Free Courting Katarina by Carol Steward

you’re so much in love? Or are you?”
    “Would I date someone for that long and not love him?” she demanded, her voice quivering.
    “And two years proves you’re in love? You are a dreamer, Katarina.” She didn’t reply. “I’m sorry, but how long you date has nothing to do with the success of a marriage. I’ve known couples who have been together for years whose marriages fell apart. And couples who by some miracle know immediately that they’re right for one another—who are there for one another through thick and thin, good times and bad. That’s love.”
    “Ron sends me flowers every Friday.”
    “A real Boy Scout, huh? Sounds like an accountant with an efficient secretary.” Alex slowed to round a curve.
    “You ought to talk—you won’t even commit to a relationship. You’d rather stick to some childish pact with your brother.”
    He hesitated, assessing her for a moment. “The life of a smokejumper isn’t easy on relationships. I haven’t committed myself because I refuse to leave a wife to worry and raise the kids alone. If I foundsomeone I’m crazy enough about to marry, I couldn’t leave her six months out of the year. When I find her, she’s going to be my first priority, not some job.”
    There was a long silence. “Then maybe you should find someone who likes adventure and traveling, and let her go with you. There are plenty of people who take their family with them on a job. Look at actors and singers.”
    There was more to it than the traveling, but he couldn’t begin to explain that to a dreamer like Katarina. He’d said far more than he should have already. He pressed the accelerator and hoped she’d let the subject die.
    “Don’t you have some wonderful advice for me?”
    He heard a glint of amusement in her voice, saw a hint of a smile on her face. “Yeah, your fiancé is a fool for letting you out of his sight.”
    Katarina couldn’t work. She put the doll clothes away and pretended to doze, bewildered by Alex’s remarks. Why was he so upset with her? They’d listened to both sides of that tape at least five times. If she heard one more song about a brokenhearted cowboy she’d walk back home. She wondered what in the world kept bringing on the arguments between them. The romantic in her said only one reason made sense. But that was impossible. They’d known each other only a week. Besides, she was practicallyengaged to someone else. She couldn’t be falling in love with Alex.
    Katarina tucked her feet up onto the seat and leaned her head against the door. The music faded away and she felt the pressure of the day slip into the comfort of silence….
    …Some sixth sense brought her fully awake.
    “Hang on!” Alex’s hand pressed her against the seat.
    The car slid off the road and rolled to its side, to the top, then over again. Her sewing basket hit her in the head. The totes and cooler tumbled in the back end as if they were in a clothes dryer. Finally they came to a sudden stop. A terrible clanging forced him to turn the car off.
    “Katarina, you okay?”
    “What happened?”
    “I swerved to miss a deer and hit a boulder in the road. Are you hurt?” He flicked the lights on.
    She shook her head. “I hit my head on something, but I think I’m okay. Are you? Okay, I mean.”
    “I’m fine. We need to get out of here. Grab your things, quick. Don’t forget the cell phone.”
    The headlights glared into the abyss. Alex opened the back end and pulled everything out. “Move things farther away from the car. Gas is leaking.” When they were through, he pointed a flashlight toward the road. “If this is the detour, I’d hate to see what the highway looks like. I’ve four-wheeled on better.”

    “There was more road construction?”
    He nodded.
    Katarina headed back to the car, muttering.
    “Katarina? Did you forget something?”
    He watched in silence as she walked a wide circle and looked at her car. Weeds stuck out from the back doors. The top looked