Kellie gave me directions to where she was living and I turned around and headed in her direction. Even though I’d offered to pick up food, she wanted to go out. And since I’d just decided to drop by, or fly eight thousand miles in the opposite direction, I’d go with whatever. Besides, I didn’t care. As long as there was food and booze I’d make do.
Five minutes later I turned into her street and pulled the car to a stop. Getting out, I stretched, ignoring the burn as everything protested. Fixing my clothes, I grabbed my purse from the front seat and strode down the side path towards the cute little cottage.
Kellie was Cassidy’s little sister and although we had never been close, we got along fine. I’d gotten to know her a bit when she’d fly out to one of the shows to see Cass and hang with me backstage. Where Cass loved the spotlight, Kellie couldn’t hide fast enough. She always arrived late and snuck out early. She avoided going out to dinner in restaurants, preferring to order room service and chill out with Cass so photographers wouldn’t see her. I didn’t think she was hiding anything, I assumed she was just shy. Besides, it couldn’t have been easy having a sister who was on the cover of half the magazines at the grocery store.
Last time I saw her was in Texas. We’d been in the middle of a tour and had stopped in San Antonio for a few days. We had a couple of days downtime before the shows started up again and Kellie had come to visit. At the time she’d been living in New Braunfels just outside San Antonio with her boyfriend and had come into the city for a couple of days. We’d gone shopping, eaten way too much, and just had fun. When Cassidy had organized a pampering day—or I’d organized for them rather, a spa package filled with massages and facials and pedicures—I’d never been so grateful for having a rich and generous best friend.
I don't know why she’d moved to Ohio and it wasn’t really any of my business, but now she was staying in the guest cottage behind an old lady’s home and working as a housekeeper at one of the fancy lodges down by the water.
Stepping over a sleeping dog, one who didn’t even flinch as I passed by, I spotted the cottage and lengthened my strides.
As I ducked under the overgrown branches hanging over the entrance, I raised my hand to knock on the screen door but before I had a chance to, it was pushed open and Kellie stepped out. A very pregnant Kellie.
“You’re pregnant!” I blurted out, completely caught off guard.
“Observant aren’t you,” she pointed out rubbing her bulging belly. She looked like she was about to pop. Shit! I guess there goes my drinking buddy. “Want to come in or do you want to stand out here with your mouth hanging open trying to catch flies?”
“I slept with Hayden,” I replied awkwardly.
I had intended to tell her. I needed to tell her. I needed to tell someone, I just hadn’t counted on blurting it out before I even got through the front door. I just knew I couldn’t, in good faith, go inside, sit down and pretend like I wasn’t the worst person in the world without her knowing.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Kellie looked up, then back to me.
She was going to tell me to fuck off. She was going to tell me to get back in my car and get my skanky ass out of her sight. And I couldn’t blame her. It was what I deserved.
“Well, you better come in then. Seems there’s a lot for us to talk about,” she exhaled holding the door open for me.
I don't know what I was expecting when I walked inside, but it certainly wasn’t what I got. Kellie’s place was sparsely furnished, and when I say sparsely, I mean almost completely bare. In the main room was a tattered floral couch that looked like it was older than my mother, a small banged up table in the corner with a TV balanced on it, and a rug that looked like it needed to be dragged outside to have the dust beaten out of it with a stick; if it would survive the beating, I wasn’t sure. The whole place smelt of mothballs, and I covered my mouth and tried not to cough.
“I know it’s not much…” Kellie started to apologize as I took in the kitchenette in the corner with a half-size fridge, single cupboard, and chipped Formica counter top.
“It’s fine,” I told her automatically, trying to keep my real thoughts to myself. This wasn’t fine. It was nothing even close to fine.
As she struggled to sit down, I watched her. Her bulging belly obviously made the whole process awkward and uncomfortable.
“Shit!” she swore.
“What’s wrong?” I asked quickly, jumping to conclusions.
“I should’ve offered you a drink before I sat down. Getting up and down isn’t as easy as it used to be.”
“I’m fine.”
“So…”
“You’re pregnant,” I stated again, still in shock. “Kellie, what happened?”
Kellie laughed but it wasn’t a real laugh. It was a sarcastic one that sounded like if she didn’t laugh, she may cry. “When a man and a woman…”
“I know how, Kellie. But… all this? What happened to Texas? I thought you were loving life there. Teaching at the early learning centers. Now you’re a housekeeper… and before you get upset, I’m not judging you, I’m just confused. What happened to the guy you were practically engaged to? I can’t think of his name, but Cass said he was a good guy.”
“He was. I mean, he is. He… he got a job offer he couldn’t turn down and moved away.”
“And you didn’t go with him?”
“He never asked me to.”
“And the baby?”
