Page 20 of Hers to Kiss
“I told you,” Keke began.
“And I know that was a falsehood, Keighly. Even if you were having exams, I know you could’ve made them up because it was a family emergency.”
Keke snickered. “Our father’s death isn’t an emergency. It’s a freakin’ relief.”
Kat frowned. “Don’t be like that.”
Keke arched a brow. “Like what?”
“Unkind,” Kat said simply. She sliced the dough and put the pieces into different loaf pans. Keke washed her hands while Kat put the pans into the oven.
“After what our father did to us?” Keke snatched another mini cupcake off the counter. This conversation warranted a little emotional eating. “I don’t think I’m being unkind at all. It’s the truth.”
“You always had your version of the truth, and everyone else’s meant nothing at all.”
Keke hopped up onto a stool opposite her sister at the center island. She contemplated her sister’s words while making small circles in the flour scattered on the counter’s surface. Was she as insensitive as her sister suggested? Did she care about anyone else’s experience with their dad? She hadn’t asked them about him in a long time. Especially not Kat, who still lived here, even though she was older than Keke by two years.
Kat continued. “And because Kornelia was away—”
“Oh, so you’d accept her excuse and not mine?”
Kat looked annoyed. “You know Kori’s boss is the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. She was out of the country—across the world. There was no way she’d make it back in time for the funeral.”
“Well, then. There you go!”
“But she did make it back a couple days after we buried Father. She came home.”
“I’m home now,” Keke grumbled, wishing she wasn’t.
Their father had died unexpectedly from a heart attack. Keke had considered it karma for the black heart he had. When their mother had called with the date and time of the funeral, Keke made up the excuse about having to take an exam that would count as a hefty percentage of her grade. In truth, it was a quiz that Keke could’ve definitely made up, and one that she aced without even studying.
She had managed to suppress the strange, nagging guilt that lingered long after the funeral. No one liked Gregory Kaye all that much. Keke least of all. He’d convinced her his mission in life had been to cause his daughters emotional distress. Never support them. Never encourage them. Always denigrate and tell them they’d amount to nothing.
“And have you seen Mom?”
“Kat, I just drove in yesterday, literally an hour before the kids showed up to the camp.”
“On purpose,” she said underneath her breath.
Keke ignored her. “I barely have time to see you right now!”
Kat huffed. “Fine. But you should see her. She’s…” Kat looked away. She grabbed the cutout for donuts and began punching the dough with it.
Keke’s shoulders dropped with a sigh. “All right, I’ll bite. She’s…what?”
“Not well.”
“What do you mean?” Keke asked with annoyance in her tone.
“I mean she’s ill.”
Keke refrained from asking how ill. Part of her wanted to know, and part of her didn’t. If it was serious, then she’d have to stop delaying her visit—which she hadn’t exactly decided to do yet. But if it wasn’t, then she’d still have an excuse to stay away for as long as she could.
She did want to brag—in person—about her audition and her move to L.A. To see the look on her mother’s face. Her father had already expressed his opinion about her prospects before he died, and her mother did little more than agree. To finally prove that her hard work wasn’t in vain… She hadn’t won the part just yet, but it was a step in the right direction.
“Anyway,” Kat continued, “you should probably see her before you leave. When’s your audition?”
“Next week.”
