Free I Love You Again by Kate Sweeney Page B

Stella said, setting the plate on the table. “Antipasto for two.”
    Roz’s mouth watered; she didn’t know they had all this in the kitchen. Several kinds of cheese, olives, meats… She reached down, and Helen slapped at her hand.
    “Shoo,” she said affectionately, placing a napkin in her lap.
    “I’ll leave you to your feast.” Roz bowed and walked away.
    “By the way,” Helen asked. “Where is my daughter?”
    “Frolicking in the woods,” Roz said. “I hope they don’t get lost.”
    ********
    “Are we lost?” Kit asked, trying not to sound like a harmonica; she took deep slow breaths, but it didn’t help. They had been walking for forty-five minutes—she was exhausted forty minutes ago. She sat on the huge boulder and flexed her feet.
    Dale laughed. “No, we’re not lost. But we’d probably better get back. Are you okay?”
    “Yes, I’m fine.”
    “We need to get you into shape,” Dale said. She hadn’t even broken a sweat.
    Kit glared at her when she stood. “Let’s get back.”
    “Seriously. When we get home, you’re going on an exercise regimen.” She reached in and pinched Kit’s waist. “Get rid of the love handle.”
    “I know you mean well, but I’m a grown woman, and I don’t need to be told what I’m going to do,” Kit said and walked away.
    Dale laughed, which really irritated Kit. “Kit, wait. I’m sorry. But you said yourself you wanted to shed some weight.” She caught up and walked beside her. “I know how to do it. You’ll look great.”
    Kit stopped and turned to her. “I’ll look great? Meaning what? I don’t now ?”
    The blank look on Dale’s face was priceless.
    “Suppose, just suppose for a moment, that I couldn’t get into the shape you wanted. Suppose I had a glandular problem or something.”
    “You don’t, though. Do you?”
    Kit closed her eyes. “Can you use your imagination for a moment?”
    “Okay…”
    “What if I had a medical issue that precluded me from losing any weight?” She extended her arms out. “And this was as good as it would ever get?”
    “Uh…”
    Kit glared. “Not the response I wanted.” She started walking again. “Or needed.”
    “Oh, c’mon. Don’t be so thin-skinned. You took me off-guard. Of course it wouldn’t make a difference to me.”
    Kit snorted and kept walking. They walked the rest of the way back in silence, which was fine with Kit, she was out of breath anyway and limping.
    “I have a surprise for you,” Dale finally said.
    “You do?”
    “Yep. I know the owner of a local skydiving outfit.”
    Kit’s blood ran cold. She had dodged Dale’s first attempt at this. She said nothing as they continued walking.
    “So I made arrangements tomorrow afternoon around noon. You’ll make your first jump. You’ll love it. It’s so liberating. And like we discussed, you’ll be with me, and it’ll be as safe as can be.”
    Kit chewed at her bottom lip. She really—and she emphasized really—didn’t want to do this. But she couldn’t back out again, and the idea of Roz’s smug “I told you so” look was unthinkable. She could never tell Roz she sold the Stairmaster on eBay and took the money and went on a shopping spree with her mother and Bess.
    “If you’re sure,” she said, glancing at Dale’s grin.
    “I’m sure. You’ll love it, and you’ll want to do it again. It’s one of the reasons I came out here. I figure what were the odds of you coming to the same town where Sandy lives? When Helen told me where you were going, I figured it was…”
    “Kismet?” Kit offered dryly.
    “No, nothing like that. More like fate.”
    “That’s what…” Kit rubbed her temple. “Never mind.”
    They headed back to the lodge, walking most of the way in silence. Visions of jumping out of a plane flashed through Kit’s mind. She had no clue how to get out of it gracefully.
    When they got back to the lodge, the last person Kit wanted to see was Roz. Correction, the last person she wanted to