Waiting for Dusk (6 page)

“I understand.” Drew said as if he knew what
she was thinking. “Ask the Johanssons if you can go hiking
tomorrow. I’ll be by to pick you up early.” He turned and galloped
away.

Katie sighed. What am I doing? Living a
dream?

She was starting to like this life better
than her real life. It was all so confusing. There was no guarantee
she could be back here tomorrow but she let Drew think she’d be
here. As she rode toward the boardinghouse, a voice called to
her.

“Where have you been? I was starting to get
worried about you!” As Katie came closer, she saw Anna standing on
the front porch, arms on her hips. “Well, you don’t have to tell me
where you’ve been. Come on. Get down and help me take care of the
horses. I have some news to tell you.”

Katie and Anna walked into the barn with
Flicka trailing slowly behind. Anna piled hay into the stalls while
Katie removed Flicka’s saddle. Then Anna blurted out, “Lucinda’s
getting married.”

“What?” Katie thought she didn’t hear that
correctly.

“Lucinda is getting married,” Anna
repeated.

Katie dropped the saddle. “To who? I thought
she was in love with Daniel.”

Anna frowned. “I did, too. She met a local, a
very rich rancher’s son a few weeks ago. They’ve been seeing each
other every day since. His name is Henry Hasting.”

“Mmm.” Katie thought for a moment. “So do you
think this is a rebound thing?”

“Rebound?”

“You know, she’s going to marry Henry to
forget about Daniel. She’s only known him a few weeks.”

“Girls! Supper!” Mr. Carl called them.

The pair ran from the barn into the house.
Lucinda was waiting for them. “Kathryn, look!” She held out her
left hand. “I’m getting married! And I want you to be a
bridesmaid!”

Chapter Nine

I’m not ready to get
up, and certainly not ready to end this dream. Katie sat up in bed
and saw her butterflies on the wall. She could see sunlight
streaming in her windows, bouncing off her sky blue walls and
moaned. She decided to go back to sleep for a few hours. She needed
to tell Lucinda she couldn’t be a bridesmaid. Her loyalties were
with Anna and she should be in the wedding. Those two were friends
for a long time and came on the adventure together.

Katie lay back on her pillow and dozed off.
She woke an hour later and she was still in her room. What
happened? I should be in Arizona. She pounded her mattress in
frustration.

She propped up some pillows and grabbed her
laptop. She went to a search engine and typed in ‘Harvey girls’.
She expected to see the search engine ask, ‘Did you mean...’ with
another suggestion because there was no such thing as Harvey girls.
Instead there was a list of websites. Katie quickly chose one, and
waited for it to load. She was nervous and excited. She never heard
of a ‘Harvey girl’, now she practically was one.

Katie read the history of the girls. It was
just like Anna described. Fred Harvey, a real person, wanted
pretty, smart girls with high morals to work at his restaurants
that were located out west. She read on and on, absorbing all she
could.

There was a knock at the door. Her mother
opened it slightly. “Oh, you are awake. Lindsey’s here. She’s home
from her aunt’s ranch and couldn’t wait to see you.”

“Tell her to come up!” Katie sprang up from
her bed as Lindsey ran in. The two jumped and hugged for what
seemed like forever. “Tell me all about the ranch and what you did
there!”

“Oh, you know. It was the same old, same old.
Riding horses, working on the ranch, meeting boys...”

“You met someone?” Katie clasped Lindsey’s
hands, and they bounced up and down on the bed.

“He’ll be there next summer when I go again.
Until then, we’re just going to text and be friends.”

“Oh, no. You didn’t just say that. I see that
look in your eyes. There’s more to tell.” Katie was glad to be
distracted by Lindsey’s stories. They talked the rest of the
morning about her stay at the ranch.

“Wait for me while I get dressed,” Katie said
as she headed into her bathroom.

After she came out of the shower, Katie heard
Lindsey’s voice call out. “Your mom said you had a boring summer.
Is that true?”

Katie threw on shorts and a tank. She wrapped
a towel around her just-shampooed hair and opened the door. “Yes
and no. I got to drive the Mustang! Ty is home now. And I’ve had
some good dreams...”

“Dreams? Ooo, tell me about them,” Lindsey
leaned forward placing her elbows on her knees.

Katie hesitated. Lindsey was her best friend.
Would she understand? Would she think she was crazy? Katie flopped
on her bed and decided to tell her about the dreams.

“Do you think that book your mom gave you has
something to do with it? You did say it was historical fiction, a
romance novel. Maybe you’re just dreaming about what you read in
the book.” Lindsey gave good advice.

Katie suddenly realized she didn’t have a
clue what the book was about. She thought she read it through to
the end but couldn’t tell Lindsey who the main characters were or
what the plot was about. She blinked and then stared into
space.

“Katie? Katie? Are you alright?” Lindsey
shook her shoulder. “I think you need to get out of this room, out
of this house! Come on. Let’s go.”

Katie grabbed her purse and phone, then they
were out the door.

“Later, Mom!” Katie called as they shut the
door.

Lindsey was a few months older than Katie and
already had her driver’s license. They hopped in her car.

“Where are we going?” Katie asked as they
drove away.

“Jordyn’s.”

“Jordyn’s home?”

“Yes, haven’t you been checking your phone?”
Lindsey said with a loud sigh.

“I haven’t gotten any messages in days!”
Katie looked at her phone and saw twenty new messages. “Oh, maybe I
have. Don’t know where my head has been.”

“I bet ten of them are from me. I let you
know when I left the ranch, when I was boarding the plane, when I
got off the plane...”

“Okay, I get it! I’m so glad you’re home,
Linds, really!” Katie made her mind up to get back into the real
world and stay there. “Let’s see if Jordyn wants to go
shopping!”

Jordyn was happy to see her two friends. They
laughed and talked for hours. Jordyn had many tales to tell from
her trip to China. Her two moms were so excited to show her all the
places they were on their first trip. The best thing on that trip
was adopting her as they always told her.

“My moms were so embarrassing. They made me
pose with everything, even a street sign.” Jordyn smiled, and Katie
could tell she was really pleased. “They just wanted me to soak in
everything. I told them I really appreciated all they did with the
trip, but this is my home...with them.

“Awww...” Katie and Lindsey both said at the
same time.

Just then one of Jordyn’s moms came home.

“Hi, Ms. Taylor,” Katie said.

“Girls, good to see you. How was your summer?
Want to stay for dinner?”

“Fine and yes, thanks!” Lindsey answered for
them.

Katie’s phone rang. She saw it was Erin, the
head cheerleader of the basketball team at school. “Hi, Erin,
what’s up?”

“Just want to know if you are going to try
out for basketball cheerleader. You weren’t at camp this
summer.”

“Gee, Erin, I haven’t thought about it yet.”
Katie wasn’t completely truthful.

“Katie, you’re really good and I’d love to
have you on the team. Please think about it. I’ll see you when
school starts.”

“I will. Thanks for thinking I’m good enough.
I’ll see you in school, too!”

“Well, what’s up?” Jordyn prodded.

Katie told the girls about the
conversation.

“Of course, you have to try out. Remember you
and Tyson made a promise to each other.” Lindsey teased.

“We were nine! Things change.”

“I think Tyson likes you, Katie,” Jordyn
said.

“We’re friends, that’s all.”

“I’d love to be ‘friends’ with a hot guy like
that,” Lindsey replied.

Ms. White came into the room. “Dinner, girls.
We’re dining outside.”

The rest of the evening was very enjoyable.
Katie liked Ms. Taylor and Ms. White. They were funny, told good
stories and had a lot to share about their trip to China.

Katie was glad they sat outside. The sun set
and dusk settled in. Katie was glad about that because they
couldn’t tell she was really daydreaming about another time,
another place that was only real to her and no one else.

Chapter Ten

Lucinda’s voice
could be heard above all the others. “My dress has to be perfect.
This is going to be one of the biggest weddings Arizona has ever
seen. Where’s Kathryn? She needs to be fitted for her bridesmaid
dress. Kathryn? Kathryn?”

Katie threw her door open. “Lucinda! I’m
right here. What time is it? I need to talk to you anyway.” She
pulled Lucinda into her room. “Lucinda, I don’t think it’s right
that I should be a bridesmaid. You are friends with Ruthie
and...Anna. It doesn’t feel right.”

“We are friends, Kathryn. We work together,
live at the boardinghouse together, and you will be so beautiful in
the wedding. You’re going to look wonderful in your dress. Now I
won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. The ladies are here to do our
fittings.”

“They’re here?” Katie was surprised. Her mind
was on other things, like hiking with Drew.

“Henry says that I can have and do whatever I
want for my wedding. Isn’t he wonderful?” Lucinda clapped her
hands.

Katie decided to go along with it. She got
measured, fitted, pushed and prodded. Lucinda was next, so Katie
escaped back to her room. She dressed for hiking, and headed down
the hall to Anna’s room.

“Anna, are you in there?”

“Is it safe to come out now?”

“Yes, but let me in,” Katie said through the
crack in the door. As she entered the room, Anna was sitting on the
edge of her bed holding something.

“What do you have there?” Katie pointed and
then said, “Oh, that’s none of my business. Sorry.”

“It’s a letter from Daniel.” Anna hugged it
to her chest. “He’s been on a cattle drive. He went with some of
the ranch hands down to Mexico to bring cattle they purchased up to
their ranch. Daniel decided to go on the drive when I told him I
couldn’t see him anymore. I told him it was hurting Lucinda too
much to see us together. Now that she’s getting married, things
could be different.” Her eyes pleaded with Katie. “What do you
think?

“Go for it!” Katie threw her hand in the air.
“I’m so happy for you! Now, on to even more serious things. Anna, I
can’t be in this wedding. It isn’t right. You should be in it, not
me.”

“No, that’s quite alright. Be in the wedding.
Lucinda wants you to be in it.”

“But what about Ruthie? She’s more of a
friend than me.”

Anna shook her head. “I don’t know how that
girl thinks lately. You’ve been fitted, haven’t you? You can’t back
out now.”

Katie threw Anna a ‘why me’ look, and stomped
out of the room. She heard Anna laughing. That was a good sign.
Anna was happy. It was all because of Daniel.

I hope Daniel gets here soon,
Katie
thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Mr.
Johansson. “Mr. Andrew is here to see you. He said he would like to
take you hiking for the day. Would you like to do that?”

“Yes, I’d like that very much.” Katie nodded
in excitement.

“Then be on your way! Be home before dark!”
he called as she skipped out the door.

Drew waited for her outside, sitting on his
horse. He gently pulled her up behind him, and they trotted off.
Katie wrapped her arms around his waist. She felt a warm wind on
her face and the breeze in her hair. She wished she had her camera
phone with her to take a picture --Drew and Kate frozen in time.
When they reached the Canyon, Drew stopped. He let Katie slide down
and then dismounted himself.

“Ready for some lessons?” He smiled at
her.

“No! School doesn’t start for a few weeks
yet!” She playfully came back but then reconsidered. “Actually,
Drew, you can be the teacher and I will be the student and not make
a fuss.” Katie wished all of her teachers looked like him.

They strolled along to the edge of the
Canyon. “This is called Yavapai Point,” Drew pointed out.

They stood in one spot as he showed Katie
what to look for. “You get a good view from here. The canyon is
more than a mile deep. You can hike down to the Colorado River
using one of two trails. Can you see the river? There?” he pointed.
Then he pointed to another area. “That’s Bright Angel Canyon.”

He seemed so excited to show her everything.
“Come on, walk with me.”

Drew took Kate’s hand. “I really want you to
see Kolb Studio. It was built by two brothers, Emery and Ellsworth
Kolb. They are very famous. Have you read about them? Perhaps
you’ve seen their work in National Geographic.”

Katie seemed to recall going to Kolb Studio
when she was on the trip with her mom and dad. She wished she paid
better attention. “They made a trip down the Colorado River and
filmed it. I think they showed the movieat this studio.”

“Yes, exactly right. They were the first to
make a moving picture of their trip down the Colorado through the
Grand Canyon. They still show the movie. We can go see it if you
like. Emery still lives here, shows the movie everyday and narrates
it himself. Today he’s having a guest lecturer, Jack Woods. He’s
very famous in his own right and won’t be here long. I believe he’s
going back east to get married soon. Jack’s a good friend of mine
and I’d really like for you to meet him.”

Kolb Studio was a very fascinating building.
It looked like it could fall right into the canyon, but was really
built on a sturdy piece of rock. As they passed by, Katie saw a
sign posted for the guest lecturer.