Page 32 of Text Me A Kiss

Chapter Twelve

Kady

“Kady, honey!”

I searched for the voice, weaved through the crowd of celebrating students, and practically fell headlong into my mother’s embrace. “Mom!” My cap fell off and my commencement gown hung awkwardly over my shoulders as I gathered my dad into the embrace, making it a family hug.

Anna Nichols pulled back, holding my shoulders to look at me. “Sweetheart, I’m so proud of you!”

My dad grinned from ear to ear. I buried my guilt underneath an equally wide smile. “So where are we going to celebrate?”

“I was thinking seafood,” I suggested. I had anticipated this question and already planned a pregnancy-safe meal at a place I knew near Juilliard.

“Whatever you want, honey. It’s your day!”

“Are we driving or walking there?” my dad asked.

“We can walk. It’s about twenty minutes away, if that’s okay.

Both parents agreed that walking was a great idea. My dad took my cap and gown for me, and we set off through New York, talking and laughing like a close family should.

Except that a close family didn’t keep secrets.

This time, I had to try harder to shake away the guilt. The plan was to tell them. I just didn’t know when or how yet. A little more time wouldn’t hurt while I relaxed in Chicago and figured things out.

“So, Kady,” my mother started, sipping at her sweet iced tea after we were ensconced at a round table with drinks, “where are you going now? I know you said you want to come back to Chicago.”

“I still do,” I told her.I still am.“I think I’m going to stay here for one more summer, though. I got invited to teach a ballet clinic.”

“But what about your own dancing?” my father asked, ever the businessman. “Won’t you be in the best shape if you join a company right out of college?”

“Yeah, but I’m going to take a private class with one of the Juilliard ballet instructors over the summer. She only works at Juilliard during regular semesters, and I feel like there’s still a lot I can learn from her.” So much of that was true; so much of it was also a lie.

“Do what you think is best, honey. Your room is exactly how you left it if you want to come back and stay while you get things sorted out.”

“Thanks, Mom. I know.” Home would always be home, and it comforted me to know that.

She smiled and glanced around the restaurant. I betted that she was redecorating it with her mind, and whatever her superior designing skills created, I had no doubt it was better than pictures of the ocean on the walls and the wavy distribution of the tables.

“How’s work been, Dad?” Back to the usual conversation starter.

“Great, actually. Things have been running really smoothly lately.”

Suppressing a smile, I asked innocently, “Then Graham Emerson hasn’t been difficult lately?”

“Has he bragged about all the women he’s brought home recently?” Dad joked, rephrasing my question. I laughed along as expected, but stopped quickly. “No, he’s been the model CEO. Not sure what happened to make him so polite.”

Graham’s past sexual encounters were, frankly, none of my business. Still… “all the women”? I couldn’t help but be a little taken aback by that. Graham had always seemed the perfect gentleman around me.

But really, had I been any better? Except, things had been the opposite for me. I had let men take me into their hearts, pushing aside friends and hobbies to make room for me, but never accepted their hearts in return. I’d been that pretty girl everyone wanted to date, but no one should. So many times, men had just bored me with the easy, casual approach they took toward life—never trying hard or reaching out and taking things for themselves.

The man who slept around and the woman who refused to allow a man a place in her heart. We were the perfect match.

My father wouldn’t agree with that, though. “I’m just waiting for him to propose some extravagantly expensive new direction for the company.” My dad shook his head. “Why else would he suddenly act like this?”

“Maybe he just found himself a woman.” Daintily, I lifted a shrimp to my mouth. Dangerous territory, perhaps, but I wanted to defend Graham.

“Doubt that, but you never know.”