Chapter 11

 

RING!  RING!  Kait stopped at the door, just about to head out the door.

Just let the answering machine get it.  You don’t have time to talk; you’re supposed to be leaving for Bible study.  The phone kept ringing; finally Kait sighed and walked over to the phone.  “Hello?”

“Hey Kait,” Jonathan’s voice rang through the phone line dissolving any of the resentment Kait had about answering the phone.

“Jonathan, I’m glad you called.  I’ve been tying to get a hold of you all day.”

Instantly Jonathan was concerned, “Is any thing wrong?”

“Oh, no.  Nothing like that.  I was just going to see if you would come with me tonight.”  Kait knew she could do it on her own, but she always felt better if Jonathan was there.

“Sure, where are you going?”  Just like him, he’d agree to do anything for me and then ask the questions later.

“I’m getting together with some people from my old youth group.”  Don’t start feeling guilty, they were in my old youth group.  It just so happens that they are my Bible Study group also.

“Do you want me to pick you up?”

“How soon can you be here?”  Kait looked at her watch; if he wasn’t able to be there really quick then they would be late.

“I can be there in two minutes.  I was actually on my way over to see if you wanted to go out and get some dinner that isn’t cafeteria food.”

“How about we get dinner afterwards?”

“Sounds good to me, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

***********

Kait settled tiredly into bed.  Things had gone really well, quiet better than she had really expected.  Jonathan sat through the whole Bible Study and had even made some good comments.  He had also lent her his support when during prayer request time at the end that Kait had told the group that she had been attacked.  Everyone had offered her all kinds of help but she told them that she was already getting everything taken care of and all she needed was their prayers.

Afterwards at dinner Jonathan was some what quiet, but when she had asked if he would go again with her next week, much to her surprise he said he would.

***********

By the twelfth week of her sessions Kait was one of the women helping to lead the group.  Kait arrived early for her fourteenth week and sought out Mary, the bubbly woman who led the group.

“Hey Kaitlin, you’re here early.  What’s up?”  Mary looked up from a table where she was writing a few notes.

“I just wanted to give you the heads up that I won’t be here this summer.”

“Oh!  Nothing’s wrong I hope,” Mary asked concerned.

“No, nothing is wrong, it’s just that I have a job this summer, I’m going to be working at a camp.”

“I see,” Mary got up and gave Kait a hug.  “Be good, have fun, and if anything happens, call me, okay?”

“I promise.  No I have to go.  Will you say bye to the girls for me?”

“Sure, now go have a good time.”  Mary patted Kait’s shoulder in a motherly fashion and ushered her out the door.

***********

Kait Sat in the middle of her floor surrounded by cloths and dozens of other things.  Jonathan was sitting on her bed watching her fold cloths and pack them into a large duffle bag.  “Don’t look so sad.  It’s not like I’m moving cross-country, it’s only a forty minute drive.”  Kait rested her hands on her hips and pretended to scold him.

“I know.  I’m just worried about you.  If something happens it’ll take me forty minutes to get there rather than five.”  Jonathan reminded her.  Kat was sill dressing in loose and baggy cloths but slowly she was beginning to act like her old self; going out with friends, getting involved with theatre.  The healing process she had chosen was a fairly active one; she attended her discussion group twice a week, met with a private counselor once a week and had even gone as far as taking a self-defense class.  Now she was even heading off her three and a half months to work at a camp.

“Well I won’t be waking up any kids if I have any nightmares.  I’m not staying with the kids.”  After talking it over with the camp director Pete had suggested that she work with the horses, so she would be staying with the other wranglers.  Kait had wanted to work more with the kids but she knew it was for the best, she couldn’t risk having a nightmare when she was living with 12 kids for a week, but Kait was still looking forward to it, it was a chance to get out and really do something.  Kait zipped up the bad she had been packing and set it aside.  She looked at the cloths that still cluttered her floor. What a mess, I’m not going to leave my room looking like this!  Determined she began picking everything up and putting it away.

Of all the things she’s changed about herself, this is one I’ve got to agree with.  Before she would have just piled everything in the corner and left it there.  Now she keeps everything completely neat and orderly.  Jonathan chuckled to himself as he watched Kait hop around putting things away.

***********

Kait collapsed onto the couch in the staff lounge, two other girls were out sick so she had to cover for them for the past two days, she had been working from dawn ‘till dusk, and was in need of a break, thank goodness it was Saturday, she didn’t have to work until noon on Sunday.

“Hey Kit-Kat, we’re heading out to the mall, want to come along?”  A perky girl asked from the doorway.

“The kids are gone, I think you can use my real name,” Kait joked tiredly, one of the things Kait loved about the camp was everyone who worked there was given a camp name so the kids could remember the names easier.

“What don’t you like your name?  I think it’s kind of cute.”  The girl cocked her head to one side and blinked her wide blue eyes.

“I don’t’ mind it, but after nine weeks I kind of miss hearing my real name.  You guys go ahead, I think I’m going to stay around here today and catch up on my sleep.”

“Okay catch you later.”  Kait didn’t even wait for her to leave, she nodded and closed her eyes, snuggling down into he couch for her much needed nap.

She woke up a few hours later when someone sat down on the couch next to her.  “Hey sleeping Beauty,” Kait smiled inwardly, what a nice surprise, but she kept her eyes closed and pretended to still be asleep.  “Hey I knot you’re awake.”

Kait gave in and opened her eyes.  She smiled up at him and stretched out on the couch.  “Hey yourself.”

“So are you going to give your best friend a hug or lye there all day?”  Jonathan joked.

Kait just sat there pretending to think it over, then pounced on him giving him a big hug.  “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming up?”  Kait sat up to let Jonathan sit next to her , once he had she swung her legs around so they were laying across his lap, positioning her so she could lean back against the armrest and still be able to look at  him while they talked.

“Comfortable?”  Jonathan asked raising an eyebrow.

“Very.  Now why didn’t you tell me you were coming up?”  Kaitlin asked getting back to the question at hand.

“Well mainly because I didn’t know until last night, my boss called and gave me the day off.  And also I have some news that you might be interested in.”  Kait waited by he didn’t continue.  She knew he was going this just to get a reaction out of her.

“Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Aren’t you going to tell me?” Kait prodded.

“Nope, I’m saving that for later.  But for starters a whole lot of people wanted me to tell you hi for them; my mom, dad, and my brothers.  Your parents and you sister, also you Bible Study group.”  Jonathan slipped that last group in so quickly that Kait almost didn’t hear.

“Oh?”  But Kait did hear.  She sat up straighter.  “When did you see them?”

Jonathan ran his hand through his hear embarrassed.  “I saw them yesterday.  I’ve kind of been going to that Bible Study all summer.”

Kait just sat there shocked, then smiled and pounced on him again, giving him and even bigger hug than before.  “That’s great!”  Kait said excitedly still hugging him.

Jonathan was a little surprised at the strength of her reaction.  He knew she would e happy, but he didn’t expect her to be this ecstatic.  He just chuckled and hugged her back.

“Whoa, now.  Am I interrupting something?”  A deep male voice boomed form the doorway.

At the sound of the voice Jonathan nearly jumped off the couch.  A moment later old instinct kicked in ad he tightened his arm around Kait protectively while turning to look at the source of the voice.

Kait recognized his protective hold and laid her hand on his arm to reassure him that it was okay.  “Yes, Murry, you are.  If you please, can you hang the “Do not Disturb” sign on the door on you way out?”  Kait struggled to hider her laughter when she saw the look on both boys’ faces.  “I’m kidding,” Kait laughed after only a moment.  The look of shock on both their faces was just too funny.  “Murry, this is Jonathan.  Jonathan, this is Murry, he’s the head wrangler.”  Kait introduce the two.

“Nice to meet you.”  Murry walked over to the couch and shook Jonathan’s hand. “You two might want to invest in some space there,” indicating the way they were sitting, “before Pete comes in.  I doubt he will ding it funny that your boyfriend is here and you are practically sitting in his lap.”  Murry was half joking but Kait could tell that there was some truth to what he was saying.  So she sat up and swung her legs back around so that her feet were on the floor and not on Jonathan’s lap.

“That’s better,” Murry joked.  He walked over to the mailboxes pulled out his mail, “Well I’ll see you two love birds later, I’ve got a hot date of my own.”

“Oh?”  This was the first Kait had ever heard of Murry dating.

“Yeah, a sick horse.  Nice meeting you Jonathan, I’ll catch you later Kait.”

Kait and Jonathan sat mutely for a few minutes.  Neither of them really knew what to day after Murry’s comments, neither were sure if they were really ready to address that issue or not.

“How about we go for a walk?”  Kait offered; she just needed to break the silence it had been getting to her.

“Sounds good to me.”  Jonathan got up and offered his hand to help her up also.