Page 58 of Uncharted Desires

“Someday, with the right person, but in her eyes my internal clock is ticking and soon it will be too late.”

West waited for her to continue, and at first she didn’t say anything. An array of emotions played across her face, and he sat there just holding her hand, wanting her to know that he was there for her.

“My grandma, she and my mom always fight. The more my grandma pushes away White assimilation, the more it angers my mother. My brothers, well at least Cameron and I, really loved getting to know that side of us, and yet my mom pushed back on it all the way. Every time my grandma would tell my mom she was raising us wrong it became a fight. I think I remind my mom of my grandma, and that brings up a lot of bad memories. My dad had always been the barrier between us, he would talk my mom down when she’d go off on one of her supposed well-meaning rampages. I just never feel like I’m quite enough for her.”

West knew that feeling all too well and lifted her hand to kiss the back of it. “Why are you just now telling me this? You know how I feel about my father, you didn’t think I would understand?”

She shrugged and smirked. “Honestly, I had hoped you’d never meet her. I love her, I do, but if you think my self-image is low now, just imagine what it was like in high school.”

“It’s okay, Kat; thanks for telling me now. Maybe she’ll be so happy just to have you alive she’ll never criticize you again.”

Kat laughed. “Doubt it, but she might just be a little more understanding.”

“Hey, she’s spent a week with my dad, if that doesn’t make her more open and understanding, I don’t know what will.”

After arriving in Jakarta, a black town car picked them up at the small private airport. Kat tried not to squirm in her seat, but her nerves got the better of her. Soon she would be with her mom and the myriad of questions she would pose. Questions Kat just didn’t have any answers for.

Her future plans? Nonexistent.

What happened on the island? Who knows. Kat sure couldn’t put into words everything she had just been through.

Her relationship status? Kat couldn’t say.

She wasn’t ready.

But as they pulled up to the hotel’s front door, she knew she didn’t have a choice.

West slid out of the car, offering her his hand, and in any other situation Kat would have felt like a princess with her prince leading her into a ball. But alas, she was just about to be assailed with questions left and right, and she had very few answers for anyone.

The doors opened and they walked into the flashing of cameras and a crowd of people waiting for them. Cher and Lydia were the first to practically jump on top of her, causing her to let go of West’s hand, her one anchor in the storm.

“Oh my god, you’re alive!” Lydia screeched, jumping up and down. “You look so tan,” she added, causing Kat to laugh.

“You really do look amazing for someone who spent ten days on an uncharted island,” Cher said as she gripped Kat for dear life. “I’m so happy you’re okay,” she added as a tear slid down her cheek.

Before Kat knew it, she was crying because she hadn’t expected such a homecoming, and because she had indeed missed her friends. Her lifeline over the past ten years. They hugged and cried for who knew how long before Kat’s mom finally pushed through.

“Katy, I’m so glad you’re okay.” Her mom pushed away a tear, a rare show of emotion. She had barely cried at her husband’s funeral.

“I’m happy to see you too, Mom,” she said, and surprisingly, she meant it. On the island they had been go, go, go, and survival had been their main goal, but now her thoughts caught up to her, the idea that she could have never seen her loved ones again.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught West and his dad deep in conversation with the press surrounding them.

Just as she suspected, they weren’t especially interested in her.

“You’re going to have to tell us all about that,” Cher said, motioning toward West.

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“Liar.”

Of course she was lying. The last thing she needed was her mother thinking she was on the verge of getting a rock star son-in-law anytime soon. While Kat realized she was hopelessly in love with the man, she had no idea if he remotely felt the same.

“Sorry, I need to borrow her,” West said, grabbing her elbow.

When had he even made it back to her?

“Take her forever,” Lydia quipped, causing Kat’s eyes to grow huge. Damn Lydia, always opening her mouth.