A Lifetime

A Lifetime / Chapter 6 - Part 1

The next morning her mom was there before she awoke. The smell of coffee filled the air again. Now that the children had returned to college, she had to get back to normal. Having someone in her house before she awoke wasn't exactly normal, but she wasn't complaining. Her mom brought muffins!

She slowly managed the stairs this time on her own. She looked back and knew going back up them would be an entirely different story. Last night Kyle and Chance had slowly helped her walk up and didn't leave until she promised that she was settled.

She asked her mom for a cup of coffee. "Would you mind carrying it out there, Mom?" as she motioned towards her outside chairs.

"Of course not. I'll fix us both one and be right out."

She watched her daughter carefully manipulate the crutches to get to her favorite seat. She quickly made both cups and took a seat beside her and enjoyed her company.

They sat there a while before they saw Kyle and Chance walking across the yard from next door.

"Good morning," Chance cheerfully yelled down to the ladies. "Have you had breakfast?" he asked.

"Mom brought muffins." Kat gleefully explained.

"There's plenty left in there. Go help yourself." Paula pointed towards the house.

"I was just going in anyway, come on," Kat said while beginning to push up from the arm of the chair. Chance noticed and quickly came to her aid and put a hand under each arm. "Here," he offered while carefully lifting her up from her deep-seated position.

As her mom gave a peculiar glance their way, Katherine only replied, "Thanks," while giving a poor performance of it not bothering her.

Her mom handed her the crutches as Katherine slowly made her way back to the house, ever so carefully, not making eye contact with her mother. She didn't want her mom to see her face and she definitely didn't want to see her mom's.

Paula knew Chance well. The younger version anyway. She greeted the younger man at the door almost every day for years when he came to see her daughter. She had to make him leave often when the two wouldn't stop talking well after an appropriate hour. But a lot can change in twenty years.

The rest of the day was long. Chance had excused himself early. He left the logistics to Kyle and thought it better if he let the two work on the project without him.

But it wasn't long before she had an interruption, "I'm sorry, it's Oliver."

"Should I...?" he pointed outside.

"Goodness, no." she laughed.

After a short and exciting conversation, she hung up and squealed to Kyle. "He's coming tomorrow. I haven't seen him, poor thing, since the accident. I promise he won't get in the way. He has his own room here and will work in there and you'll never hear him unless we need something. I should've asked. Sorry. Is it okay?"

"Of course. I hope he didn't wait this long on our account. He should be here. We didn't have to start when we did. The time schedule on this project has some wiggle room. I promise."

"I'm so happy. You're going to love him."

"But will Chance?" he wondered to himself.

The rest of their time was quiet and productive.

Chance knocked on the door around 5:30 pm. Kat looked up from the table, the laptop still propped on her thighs, and waived for him to come on in.

She looked quickly back at Kyle as she began typing and speaking aloud again.