Page 43 of Taken By Storm

“You’re right,” she agreed. “It shouldn’t have. The problem is, I don’t know how to fix it.”

“With baby steps.”

“I’ve already taken a few of those and they haven’t ended well,” Kasi admitted.

“Meaning?”

“Daddy started sleeping upstairs the day Mama died. He said he couldn’t sleep in their bedroom when the sheets still smelled like her.”

“That room at the end of the hall downstairs. Was that theirs?” Levi had wondered about the closed door, and the fact he’d never seen anyone go in or out of it.

Kasi nodded. “Yeah. I thought eventually Daddy would go back, but it’s the one thing he’s been decidedly strong about. He said he built it for her—her dream bedroom. He put the addition on the house when I was still in elementary school. Whatever Mama asked for, he included. He put in a big bay window that overlooked her flower garden, so in the spring they could sit on the window seat together and watch them bloom, and there was a dressing table with a mirror, just like she’d seen once in a magazine. It’s got an en suite bathroom, too, with double sinks. Mama always raved about the fact there were two sinks. I swear, with the exception of the kitchen, that bedroom was Mama’s happy place.”

“It sounds nice.”

“Yeah. But no one was there to watch the flowers bloom this spring. The door stayed closed, and the room sat empty allthe way until May. That’s when I took the first baby step. The bedroom was starting to feel like a shrine, a place we all tiptoed around, careful to avoid, and I… I couldn’t do that anymore. So, I grabbed a bunch of boxes and started packing Mama’s clothes. Then I washed the sheets, opened the windows and aired the room out, trying to breathe new life into it. I hoped maybe with Mama’s things gone, Daddy might…” Her voice quivered.

“You thought if you took out the reminders, he’d move back. He’d get better.”

Whatever sadness Kasi had been fighting was gone, replaced with resignation. Which Levi found worse.

“It didn’t help. I left the door open when I was done, but the next time I walked by, it was closed again. For a few days, I played a game, leaving it open, only to return home to find it shut once more. I thought it was Daddy closing it, but the more I thought about it, the more I started to suspect it was probably Keith.”

“Keith?” Levi asked.

“He caught me loading her clothes into my car to take to Goodwill about a week after I cleaned the room, and he unleashed on me. He was angry that I’d touched her things, that I was getting rid of them. I told him he could go through the boxes and take out anything he wanted. I tried to reassure him that I was only giving away her clothes, but he… Well, he hopped on his motorcycle and sped off. He didn’t come home for three days, and I was scared shitless, worried something horrible had happened to him. I stopped opening the door after that.”

Kasi leaned her head against the headrest, the weariness that had been absent today returning with a vengeance.

Levi was going to have a long, hard talk with her brother. Very, very soon.

“I’m sorry he did that to you. And I’m sorry to ask you to try again, but…”

“You’re asking me to try again,” she said tiredly.

He nodded. “This time, I’ll take the baby step with you. It’s just dinner, Kass.”

“I guess we can invite them, but I doubt they’ll come.”

They got out of the truck and walked into the house together. Keith was in the kitchen, sitting at the table eating an apple and drinking a soda.

“Hey,” Levi said. “Would you be up for having dinner at my place tonight? My brother’s grilling hamburgers.”

Keith’s gaze slid to Kasi. “What about Dad?”

“He’s invited too,” Levi said, answering for her.

Keith smirked. “Tell you what. If Dad goes, I will.”

Levi wanted to call the little punk to task, but it was hard to do that when Kasi was looking just as doubtful. “I’ll be right back.”

Levi left Kasi and Keith in the kitchen and headed upstairs.

Mr. Mills was sitting by the window, looking out at the front yard. Levi wondered if he’d been watching him and Kasi talking in the truck.

“Hey, Mr. Mills,” he said, knocking on the doorframe.

The man turned to face him. “Hello, Levi. You still here?”

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