Read Online Love Always, Kate by D.nichole King - Free Book Online

clear.
    “That’s it,” I answered, my voice pitched higher than usual. Crap.
    “Hmm.”
    I looked away. “Uh, I have some homework. I’d better…” An involuntary smile began to spread across my face. “See you at dinner?”
    Before she could say anything else, I scurried upstairs and closed my door behind me.
    On Thanksgiving, I got a text from Damian.
     
    I’m thankful for you.
     
    I didn’t know the proper protocol for something like this. Do I text back? I decided to leave it alone, though I still thought about it for the rest of day.
    Mom and I went Black Friday shopping as we always did, but I drove to the hospital by myself.
    “Flowers from Damian?” Leslie asked.
    I nodded. “Yeah.”
    “Kate,” she started.
    “I know. It’s okay.”
    “That’s not what I was going to say.” She hooked me up to the IV.
    “What?”
    “I wanted to tell you that I think you’re bringing out the best in him.”
    Surprised, I turned to her, my eyebrows puckered. Did she seriously say that?
    “I don’t know…I mean, he’s…he’s still…It’s…” I bit the side of my cheek. Complicated.
    “Well, whatever it is, I think it might be working.” Leslie smiled and left me to my thoughts.
    Already exhausted from a day of shopping, I got up from the armchair as soon as Leslie left. Sliding my IV pole along with me, I climbed up on the hospital bed on the far side of the room and lay down. I pulled the diary out of my purse, but my eyes fell shut before I’d written a single word.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 7
     
     
    I couldn’t sleep that night. All of my insecurities came flooding back. Were the roses, the apology, a farce? Should I go?
    When the sun came up, I watched the brilliant rays of citrine and garnet fill the sky. From behind the clouds, sprays of white light poured down to earth. When I was younger, I used to think that was when angels came down from heaven to ferry souls back up to the hands of God.
    I wrote about the splendor of the morning skies. How blessed I felt to be able to see even one miraculous sunrise. I imagined what it would look like from the top of a mountain or standing in the sand, peering out over the vastness of the ocean. The sunrise calmed me. At daybreak, there was no room for anxiety, worries, or disquiet.
    Feeling calm, I crawled back in bed and drifted to sleep. I awoke after noon to my mother knocking on my door.
    “Hey, sweetie,” she greeted me with a smile. “I wore you out shopping yesterday, didn’t I? We shouldn’t have been out so long. With you being back on chemo, I just didn’t…”
    “No, Mom,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “I’m fine. Just didn’t sleep well last night.”
    “I can bring you up lunch if you’re hungry.”
    “That’s okay. I need to get up anyway. I can eat with you and Dad downstairs. It’s not like I’m helpless and dying.”
    “ Kate.” My mother’s voice raised half an octave as she said my name.
    “Sorry,” I mumbled .
    When Dr. Lowell first diagnosed me, my parents were overly protective, acting like I was Great-Grandma’s priceless crystal vase, which sat wrapped in bubble wrap in a box in the china cabinet. The second time, they relaxed a little, but they never let me out of their sight. This time, my parents went about their business, and I went about mine. I preferred it this way actually—less pressure on me.
    But every so often, that worried, sorrowful look would cross my mother’s face.
    I wanted to go to treatments, stay positive, and forget all the immature white blood cells that clouded my bloodstream. Already, I looked forward to spring when Roosevelt High would start team golf practice—a taste of normalcy.
    I took a quick shower, threw on some jeans and a sweater, and headed downstairs. After lunch, I played a dozen hands of Rook with my mother. She had taught me to play when I was stuck in the hospital undergoing tests. Then we’d play during my first round of chemo. And my second. And