Page 71 of Right Place, Right Time (Second Chances)
Chapter Thirty-Six
Kate
“Good morning, Sunshine!” Casey calls from my bedroom door.
“Don’t call me that!”
She apologizes, looking a little sheepish. “Sorry, hun. I forgot. Up and at ’em, though. I made breakfast.”
Once she disappears from the doorway, I roll back over and pull the covers over my head. I am so not in the mood for her happy horseshit attitude today. Casey allowed me exactly five days to wallow in self-pity after Jay left before launching straight into Operation Happy Kate. I tolerate it since I don’t really want to get mad at her—at least not to her face—while she’s still recovering. But I just can’t do it today.
Today I feel…I don’t know. Wrong? Off? Maybe it’s PMS. Whatever it is, it just doesn’t feel right.
“Kate! Get your ass out of bed!” Casey calls from the kitchen.
“Decker! Control your woman!” I call back.
Knowing it’s pointless to try to fight with her—she’ll win—I roll out from under the covers and stomp my way to the bathroom.
“We have neighbors below us, Kate,” Casey sings from the kitchen.
“Fuck ’em,” I grumble. I take care of business and brush my teeth before joining Casey and Decker in the kitchen. I glare at Decker, and he just shrugs his shoulders. “Traitor. We’re supposed to have solidarity, Deck.”
“Sorry,” he says, not sounding sorry at all as he scarfs down his omelet.
“Whatever.” I plop down in my seat and look at the creation on my plate. Casey has been spending her time researching healthy and heart happy recipes. Most of them are delicious, so I don’t complain, but I really miss egg yolks. If I have to eat another egg white omelet, I might scream. “What’s in this one?”
“I figured I’d go easy on you today. It’s spinach and feta.”
I can live with that. I inhale my omelet in less than two minutes and down my juice. “Thanks, Case.”
“No problem. So what’s on the agenda for today?”
I lean back in my seat and rub my full belly. “I don’t know, drill sergeant. What’s on the agenda for today?”
“Oh, I don’t know. How about burpees?”
“Not a fucking chance.”
“You’ve got some potty mouth on you all of a sudden.”
Decker’s eyes are darting back and forth between us like he’s watching a tennis match. It’s actually quite comical.
“It’s what happens when your soul is ripped out of your body and stomped on by the one person you thought loved and understood you,” I say flatly.
“Hey, now. I love and understand you.”
“It’s not the same and you know it.”
“I think we should go for a walk. It’s a beautiful day.”
My cell phone starts ringing in my bedroom. Saved by the bell! I briefly wonder who would be calling at seven in the morning, but then I realize I don’t care as it gets me out of planning my happy day. “I better go get that,” I say, jumping up from the table before Casey can finalize our daily itinerary. Her Operation Make Kate Happy is more like Operation Keep Kate Busy. Not cool, not cool at all.
I pick up my phone from my nightstand and see that the caller has a South Carolina area code. I contemplate answering. It could be one of my parents. Even though I have their numbers stored, they could be calling me from another line. They’ve probably realized by now that I blocked their numbers after our little lunch.
The phone stops ringing, making my decision for me. I wait for the caller to leave a message, but the phone starts ringing again. Same number. My parents wouldn’t be so persistent. They don’t have that kind of time to waste on me.
Could it be Jay? But I have his number stored, too…
