Page 9 of Fight or Flight
S urprisingly, Katherine had slept like a baby for the first time in years. She usually woke up several times during the night. She had been busy the past two days, which was probably her reason for getting such a good night’s rest.
Katherine looked forward to dinner with Tyler that night. It was strange to think she had accepted an invitation from a man, invited him into her personal space, and even more so that she’d only just met him and knew absolutely nothing about him, other than he was a doctor, and Doc liked him.
Stretching, she got out of bed, took a quick shower, and dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. She slipped on her Uggs while Sam and Sophie danced around, eager to go outside.
“Come on, let’s go,” she called. Downstairs, she opened the kitchen door, both dogs racing to be the first one out. While the dogs burned off their pent-up energy, she made coffee. Filling the dogs’ dishes with their usual mix of kibble, chicken, liver, and a blend of organ meat, she added a raw egg and omega oil to the mix, placing their dishes on the vinyl mats. Ten minutes later, the two dogs came bouncing through the doors, straight to their food.
“Guess I don’t need to tell you two it’s time for breakfast,” Katherine said. Sitting at the bar, she sipped her coffee, anticipation sending a warm glow throughout her body. A renewed appreciation for life filled her. She knew it had something to do with that evening’s dinner. It had been too long since she’d had contact with a man, especially one as handsome as Tyler. She finished her coffee and rinsed her cup, placing it on the drainboard. She took the pie crust she’d made yesterday out of the refrigerator and gathered several apples along with a lemon to ensure the apples wouldn’t turn brown as she peeled them. When she had sliced enough apples for a pie, she mixed together flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest, and a dash of ground cloves. Once the pie crust was at room temperature, she would fill it with the sliced apples, sugar mixture, and some chopped dried apples, and then drizzle some apple butter over the filling before adding the top crust. Then she would bake it until it was golden brown and some of the filling started bubbling through the slits in the top crust.
Her thoughts returned to last night’s phone conversation with Karrie. The poor girl had sounded distressed. If it were an act, then she considered Karrie to be one heck of an actress. A smidgen of her gut instinct was beginning to kick in. This was more than a simple prank. Before she changed her mind, she sent Doc a text.
Call me when you have a minute. Not an emergency. K.
Katherine grabbed her laptop and logged in online to see if Karrie had sent any new emails or posted on the fan page. She checked her Darby email account. Nothing. Switching over to Friendlink, she didn’t see any of the girls or Walter online. She glanced at the time. Just after seven in the morning. The girls were probably at school. Later, she would check in and see if Karrie was online.
Returning to the kitchen, she was about to unwrap her pie crust when her phone rang.
“What’s up, K?” Doc Baker asked. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. I have yet another favor to ask. I need to find someone who can trace a real estate transaction. I know this sounds crazy—heck, everything sounds crazy coming from me these days. Tell me if I’m overstepping any boundaries. Do you know who does this kind of work? I’m not sure who to contact.”
She heard him sigh. “Kid, that’s gonna take some thought. Let me make a few calls. I’ll get back to you on this as quickly as I can. I have to help George and Sandy with a newborn calf right now, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks, Doc. I don’t know what I’d do without you. I’ll repay you some way,” Katherine said, adding, “What’s your favorite cake?”
“Bribing me with sweets! That’ll work, kiddo. I like a good old-fashioned chocolate cake with heaps of icing.”
“Perfect. I’ll get started.” But no, she couldn’t. “Does tomorrow work for the cake? You’ll hear about it soon enough, so I might as well tell you myself. Tyler invited me to have dinner. Here. Tonight.” Saying it aloud made her anxious, though in a good way.
“Hot damn! I knew you two would pair up. I’m proud of you, K. Tyler’s as good a fella as you’ll ever find,” he said, and chuckled.
“It’s just dinner, and I’ll admit I’m more than a little rusty at this.” She thought of Adam and felt a wave of sadness. If he were alive, he would be so disappointed in her, not living life to the fullest. “He offered to help me. I may accept.” Once the words were out, even if they were just to Doc, it incentivized her to work on her issues.
“He’s one of the best in his field, though if you ever meet Seamus, don’t say I told you, ’cause he’ll talk your leg off trying to convince you otherwise. I’ll check with a few business contacts about your question. And I’ll look forward to that cake,” he told her, before ending the call.
Doc Baker would be her first choice if she could’ve hand-picked a father. She was quite fond of him and was pretty sure he cared about her, too. Maybe one day she could meet his family. Smiling, she looked forward to the rest of the day, making dinner and getting to know Tyler.
She preheated the oven and took a pie plate from the cupboard. She unwrapped the pie crust, splaying it across the plate with the edges hanging over. Using a knife, she cut off the excess crust and then used her fingers to pinch the edges. Katherine wanted the pie to look as good as it tasted. She’d made this particular apple pie recipe dozens of times, so she wasn’t too concerned. Adding the apples, then the second layer of crust, she used a butter knife to pierce the crust, trying to create a star design. “Not my best, but close enough,” she said out loud. Placing the pie in the oven, she set the timer.
With time on her hands, she returned to her desk, logging onto Friendlink. Lola, aka HotandCool, was online.
Bigfan216: What’s up? U in class?
HotandCool: No, in bathroom cutting class!
Bigfan216: Don’t get caught!
HotandCool: No biggie if I do.
Bigfan216: What class do you hate that much???
HotandCool: All of them!
Katherine understood Lola’s dislike for high school. Hopefully, she wasn’t being picked on or made fun of. Kids could be so cruel. It seemed girls were even crueler than boys. She herself had been forced to attend many coed events during her years at the Burgess Hill School, which often partnered with Wellington’s School for Young Men for social events. Those had been some of her most miserable times, especially when she was called out for her lack of participation. It didn’t matter if it were a coed dance, which she’d despised more than anything, or weekend movie nights with both schools gathered in the boys’ gymnasium. She’d been alone. None of the boys were interested in her. She was taller than most of them and knew this had intimidated them.
The girls had made fun of her every opportunity they had. Especially for her accent. She never went home. Had no family come to visit. She’d been a total outcast. Yes, she completely understood Lola’s hatred for school. Even now, just thinking of all she’d endured made her cringe. The day she’d graduated, she booked a flight to Boston and took nothing with her except her spiral notebooks. Her parents provided all the money she needed for college, and anything else, as long as they didn’t have to deal with her. She’d never looked back.
Bigfan216: I hate school too.
HotandCool: I can’t wait till TG break!
Bigfan216: For sure! Any plans?
HotandCool: Sleepin’ late!
Katherine was an early riser now, though she hadn’t liked getting up at six in the morning, either, at that age. Going to the hall for breakfast with all the mean girls when she was in high school had been torture. No one liked the early start. Katherine knew many of the girls back then had taken their anger out on her. For almost five years, she’d tolerated them, which had angered them even more. The day she left Burgess Hill had been the best day of her life.
She glanced at the time on the screen. The scent of cinnamon and apple beckoned her to the kitchen. It was time to take the dessert out of the oven. She didn’t want it to burn.
Bigfan216: I gotta go, I’ll ttyl.
HotandCool: See ya!
She left her computer on so she could hear the ping when a new email arrived. She used two bright yellow potholders and removed the pie from the oven. Both dogs sniffed, their noses dampening.
“Not for pooches,” she told the pair. “Though maybe we can find an extra treat for you this morning.” Sam and Sophie barked. She placed the pie on a wire rack to cool, then took two beef sticks from their special canister. “Sit,” she instructed. When they obeyed, she gave them their treat. “Good pooches.” Their behavior still amazed her.
She took the chicken for dinner out of the fridge, and after she cleaned it, she snipped a few sprigs of rosemary and thyme, tucking the herbs beneath the bumpy skin. She salted and peppered the skin, then put the chicken back in the refrigerator to marinate.
She was unsure if she should dress up for the date, so she went upstairs to her bedroom to see what she had to wear. She didn’t own many clothes. There was no need. Katherine spent her days in jeans and T-shirts. It wasn’t as though she needed to dress up for work or to socialize. She pulled hanger after hanger aside, finally settling on a pair of black jeans she’d bought a few months ago. She decided on a simple red cashmere sweater and black booties she still had from her days in Boston, doubtful Tyler would care what she had on her feet. With that out of the way, she entered the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. Her hair reached down to her waist and would’ve been to her knees if she hadn’t started trimming it herself. Opening drawer after drawer, searching for a tube of lipstick and maybe some mascara, she found she had nothing. She hadn’t needed it. Now she wanted to feel pretty, feminine. She didn’t think she could purchase makeup in such a short amount of time, but she raced downstairs to her computer. Apple Blossom had a cosmetics section; she’d seen it online before, though she had always skipped past that page. Glancing at the clock, she realized she had enough time to make an order. They had a two-hour delivery window, and they’d never been late in all these years she’d used their service.
Before she changed her mind, she ordered a tube of Revlon’s Super Lustrous lipstick in the color Bare Affair, which made her grin. She also chose a blush in shade Berry Merry. She wondered who chose the names for this stuff. A brown eyeliner pencil and a tube of Maybelline mascara, still sold in the same pink and green tube she remembered, rounded things out. Before she went crazy, she thought she’d best add a few other items she would need anyway: garbage bags, food-storage bags, dishwasher detergent, and an extra bottle of dish soap. Remembering she’d promised Doc Baker a chocolate cake, she ordered cocoa and an extra bag of confectioners’ sugar. She would use all of it sooner or later. She placed her order, and a window popped up, saying her items would be delivered in forty-five minutes. It must have been a slow morning.
Katherine thought her morning unusual, since she hadn’t experienced the first sign of anxiety, not one symptom. She looked at the clock again. Could she go outside to the deck? For just a minute or two? She awaited the fast heartbeat to kick in, the dry mouth. Nothing.
“Okay. Maybe I can make progress.”