Page 28 of Loving Jake

“Take care of yourself.” He waited patiently for her response, but she refused to give him one.

Tears continued to stream down her cheeks, but she remained silent. Finally, he turned and walked away. He reached the edge of the room when she called out to him, her voice rough and raspy from crying.

“Jake?”

“Yes?”

“Goodbye.”

Jake visibly winced. His shoulders sagged, and his eyes widened before they became hooded and downcast. Without even a nod of his head, he turned and walked out of the room. Kimberly waited for the sound of the front door to close, and then she buried her head into her hands and wept.

THIRTEEN

“I’m coming,” Kimberly called from the top of the stairwell. She wiped developing solution on the pant leg of her faded denim coveralls and then pushed her dark rimmed glasses to the top of her head. “Just a minute,” she added as she rushed to unlock the front door.

“Carly. Hi.”

“Hi. Lindsay and Samantha have a birthday party this afternoon. I dropped them off, and I thought since I was in the neighborhood, I would stop in to see you,” Carly explained cheerfully, although Kimberly didn’t fail to notice that she avoided eye contact.

Kimberly placed a hand on each of her hips. She didn’t buy her sister’s story for a minute. “Are you saying the girls are attending a party in my neighborhood, Carly? Forty-five minutes from home? The schools really must be busing children all over the place if your daughters know children who live around here. And where’s the baby?” Kimberly raised a challenging eyebrow toward her younger sister. She planned to bar Carly’s entrance into the house until she confessed the real reason for her unexpected visit.

“Fine, you win. But I didn’t exactly say I dropped them off in your neighborhood. I said that I dropped them off and then was in your neighborhood.” Carly took in her unbending stance and in typical Carly fashion, refused to be unnerved by it. “Let me in. It’s raining out here. Besides, can’t a sister drop in on her sister without her motives being challenged?” Carly huffed and brushed past Kimberly on her way into the hallway. She removed her jacket and hung it up in the closet before she gave Kimberly a chance to protest.

“If a sister is a normal sister, maybe. But, you’re not, nor do you ever do anything on a whim. You always have a motive. What is it this time? What harebrained scheme are you going to try to get me to go along with today?” Kimberly probed, not feeling a bit of remorse for giving her sister the third degree. She left one hand on her hip, as she repeatedly tapped the tip of her shoe on the floor, a habit she knew annoyed Carly.

“Kimberly, I am not up to anything. The girls really are at a birthday party this afternoon, and Damien is with the baby. I had a couple of hours to kill. That’s all. I came by to see how you are because we haven’t seen you lately,” she justified with a tilt of her chin.

“I’ve been busy. I’ve taken on a lot of freelance work the last two months. You caught me in the middle of developing some pictures I need to send out tomorrow morning, and I’m not nearly done.” She’d be daft to think Carly would take the hint, but at least it was worth the try. Resigned to the idea that her sister was not turning around and leaving, she decided to offer her something to drink. “Can I get you a cup of coffee?”

“That sounds wonderful,” Carly beamed and followed Kimberly into the kitchen. “You know, the girls were terribly disappointed when you didn’t show up for Thanksgiving. You should have seen them. Lindsay dressed up as an Indian Princess, and Samantha was a Pilgrim.”

“Yes, well, I’m sure they were adorable, and I’m sorry I couldn’t make it, but I had an assignment I had to finish.” Plus, I just couldn’t face any more questions about Jake, she added to herself. She still felt the pain of his leaving almost eight weeks earlier. She turned on the coffeepot and took out two cups from the cabinet.

“Kimberly!” Carly screeched and nearly caused Kimberly to drop the cups from her hands.

“What is it?” Kimberly whipped around to look at her sister. The way Carly startled her, she better be looking at a spider the size of a small dog.

“Kimberly, why don’t you tell me what’s really going on here? Look at you. How much weight have you lost? Ten pounds? Fifteen? Kimberly, you’re all skin and bones. I didn’t notice when I walked in but seeing you here in the kitchen where there’s more light, Kimberly, you look terrible. This is my fault, isn’t it? If I hadn’t pushed Jake and you together, you wouldn’t be here, wasting away to nothing,” Carly cried dramatically.

Kimberly’s eyes traveled over her sister. She took in her perfectly coifed blonde hair, set in a coil at the back of her head. Her fingernails, painted fire hydrant red, were all the same length and not a broken one amongst them. She shook her head. Her beautiful sister had to have more things to do with her time than pry into other peoples’ lives. Especially when, nine times out of ten, Carly assumptions came so close to the truth. She had been miserable since Jake left, but she needed to work it out for herself. Jake wasn’t coming back, and with time, she would adjust to the idea. Yeah, right.

“Carly, you are not to blame for anything. I told you. I’ve been working a lot of hours lately. I haven’t been eating right the last couple of weeks.” Actually, her appetite was all but non-existent. The thought of food nauseated her more timesthan not, but she certainly would not share that with her sister.

“Jake has nothing to do with it.” She turned her attention to the coffee maker after choking out the lie.

“I don’t have any cream. Is milk okay?”

“Sure,” Carly answered distractedly. Kimberly felt a flush crawl up her cheeks when she opened the refrigerator door, and she hoped Carly missed it. If Carly thought she was still depressed over Jake’s leaving, she would demand that they discuss it.

Kimberly placed the milk on the kitchen table, along with a can of Coke for herself. “I feel warm all of a sudden.” She made her way to a kitchen chair and sat down. She pressed the cold soft drink against the side of her cheek. The cool metal felt good against her skin. Her body cooled off almost immediately.

“Kimberly, your face is flushed all of a sudden. Are you sure you are all right? Do you think you have the flu? I heard it’s going around,” Carly added with growing concern.

Kimberly raised her hand and pressed it to the side of her face. She’d welcome the warm flush if it distracted her sister from drilling her any further.

“I don’t know.” Kimberly searched her mind for a plausible explanation and could think of only one. “A couple of the models I worked with last week did mention coming down with a bout of the flu over the past month. Maybe I caught something from one of them.” The coffee maker buzzed, and Kimberly jumped up to turn it off. Halfway to the counter, she felt lightheaded, and her legs grew weak beneath her. She grabbed the edge of the sink, right before her legs gave out.

“Kimberly!” Carly scrambled out of her chair and rushed over to her sister. “We have to get you to the doctor. We can go to one of those twenty-four hour clinics. You might bedehydrated or, or, I don’t know,” Carly rambled while assisting Kimberly into a kitchen chair. “Stay right here while I get our coats.”

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