“Not all of you,” Katie glanced up at Patrick as she shook her head.
“Yeah we do…all of us. Some of us are just better at hiding it,” he chuckled.
“Ok, TMI,” Katie rolled her eyes. “Let’s dance.”
***
The four of them spent the rest of the night dancing and partying into the wee hours of the morning. It was just like old times.
As much fun as she was having though, Katie could sense that rough waters were ahead. She vowed to herself that she would once and for all put an end to Zach and his advances. He was not going to ruin her relationship with Patrick. She loved him and was willing to do anything to prove that.
Tomorrow she would make one last attempt to set Zach straight before she had to revert to cutting him out of her life for good.
Chapter 15
March 2017 - Big News and Heartache
On the ride back from their trip, Katie could sense a heavy tension in the car. Zach had decided to sit in the last row of seats with Matt instead of sitting with Eden, Eden kept to herself most of the ride, and Katie’s cell phone had gone dead due to her forgetting the charger. By the looks on everyone’s faces, it was obvious that they were all ready to get back to school and put some distance between one another.
***
“I’m coming as soon as I can get a train ticket!” Katie chirped excitedly into the phone. “I can’t believe I missed this!” She began pacing the room, grabbing clothes, and stuffing them into the duffle that she had just placed back under her bed the night before, even while still on the phone. “Yeah Dad, I can’t wait to see you too. Does Hannah know yet? Ok, ok, I won’t say anything. Yeah…love you too. I’ll see you tonight.”
Katie clicked her cell shut and spun around to face Eden, who was lying on her bed.
“Guess what?” she bounced on her toes.
“I’m not in the mood,” Eden scowled. “Just tell me.”
“My mom had the baby. I’ve got a little sister!” Katie beamed.
“Congratulations,” Eden mumbled into her pillow unenthusiastically.
“I’m going to go home for the weekend to meet her. I should be back sometime Sunday night,” she called over her shoulder as she spun back toward the bed and continued to shove things into her bag.
“Should give you more time with Patrick, then,” Eden whispered.
She’d been crying most of the day, but Katie was so into her own happiness that she had failed to notice.
“Hey, is something wrong?” Katie paused with what she was doing and moved to sit on Eden’s bed.
“Gee, you’re just now noticing?” Eden sobbed and rolled away from her cheerful roommate.
“I’m sorry. I have been a pretty rotten friend lately. I’ve just been so busy,” Katie rubbed circles on Eden’s back trying to comfort her. “Please, you can tell me.”
“Look,” Eden handed her phone over to Katie with a text screen open.
RockGod: I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry… Please forgive me? Heading out of town for a while. I won’t bother you anymore.
“Oh Eden, I’m so sorry,” Katie leaned over and enveloped her in a tight hug. “Do you want to come home with me? It might help you to get away,” Katie soothed.
“No, I’m going to go home myself I think. I’m going to look at trying to transfer to the University of Denver. I’m not really happy here,” she sobbed again.
“Running away isn’t the answer. Don’t let him do this to you,” Katie set her jaw as anger began to take over.
“No, really. I want to,” Eden sat up and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “I want to be as far as I can get away from him. He’ll stay in New York, I know he will. He’s happy here. He tells me all the time that moving here was the best decision he’s ever made.”
Katie swallowed the lump that was forming. She really hoped that Zach wasn’t hanging around for her. Right then and there she vowed to stop answering his texts, and do everything she could to avoid him.
“Well…if you ever want to talk, you know where I am,” Katie stood and walked back over to her bed. She grabbed her bag and moved in the direction of the door. “I’m heading to the train station to see what I can do about getting home tonight. Call me if you need anything.” She left quickly and trotted down the stairs.
***
Katie was able to catch the last train out of New York that night. When she arrived in Boston, it was late. Austin met her at the train station to take her home.
“How is she?” Katie smiled sleepily.
“They’re both doing great,” Austin grinned. “Your mom’s really tired though, and Joey has been a bit jealous. He doesn’t understand that Mommy needs to spend a lot of her time taking care of the baby. He really didn’t have to share with you and Hannah. You were grown when he came along.”
“I’ll help,” Katie mumbled as she leaned against the window in the truck.
“I know you will,” Austin chuckled. “You’re great with him.”
“When I was little, I used to beg Mom to have another baby. I wanted a little brother or sister so bad. I didn’t understand back then that Mom needed to get married first. I thought she could just order one from a catalogue or something,” Katie shifted in her seat so she was facing Austin.
“Well…now you’ve got one of each,” Austin grinned at her. “Your mom and I are done though. No more kids after this one.”
“That’s fine with me. I don’t know where you’re going to put them all,” Katie giggled as she turned her head and glanced out the window.
“Well…I haven’t talked to your mom about this yet, but I’m looking at a piece of property in Nashua, NH. It’s not far over the state line. We could both get to work rather easily, and I can build us a house that has more room in it,” Austin glanced over at Katie, trying to gauge her reaction.
“So we’re moving?” she mumbled with a tightness in her voice.
She did not like the idea of so many changes going on in her life right now. Her roommate threatening to leave, a new baby in the family, now the prospect of moving away from the home she’d finally settled into…not good at all.
Seeing her obvious discomfort, Austin assured her, “It won’t be anytime soon. It’ll take me at least a year to do everything. I’ve got to work on it between projects, and I want your mom to help with the design so she gets exactly what she wants.”
Katie released the breath she was holding, “It’s a lot to take in, that’s all.”
Before the conversation could go any further, they pulled along in front of the brownstone and parked.
“Just leave your bag. I’ll get it. Your mom’s probably up giving the baby her late night feeding. If you’re quiet, you might get a peek at her before she puts her back down for the night.
***
Katie could hear her mother’s soft voice singing as she crept down the hall to the master bedroom. When she reached the door, she paused and gently pushed it open. Melanie was sitting in a rocker in the corner with a small pink bundle cradled to her chest. When she heard the slight squeak of the door, she glanced up.
Katie had been so taken by the scene before her that she failed to notice that Austin had crept up behind her.
“Go ahead,” he whispered in her ear. “Go meet your sister.”
Katie’s eyes began to tear up as she tiptoed into the room. Melanie had just finished nursing her and was trying to get her back to sleep.
“She’s beautiful,” Katie whispered. “What’d you name her?”
“Cora Abigail Montgomery,” Melanie smiled.
Katie sighed, “Sounds perfect.”
“Cora was my mom’s name,” Austin smiled, “and Abigail was Hannah’s mom’s name.”
“I couldn’t have picked a better name for her,” Katie whispered. “Can I hold her?”
“Sure,” Melanie began to rise. “Sit here. You can rock her to sleep. I need to go take some pain medicine anyway. My stomach is really hurting today.”
After Melanie left the room, Austin sat down on the bed. “Your mom is the toughest woman I know.” He shook his head, “Cora didn’t want to come out. Your mom was in labor for twenty seven hours before she relented and let them do a C-section. She was exhausted after the surgery, but she still insisted on breast feeding her that night. I remember sitting there amazed that she was still functioning. I was tired just watching her and I didn’t even do anything,” he chuckled.
“We Andrews’s women are tough,” Katie winked. “When’s Hannah getting in?”
“Tomorrow,” Austin sighed. “Her train gets in sometime around lunch. You guys will get a little time together before you go back. Although, you just had a week at the beach together.”
“Yeah, we had a blast, although now that I know what happened while we were there, I’m kinda wishing that we hadn’t gone,” Katie scowled.
“Don’t sweat it,” Austin patted her shoulder as he began to rise. Your mom’s fine, the baby’s fine, and you wouldn’t have been able to do anything anyway.”
“Guess you’re right,” Katie sighed as she stood to place Cora in the bassinet that was in the corner of the room. “I better go say hi to Mom, then I’m going to bed. I’m beat,” Katie whispered as she left the room. With a new baby in the house, she knew that she wasn’t going to be getting a good night’s sleep. She remembered when Joey was a baby and how much noise he made when he woke up in the middle of night. She hoped that Cora was a better sleeper.
***
“You should go to bed,” Austin soothed as he kissed Melanie on the forehead.
She was lying on her side on the couch curled into a ball. She’d pulled her knees up to her chest and had a grimace on her face.
“I will as soon as the meds kick in,” she sighed.
He could tell she was in pain, but her stubbornness was preventing her from giving into it. Sometimes he wished that she would listen more to him and not be so hard headed. Although the more he thought about it, the more he realized that she wouldn’t be the same person if he changed that about her.
“Mom, if you have some milk pumped…I can get up with her tonight,” Katie offered.
“Thanks sweetie, but she’s not taking a bottle yet. It’s too soon for that,” Melanie groaned as she moved to a sitting position. “I think I’m going to head to bed now. I figure I’ve got about an hour and a half before she’s up again.” Melanie hugged Katie goodnight and headed back to her room to climb into bed.
“I’m going to go to bed, too,” Katie yawned. “See you in the morning.”
***
The weekend passed rather quickly for Katie. Hannah had made it home on Saturday around lunchtime, and Katie had volunteered to pick her up from the train station. The two of them had spent most of their time at home helping their mom as much as possible. Austin was glad the girls were around, Melanie seemed to accept help from them without argument. Whereas whenever he suggested something, she balked at the idea. Katie or Hannah could suggest the same idea, and she’d accept it. He couldn’t figure out why, but Katie assured him it was probably the hormones.
“Remember when she first came home with Joey?” Katie had smirked as she watched Austin’s face go from confused to worry. “Yeah, it’s like that,” she laughed.
Austin remembered how crazy she had gotten…she would go from mad as a wet cat, to ecstatic to have a new baby, to crying all in a matter of minutes. He never knew what version he was going to get.
“Dealing with your mom, post-partum, is like dealing with a bipolar patient on crack,” Austin had groaned.
He was right; Melanie was not easy to get along with when her hormones were going crazy.
“We’ll help you as much as we can,” Hannah had assured.
Here it was Sunday afternoon, and they were back at the train station getting ready to catch their train to head back to school.
“I feel bad leaving now when things are so crazy at home,” Katie whined.
“We’ll be fine,” Austin assured her. “You and your sister need to get back to school. You have finals coming up in a few weeks. Before you know it, it will be summer break and you’ll be back here. Trust me, enjoy the quiet while you have it,” he enveloped her in a hug. When he moved over to hug Hannah, he whispered in her ear, “I love you baby girl. I’ll see you soon.”
“Love you too Dad,” Hannah smiled.
The girls boarded the train to head back to school all the while picturing what the summer would be like.
“It’s never going to be the same in that the house, you know?” Katie sighed.
“Yeah, we’ve got a sister now…who’s going to be crying and waking us up every night,” Hannah groaned.
“Maybe she’ll sleep better than Joey did,” Katie mused.
“I sure hope so,” Hannah glanced out the window. “You know Dad wants to build a new house, right?”
“Yeah, he told me about it when he picked me up,” Katie began picking at a string on her shorts.
“You ok with that? I mean, we won’t be living next to Patrick after that,” Hannah offered a comforting smile.
“Well, he told me that it would be at least a year before it was final. So, I’m not going to worry about it right now. A lot can happen in a year,” she glance at Hannah.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Hannah agreed.
Little did they know that a lot was going to happen in the next year. Big changes were going to be coming Katie’s way. Changes that were sure to rock her world.
Chapter 16
May 2017
“I think that’s everything,” Katie turned to Austin and handed him a box. “I’m so ready to get back home.”
The last six weeks had been crazy. Zach had pretty much disappeared once they came back from vacation. Eden had kept to herself and spent most of her time on her schoolwork. She did indeed decide to transfer, and had spent all her effort in making sure that it happened in time for the following semester. Katie hadn’t pushed the issue, though she had wanted to be able to maintain a friendship with Eden without all the drama. There never was a discussion about Zach or any of the things that had happened between them. Katie assumed that Eden was none the wiser, and wanted to keep it that way. She knew that telling her would only cause heartache, and in the end it wouldn’t have changed anything.
School was finally out for the summer and Katie was headed home to spend it with the family. She was excited to get some time with her new sister, too. Patrick wasn’t going to be home until the next day, so she was hoping to get settled before then. Her birthday was coming up soon, and she was looking forward to seeing all of her old friends. Hannah had made it back home two days ago and had already filled her in on Sam and Anthony. They’d been hanging out watching movies and catching up.
“All set?” Austin tapped her shoulder bringing her out of her thoughts.
She turned, took one last glance at the room, and nodded before heading downstairs.
“So, what do you think about working with your mom this summer?” he grinned.
Katie had applied to a summer internship program at the hospital. She and Patrick both hoped they’d get in. Katie had only found out last week that she’d been accepted. She was going to spend half her summer working under her mom in surgery, and the other half working under Dr. Ellis in Pediatrics.
“I’m excited. I mean, I’ve been in the hospital with her before, but this is different. This time I actually get to help someone,” Katie beamed. “So, any clues to what Mom’s planned for my birthday this year? I can’t believe that she still does this, I mean, I’m not a kid anymore.”
“Your mother hasn’t told me anything. Think about it, you know your mother. Does she ever give away her plans?” Austin chuckled.
“I guess you’re right,” Katie rolled her eyes. “Let’s get out of here. I’m ready to go home.”
***
>
They drove in silence for a little while before Austin broke the quiet atmosphere, “So how are you and Patrick doing? You seem happy.”
“I am,” Katie beamed. “I don’t remember the last time I was this happy. I think I’m in love with him.”
“Really?” Austin smiled.
Katie had never opened up to him before, and the fact that she was doing so now caught him by surprise. Especially since it was in a topic that he really wasn’t too keen on discussing. In his opinion, both Katie, and Hannah were too young to be serious about boys. They had the rest of their lives for this.
“I mean, I’ve never felt this way about anyone,” she sighed. “How did you know that Mom was the one?”
“With your mother, I was never so sure about anything in my life. I mean, I loved Hannah’s mom, but loving your mom was different. When you meet the right person, you just know. I can’t explain it. It’s more of a feeling than knowing,” he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Does he respect you, and treat you right?”
“Of course. Why, are you gonna go teach him a lesson?” she giggled. “You know he’s afraid of you, right?”
Austin laughed, “That’s good to know.”
***
After stopping for lunch at a diner on the drive to Boston, they were finally just a few miles from home.
“Ahhh, home never looked so good,” Katie sighed. “You never realize how much you miss it until you’re away from it for a while. I’m so glad to be back and ready to sleep in my own, soft bed.”
The Boy Next Door Page 15