Katie's Angel (6 page)

“Hey mom, I didn’t hear you come in the door,” Katie said with a smile as she walked over and kissed her mom on the cheek.

“I have been home since one o’clock. Where have you been?” she replied as she walked
to the stool at the counter to sit down.

“Oh I was just out. I went to the library to see if I could find a book to read. I haven’t been reading as much as I should be, so I felt the need to. I also went to see if I am going to be reading to any of the kids this week. You got off work early?”

“Yes I didn’t really feel like I needed to stay at work, with really nothing for me to do. Things are slow right now. They usually do slow down when the summer comes. It is like no one wants to take any time to do any decorating. It always seems like people want to redo their homes in the spring time, just in time for making a new restart after the winter,” her mom replied. She worked for an interior decorating firm, and she loved her job. It was the best possible job when Jackson was sick. They were all so wonderful, and it allowed her to stay home with him, be with him every day he was in the hospital, and take as much time off after Jackson died that she needed. They even continued to pay her even when she wasn’t there. Without this job she would never have been able to spend Jackson’s last days with him at home. Just knowing that she spent as much time as possible with him, made dealing with losing her precious baby, easier. Well as easy as it could be anyways.’

“Yeah that makes sense that people would want to redecorate then.” Katie replied. She grabbed a banana and took a bite. She looked around the room. She had always loved this house. It was the house that her parents had bought after they h
ad found out they were having their first baby. It always felt warm and homey, and there was no other place that she would have ever wanted to really live anywhere else that did not include this house.

“I am going to go upstairs and clean my room and the bathroom,” Katie said to her mom, more so because she didn’t really want to talk anymore to her mom.

“That shouldn’t take you to long. You have always been a very clean person. Even as a baby, you didn’t like to be dirty. You would cry until I wiped your face off. If you got anything on your shirt you would change it every single time.”

Katie had heard this story a thousand times and really didn’t want to hear it again, but if it stopped her mother from asking anymore about her day then she would happily listen.

“Your dad always thought it was so odd of you to be so clean. You would stack your blocks perfect. I loved it because it meant that I didn’t have to spend my nights cleaning the house after you had gone to bed,” her mom continued.

Katie wasn’t really listening. She was thinking about her date with Jack. Was it really a date or was it a lunch? She wasn’t sure what she wanted it to be either. It just amazed her at how easy it was to talk to him. It was like they had always been friends.

Katie hadn’t realized that her mother has stopped talking. She was still in a daze. However, her mom had noticed that Katie was physically there in the kitchen, but mentally she was elsewhere. She was sure that it had something to do with that boy
she saw her talking to, as she walked by the living room window. She knew that boy was bad news. The whole town knew it.  There was something off about that boy. She would talk to Katie about it over dinner tonight. Katie had always been such a responsible kid; she couldn’t imagine her having any kind of dealings with a boy like that.

The phone ringing startled Katie’s mom out of her deep thought. She walked over to the phone on the wall and picked it up.

“Hello,” Katie’s mom said to the person on the other end, as Katie listened. “I’m good. How are you?” she continued.

Katie didn’t know who was on the other end but she was sure that it was just another nosey neighbor “checking in on them” as they call it. Katie called it just pure nosiness. That was her problem with this neighbor hood. Everyone just wanted to know everyone else’s business.

“Oh yes, I will make sure to ask her if she would be interested in helping at the library this summer reading to the kids,” Katie heard her mom say to the person she has now deducted to be Mrs. Smith the librarian. Katie slowly got up out of her chair, trying her hardest to escape before her mom got off the phone. Just as she turned around, Katie’s mom snapped her fingers and gave Katie a look when she turned around, that Katie knew meant business. Katie slumped back into the chair.

“Yes, thank you for calling and I will talk to you later.” Katie’s
mom hung up the phone and turned to look at Katie.  Her mom walked over to the island and leaned down across from her.  “As you have already figured out that was Mrs. Smith the librarian. My question is why she would be calling to ask if you would be interested in reading to the kids if you had already gone to the library and talked to her?”

Katie didn’t know what to think. She never thought about the possibility
of Mrs. Smith calling the house to see if she wanted come back. She said the first thing that came to mind. “Mom you know Mrs. Smith is getting older and she must have forgotten that we had already talked about this when I went in last.”

Her mom knowing Katie way to well knew that Katie was lying. She could never look her in the eye when she was not telling the truth. “Well then let’s go down there right now together. You can get a schedule and I will get a book or two. I have been meaning to do that for the last couple of weeks,” mom said as she started gathering up her things, waiting for Katie t
o come up with a good reason not to go.. She could see it in her face that she was trying to come up with a good one.

“Actually I was thinking maybe you can grab one for me. I have a headache and I think I should go lay down for a
while to see if it will go away,” Katie replied hoping that she would just go without her.

“Here,” her mom said as she looked through her purse looking for her bottle of Tylenol she took everywhere with her. “Take this and if you still feel bad when we get home then you can go lay down.”

Katie didn’t have any other excuses. She would have to go to the library and she would actually have to go inside this time. The thought of this scared her and she knew that ready or not she would have to enter the library, or have to discuss what she was feeling. That was definitely something she was not willing to do.

Feeling defeated over it all Katie grabbed her things and headed for the car. She knew that the entire way there mom would want to talk, and she would be trying to brace herself for the flood of emotions that she was already starting to feel. It was taking everything she had in her to keep the tears from flowing.

Chapter 9

As they drove to the library, Katie knew that her mom was pondering what question to
ask first. She could just hear her asking, “Why did you lie to us?”, or “Why are you acting so strange?” These were all questions she didn’t want to answer.

Trying to keep the conversation light she turned to her mom and asked her, “What are you thinking for dinner tonight mom?”

“Actually I had not really thought much about dinner yet. Why?” she replied without taking her eyes off the road.

“What if I make you and dad a nice dinner just for the two you
?” she asked trying to make the thought of, “boy are you sucking up,” she had in her head go away

“That sounds really great. What are you going to make?” mom asked.

“What did you want? I’ll make anything as long as you give me the benefit of the doubt that the first time may not be great,” she said.

“Ho
w about baked chicken on a nice bed of lettuce with garlic bread?” she said as she put her turn signal on to turn left.

“Sure mom, it will be easy for me to make. What time do you think dad will be home?”
she asked as she peered out the window at the passing houses.

“He should be home by six, but I’ll call him and make sure,” she replied.

“Okay, that sounds good.” Katie said in almost a whisper.

“You will be eating with us as well, right?” she asked her in a tone that Katie knew meant it was not really a question, but more of a “you better say yes” type of thing.

Knowing she couldn’t say no Katie said, “yes of course, but I just thought it would be nice for you and dad to have a nice romantic dinner just the two of you.”

“Dad and I are just fine,” she replied to Katie
as she pulled into the parking lot, “I think we need some family time.”

At this very moment Katie wished she was still talking to all of her friends. She would have had a place to have a sleepover so that she wouldn’t have to worry about the conversation she knew was bound to take place tonight. Hoping to mask the discontentment in her voice she
put a smile on her face, and said in the most upbeat voice she could come up with, “Sure mom, that sounds great,” as she unbuckled her seat belt, and hopped out of the car before anything else could be said.

The conversation in the car had not gone as well as she had hoped it would. Walking towards the library door she could feel the lump in her throat growing bigger. She didn’t know how she was going to go inside, but she knew that she had to or the conversation at dinner wo
uld grow into a conversation about her and a therapist. She walked closer and could feel her legs getting heavier. She saw her mom open the door for her, but suddenly she couldn’t move another inch.

“Katie, come on, we are not trying to air condition the outdoors,” mom said
just like she would say at home.

Katie was trying but just couldn’t take that extra step. Suddenly when she was about to break down and tell her mom she just couldn’t go in, she felt the hands on her shoulders and felt like she was being pushed towards the door. Katie was
baffled as she tried to look around to see who was behind her. She went through the door faster than she thought and stumbled over her own feet causing her to almost fall flat on her face.

Regaining her composure Katie looked around to see who entered behind her. She knew it was not her mother because she was right there holding the door.

“Katie will you please stop playing around and go find Mrs. Smith for your schedule? I will be right over here in the fiction section looking for a book,” her mom replied quietly as she walked away. Katie couldn’t answer, mainly because she didn’t feel like she could breathe. All she could do is stand. It was like her feet had been super glued to the carpet.

“Katie it is so great to see you. It has been so long since you have
come into the library. We definitely have missed having you here,” Mrs. Smith said in what Katie thought was a bit too loud for a library.

Trying to keep her mom from getting any more information than necessary, Katie smiled her bright smile and said, “Mrs. Smith it’s great to see you again as well, even thought it was just last week when I was here last.” Katie was hoping that Mrs. Smith would just dismiss the topic and
just give her the schedule she came in to get in the first place.

“Last week? I didn’t see you last week. I may be getting on up there in age, but I remember the last time I saw you was right before…” her voice trailed off as she got that sad look in her eyes that everyone seem to get all the time now when they talked about Jackson. “Anyways dear it is nice to know that you will read to the kids this summer. They will be so excited; they always loved when you read to them.” Mrs. Smith said enthusiastically.

“Yes I love to read to them as well. It will be lots of fun,” Katie said knowing that it would not be the same without Jackson there. She always brought him because he would do all the sound effects for the books, and the kids all loved him. “Everyone loved Jackson,” she thought.  Her last thought made her feel even sadder than normal.

“Here is your schedule then dear,” Mrs. Smith said as she handed Katie the folded paper she
had in her hand. “I have to get ready for the knitting class that is here at four o’clock, so I will see you next week on Tuesday then.”

“Okay, I will be here Tuesday. Have a great day Mrs. Smith.”

“You too Katie,” Mrs. Smith said as she turned and walked off towards the room that held all of the craft supplies in the library. It was the room where all the classes were held throughout the year as well.

Katie watched as Mrs. Smith walked away, thinking about the times that she and Jackson would go and spend hours in the craft room, making things. They had made so many things that they gave to their mom that Katie was sure mom had to have thrown them all out since she would have ran out of room if she hadn’t. 

Katie let out a defeated sigh certain that her mother had heard the whole conversation. As she walked to where her mother was she glanced around the library. Everywhere she looked she thought of Jackson, but instead of feeling the pain that she was used to, she felt contentment. The library was the one place that Jackson seemed happiest. He would spend hours reading about anything and everything. It seemed to be his outlet to not think about what was going on with him.

             
Katie was still thinking about Jackson when she heard her mom ask, “When do you need to be here?”