Right in Front of You

12. Excuses and Lies

Kathy lifted the hood of the old truck in her front yard and looked inside. The engine was dusty and full of rust. She scratched her head with the wrench in her hand. When they'd bought the house, the truck had been there. Her father hadn't scraped it because he'd thought they'd make a project of it; fix it up together with his daughter.

The truck still wouldn't start and Kathy hadn't touched it in two years, but she'd loved working on it. Kyle was right. She should start doing things for herself, and she'd start with making this old piece of junk work. Except she couldn't remember half the things she'd known two years ago.

Baby steps, Kay, baby steps.

She stopped scratching. She'd never thought of herself as Kay before, but it seemed to fit the moment. Shrugging the oddity off, she put the wrench on the side of the engine and went inside the cabin to try and start the truck. Of course it wouldn't start, she'd done nothing to fix it, but the sound it made could help her know where to start.

She got into the driver's seat, pressed the clutch and turned the key. The truck let out a sound like a donkey with a sore throat. Helpful, but not very. Kathy gave up on the ignition and opened the door, just to hit it against something.

"Ow, Kathy, be careful," Donnie said jumping out of the way.

Kathy narrowed her eyes at him and didn't climb down from her seat. There was an uncomfortable ball in her stomach at the sight of him. He had some nerve coming here, walking to her like nothing was wrong.

"Why don't you answer your calls or texts?" Donnie looked at the phone lying beside her in the passenger seat.

Kathy looked at it, too. "I do. Just not the ones from you."

"Why not?" he asked on a shocked tone.

She glared at him. "Are you freaking kidding me?"

"Kathy, look—"

"Get lost! I don't even want to see you, let alone talk to you."

"I don't know where all of this is coming from..."

"You don't?" She jumped down from the truck and slammed the door. "Let me refresh your memory, or would that make me an annoying, frigid nag?"

Donnie cringed and stepped back. "The library thing, huh?"

For a moment, Kathy considered it worth it to do the time for cracking his skull open with the wrench. Maybe Kyle could teach her how to make a shank.

But she would take the high road. "Please leave." The words hurt coming out.

"Look, sugar, I know this looks bad, but I don't really remember what happened in the library. At least not properly," he said quickly, raising his hands in surrender.

Kathy stared at him, unable to believe her ears. How stupid did he think she was? She'd swallowed a lot of his crap, but he had to be out of his mind to think he was sweet talking his way out of this one.

Donnie seemed to realize she wasn't buying his fake amnesia because he sighed and ran his hand through his dark hair. "Look, it's complicated."

"Oh, I'm sure it is." It was very complicated how he'd turned into a complete ass.

"I don't like your sarcasm."

"I don't give a shit."

He cringed when she swore, but she'd had enough. "Kathy, sugar, this isn't you. I know you. You're sweet and innocent and gentle and fair..."

Naïve. Kyle's words spun around her head. The second one is unfortunately naive. Yeah, she was done with that. Kyle was right. She shouldn't be talking shit from anyone.