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Which made her think of what Knox had with his mother and what he tried to get back with his father that didn’t seem to have happened.
Knox didn’t talk too much about his relationship with his father other than they were getting there at the time of his father’s death.
She couldn’t imagine having a void like that. One that might never get filled.
“You don’t even own a car,” she said.
“I would have rented one,” Kate said. “Or just driven Nonna’s car for her. You know she hates to leave Staten Island.”
“She does,” she said. “Things are going well with Knox. Been a few weeks, but I hope it works out.”
“Does he know about Henry?”
“Some,” she said. “I’m not sure I want to say more. He knows I ended up here because things at work were getting rough. He knows I worked with my ex and that he didn’t stand behind me and that Trace and the rest of the family were upset over it. I haven’t explained it all yet. It’s hard to talk about one thing without talking about the other.”
“It is,” Kate said. “But you could be honest and let him know anyway. What’s the big deal? You didn’t do anything wrong. We’d all back you that you didn’t know what was going on. I don’t think anyone knew. Hell, I’m not sure Henry knew what he was doing and was making moves by the seat of his pants. I mean at least we found out why he left as fast as he did.”
“It doesn’t make me feel any better,” she said.
“No,” Kate said. “I get it. If it was me, I would have gone knocking on his door and telling the other woman what was going on. Giving her a heads up.”
She sighed. “It crossed my mind, but I think it would have made matters worse. I know how I felt being the other woman. If I was pregnant on top of it. No. This wasn’t one of those women stand together things. I don’t know her. She didn’t know me. I didn’t need that in my life anymore.”
“You’re right,” Kate said. “Sometimes drama fuels me, but that isn’t you.”
“It’s not. Knox just knows that Violet reached out to me when this position opened. That I’d talked to Lily before and applied and it all worked out.”
“It normally does,” Kate said. “At least for most things in life.”
The sadness crept back into Kate’s voice with that last comment.
She knew Kate was still struggling at times since she found out her grandfather was the one who hit and left Holly Bloom on the side of the road one late night when Holly was out walking alone.
Kate’s grandparents had been in Mystic on vacation and her grandmother was having stroke-like symptoms. Her grandfather rushed to get her home and thought he’d hit an animal.
When Kate discovered the truth, her parents all but disowned her for the shame and attention brought to the family for not letting the past stay where it belonged.
Kate would always do what was right and sacrificed an already strained relationship knowing she had the Mancinis in her corner.
“Hey,” she said. “Remember. It had nothing to do with you. You brought closure to them that they needed.”
“I know,” Kate said. “It’s still hard to believe it looking back. I know my grandfather worried he’d go to jail and couldn’t leave my grandmother without support when they finally realized it wasn’t an animal later on.”
“You were a kid.”
“I was eighteen. The same age as Lily. And enough about that,” Kate said. “I’m grateful they don’t hate me.”
“They don’t and they wouldn’t.” Which made this request harder. She didn’t want Kate to feel guilty but had faith that Kate would be honest too.
“I know,” Kate said. “So did you want to tell me about your boyfriend or something else?”
“Something else,” she said. “I’ve been dragging my feet on this. I’m still unsure, but it’s a work thing. And I know I shouldn’t feel this way.”
“Just spit it out,” Kate said, laughing. “I’m sure I can guess.”
“Fine,” she said. “The Holly Bloom Foundation campaign starts today. I was wondering if I sent you some pieces if you’d be okay wearing them around.”
“I’d love to,” Kate said. “I can give them a good boost on social media. It’s not a problem. Not sure why you were dragging your feet to ask me this.”
