The Good Liar by Catherine McKenzie

Author:Catherine McKenzie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

22

FIRST, KNOW THYSELF

KATE

Though it came later than expected, Kate had spent a year getting ready for Andrea’s question.

“Interesting coincidence,” she said, her heart beating so loudly her own voice sounded odd to her, like something aquatic, swallowed by waves. “She even looks a bit like me, don’t you think?”

Kate pretended to study the iPad for a moment, looking at the picture of herself with Cecily from two years ago. She was heavier then, carrying pregnancy weight she hadn’t lost. She’d still had twenty pounds of it in her face and around her middle when she met Andrea. But that was before life robbed her of her appetite and she ran around after two little boys all day. The thirty pounds she’d lost in the last year had made a world of difference. Sometimes, when she caught a glimpse of her face in a mirror, she almost didn’t recognize herself. And her hair in the photo was that sun-kissed color she’d been dyeing it then, not the dark-brown shot with gray it was now.

She handed the iPad back to Andrea. “See?”

Andrea gave the picture a cursory glance. She’d already discounted the possibility that it could be Kate.

“You’re much more attractive than this woman.”

“Thank you. They say everyone has a twin out there somewhere.”

“I’ve heard that.” Andrea flicked her finger, and the next news story loaded. “I don’t think that’s true. I mean, I’ve never seen anyone who looks enough like me to confuse someone. Though this one time, in the grocery store, a woman came up to me and was convinced I was Trisha Smith. Can you believe it?”

Trisha was a Westmount mommy who lived one block over. Her hair was the exact same shade as Andrea’s, as was her spray tan, and since they shared a trainer, their bodies had the same emaciated shape. Kate had mistaken them from a distance more than once.

“That’s crazy.”

“Right? It’s like all mothers look alike or something.”

“Right. Anyway, I should get that laundry on . . .”

Andrea had already lost focus, peering at her iPad with a squint because she refused to accept that she needed reading glasses. Kate went down to the basement, the location of the laundry room, and promptly threw up in the bathroom. Then she washed her face and put on a load of laundry in case Andrea thought to check.

Kate spent the rest of the day until the boys went to bed on autopilot. She’d spent the last year with her head in the sand. She needed to correct that.

When the boys were firmly asleep, she asked Andrea if she could borrow the spare iPad and went to the basement. Her new friends on IKWYDLS.com were right. It was time to explore more than TMZ. Time to see what the rest of the world had seen since she’d stopped watching a year ago.

Back then, after three days of nonstop coverage, Kate had worked up the courage to leave her depressing hotel room. She’d spent a week getting to know her new city.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.