Turn a different corner 67/102
Turn a different corner 67/102
By: Marea67
About: Kevin, Chad, Sarah, Kitty, Holly, Emily,
Rate: G.
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything
*****
TUESDAY MORNING
*****
“Hey!” Chad sits down at the table. “Ordered coffee yet?”
“The usual.” Kevin replies bland.
“I’m sorry about your dad.”
“Are you?” Kevin asks, but he knows that Chad doesn’t really care.
“No.” Chad answers with a shrug. “Not about him… There isn’t much love lost between him and me. He always had a very low opinion of me and it was mutual… So, no, I’m not personally affected, but I can imagine what a big blow it must be to you and your family. I know things weren’t great between your siblings and your dad these last few months..
.. but until at least a year ago, every single one of them had your father on pretty high pedestal. He is still their dad and it’s has to hurt to loose him.”
“You never seize to surprise me, Chad. Here I invite you for coffee, because I want some meaningless talk about nothing important and you come such profound words.”
“Guess that dating a Catholic minister rubs off on me.” Chad grins. Kevin nearly spews his coffee over the table and quickly pushes his napkin to his mouth.
“You what?” he asks stunned and Chad’s grin becomes even bigger.
“Jason McCallister. He’s a minister.”
“Oh, how awful for him to share the same last name as Senator Homophobe.” Kevin shakes his head, feeling genuinely sorry for Jason. Chad bites his lip, but then he cannot keep the secret any longer. Not from Kevin.
“Want to know an even bigger secret?” He asks Kevin, his eyes lighting up with amusement.
“Spill.” Kevin orders, always loving a good bit of juicy gossip.
“The reverend Jason is Robert McCallister’s brother and firmly in the closest, but trying to break out.”
“No way!” Kevin laughs. That is too juicy. “You’re going too far with this.”
But when Chad shakes his head, still smiling, Kevin knows Chad is telling the truth.
“Alright, serious recap here.” Kevin blinks a few times to get this little gossip right. “Are you telling me that Republican Senator 'I’m-against-anything-gay' Robert McCallister has a brother who is a minister, gay, in the closet and dating a male bi-sexual porn-actor?”
“It gets worse…. Jason is also a Democrat.” Chad replies with a deadly serious face and this where Kevin starts to laugh uncontrollably, until there are tears on his cheeks and everybody in the, not so busy, restaurant, looks at him with an annoyed glance. Not that Kevin notices or cares.
Chad is glad to see Kevin laugh like that. He looked rather bad when he came in. He probably would not have told Kevin all about Jason, if he would not have trusted Kevin to be discreet enough with this secret and if Kevin would not have recognized the delicious contractions here.
Kevin wipes away his tears and still sniffing he looks at Chad.
“No one, other than Scotty, can do this to me, you know.”
“Then I’m in good company.” Chad replies modestly and for a second Kevin’s hand covers Chad’s.
“Thank you. Your friendship means everything to me. I needed this and I needed you… The death of my father has hit me harder than I want to admit. His not leaving me a letter, like he did for the others, hurts like hell… There! I’ve said it. I don’t want to care, but he gets me every time.”
“I know… I knew him. I’ve seen what he did to you. How he hurt you… and it’s alright to feel weird, because he hurt you, yes… but .. he’s also your father… He’s a part of you, whether you like it or not. It must all be very confusing and give you some double feelings.”
“It does. It’s also why I can’t go to the funeral tomorrow. I haven’t worked out how I feel about him. I might regret not going, I might regret if I do go.” Kevin says quietly.
“I understand. I’ll be there. Because I love your mom. She’s great and it will be tough for her. And I hope that I can be there for you too. But that will be your decision. I’ll respect whatever choice you make.”
*****
“Did you talk to Joe?” Kitty asks, watching Sarah fold her children’s clothes at the kitchen table.
“I left a message. Not sure if he even got it. He hasn’t called back.” Sarah’s voice is tired and soft. “It’s been hectic at work. Some of the men where so upset. They’ve been with dad since the start of Ojai Foods…. It was very sad to see.
And then I realize how numb I feel about this… You know, I haven’t really cried a tear over dad so far… It all seems so unreal. He was so rude and so angry and I was so mad at him over what he did to Kevin, Tommy and Justin and that was before I found out what he did to Mom… And now he’s gone. Unreal.”
“I know.” Kitty answers quietly. “I read his letter yesterday, saying he was sorry, that I should be able to make my own choice and that he felt that he and mom had raised me to be an independent person and not just somebody’s wife, as if that was my sole purpose of being.
It was so hard to read that, because that is exactly why I got so mad with him. I want to be ‘Kitty Walker’, not ‘Jonathan’s wife’, which I would have become if I had become his wife. It would have been easy to simply lean back and stop having a career of my own and become the dedicated house-wife, who bakes apple-pies.”
“Oh, honey, do me and everyone else on this planet a favor. Don’t ever bake apple-pie. You’re the worst cook in the galaxy.” Sarah begs and Kitty shoots her a foul look at first, but then she starts to grin anyway.
“What did your letter say?” Kitty then asks, curious.
“I don’t know. It’s still in my bag. He shouldn’t have wasted his time apologizing to me. Though I feel he had no right to judge me for cheating, he was right that it is simply wrong. I made a huge mistake, but I didn’t need him to tell me that, and his apologizing for his words, isn’t going to make me feel better or save my marriage.
I would have preferred it if he had spent his last hours on Earth apologizing to mom and Kevin. I may not always see eye-to-eye with mom, but she didn’t deserve what dad did to her. She’s always been the best mother she could be and also a faithful wife. I don’t doubt that.
And what he did to Kevin… I’m so glad that Kevin has Scotty. What if he would have lost Scotty due to daddy…”
“Then Scotty would not have been worthy of Kevin… because then Scotty would have accepted money to get away from Kevin… ” Kitty replies dryly. Sarah looks at her, slightly annoyed at the interruption, but she sees Kitty’s point.
“You’re right…. Guess he shouldn’t have tried and let Kevin make his own choices. Good or bad.” Sarah says and Kitty agrees with that.
“So, you didn’t read your letter?”
“Nope, and I don’t plan to either.” Sarah replies determined.
*****
Emily brushes her hair away from her eyes as she picks up her phone.
“Emily?”
“Oh, hi, Holly.”
“Hi, I hope you’re alright after this weekend?”
“Yeah. Fine. Tired.” Emily answers friendly.
“Have you had any news from Nora?”
“No. Yes. We spoke briefly. Funeral is tomorrow. I’m going.”
“I would have gone, but I don’t think I’ll be welcome…”
“I don’t think Nora….”
“Nora is not the problem. I am. I’m still so mad at William and I feel so sorry for Nora and I feel guilty about what happened, even though I acted in good faith.”
“Do you want me to come over? So we can talk?”
“Would you do that? I think you need to prepare yourself for tomorrow, Nora will need you so much. It hurts to lose your husband.”
“Yes, but you didn’t find out that David was cheating on you, just before he died….”
“No, I didn’t.” Holly admits, thinking of her own loving husband.
“I however do believe that there are too many unanswered topics now, that Nora will have to deal with on her own. I hope I can help her.”
“You’re a good friend, Emily. She should be glad to have you by her side.” Holly replies gently.
“I hope so… Know what? I’ll pack some things, come over to you and stay with you tonight.”
“Are you sure?” Holly asks surprised.
“Yes. I will leave for the funeral from your place. It’s another 25 minutes less to drive.”
“I knew you needed a good reason.” Holly laughs. “I’ll see you show up here then.”
“Give me a bit of time…. Bye.”
END OF PART 67