All is fair in Love & War

Chapter 4

After a quick walk through the gardens, Kevin had led her to the Garden house. Once there he bid Katy goodbye before returning to the reception desk. With that, Katy walked up the entry of the garden house and was about to knock on the door when she saw a small sign on it.

- We're around back

x Viv.

Nodding to herself she started making her way around the back of the garden house. As she got closer, she heard the sound of some familiar voices. A smile spread out on her face, once she realized that Viv, Dave, her mom, and most likely her dad were there.

"Katy!" Her sister exclaimed as she jumped up from her garden chair, "Oh my god, you're here!" She said as she tightly hugged her sister.

"Yeah, I am." Katy chuckled hugging her back, "It took me quite some time to find this place though." She added as she let her sister go.

"I can imagine," Vivianne said taking a step back.

"Let me just get my hug real quick," Their father said as she stepped around Vivianne to hug Katy.

"Hi dad," She said hugging him, "How's everything."

"Same as always kid," He replied as they let go of each other.

"And how are you?" Their mother said as she also hugged her daughter.

"I'm alright mom," Katy said with a smile.

"Alright, now I feel like I have to join," Dave said with a chuckle as he hugged his soon-to-be sister-in-law.

"Hi Dave," Katy said with a chuckle.

"So?" Her father said as he sat back down, "How's work?"

Immediately his wife interrupted him and slapped his elbow, "Patrick!" She exclaimed as Vivian rolled her eyes, "We agreed not to talk about those kinds of things now. We're getting ready for a wedding for god's sake." 

"Oh, I just wanted to know how things are going for my Kat." He said rubbing his arm, "It was just a question, Marie."

Their mother was about to reply when Katy spoke up, "Don't worry, I know we're not supposed to talk about my job, and I'm not supposed to even think about it." She said sitting down.

"That last part has got to be tough for you," Dave said with a chuckle.

"I left my work phone in New York; they are on their own," She said jokingly, holding up her hands.

"That makes me glad." Their mother said, nodding, "No talk of divorces this week. It'll be good for you."

Quickly Viviane diverted the topic to her wedding and Katy sent her a thankful look. Now Katy was aware that most of the things were already taken care of, but there were still a couple of things that needed to be arranged. One of her main tasks would be the bachelorette party. Now despite her usually overfilled schedule, she had managed to make some arrangements. As for the groomsmen and bridesmaids, most of them would be arriving the day after tomorrow and helping with the last arrangements.

"So, when will the best man arrive?" Marie asked, taking a sip of her drink, "I've been dying to meet him."

"Well," Dave started, "From what I know soon."

"Will he be joining us for dinner tonight?" Marie asked.

"We're all having dinner together tonight?" Katy asked.

"That's the plan," Viviane said nodding, "and yes, he will be joining us."

For quite a while the group continued chatting away until the rest of the group decided that they would stroll around the garden for a while. They asked Katy to join, but she excused herself, saying that she still needed to unpack. So, when everyone left to go for their walk, Katy went back into the hotel.

Inside she looked around, trying to figure out where the elevators or stairs were. When she finally located them, she heard a hauntingly familiar voice. Initially, she was a little unsure who it belonged to, but that is when she caught a glimpse of its owner.

Immediately she hid behind a door, desperately trying to get out of sight.

What on earth was William Clark doing here?

Quickly she glanced around the door, trying to determine if it truly was him. The man was tall, had dark hair and perfectly tailored clothes, it just had to be him...

'Even when I'm not working I can't get rid of this man...' She thought as she leaned against the wall.

She then heard him and someone else approaches and she had to act quick. Looking to her right she noticed the elevators, and one of the doors opened as an elderly lady with a dog stepped out. Quickly she rushed over to the elevator, and pressed the button to the third floor and the button to close the door. As the door closed she saw a sliver of William before the elevator started moving up.

'I'm not even supposed to think about work.' She thought as she stared into the mirror in the elevator.

Once she reached the third floor, the doors opened and quickly she got out. Following the signs, she found her room and soon she was greeted by the sight of her suitcase and carry-on.

While she unpacked her luggage, her mind kept drifting to William... Why was he here? Why wasn't he in court this morning? Was he on vacation? 'I should text Phillip.' Was her next thought as she grabbed her phone.

You'll never guess who I just saw checking in here. William Clark is here too...

For a moment she stared down at her phone, debating on whether or not she should send this text. Then she simply hit send and started unpacking her suitcase.

Once her last items were stowed away and she had put her empty suitcase in the closet she sat down on the bed and looked around. 'This was actually a really nice room.' She thought, looking around again, 'In fact, this is a really nice hotel.' She thought as she glanced down at the clock. 16:30, Meaning she still had about two and a half hours before dinner. 'I really should go and check out that pool.' She thought as she got up from the bed and started looking for her bikini.

Soon she was in the elevator, wearing a bikini and robe, and headed down for the pool. In one hand, she was holding the book she was reading, and in the other, she held the key card to her room. Once she reached the first floor, she followed the signs and made her way over to the pool area.

Grabbing a towel, she found a lounge chair and lay down on it, ready to start reading her book. For a while, she just lay there, lost in the pages of her book; in fact, it wasn't until she heard a familiar voice that she stopped reading for a moment.

"Look, Sasha, I'm out of the office this week, remember? I can't help you..." He paused for a moment, "Just don't call me until I'm back."

Clark's voice rang out loud and clear from behind her, but she didn't dare to look. When the voice sighed, she sneaked a peek and noticed that there was fencing behind her and that William Clark was most likely standing behind it. "I know... I know Sasha; please just tell her that I'll be back next week." He paused for a moment as Katy perked up from her chair, eager to hear what he was saying.

"Yeah, it's quite a nice place." He said as Katy stood up from her chair and carefully walked over to the fence, casually eavesdropping. William laughed, "Yeah, that would be insane..."

"Kat? What are you doing?"

Katy jumped, immediately turning around to face her soon-to-be-brother-in-law. "Dave!" She said in a somewhat awkward, somewhat startled voice, "Hi."

At that, Dave laughed, "Enjoying the pool?" He said as she sat back down on her lounge chair.

"Yeah," Katy said, "But this entire place is really nice."

Dave nodded as he looked around while sitting down on the chair next to hers, "It really is, Viv picked a good spot."

"Yeah, she really did."