Something Old - Dianne L. Christner [58]
Just before she closed the door, Katy thought she overheard David challenging Jake to a race. Surely not on these slippery roads? Nah, impossible. Even for those juveniles. She leaned against the door, only rousing from her thoughts when Megan asked, “Wanna make up the beds?”
That night they used Lil’s extra set of pale blue flannel sheets for Megan’s top bunk, and Katy loaned her a hand-sewn comforter. She snuggled under white crisp sheets and turned on her side to face the bunk bed, a night-light softly illuminating the room.
“Can’t believe you sleep with a night-light,” Lil teased.
“Don’t want Megan falling out of bed,” Katy shot back.
Lil looked overhead. “This reminds me of summer camp that first year. Remember?”
Feeling a lump in her throat, Katy murmured, “How could we forget?”
“And this is just the beginning,” Lil purred.
But caution ruffled Katy’s already exhausted nerves. For so long, they had pushed for this day, for the big prize. It seemed strange to think of it as a mountaintop where they would step off into the unknown. Lil’s normal walk—on the Conservative Mennonite edge—filled Katy’s spirit with uncertainty. She was tired. Tired of fighting Lil’s outlandish whims. They were adults. Living on their own. Would it backfire if she gave in and just allowed Lil to be Lil?
“You think David’s gonna keep hanging around?” Lil asked.
“Probably some. Like he said, he’s over at Ivan’s a lot. I hope Jake doesn’t think this is a place for him to hang out.”
Megan asked, “You going out with him again?”
“Jake? No way.”
“No, David.”
“Not him, either. I pretty much told him so tonight.” Then Katy thought about how her sister had caught them kissing. Though Karen’s curiosity had been mostly about boy stuff, it had been a sticky situation. The kind of circumstance a Conservative girl shouldn’t be caught in. She needed to set things right. Maybe living in the doddy house could be her new beginning, to be a better person. One who didn’t get pulled into the outsiders’ world. Lil could be Lil, and she would be the Katy she had always wanted to be. Better than before.
“That what you were doing in the closet?” Lil mocked.
“Pretty much. That and fending him off.”
“You should send your scraps my way,” Megan complained between allergy sniffles. “Better yet, how about I set you up with a guy in my Bible class?”
“No thanks. I’m going to go solo for a while. Enjoy my freedom.”
“That’a girl.” Lil handed a tissue up to Megan. “Me, too. Unless that cute waiter with blond hair asks me out.”
Giggling, Katy warned, “Better get your beauty sleep then.” Nobody but Lil would entertain thoughts of dating an outsider.
CHAPTER 15
The next morning, to Katy’s delight, the wind had pushed the storm out of Madison County, and Ivan was able to dig out the drive in time for the girls to attend church. Afterward, Lil made them spaghetti, complaining about using store-bought tomato sauce. It was a given that Lil would cook and Katy clean, although she hadn’t envisioned herself hand-carrying all of Lil’s empty diet soda cans to the recycling receptacle that Megan had supplied them. And she hadn’t decided what to do yet about Lil’s unmade bed.
In the afternoon, Megan headed back to her Rosedale dorm, leaving Katy and Lil to experience their first taste of what normalcy at the doddy house might resemble. When the day wound down, they tossed bed pillows in the middle of their tan leather couch, lying head to head with their legs slung over opposite armrests, and allowed the wonder of the moment to settle over them.
“We need throw pillows,” Katy remarked, leery of placing her pillowcase on a secondhand couch.
“We need more furniture.”
“Maybe we need to invite Anita Weaver over so that she can take pity on us and find us a couple of armchairs, too.” Worrying her lip, Katy mumbled, “I’m such a user.”
“Why? Just because you have chapped hands?”
“What?” With a giggle, Katy waved her gloved hands above their faces and corrected, “Not loser. U—ser.” She had smeared a home remedy on them, something