The Husband Hunt - Kat's Season (The Bachelor Series) (5 page)

 
           “Crane and I are like two teenagers these days, just smiling at each other all the time,” Jaxie said. “God, I love that man so much.” They were near the top and stopped talking to make it the last few yards.

 
           “I want what you have,” Kat finally said. “I want my Crane.”

 
           The two women looked at each other and Jaxie nodded. “You’ll get him.”

 
           That night was the rose ceremony. Already, Nils was gone and now two others had to leave. Kat didn’t feel like she knew half the men well enough to make that decision, but hoped that she’d get some important questions answered at the cocktail party that night. She needed to ask Lance about his motives for being on the show. Just because he kissed like a boyfriend and was handsome, didn’t mean she should keep him. She also needed to ask Brad what he saw their lives like as a busy doctor and his wife. And Tony. Tony was cocky, but extremely sexy, and damned hard to ignore. He walked around just assuming she was pining away for him and she kind of was. She hated to say it, but he was so damned confident. She had to believe that if she just went ahead and kissed him, he couldn’t be as wonderful as she fantasized. Maybe she should just throw herself on him.

 
           At the cocktail party, she realized that as much as she wanted to keep Lance around for laughs and to look at, he was not interested in her, or any woman as a wife, anytime soon. He was a player, on the show to further his career. Probably like Tony but the difference was that she was extremely attracted to Tony. His big shoulders, his sexy as sin smile. Or, she could let Sam go, but he’d done that sweet song at the karaoke place and she suspected he had a lot more to him than she could see.

In the end
, she stood in front of the men handing out roses until the last three were Brad, the doctor, Grant the programmer, and Joe, the policeman. Considering that she didn’t want to be a doctor’s wife (as well as not ever having had a good conversation with him), and that she thought of Joe more like a little brother instead of a sexy suitor for potential husband material, she knew what she had to do.

All roses were handed out, Kat walked Joe and Brad to waiting limos, thanking
them for coming on the show. Brad looked mildly disappointed but Joe had tears in his eyes and Kat wondered how much she might have led him on. Back in the house, they toasted to the remainder of the show and Kat was pleased to announce that “tomorrow, we are flying to Maui for a week of fun in the sun.” All nine men looked very pleased at the news.

Kat had never been to Hawaii, and from the moment she stepped from the plane, she was in love. Even though she’d asked to travel with the guys on the same flight, there’d been some hard fast rule about her traveling separately. Along with Jaxie, who couldn’t stand to have Crane on Maui without her, Kat took the five hour flight to Kahului airport.

 
           “I love Maui!” Jaxie took a deep breath and reached to squeeze Kat’s hand when they exited the limo at the Grand Wailea front door. “Girl, if you don’t fall in love here, there’s something wrong with you.”

 
           “Oh, don’t worry,” Kat laughed. “My problem is falling in love with too many of them!”

 
           They’d talked the entire flight, and Kat had finally been able to vent her fears and excitement about the men. She’d condensed the once large group to what she felt were the top nine. After this week, two more had to go. She told Jaxie on the flight that already she had an idea, but wouldn’t make a decision until Thursday at the rose ceremony. It was anyone’s game now, and although she knew Lance would never make it to the end, Kat was glad she brought him to Maui. For some reason helping his career was important to her, especially because he never pretended to be smitten with her.

The remaining men were the cream of the crop: Pierce the sculptor, Colton the cowbo
y Dad, Sam the sweet restaurateur, Lance the actor, Ben the lawyer, Keith the landscaper, Blake the water-skier, Tony the personal trainer and Grant the Microsoft programmer. They were all handsome, which she had to admit, was important to her. If she was going to spend sixty years with someone, they’d better be nice to stare at. And Funny. And a Good Father, Husband, Provider. She could probably pick any of these men and end up with a good life, except maybe Lance. She had to figure out now who liked her in return. Who might fall in love with her? Was she anyone’s type? And which man was ready to get married at the end of this thing?

 
           Her cabana on the Wailea Maui beach was luxurious, overlooking the wide expanse of Pacific Ocean and Kat was in love with her new digs. As she unpacked her bags, she thought about the group of men who’d caught a later flight and would be in the air now. The producers had asked her to pick someone for the one on one date tomorrow and she’d offered Colton’s name. Knowing his little girl came first, she wanted to get to the heart of who he was--see if there was room for her.

She liked the idea of having a daughter.
Jaxie was so ecstatically happy with Crane and his two little girls, Kat couldn’t help but think Colton and his daughter might be a wonderful instant family. But deep down, she wondered if she was excited about this prospect because she liked to help people. She’d always rescued pets from the shelter, took on friends others didn’t want, and might even be rescuing a father and daughter from Arkansas. If that was her motive, she had some soul searching to do on Maui. Tomorrow she and Colton would snorkel off a catamaran and have a private luau on the beach at Lanai, the pineapple island.

T
he men would land that night at seven pm and wouldn’t get the date card until morning. As she stretched her legs on the lounger outside her pristine white cabana, soaking up the last rays of the day, Kat wondered if anyone was thinking of her on the flight. Gathering her thoughts about the remaining men, she made a list of what she wanted to accomplish on Maui. Getting to know each man individually would be difficult, but she hoped to learn enough about Blake, Colton and Sam to have an idea of what kind of husband they’d make. And, she wanted to see if Pierce could fit into the husband idea she had. Already, she imagined them surrounded by a life of art with highly creative little children, going to art gallery openings, building a studio on their property for his work, taking the children to the museums on weekends. But could Pierce see them together? That was a big question.

The one on one date was upon her faster than she had time to prepare. “Come with me to the sea, and we’ll see about you and me.” The date card was corny and elusive but it did the job. When she went upstairs to the huge suite, the men were gathered on the couch, like all they did was sit around waiting. Luckily for them, the room had its own pool and they’d have some recreation between waiting for dates cards.

The drive from Kihei to Lahaina
with Colton did not disappoint. He was cute, and fun and they talked a lot about her art and life in San Francisco. Colton had never been in the ocean before, which surprised her, although she tried to hide it when he declared himself a virgin snorkeler at the age of thirty-one.

When they got to the pineapple island and anchored, she said, “L
et’s just fix that virginity right now.” The catamaran’s ladder was lowered into the water. The instructor gave them gear and managed to stay off camera to make it look like the two adventurers were going off in the ocean completely alone with no supervision.

 
           Kat had been to the Caribbean several times with her family, growing up, but hadn’t snorkeled in years and felt a little rusty as she fixed a mask on her face and grabbed the fins that fit her long feet. She was medium height, 5’7”, but had very long feet and had always been self-conscious of her size tens. Colton teased her when she told him this.

 
           “You don’t need fins, your feet are long enough.” He poked her side and laughed.

 
           She flashed him a reproachful look.

Later
, when they were drying off, she asked him about his daughter, Bug.

 
           “She’s curious, feminine, stubborn as a mule and very protective of me.”

 
           “She sounds perfect.”

 
           “She is. Just like her Mama.”

 
           Kat’s heart sank a bit, to hear him say that on their romantic date, although she wouldn’t have expected less. He’d been married and his wife died suddenly in a train accident. There was a lot of room for sympathy here. “You must miss her terribly.”

 
           “I do, but I’ve learned to move on. She’d want that, and for Bug’s sake, I have to.” Colton told her that he dated here and there but his was a small town with little opportunity to meet someone new and it had actually been his in laws who suggested he go on the show. This new information stirred an emotion in Kat she couldn’t name.

 
           The luau on the beach at Lanai was beautifully done, but the cameras had to stop and start a lot and they only got a few good shots before the beach was dark and it was time to go back to Maui. Kat felt like their beach date was more of an observance of how a TV show is made, than an actual date. Momentum had been lost. It had been impossible to have a good conversation with Colton as they were continually interrupted to change angles, seats and backgrounds. Making the show was a lot about visual and not as much about the relationship on screen, and by the time they motored back into the Lahaina harbor, Colton had fallen asleep in the hammock on deck.

Later, t
he opportunity arose to film Kat’s interview on how the day went and she regretted saying on camera that it was a lovely day and that Colton was good company. Words like exciting, adventurous and magical should have been used, but the fact remained that it was simply a good day. No big sparks had ignited between Kat and the cowboy, and if he remained asleep, she figured they wouldn’t.

The following day Kat was awakened before dawn by a production assistant for the group date. “They’re waking the men now. Get up, get dressed.”

 
           She knew the plan was to drive up the volcano Haleakala, and bike down at sunrise. She’d been excited the night before. Not just at the prospect of the adventure but seeing Ben, Tony, Blake and Sam again would be heaven after last night’s date with Colton, the sleeper. Everyone on that day’s date held some big interest for Kat, but with only three roses to give out, someone would have to be eliminated at the end of the day. Ben was a sweet guy, a great kisser, and they laughed well together. Tony was like a sexy wolf waiting to get her alone. Blake was a handsome athlete with a great job, lived a good life in Florida and made her laugh. And then there was Sam. He was different. Seemed older, more mature than the other guys, more worldly. She’d bet her money that Sam had been to Maui many times in the past.

 
           In the dark van, they were served coffee and sticky sweet pastries for the three hour drive to the summit of Haleakala before the sun rose. They’d all had a half a night’s sleep and looked bleary-eyed. Ben hugged her and said she could sleep against his shoulder, if she liked. The offer was filled with too much excitement for her to imagine falling asleep beside Ben. He smelled good for someone who’d been woken and ushered out the door quickly. Everyone stayed awake, talking on the twisty drive up the side of Maui’s volcano to the National Park at the top. Blake joked that Sam must be a night owl with a restaurant that served dinner and drinks and might skip the bicycling, and Sam agreed that the last time he’d been up this early, he was still getting home from work.

At the top,
they sorted out their respective bikes and put on the yellow coats supplied by the biking business. It was cold at the summit as the sky lightened and promised a warm day. The day was clear and “it will be a fantastic sunrise,” the guide said. Shivering in their coats and hats at 13,000 feet above the sea, they watched a big orange ball peek over the edge of the world and slowly reveal its whole self.

“A
mazing,” Ben said, hugging her to him. Ben was a hugger, she was learning. Very affectionate. She relished his warmth, and the feel of his body against hers. She could hear Tony’s conversation with the guide off to the side. He was concerned he get a fast bike.

When they took off down the road,
Kat’s bike brakes got a good workout as she coasted along. She’d purposely chosen to ride near the back, so as not to hold anyone up on her leisurely adventure. Sam hung back with her and one of the female producers who’d wanted to experience biking down a volcano. And behind the procession, was the van to block traffic from behind and warn any sunrise drivers on their way down, that there was a long line of bicyclists on the narrow road. The air was cool and refreshing and Kat whooped and yelled several times out of sheer joy. Everyone seemed to be hell bent on getting to Kula as fast as possible, except Kat, Sam, and Mary the producer, who vowed they were enjoying the surrounding countryside.

Eventually even Sam went on ahead to catch up to the leader and Tony
, who appeared to be in a race. When they arrived in Kula, breakfast was served on a beautifully laden table in a stand of eucalyptus trees on a farm. Cows grazed in the background and behind that, the island of Maui was laid out below. Kat thought it was one of the prettiest things she’d ever seen.