for me, Ty?”
“Sure.” He hopped up and smiled at her as if he thought she hung the moon.
Cabot was starting to feel that way, too, but he was doing his darnedest to fight it.
“Hi, Dad. I didn’t know you were here.” Tyler gave him a toothy grin and handed him a paper.
“Thanks, son. I slipped in after Kate started and didn’t want to interrupt.”
“It’s really good,” his son said. “I gotta finish handing out papers. Are you gonna stay till it’s over?”
He hadn’t planned to, but the eager expression in the boy’s eyes changed his mind. That and the opportunity to just watch Kate. “Yeah, I’ll be here.”
“Cool.” Ty made sure everyone in class had the handout.
Kate wrote a word on the dry-erase board and underlined it. “The number one thing to do when you’re lost is STOP.”
“Why is it capitalized?” Gina asked.
“So you can remember. S—sit down. T—think. O—observe. P—prepare for survival by gathering materials.”
“Like what?” Aaron sat up in his seat and actually looked interested.
“Rocks to make a circle for a fire. Dry twigs to burn. Tree branches for a shelter. Berries just in case you get hungry.” She looked around, waiting for questions, and when there weren’t any, she continued. “You need to orient yourself. First use a piece of brightly colored clothing or a pile of leaves to mark your location. Then figure out your directions—north, south, east, west.”
“How?” Ty asked.
“We all know the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. If it’s late afternoon and the sun is on your right, you’re facing south.” She assessed their expressions and figured, as he did, that they didn’t quite get that. “Don’t worry. We’ll practice.”
“Then what do you do?” Aaron wanted to know.
“Stay in one place. This increases your chances of being found and reduces the amount of energy your body uses. That means you won’t need as much water and food to keep you going.”
Interesting stuff, Cabot thought. He took all of this for granted because he’d grown up with land all around and spent time in the wilderness with his father. At the time it felt like a lecture, but now that he had a son, he was grateful for everything he’d been taught. Unlike his father, Kate was patient and much more fun to watch. She seemed to keep the kids’ attention even as she gave them practical information.
“If it’s hot out, find shade. And, boys, don’t be tempted to take off your shirts.”
“How come?” Ty asked.
“You can easily become dehydrated and sunburned.”
Cabot got a mental image of Kate in that bathing suit on the magazine cover. If they were alone, he sure wouldn’t mind seeing her in that bikini for real—and then take it off her in the shade. And if he didn’t STOP, he was going to have to give himself a time-out.
Almost as if she could read his thoughts, Kate took the pen and wrote Fire on the board. “Another way to prepare is to start a fire. We’ll do a whole class just on safely doing that.”
“Cool,” Aaron said.
“No—hot,” Ty countered, looking pleased with himself when Gina laughed.
“Signal your location,” Kate continued. “Make noise—whistle, shout, sing, bang rocks together. If you’re in an open area visible from the air, make something searchers can see.” She drew a triangle, then wrote SOS inside it. “Do something like this in a sandy area or use leaves and tree branches.”
Cabot could see the kids were shifting in their seats and looking around, getting restless. At this point they wouldn’t retain anything.
“What do you say we call it a day?” Kate apparently had noticed, too. “We’ll go over the rest of the material tomorrow. I think it’s getting close to lunchtime.”
The kids nodded and stood. Aaron started toward the door with Gina. “I wonder if bugs are on the menu.”
“Gross,” she said, wrinkling her nose.
“How about caterpillars?”
Kate heard and walked over to him. “Never eat brightly colored bugs. And always cook them to get germs off. Grasshoppers are okay. They’re quite good, actually.”
Gina had hurried out the door ahead of him and didn’t hear the remark, but Aaron sure did. He didn’t say “ew,” but Cabot would swear he turned just a little green.
He and Ty moved to the front of the room and Kate joined them there. Cabot tipped his hat to her. “Nicely done, Miss Scott.”
“Which part? The information? Or the bug-cuisine part at the end?” She used a rag to wipe off the board.
“Both.”
“Did you really eat a grasshopper?” Tyler asked skeptically.
“Yes.”
“Really?” Cabot asked.
“I wouldn’t lie.” She made a cross over her heart. “In the grown-up version of this class, you have to eat a bug to pass.”
“Then I think I’d get an F,” Ty said. “Gina’s right. That’s gross.”
“Was it?” Cabot asked. “Gross, I mean?”
“Let’s just say that if you’re really hungry, it’s better than nothing.”
“So, and I quote, listen carefully and never get lost in the woods long enough to have to eat bugs.”
She laughed. “I’m glad to know someone was paying attention.”
He had been when he hadn’t been having fantasies a
bout her shapely legs wrapped around his waist.
“I was listening,” Ty said. “But if you were there, you could just tell me what to do.”
“If I was where?” she asked.
“The campout. Are you going?” He was looking up at her hopefully.
“No one has said anything to me about it.” She glanced at Cabot. “I just took over the survival basics from one of the other counselors.”
“My dad takes the kids who sign up for it in advance,” Ty explained. He looked at his father as something occurred to him. “You never come to camp activities except for that. How come you’re here today?”
Cabot almost winced. He knew his son wasn’t being critical, just making an observation and asking for an explanation about the change. But it made him think. Maybe he should show up more. Not because he had news about his son’s mother or to keep an eye on a new teacher.
“I wanted to see how Kate’s new class on wilderness training went.” Mostly.
“It was good.” Tyler nodded emphatically. “I liked the bug stuff.”
And maybe he has a little crush on Gina, Cabot thought. Wasn’t it too soon for all of that? He wasn’t looking forward to navigating his son’s teenage years by himself. But you played the hand you were dealt.
“I’m glad you enjoyed the lesson.” Kate smiled at the boy.
“Dad, I have an idea.”
“I thought I smelled smoke,” Cabot teased. “But that was you using your head.”
Ty rolled his eyes. “Kate should go with us on the campout.”
“Not as the cook.” He met her gaze and saw her grin.
“Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”
“It’s really fun, Kate,” the boy persisted, looking up at Cabot. “Please say it’s okay for her to go with us.”
Obviously it meant a lot to his son. Cabot wouldn’t mind, either. She was good with kids and good company. But it wasn’t part of her job and she probably wouldn’t want to rough it.
“You don’t have to,” he said. “But there’s always room for one more, and an extra pair of eyes on the kids is always welcome. You can do hands-on instruction on the trail about edible plants and animals.”
The Rancher Who Took Her In (The Bachelors of Blackwater Lake) Page 13