by Amy Field
She smiled as the applause erupted around her. Pete grimaced and gave her a hard look. She’d been considering this for a long time, but hadn’t told anybody yet. Now she knew she had made the right decision, and by committing to it publicly she effectively eliminated any possibility of Pete, or anyone else, talking her out of it. There were, she knew, adventures yet to be had, but they would involve a very different kind of life than the one she had known so far.
Chapter 2
Less than two weeks later Katie was on a flight to Europe, packed and ready to begin exploring the Swiss Alps. She didn’t know quite what she hoped to find while she was there, but she knew that there was something in her life of fame and fortune that had to go. Her career was stifling her spirit, making it impossible to breathe. She’d been living in a perpetual cycle of quid-pro-quo, tit-for-tat, this-for-that, and she was done. She was tired of people being nice to her because they could get nice things from her, and she was terrified that if she actually knew what all of her staff and so-called “friends” really thought of her, she’d probably the the loneliest girl in the world.
The broad but not especially deep world of winter sports fanatics knew that she was taking time off to backpack through Europe, and her parents and Pete had her itinerary and knew where she would be the whole time, but she had decided that for the trip itself she would not broadcast her celebrity. She flew in coach class to France, then took the train to Zurich, and from there boarded a bus for the base camp in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains.
She had deliberately not styled her hair since the press conference, preferring instead to comb it out each night before bed and wear it in a simple ponytail during the day. She packed no makeup with her apart from a tube of concealer, saved her contacts for an occasion when she might actually need them but traveled in her old glasses, which had large, black, horn-rimmed frames, and introduced herself as “Catherine” rather than “Katie”. So far as she could tell, not a single person so far had identified who she was, and she was very, very grateful.
She had directions from the bus station to the hotel but wound up lost twice and eventually hailed a cab. The driver tried to make small talk with her, but his thick accent, heavy breathing, and mild body odor turned her off. “Is this what regular people have to deal with all of the time,” she wondered to herself. “Maybe I am better off where I’ve been.” Part of her wished that she had Pete and her limo and her driver and her people, but another, deeper part of her knew this is why she had come. She chose instead to feign interest; she asked the driver about his wife, his family, their home and their children. Within minutes they were chatting pleasantly and might even have missed the turnoff of the base of the mountain hadn’t come into such stunning view.
The vista took her breath away. The base of the mountain was covered in a dense blanket of green vegetation, but as the slopes rose the trees grew more and more sparse, with the sides of the mountain growing grey, then snow-colored, and finally a pristine white cap on top of a peak half-hidden by the fog. Katie rolled down her window to get a better perspective.
“Is beautiful, no?” The cab driver said.
For her part, Katie was mostly speechless. She stammered for a time and then managed, “I, uh, yes, absolutely marvelous.” The mountain was at once both beautiful and ominous; the thought of conquering such a giant was both exhilarating and terrifying.
The driver pulled up to the door of the hotel, situated at the entrance to the mountain’s base camp, and parked. Katie didn’t even wait for him to get out and help her. She simply popped the door, slung her backpack on, and leaned into the passenger side window, which was only half-open.
“Thanks for the ride, Hugo,” she said. “I hope Rene has a better soccer season this year.” He was surprised she had listened so closely, but as grateful for the care as well as for the generous tip.
The hotel itself was little more than a ski-lodge, but the lobby was cozy and beautifully appointed. The concierge came out from behind the front counter and greeted her personally.
“Ms. Cory?” he said, extending his hand. “Bienvenue. Welcome to our Hotel.”
She raised up her hand. “It’s just Catherine. And really there’s no need for any special treatment. In fact, I’m kind of trying to low-key things on this trip so…”
The older man looked at her hand disdainfully and said in firm but confused-sounding voice. “Of course. I did not mean to offer any special treatment. I simply wanted to offer to have your bag taken to your room. It’s just that, you’re late and the rest of your party is already in the midst of their orientation.”
Katie flushed with shame. Of course this random Swiss hotel manager would not know her. He was actually trying to help her avoid embarrassment since she was the one who was late. She thought about explaining the directions, but then shrugged, thanked the man, and followed him to one of the ballrooms. Inside sat a dozen or so people, all seated in a semi-circle around the fireplace. And in front of the fireplace stood one of the most handsome men Katie had ever seen.
He was tall and broad-shouldered, with a big chest, and maybe even a touch of a belly. His face was strongly featured with a square-set jaw and deep laugh-lines around his eyes. His cheeks were ruddy and his face showed some signs of weathering, but she was sure he wasn’t over thirty-five. His hair was full and lush, a deep chestnut brown and parted casually to the side and swept backwards. But his eyes are what got her; deep set and cerulean blue with flecks of gold and hazel, she could get lost in those eyes and stay there forever.
The man was demonstrating something on the strap of one of the backpacks and his audience was looking on with varying levels of interest. When he saw her enter, however, he stopped what he was doing and smiled broadly.
“Good, good,” he said smartly. “You are Miss Catherine Koo-ree, ya?”
“Ya,” she said, not realizing the imitation until after she’d done it.
“Well, I’m a-glad you’re here. My name is Jacob Hartmann, and I will be your guide up Mont Blanc. Your travel agents and other assistants have contracted me because I am the best. If you are in reasonably good shape then I can take you up any mountain in the Alps without any worries at all about your health and safety. It’s just important that you listen carefully and follow my instructions.” He smiled, realizing that she was still standing. He motioned to an open place on a couch next to a smaller, more finely-featured man.
Katie smiled, excused herself as she stepped in front of the other man and took her place on the coach. Jacob went on.
“I grew up here, in the Alps. My parents still live not two hours’ hike from here, at the foot of Mont -Rosset. As I grew, my heart came to rest in the mountains. So I traveled the world to learn as much about mountains as I could. I have climbed Everest twice, K2 once, and make sure and take at least one 8,000 meter summit a year. This trip will be a little more than half that, and not nearly as dangerous, but it is no walk in the park either. I’m here to keep you safe, make a-sure you have the fun, and come back with plenty of pictures to show and stories to tell your friends back home.”
The crowd chuckled politely at that one. It was a pretty mixed bag. There were four couples: one looked as though they might be pushing fifty, with extra weight on both of them and grey dotting the woman’s hair; another couple looked to be in their mid-thirties and seemed mildly annoyed with the orientation in general; the final couple might have been twenty-five, and from the way they were mooning all over each other Katie would have put money on their being newlyweds. A stab of jealousy surged briefly in her heart, but then the young woman caught her eye and she couldn’t help but smile back.
The guy sitting next to her appeared to be one of the other singles in her group. He was about her age, maybe a little bit older, and well-dressed. His t-shirt had clearly been pressed and his jeans dry-cleaned. He wore hiking boots that she was sure must cost over five hundred dollars, and he had the air about him of someone who was used to talking in front of groups and
not especially happy that Jacob presently had the privilege.
He smiled over at her and checked her out unapologetically. As his eyes came to rest on her bosom his smile widened, and his eyes returned to hers. He shifted slightly closer to her on the coach and leaned in towards her ear.
“Can you believe this guy?” He nodded towards Jacob. “He grew up down the road and thinks he’s an expert in mountains.”
Katie nodded noncommittally. She didn’t want to engage anyone romantically while she was here—just find herself—but didn’t want to send off the wrong vibes to this guy. She considered briefly just telling him straight out that she was a lesbian, but was sure that would come back to bite her, so opted instead for a tight smile and noncommittal grunt.
“I’m Lance,” he said.
“Of course you are,” she thought. “What else would your name be?”
He held out his hand for her to shake. Because of how they were sitting on the couch it was very awkwardly placed. In order to reach out to shake him she had to press her chest up against her arm. She didn’t really want to do it, but she was afraid of disrupting Jacob any more than they already were. She made it as brief and painless as possible.
“Ka—Catherine,” she corrected herself quickly. He wasn’t paying much attention to her words.
“Your first time?” She noticed both the over-wide grin and the double-entendre, but didn’t take the bait.
She paused for a moment, then spoke. “Yes, yes it is, and because of that I really want to hear what Jacob is saying.”
Lance smiled condescendingly and Katie prayed he’d just go away.
Jacob finished demonstrating a couple of things on the backpack he had up front with him.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen: this is your last night in what you would probably think of as ‘civilization’. Tomorrow morning you’ll be getting ‘unplugged’ and ‘disconnected’ for the next couple of weeks. If you want to bring your phone for the cameras that’s up to you, but you won’t get any signal, and we won’t have lots of time to be fooling around. I would suggest you leave all electronics back here in the hotel safe. Also, please do not bring the booze –that is, no alcoholic beverages on the trail—we’ll be staying in mountain villages and you may drink with the locals while we’re there, but liquor will only weigh us down, and I can’t guarantee your safety if you’ve been drinking. Your safety is my highest priority. If everyone follows directions and uses their common sense, then our trip will go without incident and you can return to your lives back home a little more whole than when you left. In the meantime, I’d recommend getting a good night’s sleep so that you have a fresh start. We’ll be leaving at first light, so around five-thirty. Bonne nuit.”
Much to Katie’s surprise, Lance grabbed his phone almost immediately and was talking to someone far too loudly even before he left the conference room. She greeted a few of the other hikers and debated internally within herself. She was tired and knew she needed a good night’s sleep, but she was also desperately hungry from her travels. She decided to go to the hotel bar and see if they had anything she could eat before bed.
A handful of other patrons were already there eating and drinking. It was a sweet old couple who ran the bar, and the old woman came out, found out the kind of things Katie liked, and then disappeared, assuring her that she’d have something fresh within the next twenty minutes or so.
The old man poured her a white wine and she sat at the bar drinking it, casually watching the soccer match on the television and waiting for her dinner. The meal had just come, and though Katie wasn’t entirely sure what all it was called, there were cheesy potato pancakes, tart-tasting sausages, and little cream-filled pastries. To be honest, Katie was hungry enough that she would have been satisfied with a packet of Ramen and a Diet Coke, but to satisfy her hunger and enter the world of Swiss cuisine all at once was an especial delight.
She was rudely wakened from this world of culinary ecstasy, however, by presence of another person on the bar stool next to her, creepily invading her personal space. Raising her eyes from the plate to the television screen she chanced a glance and was not even a little surprised to see Lance.
He was mildly handsome, in a conventional sort of way. He had thick blond hair which had clearly been styled and overmoussed—classic metrosexual His shave was close, even for a man with such fair hair, and he had pointy sideburns which came down just below his earlobes. She hadn’t had a chance to check the weirdly arranged clothing before, but from this distance could easily recognize designer labels, and she could smell an expensive body spray that she knew from experience had been specially designed with human pheromones in order to make the wearer more attractive to the opposite sex. It wasn’t working.
“So, come here often?” His smile suggested that he knew the come-on was lame, but the intensity of his gaze and the proximity suggested that he didn’t know, or at least didn’t care.
“First time in Europe.” That was a lie. She’d competed in the last winter Olympics, but had gotten injured in the first round and so didn’t even place.
“And where’s home?” His eyes roamed over her like he was inspecting a piece of livestock, or maybe a new car. “Let me guess? Minnesota?”
“Kansas.”
“Des Moines?”
“Is in Iowa.”
“St. Louis?”
“Missouri.”
“Give me a hint.”
“The state is part of the city’s name.”
“Missouri City?”
“Kansas City.” This was weird. At least he’d looked smart.
“I thought Kansas City was in Missouri.” It was, of course, on both sides of the river. She looked at him now and could see he was playing with her. Jerk.
Katie could tell that she wasn’t going to get rid of him easily, so she set down her fork, motioned to the bartender for more wine, and the turned to look at him.
“So, Lance,” her voice was dripping with disdain. “Just what do you do? “ The bartender refilled her glass and she belted it, setting it back down before he could walk away. He filled it again.
“I’m a lawyer.”
Of course he is. Lance. A lawyer. With perfect eyebrows. Better than hers. Probably no body hair either. This man was the walking, talking incarnation of why she had come here in the first place. Telling him she was a lesbian as beginning to look reasonable again.
“And what do you do?”
My God, he was asking her a question, and actually seemed interested in the answer. Here as her chance.
“I drive a Zamboni. You know, the things that…”
“Clean the ice, yes I know. We have them, even in California.”
Of course, California. Plus he was an interrupter. She knew his type from a hundred miles away. She rolled her eyes, which was a mistake. He apparently thought she was flirty.
“So this is your first time backpacking?”
“It is. We don’t have any mountains in the ice rinks of Kansas City.”
He smiled. “I’m sure that’s true, but you mentioned it before.”
She looked confused and he flashed her a grin she supposed he thought was winning. “Lawyer,” he said in a stage whisper, tapping his temple with his forefinger. “Eidetic memory.”
“And obviously not much social skill,” she thought to herself.
This situation was getting absurd, and she was beginning to feel the tightness in her chest that sometimes plagued her at competition. She took another long drink from her glass, then turned to face him full on.
“Listen, Lance,” she started.
“Lancelot.” Now she couldn’t suppress the eye roll.
“Lance,” she said more firmly. “You seem like a nice guy, and I’m sure you’re a very accomplished lawyer out in San Francisco or L.A. or whatever. But I need for you to know right up front that I’m not on this trip to find a new boyfriend, or to have some European romance, or even just hook-up on a mountaintop…”
“But that would be nice,” his bobbed his head. Actually bobbed his head. She ignored him.
“I’m here for me, to deal with me and with some of the mess that is my life. I’m not here to make friends. So please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’d like a little distance as we start out tomorrow. I’m dealing with too much of my own stuff right now, and I can’t take on anyone else’s, not matter how kind, handsome, or successful they might be.”
“Handsome?” Dammit. She’d oversold herself and now he was only hearing the parts he wanted to.
“Anyway,” she said, belting the wine and standing up. She extended her hand to place some distance between them. “It was nice to meet you. I hope you really enjoy the trip.”
He took her hand firmly in his and then pulled her forward with it, forcing her to either hug him for stumble. She landed in his chest. He held her close, his lips near her ear.
“You say you want distance now, but you know the mountains are awfully cold and lonely at night. I’ll be waiting,” he paused, and she could fairly hear him licking his lips. “I’ll be waiting,” he said again, “for when you really need me.”
She smiled tightly as she pulled away, suppressing a shudder as she walked away.
As Katie lay in bed that night trying to fall asleep, she couldn’t help but feel more anxiety than she wanted to about what lay ahead. She knew there would be adventures in the coming weeks, and she felt safe in the care of Jacob, but she also worried about too many encounters with Lance or other guys like him.
Chapter 3
Katie fell asleep early but rested fitfully. She rose early, just after four, and showered quickly and repacked her bag. She then headed downstairs to find some coffee. As she left her room, however, she saw something which startled her.
Jacob as standing in the doorway of the room next to her, holding the door open slightly and talking in a loud whisper.
“Just make sure you’re down by 5:30, now. I don’t want the rest of the crew to have to wait on you.”