Read Online You Knew Me When by Emily Liebert - Free Book Online Page B

a teenager. There were so many things she couldn’t discuss with her dad or hadn’t wanted to, and it had created a division between them so broad that it had never been mended. A division that had once been filled with the unconditional adoration between a daughter and her father. And then there’d been the real distance. College. A new job. Life.
    â€œHere you go, darling. Come sit down.” Hazel ushered her to the kitchen table, placing a glass of water and a plate of quiches and pigs in a blanket in front of her. “They’re homemade.”
    â€œThank you. That was really very sweet of you to go to all this trouble.” Katherine watched Hazel flutter around the kitchen like a newborn butterfly who’d just grown her wings. Hazel, for her part, did not look a day older than the last time Katherine had seen her or the time before that. It was remarkable, really. She’d certainly never had any Botox. And Katherine was fairly certain Hazel wasn’t slathering Crème de la Mer on her face—more likely whatever crappy drugstore brand she could get the best bargain on. But yet her skin was luminescent, one might say flawless, especially for a woman in her early seventies. Her cheeks blushed naturally; almost the exact color of Blend’s Really Rosy cheek stain, and her ashy blond hair hadn’t even gone completely gray. If only Hazel knew what lengths Katherine went to—both the effort and expense—to maintain her “ageless” beauty.
    â€œWell, it’s not every day we have such a special guest.” Katherine’s dad beamed. There was that guilt again. She couldn’t imagine what it had been like for him all these years. In the beginning he’d called every other day to check in on her. “How’s the BIG city?” He’d always open with that. Then the calls became weekly, then monthly, until they’d stopped altogether, save for holidays and birthdays. She could hardly blame him. Would you continue to call someone who never had more than a harried thirty seconds to run through the latest life was dishing out? It was awful to say, but it had just seemed easier to gloss over most of it than to start from scratch, explaining the ins and outs of a world he’d neither get nor ever be a part of.
    Katherine’s cell phone hissed. She glanced at the number. Brooke. “I’ll just be a minute,” she said, and held up her index finger, excusing herself into the living room, which radiated the same subtle musty aroma it always had. “Hi, Brooke. What’s going on?” She sunk into the brown velour couch. “Uh-huh. Okay. I see. What an asshole. Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it.”
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    Six phone calls later, Katherine returned to the table, where her father and Hazel were waiting patiently. “I’m so sorry. Things are a little frantic at work in my absence.”
    â€œOf course, Kitty Kat.” Her dad nodded knowingly, even though he didn’t understand.
    â€œSo, you’re here for Luella’s will reading.” Hazel nudged the plate of quiches and franks toward Katherine. “Such a sweet lady.”
    â€œYes, she was.” Katherine pinched the inner corners of her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. She really didn’t want to cry again. “I just can’t believe she named me.”
    â€œYou were like the daughter she never had.” Her father picked a quiche off the plate and ate it in one bite. “I think it makes a lot of sense, actually.”
    He was right, and Katherine knew it. Luella had been like a surrogate mother to her, even though she’d also been somewhat of an enigma. Growing up, Katherine hadn’t thought much about it. After all, there’s a certain level of self-absorption inherent in childhood; people are supposed to focus on you, not you on them—especially adults. And Luella had just