“Who is it?” Kat grunted.
“Meri,” she said quietly as she opened the door. “Can we talk?”
“I want to be alone.”
“I’m sure you do.” Meredith sat on the chair by the window. “Sounds like you guys had a rough day. I’m sorry.”
Kat’s brow creased. “Why are you sorry?”
“I think it’s partly my fault.”
“How’s that?” Kat sat up, peering curiously at her.
“Well, this morning, Mrs. Warner unexpectedly encouraged me to take the day off. It seemed a good idea since I had errands to do in town. I needed to go to the bank and get a cell phone. Do you realize I’ve been without my phone for more than two weeks?”
Kat seemed to consider this.
“You kids were still sleeping, and I took off without even telling you I was going. While I realize you probably didn’t care since you’re older, I can see now that it was upsetting to Mishka. And, consequently, I’m afraid it became upsetting to you.”
“Yeah…sort of.”
“And Mrs. Warner was a little impatient about it.”
“That’s for sure.”
“So if I’d planned it better, and told you and Mishka, maybe things would’ve gone a bit more smoothly.”
Kat nodded.
“I’m sorry, Kat. I didn’t want to wake you, but I wish I’d slipped a note under your door.”
She made a tiny shrug.
“I wasn’t being a very good friend.” She waited. “But, honestly, I had no idea Mishka would be so upset. I sort of forgothow your mother went away too. Maybe, in a way, it felt like that to him. I am really sorry about that.”
“He was pretty upset…all day. And I suppose I didn’t make it any better.”
Meredith was tempted to prod a bit here but controlled herself.
“I was mean to him about going down to the pool.”
“He told me about that. And how Mrs. Warner got fed up and said I may not come back.”
“Would you ever really do that?” Kat’s pale gray eyes were fixed on Meredith.
“I would never leave without explaining myself,” she assured her. “And if I have to be away, even for a few hours, I’ll do better with communicating.”
“But what about your home in the States? Will you just leave to go back there, like Mrs. Warner said?”
“Like I just told Mishka, I don’t even have a passport. Or a plane ticket. I couldn’t go if I wanted to. You guys are stuck with me. But honestly, I don’t even want to go. I’ve gotten pretty comfortable here. And there’s a lot of summer holiday left. Not only that, I actually like you and Mishka.” She smiled. “In fact, I missed you both today when I was getting gelato.” She told her about the cards she’d gotten and how she used to play Uno with her friends. “I hoped we three could play it. And I got you your own game to take back to school and teach to your new friends.”
Kat looked doubtful, but at least she didn’t roll her eyes.
Meredith looked at the wall clock. “You’ve got just enough time to get ready for dinner. I’m hoping we can all square things away with Mrs. Warner. I have a feeling she’s not too pleased with how she handled things, but she was probably just frustrated.”
“It was a hot mess around here.”
Meredith laughed. “You sound like an American.”
