Kiss & Blog

9: Departure

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N I N E: Departure

        "Are you sure you've got all your things?" Kathryn's mother asked.

        "Pretty sure."

        "Did you double check?"

        "Yes."

        "When were you able to double check?"

        "Last night."

        "Last night? That was hours ago. What if you forgot something?"

        "I didn't."

        "Think about what you might have forgotten. We've still got an hour to make another trip back to the house. Are you sure you've got everything?"

        "I'm sure."

        "Kathryn, you aren't taking me seriously right now."

        "Mom," Kevin interrupted, "Breathe..."

        On a scale of 1 to 10 from calm to crazy, her mother was a good 6.5, borderline 7. The only thing she'd done all morning was nag, asking Kathryn whether or not she'd remembered to bring this or that. Then she'd gone on to repeating everything she'd asked a second time and then a third time in 5 different ways.

        She huffed. "Breathe..." she mocked. "How do you expect me to breathe knowing I won't be seeing my baby girl for 2 months. That's torture for a mother, don't you know?"

        "Two months is nothing. There's video calling and social media and emailing and, hey, if you keep her bedroom door closed for the entire two months you won't even notice she's gone," he reasoned, turning his head to look at Kathryn from where he sat beside her in the back passenger seat of the minivan. "The only time she ever steps out of her room is to eat and shit anyways, so it's practically the same thing." He stuck his tongue out at her.

        Kathryn sneered at him, finishing off with a roll of her eyes. "You're gonna miss me," she mouthed, receiving nothing but an ugly facial expression in return. She scowled.

        "Two months is... nothing?" Kathryn's mother gasped.

        "Aw man, look what you did now..." Kathryn muttered under her breath.

        "I'll have you know, Mr. I-Know-Better-Than-My-Own-Mother, two months was the time it took me to fall head over heels in love with your father. Two months sparked 21 years of your life so don't you dare say two months is nothing."

        They were on their way to the airport, two hours earlier before Kathryn's flight was scheduled to arrive.

        If Kathryn was extremely nervous or still somewhat shook from the events of the night before, it didn't show. She wouldn't let it. She forced herself to keep her breathing even and her facial expressions passive. The sooner she got on her flight meant the farther she'd get from Toronto, and the farther she got from Toronto, the less likely she'd ever come face to face with Daniel James again.

        "Honey, calm down..." Kathryn's father spoke through a laugh, glancing at his wife with a smile before returning his attention to the road ahead. "Don't you think you're overreacting just a bit?"