Body and Soul (Body and Soul Trilogy) (18 page)

Chapter 22

Kate stayed home for the next couple of days, looking out for her mother, waiting for her father to come home so that she could look out for him too. She was a ticking time bomb, on the verge of breaking down or exploding. Her demeanor changed, and her mother noticed.

“Are you fighting with Rico?” Blaire asked one morning at breakfast.

“What?” Kate asked distractedly.

“I asked you if you’ve been fighting with Rico,” her mother repeated.

“Oh. No. I’m just wondering about Dad’s case,” she said.

“Darling, your father should be back within the next couple of days. I promise. If not, I’ll make sure to call him. I’ll ask him to come home.”

Kate nodded, lost in thought once more.

Aaron came home on the third night. Kate’s stress levels dissipated, but not enough to change her outward appearance.

“What’s wrong, baby?” her father asked her that night.

“Nothing,” she said. “I guess I’ve just been worried about having to move soon. I like my friends here. I don’t
really want to move anymore. I think I’ve found where I belong.”

“I think that you’re right,” he said. “You do belong here.”

The next morning, Kate walked in on an argument between her mother and father. She faltered. Her parents rarely fought, and they usually took it to their bedroom so that Kate didn’t have to hear it, or better yet, didn’t know about it.

“What do you mean they took you off the case?” Blaire hissed. “You’ve been working on it so much. You’re dedicated to this man. They have no right to take you off.”

“Honey, they said that was the problem. They said that I’ve put so much into this case. They say that I’m attached to it.”

“You’ve been attached to cases before, Aaron. Why would they take you off this one? It was your attachment to them that made you win!”

“This company is different, Blaire. I don’t understand what’s going on any more than you do. I don’t like it either, but I haven’t been there long. I don’t really have a say in this company,” Aaron said, sounding defeated.

Kate heard her parents start putting away the dishes
, and she counted to ten before stepping into the room.

“Hey guys,” she said
, feigning nonchalance.

“Good morning, honey,” her mother said
calmly. “What would you like for breakfast?”

“I’m just goin
g to grab a bowl of cereal,” Kate replied. “Thanks, though. I’m glad that you asked, Mom. I appreciate it.”

Blaire smiled weakly. Kate focused her attention on her father, hoping that he was okay. He looked haggard, like he
hadn’t been sleeping. He took a sip of coffee and ended up having a coughing fit. Kate and her mother ran over to him. Blaire felt his head, checking for a temperature while Kate handed him a glass of water and took the mug of coffee.

“Honey,” Blaire said, “You’re burning up. I think you should go lie down. I’ll bring you over some toast with honey on it in a minute.”

Aaron stood up, mumbling assent. He walked slowly to his bedroom. Blaire ran some toast to him and came out looking worried.

“Honey, can you take care of your father today?” she asked. “He has a bad cold. He had about five coughing fits when I went in there, and he’s shivering.
I can’t take off work to take care of him right now. I’m so sorry.”

“Of cou
rse, Mom. I’ll take care of him. And it’s okay. Don’t worry,” Kate promised.

“Thank you,” Blaire said
as she kissed Kate’s forehead. A minute later she stepped out of the house.

Kate sat in the living room all day, listening to her father’s loud coughing. She got up more than once, convinced that he was coughing up a lung. He accepted the glasses of water that she brought him, but insisted that she leave, that he didn’t want to get her sick.

Kate was in the middle of her latest vampire romance, comparing the character’s problems to her own, when her father had a dangerously long coughing session. Kate rushed into the room to find her father leaning over a trash can. He shooed Kate away, telling her that he didn’t want her to see him like that. She insisted on staying; it resulted in his yelling at her.

Kate’s lip quivered as she walked out of the room. Her father hadn’t yelled at her like that since she was young. She sat down on the couch, thinking of that day.

Kate had been five years old. She was running around the beach that summer. Her mother wasn’t far from her, working with Aaron near a tidal pool. Kate had been jumping on the rocks, staring into the tidal pools, asking her mother and father questions about the organisms inside. She grew bored quickly, though, and started running up and down the beach. She kept testing how far she could get from her parents, running out a couple feet, then looking back to see if they cared; they never cared so she kept going farther and farther.

At one point, Kate couldn’t see her parents. She stopped there and began playing in the smaller waves closest to shore. A young man came up to her while she played alone. He began talking to Kate, asking her questions about her life and her family. She had answered the stranger willingly, unafraid.

She sat there talking to the stranger for fifteen minutes before she heard her parents screaming her name. She looked in the direction of their voices and waited for them to come meet her new best friend. Her parents were frantic when they found her, half-thankful and half-afraid of the man that was willing to talk to a little girl.

When Kate and her parents walked away from the man, her father yelled at her. He told her that she was never to leave their sight again and that they had been worried about her. She never did leave their side
s again, always staying close to her family, afraid of being yelled at. Most of all, she was afraid of disappointing her father, the man that loved her most in this big world.

Kate was brought back to the present when someone knocked on her door. She opened it to find Rico on the other side, carrying a package.

“May I come in?” he asked.

“My father’s pretty sick so we have to stay downstairs but come on in. Let me warn you; it doesn’t sound pretty. He’s got the flu.”

“Did he catch it at work?”

“I think so,” Kate said. “He came back last night and was fine, but started coughing this morning. He’s not doing so hot.”

“I’m sorry, Kate. Do you want me to come back another time?”

“No. Right now works perfectly fine,” she said.

“What’s wrong?” Rico asked. He was worried about Kate.

“He just yelled at me, that’s all.”

“He’s not feeling well, Kate. He probably doesn’t even realize he’s doing it.” He pulled Kate into an embrace, allowing himself to hold her until he was forced to let her go.

Kate
smiled, feeling better already.

“What’s that?” she asked, pointing at the package.

“It’s a present,” he replied shyly.

Kate pulled him into the living room, and they sat on the couch. Rico looked absolutely marvelous this evening in black slacks and a light grey t-shirt. He wore his signature black and white
Converse. Kate watched as his icy blue eyes clouded over, filled with emotion.

Rico held out a small package wrapped in brown paper. A navy ribbon was tied around it, the ends curled. Kate smiled, knowing that Adriana wrapped it for Rico, and took the gift.

“I hope you like it,” he said.

Kate untied the ribbon carefully and placed it on the couch next to h
er. She flipped the package over and tore the brown paper along the tape line. Inside sat a black box. Kate paused before lifting the lid and looked into Rico’s eyes. She leaned forward and kissed him softly, her hand resting on his cheek.

When Kate lifted the box
’s lid, she gasped.

“Rico!” she exclaimed quietly. “It’s beautiful.”

Kate pulled out Rico’s necklace. She held the small black stone in her hands, cradling it. Rico took it from her, and clasped it around her neck. The silver chain was long, and the necklace pressed against Kate’s chest, the stone resting near her heart.

Rico kissed her then. His lips were rough against hers, almost a question. She answered by kissing him back, leaning into him so that their bodies pressed together. Rico’s hands were tangled in
Kate’s hair, pulling gently on her curls. Kate’s hands rested on Rico’s neck, her thumbs pressed against his jaw. He began to run his hands down her spine, sending shocks of electricity to her fingertips, and Kate pulled away, gasping.

“Hold on,” she said. “I’m sort of out of breath.”

“That good, am I?” Rico asked playfully.

Kate pushed him
lightly and stood up. She pulled her hair into a bun and fanned herself. Rico smiled up at her.

“You know, for
you being so cold, I’m still hot. How does that work?”

“Your body heat rises when we kiss. I balance that. This time, however, you went crazy. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you had been kissing a human.”

“I’ll let you know,” Kate said jokingly.

Just then Kate’s father had another fit of coughing. Kate grimaced.

“Hey, I’ll go and let you take care of your father,” Rico said. He stood up and kissed Kate on the top of her head before he let himself out.

Kate tried, unsuccessfully, to take care of her father until her mother came home.

That night, Blaire slept in the guest room across the hall from Kate. Kate sat up half the night, worrying about her father, afraid for her mother, who was probably sitting up just like she was. At around two a.m., Blaire snuck in to Kate’s room and slept with her daughter until dawn.

A routine was established after three days of Kate’s father being ill. Blaire would leave in the mornings after taking care of Aaron, and Kate
would take over until her mother came home in the evenings. The aura in the house had changed from ease and contentment to stress and complexity. After three days of this, Blaire threatened to call the hospital but Kate’s father wouldn’t allow it. He was certain that he would be better in two days time, and Blaire gave him the benefit of the doubt because she loved him so much.

Kate’s father stepped out of the room Saturday morning, looking much better. He wore faded jean shorts and a white and brown striped collared shirt. His hair was slightly disheveled, like he had just woken up, but his complexion was rosy and his eyes were bright.

Aaron
quietly took a seat between Kate and Blaire and sipped on his coffee. “I feel so much better,” he said.

Kate watched as he leaned toward her mother and kissed her on the cheek, trying to ease the tension that was circulating around the room.

Blaire smiled, her anxiety visibly dissolving. Her shoulders relaxed and she let go of the air that she had been holding in.

“I’m glad you’re better, honey. I was so worried,” she said.

“I’m sorry for scaring both of you,” Aaron said.

“It’s okay,” Blaire and Kate said in unison.

“Dad?” Kate asked.

“Yes, honey?”

“Please promise to let us take you to the hospital the next time you’re sick. It was hard around here with you so sick. Mom and I were on edge the whole time. I almost thought that you were dying, Dad.”

“I’m all better now, honey. There’s no need to worry any longer,” he said, finishing the conversation without answering Kate’s request.

“Are you going to work Monday, Aaron?” Blaire asked.

“I’m not certain. We’ll see how the rest of the weekend goes, and I’ll decide tomorrow evening whether I’ll be able to go in to work.”

“Do you think you’ll be handed a new case this week?” Blaire probed. She had spoken to Kate about the fact that her father had been taken off of the case that he had worked so hard on, mentioning once or twice the unfairness of it all.

“I don’t know, Blaire,” Aaron
said angrily. Blaire flinched.

Kate let her jaw drop open slightly. Her father never acted like this. He must not be feeling as good as he thought; he never would have said something like that to Blaire if he had been feeling as good as he claimed.

“I’m sorry,” he said guiltily. “I don’t know what’s come over me. I’m still upset about getting taken off the case, and I’m taking it out on the two of you.”

“That’s fine, honey. I understand that you’re still not one hundred percent,” Blaire said reassuringly.

Aaron smiled at her gratefully.

Kate decided that it was time to go, then. She had made plans earlier in the week to hang out with Rico, and she decided that now was as good a time as any.

“Where are you going, sunshine?” Aaron asked Kate.

“I’m hanging out with Rico today. I’m going to go upstairs and get ready.”

“Have fun,” Blaire said. “You deserve it after being cooped up in the house all week. I thank you for all of your help, baby.”