Traveling Light by Katrina Kittle

Author:Katrina Kittle
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780061877490
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books

Today, Jacob and I stood, dusted with snow, holding hands, looking down at the pond.

“I fell in love with you that day,” I said. “Because you married him knowing he was sick.”

“I can’t comprehend my life without him,” he said, not meeting my eyes. “I’m not prepared at all.”

We stood there a moment longer, until he laughed. “I can’t get too sentimental. I’m freezing my ass off.”

“Me too,” I admitted. My feet were numb and my hair wet and stringy from the snow.

Laughing, still holding hands, we took off back to the house.

In the yard, I saw a tall, thin woman I didn’t recognize going in the kitchen door. “Who’s that?” I asked.

“Oh, my God,” Jacob said, stopping, staring after her. I had to pull him to the house.

I opened the door, and there stood a woman I’d never seen before in my life. But there was no question at all who she was—the resemblance was so startling.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Jacob asked.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” his mother said, smiling weakly.

“Hello, hello!” Grandma Anna said. She wheeled into the wide breach between Jacob and his mother. “I’m Anna Zwolenick. We spoke on the phone. I’m so glad you could accept my invitation.”

“Your invitation?” Jacob asked, staring down at her. “You…I…who the hell asked you to invite my mother?”

His mother cleared her throat and looked as though she might be sick.

Grandma Anna only laughed and slapped his hand, scolding, “Jacob, your language!” I almost choked. No one else was in the kitchen at the moment to witness this, and I knew that no one would believe me later if I recounted this exchange. “And I invited your mother and your father.” She turned to Mrs. Kenwood. “Couldn’t Mr. Kenwood make it?”

“Um, no,” she said. “He—he wasn’t feeling well.”

Jacob laughed. “How clever. That’s not even a lie. The thought of me always makes him a little sick, doesn’t it?”

His mother flared her nostrils and narrowed her eyes. Hell, she should’ve gone to Hollywood, too; Jacob’s talent for terrorism was clearly inherited. “If you’d rather I left…,” she began.

“No, no,” Grandma Anna said. “Jacob, where are your manners? Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

He stared at Grandma a moment before saying, “This is Anna Zwolenick, Todd’s grandmother. This is my mother, Patricia Kenwood. And this is my sister-in-law, Summer. She lives with us.”

“I am so pleased to meet you,” Grandma said. “Summer, take her coat.”

But Mrs. Kenwood folded her arms, as if I might try to take it from her by force when she said, “I—I don’t know how long I’ll stay, actually.”

There was an awkward silence. “You drove three hours,” Jacob said softly. “You can take off your coat.”

She looked at him and nodded. She turned to me, handed over her coat, and said, “Thank you.”

“Want me to get Todd?” I asked.

Jacob hesitated.

“Yes, please,” Mrs. Kenwood said. She looked Jacob in the eye when she said, “I want to meet him.”

I dumped her coat on Grandma Anna’s bed and found Todd, with our cousin Sheila, tending the fire in the living room.

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