Pathway to my Heart

Chapter 6

Another Chapter!!!!  Enjoy.  And comment and vote.  I'd love to hear what you think...vote if you like it.

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Before Kayla knew it Sunday had rolled around and she was sitting in her parent’s living room watching as Cody played some sort of video game.  Dinner hadn’t started yet but Kayla could smell the aroma of chicken and potatoes wafting through the house.  Kayla heard the soft patter of feet enter the living room and turned to find her mother walking towards her with a smile.

Her mother was a beautiful woman.  Her hair was dark, like Kayla’s, or at least it had been.  Now streaks of gray were filling in and little crows feet claimed the corners of her blue eyes.  Kayla had definitely inherited her green eyes from her father but Cody had gotten his father’s hair color.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the house.” Joyce said to Kayla as she sat on the couch next to her.  She lovingly patted her daughter’s knee.

“It’s fine.” Kayla resorted to saying.

“Mr. Emery said the house should be done by Friday.  He’s invited our whole family over for dinner.  It would really mean a lot to me if you’d come with us.” Joyce said.  Kayla watched as the zoned out Cody stared at the TV like a zombie.  She couldn’t bring herself to face her mother directly.

“I’m not interested mom.” Kayla said bluntly.

“Why?” Joyce asked.  Her mother almost seemed a little put out by Kayla’s curtness.

Kayla weighed her options.  She could tell her mom how much the house meant to her or she could keep quiet.  She settled on something in the middle.  “I loved that house mom.  I don’t have the guts to see it totally different with an arrogant man living in it.  A man whom I can’t stand to be around.  I’d never make it through dinner.”

Joyce sat quietly on the couch.  “Why are you so afraid to let yourself live a little?” She finally asked in all seriousness.

Kayla froze at the words her mother had spoken to her.  They felt like icy darts.  How dare her mother accuse her of not living?  Kayla had moved on…she had!  She gave up on marriage all together but she started her own store.  She wasn’t cowering in her parents home like she wanted to do either.  She was living.  But instead of answering her mother’s question she remained quiet.

“Mr. Emery may be an arrogant man but I’m not asking you to marry him.  I’m asking you to come with us when we go to his house for dinner.  You’re part of our family Kayla.  Don’t you want to see what he’s done with the place?  Heaven knows my mother needed to remodel.  She was just too stubborn to do it.”  Joyce said.

“No mom.  I don’t want to go!  I liked the house the way it was.  I don’t see why this has to be such a big deal.”  Kayla was at the end of her rope.  Her mother had pestered her far too much.  She reminded herself to be calm.

“That’s right.  You like antiques.”  Her mother said.  Kayla couldn’t tell what her mother meant by her last statement but she didn’t have a comeback for it and Joyce slowly got up and left the room.

Cody let out a moan as his monster thing on the TV collapsed to the ground.  For the first time in the hour that Kayla had been sitting on the couch Cody actually seemed to be alive.  It wasn’t long after that Brian, Kayla’s father, was calling her and Cody to dinner.

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Joyce watched as her daughter ate her food quietly on the other side of the table.  Besides the occasional threat from her husband to her son for eating so loudly the table was completely silent.  Truth was it was always silent at Sunday dinner.  Any other day of the week and without Kayla there, there was nonstop chatter.  It seemed as if the family was gingerly stepping around Kayla.