The Reunion

Chapter 13 - Kaia

Kaia could feel her hands shaking. She needed to pull herself together. Needed to calm down at the fact that Karlie was currently at her parent's home. Something that hadn't happened in years.

She took the sliding glass door into the back of the house and walked upstairs to the kitchen. Opening the fridge door, she stuck her head in to breathe in the cold air.

"Whatcha lookin' for?" Stella's soft voice broke the reverie Kaia had while in the refrigerator, causing her to jump and smack a shelf with her head.

"Oh, nothing in particular." She mumbled, closing the door with a hint of embarrassment. She turned to look at Stella who was now studying her curiously. A perfectly sculpted brow lifted in question.

Kaia waved her off, "don't worry, it's nothing."

"Kaia, I say this with love, but I am so relieved you didn't become a lawyer."

Kaia's face scrunched up in confusion.

"You my dear, are a horrendous liar."

Kaia slumped back and leaned her hips onto the counter in defeat.

"Hey," she said sweetly, "is everything okay? You seem a little... on edge."

Understatement of the year. She turned and forced a smile, "Yeah, my shift earlier... It was a long day." She hoped Stella couldn't see through the partial lie. She figured it was something she usually told everyone anyway. None of the other members in her family, Stella included, fully understood the scope of her job, so they always took her excuse at face value.

But Stella was watching her, evaluating her every word and body language. It was evident that it wasn't working on her.

She relented, folding under the pressure of Stella's knowing, albeit very kind, eyes. "I'm barely holding it together."

"I see that." Stella slid out a bar stool on the other side of the counter. "Tell me. What's going on. Is it because Karlie's here?" she tilted her head in the direction of the back yard. "Must be strange seeing her after so long."

Understatement of the decade.

Kaia could only admit the truth. "Yeah," she said on a sigh. "And if my stupid brother wouldn't have invited her here, everything would be alright." Dandy even.

"Easy killer. He was being nice, and I think he missed her more than you think."

Stella was right. Of course she was. But it still didn't negate from the fact that if he hadn't opened his big fat mouth, she wouldn't be going through this turmoil.

"This calm demeanor is unnerving on you," Kaia joked. "But yes. You're right." She groaned, "I know they missed her too. It's just..." she rubbed her face with her hands. "Why now? Why here?"

"You two were close, right?"

By the incline of her brow and the lilt in her tone, Kaia could tell Stella was neither oblivious nor ignorant of the situation. What had her brother told her?

She waved a hand, trying to play it cool, "oh you know, best friends in high school... drifted apart when we left for college."

Stella, the incomparable defense attorney, wasn't buying it. Kaia gritted her teeth, waiting for the cross examination that was sure to come. Stella watched her, observing Kaia's expression.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Stella said, instead of asking a barrage of questions. Which threw Kaia off. She had tensed her body, preparing to come up with a lie, any lie. To play everything off as if it wasn't a big deal, that none of it mattered, not truly.