Read Online Forgotten: A Novel by Catherine McKenzie - Free Book Online
Authors: Catherine McKenzie
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punishment.
“You’ll have it by three.”
“Good.”
“What are you working on?” I ask Matt, trying to seem interested.
“Someone stole a Manet from Victor Bushnell’s collection. Mutual is on the hook for millions if we can’t find a contractual exclusion that applies.”
“Right, I saw that in the paper this morning. I’m sure there must be something.”
Sophie gives me a Cheshire smile. “Of course there is. Why don’t you stop by my office later and we’ll catch up?”
“Will do,” I say brightly, both of us knowing it will never happen.
She leaves, and I lean back on the couch, feeling worn out by our exchange. Six months away has left me too weak for a catfight.
“I wish you girls would get along better.”
“I know, Matt. I’ll try.”
“Good.”
“So, when do you think I can start?”
Chapter 6: Far and Away
S ix months is a long time to spend in the company of strangers. Not that Karen and Peter aren’t great people. People who I now love dearly. But in those first few days and weeks, when I was weak and missing my mother in a way I hadn’t since I was eight and had to be fetched home from Girl Guide camp, I felt cautious around them. Unsure of my place.
This feeling was compounded by the obvious connection between them. And while I’m sure—I know—they had squabbles and different points of view, their relationship seemed easy and seamless.
I was jealous, I admit. I wanted that closeness, that connection. Something I thought I had until I saw the real thing, up close. Something I thought I knew until it came time to explain myself.
It was a few weeks after the earthquake when Karen asked me about Craig for the first time. We knew by then that we’d be cut off from the world for a while, that we weren’t going anywhere. That the power and cell service weren’t coming back on anytime soon. The quake had knocked out the hydroelectric dam that supplied power to Tswanaland and the surrounding countries, and had felled cell towers like trees in a clear-cutting operation. We were safe, better off than most, but alone.
Karen found me on my daily walk, the Daily Weep as I’d started to call it, poking fun at my own behavior to try to break the spell I seemed to have placed myself under. It wasn’t working yet, but I had hopes.
“Is this about the boy?” Karen asked as I brushed my tears away and wiped the dust from my shorts.
“No, it’s about . . . I don’t know what it’s about, really.”
She raised her eyebrows in a way that said—to me—that maybe it should be.
I stood and followed her through the grove of jackalberry trees. There was a circle of flies hovering around my ears. I stifled the useless desire to swat them away. Wasted energy that only seemed to bring on more flies, not fewer.
“What is this boy like?” she asked in a tone that reminded me of my mom. My mom always wanted to know about the boys I was dating and never showed her disapproval, even when I was sometimes trying mightily to attract it.
I searched for a description. “Tall. Cute. A lawyer.”
“You have a lot in common?”
“Oh, sure.”
“How come he didn’t come with you on the trip?”
I ran my hand over the back of my neck, wiping away an accumulation of dust and sweat. “He wanted to.”
“But?”
“I don’t know. The trip didn’t seem to be about him, us. I thought . . .”
“That if you had some space, you could figure things out?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
She shook her head and took a left along the path, a direction I hadn’t been in before.
“What?” I asked.
“Well . . . we don’t know each other very well, Emma, but it seems to me that if you have something to figure out about a person, it’s better to do it with him than without him.”
“You’re probably right. Where are we going, anyway?”
“We’ll be there in a minute.”
A breeze blew. The leaves rustled overhead, mixing with the buzzing insects, creating a din I hadn’t grown used to
“You’ll have it by three.”
“Good.”
“What are you working on?” I ask Matt, trying to seem interested.
“Someone stole a Manet from Victor Bushnell’s collection. Mutual is on the hook for millions if we can’t find a contractual exclusion that applies.”
“Right, I saw that in the paper this morning. I’m sure there must be something.”
Sophie gives me a Cheshire smile. “Of course there is. Why don’t you stop by my office later and we’ll catch up?”
“Will do,” I say brightly, both of us knowing it will never happen.
She leaves, and I lean back on the couch, feeling worn out by our exchange. Six months away has left me too weak for a catfight.
“I wish you girls would get along better.”
“I know, Matt. I’ll try.”
“Good.”
“So, when do you think I can start?”
Chapter 6: Far and Away
S ix months is a long time to spend in the company of strangers. Not that Karen and Peter aren’t great people. People who I now love dearly. But in those first few days and weeks, when I was weak and missing my mother in a way I hadn’t since I was eight and had to be fetched home from Girl Guide camp, I felt cautious around them. Unsure of my place.
This feeling was compounded by the obvious connection between them. And while I’m sure—I know—they had squabbles and different points of view, their relationship seemed easy and seamless.
I was jealous, I admit. I wanted that closeness, that connection. Something I thought I had until I saw the real thing, up close. Something I thought I knew until it came time to explain myself.
It was a few weeks after the earthquake when Karen asked me about Craig for the first time. We knew by then that we’d be cut off from the world for a while, that we weren’t going anywhere. That the power and cell service weren’t coming back on anytime soon. The quake had knocked out the hydroelectric dam that supplied power to Tswanaland and the surrounding countries, and had felled cell towers like trees in a clear-cutting operation. We were safe, better off than most, but alone.
Karen found me on my daily walk, the Daily Weep as I’d started to call it, poking fun at my own behavior to try to break the spell I seemed to have placed myself under. It wasn’t working yet, but I had hopes.
“Is this about the boy?” Karen asked as I brushed my tears away and wiped the dust from my shorts.
“No, it’s about . . . I don’t know what it’s about, really.”
She raised her eyebrows in a way that said—to me—that maybe it should be.
I stood and followed her through the grove of jackalberry trees. There was a circle of flies hovering around my ears. I stifled the useless desire to swat them away. Wasted energy that only seemed to bring on more flies, not fewer.
“What is this boy like?” she asked in a tone that reminded me of my mom. My mom always wanted to know about the boys I was dating and never showed her disapproval, even when I was sometimes trying mightily to attract it.
I searched for a description. “Tall. Cute. A lawyer.”
“You have a lot in common?”
“Oh, sure.”
“How come he didn’t come with you on the trip?”
I ran my hand over the back of my neck, wiping away an accumulation of dust and sweat. “He wanted to.”
“But?”
“I don’t know. The trip didn’t seem to be about him, us. I thought . . .”
“That if you had some space, you could figure things out?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
She shook her head and took a left along the path, a direction I hadn’t been in before.
“What?” I asked.
“Well . . . we don’t know each other very well, Emma, but it seems to me that if you have something to figure out about a person, it’s better to do it with him than without him.”
“You’re probably right. Where are we going, anyway?”
“We’ll be there in a minute.”
A breeze blew. The leaves rustled overhead, mixing with the buzzing insects, creating a din I hadn’t grown used to
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