Seas Between

Chapter 14

The doorbell rang at 9, sharp. Katerina rushed out of her room in her long purple dress and heels. She had a single braid in her light brown hair, the rest of which hung over her shoulders. She had done her makeup to match. Her heels clattered on the laminate flooring and she swung open the door.

Braden was there, suit, tie and briefcase. He was about 6'2". His hair was short, straight and blond. His kind eyes were an icy blue-grey laced with dark brown. He smiled. "Braden, come in, I still have to brush my teeth." Katrina said, waving him in.

He sat at the breakfast island. "I haven't been in here since you renovated the kitchen."

"Yeah, dad put a lot of work into making the kitchen of mom's dreams." Katrina said from the bathroom.

"The lights are beautiful!" He exclaimed.

"I know!" Katrina mumbled, sticking the wet toothbrush in her mouth. A few minutes later, Katrina's parents come downstairs. Her mom was in a skirt and top, hair pinned back in a bun. And, her dad was in a suit and tie and holding a briefcase too, his black hair combed back neatly.

Katrina grabbed her bag and clicked her heels to the door. "I'm going with Braden, bye mom, bye dad."

"Bye Mrs and Mr Massey" Braden said and escorted Katrina out the door.

They picked up Avery and their friend, Vida, for volunteer work. "So, this is your guy?" Avery grinned and stuck out her hand to him from the backseat. Vida laughed.

"Yeah, Avery, meet Braden, Braden meet Avery. Braden is from Everett." He shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you," he smiled at Avery. "And what's your name?"

"Vida"

"Nice to meet you too." He shook Vida's hand.

They drove to Archie Street to hand out articles based on the Bible to the houses, meeting back up in the car every few minutes or so. Going up to the doors, Avery saw Braden and Katerina holding hands.

When they got back in Avery grinned. "So you two are actually a thing?"

"Yup," Katrina said bluntly.

"You never told me you were seeing someone," Vida said teasingly. "Why don't we go to this door?"

"Yeah, sure." Katrina and Vida go to a few more houses to give out articles.

"So, why couldn't you make it to the funeral?" Avery asked curiously.

"Work of course."

"Right, you do what, again?"

"I work at a stable. I groom, feed and nurture the horses."

Coming back into the car, Vida smiled. "Eight people in a row," she said. Vida had been doing that volunteer work a lot. She put in 90 hours of her time every month to do it. She was very proud of all the help she was giving, as they all were.

Katrina sat in the passenger's seat again."Yeah, we got a lot of people home and they were all really nice."

"That doesn't happen a lot," Braden said and smiled.

At 11:06, the group headed off to a coffee shop for a break. They all sat at a booth, Braden close to Katrina.

Braden payed for her coffee and muffin. Avery and Vida looked impressed. "Look at you go, coffee, handholding, you have if all don't you? Now where's that famous relationship kiss?" Avery said, wide-eyed.

Without hesitation, Braden pulled her in and kissed her, not for long and not intimately but definitely not expected by anyone at the table. "How's that for you?"