Kaleidoscope

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kim drove slowly through the accumulating snow, Danny's words sticking in her mind like the snowflakes to the ground under her tires. She was certain there was a mutual attraction, but there still seemed to be more that Danny was holding in. As the windshield wipers fought to keep up with the snow, Kim fought with her thoughts. When they had been in school together, shortly before Danny left and never returned, he had looked so gaunt that Kim had suspected drugs. But after hearing about his sister, she thought that he was just struggling with things at home. At least that's what she hoped. She didn't want her suspicions to be right.

She pulled into her driveway, brushed off her boots and went in the back door. Her mom was waiting for her, concerned about the weather. It was a late season storm, but not unusual for March. Kim knew it wasn't just the weather, though; she knew her mom was curious about where she had gone. Not wanting to pry, Sarah simply asked how her afternoon had gone. Kim told her mom that she had gone to have coffee with Danny. She left out the details-it wasn't the right time to divulge all that Danny had said.

"He seems like such a nice young man, Kim. What is he studying?"

"He's not in school any more, Mom. He's living at home now."

"What happened," Sarah asked.

"It's a long story, Mom, and I'm not sure I have all of it yet. He's just a little mixed up and there are some family issues he has to deal with."

"Are you sure you want to get involved, honey?"

"I'm not exactly involved, Mom. All we did was have coffee and he wants to go to a movie before I leave to go back. That's all."

"Just be careful, Kim. You don't need to have someone dump all their problems on you."

"I'm fine, Mom. Anyway, what's for dinner?"

On that note, Kim began to set the table for the family. Outside of the normal sibling rivalry she had with her brother, she had a difficult time imagining what issues Danny could be having that would have caused him to drop out of school. I guess I'm pretty lucky, she thought.

She went up to her room to call Laura. She needed a voice of reason because right now she knew she wasn't thinking clearly where Danny was concerned. She obviously had never gotten him out of her system even when he dropped out of sight. He kept his life close to the vest, and she wasn't sure what she would eventually find out. Right now, she was very attracted to him.

Laura answered on the first ring and asked how the coffee "date" had gone.

"Geez, he's so damned cute," were the first words out of Kim's mouth.

"I'll give you that, but what did he have to say?"

"Remember how he said I reminded him of someone. Well, apparently, it's his sister. He says I'm a dead ringer for her and it scared the hell out of him. And what makes it even worse, his sister was in a terrible accident that left her paralyzed and her best friend dead. Can you imagine dealing with all that? I guess every time he looked at me all he could see was her. He shut me out so he wouldn't have to think about what happened."

"What changed now? Why does he want to see you all of a sudden?"

"He seems to be a little better now that he's home. I don't know what to make of any of it. I just know that he wants to see me again. Am I crazy for even entertaining it?"

"You know you're never going to be satisfied if you don't give it a try. It will either go somewhere or it won't."

"Thanks, Laura, I knew you'd have a rational thought because I'm all out of them. Talk to you tomorrow."

Kim hung up and flopped down on her bed. The conversation and the drive home in the snow had her exhausted. She could still feel the warmth of his body when he put his arm around her. There was a magnetism between them that she couldn't explain. Giving in to her fatigue, she skipped dinner altogether and fell asleep still in her clothes,  Danny's blue eyes shining a light into her soul.

The next morning, sleep still trying to shrug itself off her body, Kim's thoughts returned to Danny. What would she say when he called? When he looked at her was he seeing her or his sister? It was all so very weird. It was only a movie, how could she lose? She changed out of yesterday's clothes, took a shower and went down to breakfast.

"How's my little girl?" her dad asked as he leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm not so little anymore, Dad. Remember, I'm in college now?"

"Oh, you'll always be my little girl, don't you know that? Now, Mom tells me that young man we met on Parents' Weekend has surfaced again. How is he?"

"Really, Dad, can't a girl have anything private?" she balked. "He's just fine. We're going to the movies before I head back to school. I suppose Mom told you that he's not up there anymore. He's got some things going on at home. But, I'd rather not go into that now, please."

"Fine, sweetheart. Just know you can talk about anything with us."

At that point, Ryan emerged from his room, sleep heavy in his eyes and with a massive bedhead. Kim winked at her dad-her cue to cut the conversation short.

"What's up, little man? Restless night I see."

"Shut up, Kim."

"Whoa, Ryan," said his dad. "That's no way to talk to your sister."

"Sorry, Kim. Just stop calling me little. I'm bigger than you are now anyway."

"Okay, let's call a truce," answered Kim. "I've got to get going. I'm meeting Laura at her house. See you guys later."

With that, Kim grabbed the keys to her mom's car and left. She and Laura still had a lot to talk about.