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Kim nodded. “Uh-huh. He was a business major then?”
“Yeah. Actually, he’s a CPA.” Her aunt looked at her funny. “An accountant.”
“Don’t be flip, young lady. I know what a CPA is.” Kim shook her head, still looking perplexed. “Kelly said something about a restaurant and a nightclub.”
“Yeah, well, they own those too.”
Her mom cut in. “Are you going to major in business too, then?”
Why would she think that? Because Brendan had?
“Uh, I don’t know yet.”
Kara locked her eyes on the bracelet that dangled on her wrist and remained silent.
Kevin and her dad just stared across the table at one another, snickering and shoveling spoonfuls of mashed potatoes into their mouths. They knew better than to even try to get a word in when her mother and her sisters were going at it. Katie smiled at her father.
“So, Dad, how’s the store?”
Her family owned the hardware store in town. Business must be pretty darn good if the new trucks in the driveway were anything to go by.
He swallowed a mouthful of potatoes. “All right.”
“Katie, honestly, you really should know what you want to do with your life by now. Your father and I pay a lot of money for your tuition.”
Not really. She had a scholarship, but she didn’t feel like wasting her breath to point that out. It would fall on deaf ears anyway.
There was a moment’s silence. The sisters cut into their food and chewed. Her ears were vibrating from their incessant chatter. Katie closed her eyes and prayed they would just stay quiet and keep eating.
Kara finally spoke up. “It’s serious, huh?” Her gaze was back on the bracelet.
Katie just looked at her.
“It’s not serious. Katie’s only eighteen. She’s too young to know what she wants,” her mother scoffed.
“You expect me to know what I want to do with the rest of my life, but I’m too young to know who I want to spend my life with?” Katie threw her napkin down on the table. “Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.”
Five unblinking pairs of eyes stared at her. They were speechless now that she had spoken. Katie glanced around the table and stood.
“It’s been a really long day and I’m tired. I’m going to unpack now, take a shower, and go to bed.”
She left the room.
Kevin must have carried her bags upstairs. They were in her bedroom by the door. Katie grabbed her stuff and trudged into the bathroom. Even she was surprised at herself for losing her temper like she had. She was used to her mother and her aunts. She loved them. That’s just how they were, how they’d always been. So why was she so out of sorts?
She missed him.
Even when they weren’t together, she was comforted knowing he was close by.
The city, and Brendan, were two hours and a hundred miles away.
Katie stripped off her clothes to shower. There was blood in her panties. She looked under the bathroom sink for a box of tampons.
Maybe she was just hormonal.
And it had been a long day.
After her shower, she snuggled under the covers in her childhood bed and texted Brendan to say goodnight. She knew he was at the club, but he’d asked her to, and she promised she would.
