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“You’re welcome, Katy,” Brennon said. “I saw something about that store online and checked out some of what they sell and saw that. I knew you would like it.”
Katy sat back down. “I love it.” She started to wrap it then slide it back down into the box. “I’ll have to think about where I can put it, though.” She chuckled. “I certainly don’t want this on my desk in the class room. Those kids are always reaching and trying to get something, knocking stuff over.”
Brennon laughed. “Yeah, let’s not put something like that there. You talked about buying your first house sooner or later. Just save something like that for then. Remember when you said you liked those old Victorian houses in that neighborhood I took you through around downtown? Well, something like that would really go nice in one of those windows.”
“Oh, yes, absolutely,” Katy said.
Brennon and Katy talked for a while as the sun slowly dipped out of the sky. Once the orchestra of crickets and cicadas had saturated the air, Katy turned and looked at the view. Whatever clouds had been hanging around from the storm drifted out of sight. The stars sparkled, as did Gatlinburg down below. Before leaving the lookout, Katy and Brennon stood at the wood railing one more time and stared out. Brennon pointed to the cabins on the sides of the mountains – cabins which were obviously peoples’ residential dwellings rather than for rent for getaways. The couple talked about how they imagined it would be to live somewhere like the Smokey Mountains. All Katy could think about was driving up the sides of mountains just to get home in the afternoon after teaching and how frightening doing such a thing must be in the winter.
Katy finally fessed up that she was getting cold; the temperature had obviously dropped below freezing, so she couldn’t tolerate sitting outside anymore.
Brennon pulled up his GPS and found a way around Gatlinburg to get back to where their cabin was. They stopped at a Kroger and got some things to hold them over for the night should they get hungry. And Brennon made sure to grab a couple bottles of different wines before they headed back to the cabin.
Upon stepping inside, Katy acted as if she was seeing the place again for the first time. There was something about being in a wood cabin up in the mountains at night that seemed to romantic. In many ways, it was just hard to believe. Lately, while coming to the end of the school year, Katy felt twice as stressed because she had the issues with her and Brennon’s families now that they knew about their relationship. Katy just couldn’t care one bit about something like that right now.
Katy and Brennon changed into their sleep clothes then closed the blinds of the windows facing the cabins on either side of them. Brennon playfully slapped Katy’s behind when she started putting away their few bags of groceries. She turned around and did the same to Brennon. He saw it coming and quickly tried to move out of the way, but Katy’s hand still managed to make contact.
Brennon turned on the TV, didn’t like what was showing, so put on some light rock. He turned it down as well as turned the lights off then flipped on the spotlights. Katy had just finished with the last bag when she walked over to the couple of steps leading down into the large, open family area. She put her hand on her hips and looked up and around. “Um, what are you doing?”
“What do you mean?” Brennon asked. He got a wine opener and popped the cork. “I just thought we could share a bottle of wine to calm down.”
“But what about getting in the hot tub?” Katy asked, walking over to the patio door. “You know I love a hot tub.”
Brennon chuckled. He then crossed the room, came up to Katy from behind, and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Come on, Katy. You know it’s gotten way colder outside. I wouldn’t be surprised if it even snowed a little tonight… After all, we are higher up. I know you saw how we basically kept climbing up once we left Knoxville.”
“I know, I know, but still,” Katy said. She loved so much to be in Brennon’s embrace. She felt safe – comforted.
“It’s too cold, Katy,” Brennon said. “Why don’t you come over here and just sit down for a little bit?”
Katy went and sat by the French doors facing the back of the cabin – toward the mountains. She looked out as Brennon poured a couple glasses of wine then came over and sat next to her. He kissed her then handed a glass to her. “Are you into toasting?” he asked.
Katy giggled then shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I guess I am. I’ve done it, but not always.” She smiled. “What would you want to toast to?”
“I don’t know,” Brennon said. “There’s so much to toast too. Since I’ve kidnapped you and brought you up to the mountains to dispose of you, I feel like this toast really should mean something.”
Katy’s eyes slanted to Brennon. “Ha ha...Very funny. Maybe I’m the agent and was sent to make you disappear.”
Brennon raised his eyebrows. “A woman agent sent to make me disappear… Hmm, that sounds interesting.”
Katy rolled her eyes, laughed then held her glass up. “Let’s just toast to escaping the world.”
“Escaping the world?” Brennon asked. “That’s funny. We’re only five hours away.”
“I know, silly, but you know what I mean.” Katy held her glass up higher. “Let’s make a toast to escaping all the crap to do with our families and lives back home… A toast to being brave and finally breaking out of your comfort zone and doing something crazy.”
Brennon looked at Katy for a long, silent moment. With each passing moment, he was enthralled in a disapproving relationship with Katy, he found himself loving her more and more. “A toast to escaping the world and doing something courageous.”
Brennon and Katy clinked the rims of their glasses together then smiled. They each took a gulp of their wine then savored the taste. “So, what do you think?” Brennon asked. “I noticed how you were critiquing the wines at that
art gallery that night. I was impressed, I have to say. I didn’t know you were into wine.”
Katy’s eyelids fluttered; she sucked her cheeks in then shook her head. She set the glass down on the coffee table in front of them then wiped her face. “I’m not into wine, really,” she admitted. “I was just regurgitating what I heard other people saying from other conversations. All of it tasted the same to me...except for the apple whatever. That was pretty good. Everything else you heard me say was just bullshit.”
Brennon burst into laughter, shaking his head. At first, Katy giggled and found the humor. However, after his laughing seemed to be truly gut-wrenching, she was starting to wonder what was so damn funny. “Hey, what’s so funny?”
Brennon finally stopped laughing, wiping his watering eyes, then turned to Katy. Rather than say anything, he simply leaned it and kissed her passionately. Brennon quickly set his glass down then fell into an enthralling embrace with the love of his life. When their lips finally parted, Brennon just so happened to glance up at the french doors looking out at the mountains. He smiled then looked down at Katy, knowing that she was going to like what she was about to see.
“Katy, look outside,” Brennon said, rising up off of her.
