The next day, Saturday, Katelyn sat through two hours of watching Jenny play the role of attentive mom during her visit. Finally, as a reward for passing English, Katelyn’s mom let her leave the house. Katelyn quickly texted Tim: “Meet me on the trail.”
The sun made the day warm, and Katelyn rolled up her sleeves as she walked. Tim responded right as she left her street: “On my way.”
Katelyn felt silly for overreacting to Tim leaving with his friend, Christian. Really, Tim was only gone one day and she couldn’t expect him to log on to see her posts. And, he said he forgot his phone at home when he went to Des Moines. He wanted to call her, he said, but her number was stored in his phone. He didn’t have it memorized. She didn’t want to seem obsessive, so she didn’t mention that she had his memorized.
Tim met her more than the halfway mark on the trail. Katelyn saw him from a distance and instantly smiled. They slowed as they reached each other and ended up standing face to face in awkward silence. Katelyn bit her lip. Tim stuck his hands in his pockets. The new prairie grass around them stood still without a wind.
“So,” Katelyn started, “do you still love me?”
Tim cocked his head and smiled at her. He took the one step left between them and wrapped his arms around her. Katelyn let herself sink into him, and they held their embrace until he pulled his head back to look her in the face.
“Yeah, yeah, I do.” Tim lifted her chin lightly with one hand and kissed her softly, then deeply.
Tim came back to her house, and they hung out the rest of the afternoon and evening. Katelyn couldn’t believe it, but her mom seemed to really like him, too. Her mom laughed along with Kayla when he told tall tales about giant fish he had caught.
Katelyn and Tim waited outside with the kids while her mom went for McDonalds to get dinner. Two dogs across the street rolled around on the ground together. Kayla laughed and questioned, “What are they doing?”
“They must be happy it’s summer vacation, too,” Katelyn had responded.
“Do dogs have vacations?” Kayla thought aloud.
“Only on their secret holidays,” Tim started, clearly baiting her into asking more questions.
“But how do dogs know when it’s a holiday?” Kayla asked in puzzlement, trying to fit the concept into what she knew about holidays like Christmas or Halloween.
“Well, you’ve seen dogs smelling each other’s butts right?”
Kayla nodded and giggled.
“Sometimes they’re not just sniffing, but leaving secret codes.”
Kayla interrupted, “What’s a code?”
Tim explained, “It’s a message or a sign that only certain people can understand. Like a wink! Only some people can see the one eye close.” And he winked at Kayla.
Kayla looked thoroughly amazed. “Kate’n didn’t see it!” She said, pointing to his side of the face opposite from Katelyn.
“Right!” Tim continued. “So dogs sometimes leave a secret message. And do you know how they get to see it?”
“How?” Kayla was at full attention.
“They have to catch their own tail!” He waited a moment for effect and then spun around himself several times demonstrating the futile attempt. Kayla followed suit and the game continued. Even after dinner, while Katelyn and Tim were huddled up on the couch in front of the TV, Kayla was still fascinated by the story. She came to them with a drawing, proud of the silly scribble,s which she said was a dog reading his tail.
Later that night, Katelyn said goodnight to Tim in the kitchen with her mom listening closely in the next room. But, they only parted for a few minutes. When Katelyn went to her room, pretending to be tired in front of her mom, Tim had already snuck in her window and was waiting for her. They stayed quiet in the dark, holding each other and sharing whispered ideas. Finally, they heard her mother close her own bedroom door.
They did it as quietly as they could.
Katelyn had heard Emily talk about her sexual encounters, so she had a pretty good idea of what to expect. Katelyn was a little scared, but Tim was gentle and kind. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked as they lay naked in the dark. Katelyn had simply kissed him in return in answer.
It did hurt, but only at first. He had been so loving. He told her he loved her and he kissed her neck so tenderly afterward as he held her. Eventually, he fell asleep and Katelyn took pleasure in the closeness of him and of being able to please him. Even though her door was locked, she worried. Finally, when she had caught herself drifting off to sleep herself, she woke him so he could leave in the darkness of night.