Promise Made (The Callahan Series) by Mitzi Pool Bridges Page B

were friends, not lovers.
    Her mind made up, she made a call to a real estate agent. They would put her condo on the market as soon as Kate signed the papers they would fax to her.
    Her next call was to her friend. “Jenna, I’ll be in Oaktree for a while.”
    “I know, but when your grandmother heals, you’ll be back.”
    “No. I won’t. I just put my condo on the market. I gave them your number to get my spare key. I hope that was all right.”
    “Are you moving out of Austin for good?” Jenna all but squealed, annoying Kate to no end.
    After assuring her friend they would visit often, they chatted another few minutes before Kate hung up.
    A load lifted from her shoulders. Kate would make a trip to Austin once Gram was well and pack her things. And Jenna? They could visit whenever they wanted. It would be fun.
    Kate looked out the window. She wished it were possible to stay here. She’d loved being at Gram’s since the day her dad pulled into the drive and dumped her and her bag onto the ground, then all but disappeared from her life. The last time she’d heard from him, he’d been in California. He was his happy, cheerful self, but Kate was sad for hours after. He’d never change. The knowing didn’t help.
    She’d been thirteen, but she remembered looking up at the house, at the sturdiness of it. She realized even then, how much she hungered for stability in her life. Her mother’s life hadn’t been easy. Her dad had left them off and on as long as she could remember. When she was about ten, he left for good. Afterward, Kate and her mom shifted from one apartment to another, each one cheaper than the last.
    Gram sent them money, but her mom sent it back. “We stand on our own two feet, Kate. We take care of ourselves.”
    So they did. When cancer struck, and her mom couldn’t hold food in her stomach—when there was no longer any money, the next time Gram sent a check, Kate took it to the bank and deposited it. She never told her mom where the money came from when she wrote out the checks for her to sign, and by then her mom was too sick to think to ask.
    With the optimism of youth, Kate had believed they had time—time for Mom to heal—time to get their lives back on track. But not all cancer patients recover. Her mom’s took her fast. Two months after she was diagnosed, she was gone.
    Kate had called Gram. In her mom’s purse, she'd found her dad’s number and called him.
    Gram was on the next plane. It took her dad longer. But when he got there, he took charge. They’d never divorced so he was next of kin, and whatever he wanted to do couldn’t be challenged without going to court. He wanted Mom buried in Florida, probably because Gram wanted to take her back to Texas. Of course he couldn’t pay for the funeral, so Gram took out her checkbook.
    Gram wanted Kate to come home with her after the funeral. Her dad refused, claimed it was time to make amends for disappearing on his family. He would take Kate and get reacquainted.
    Less than a month later he’d changed his mind. Or she was too much for him to handle. Kate didn’t know which. But she had been good. She never back-talked, always did what he asked. Even cooked for him. Though mostly hot dogs and hamburgers, she ate alone more days than she could count.
    It was a lonely time. She was with her dad, but he still wasn’t there.
    He didn’t say much on the trip from Florida to Texas. Didn’t apologize for changing his mind.
    She’d spent most of the trip slumped in her seat unable to believe he was leaving her again. It took all the strength she could muster to keep from crying. But her eyes remained dry.
    A part of her hardened during that trip and the subsequent dumping in Gram’s front yard.
    Even after all these years, after all the love Gram had lavished on her, the rare phone calls from her dad, that same knot was still there in the corner of her heart.
    Kate didn’t know if it would ever go away. Why couldn’t she get past