Chapter 19 Distance Between Truth #2
Lana locked the door behind her, walked back over to the window where the Powells were, and gazed out at them.
They were sitting and sipping something hot from thermos’s, having a casual conversation.
As much as Lana appreciated Paula trying to reassure her, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread—and then whispered a silent prayer that everything would work itself out.
MAUREEN CRADLED KIM on the couch as she wailed uncontrollably. She was starting to tire of her whining, but tried her best to comfort her anyway. Her actions as of late had become erratic, and she didn’t want to make matters worse by chastising her right this moment.
“I just don’t get it, Mrs. Capshaw. I’ve done everything you said,” Kim sobbed, sitting up to blow her nose.
Maureen handed her another tissue, and she dried her eyes.
“There, there,” she said, exasperated, “I spoke with Kayden and he understands full well why I chose you to marry him. It’s going to be OK.”
Kim looked eagerly at her now, and hope crept into her face. It was like watching someone with a lottery ticket right before they read the numbers aloud.
“What you did last night, although ambitious, was all wrong. I asked you to play it safe and be cautious, and you did the complete opposite.”
“I’m sorry. I thought if I were more assertive, he’d buckle. Nothing else worked before,” she whined.
“My son isn’t the same boy you knew three years ago, Kim. He isn’t the same man you knew a month ago. He’s changed.”
“I know. That bitch must have brainwashed him,” Kim jibed, blowing her nose on the napkin.
“As I was saying, he’s changed, and the advice I gave you was to help facilitate the new Kayden. Not the old one. Listen to me and do exactly what I tell you from now on, and you won’t have these issues in the future. Understood?”
Maureen’s face was stone cold and emotionless. Kim picked up on it quickly and nodded her head in compliance.
“I promise,” she replied.
A door closed, and the clicking of high heels was growing louder coming from the foyer. Paula breezed into the house, removed her gloves, and placed them on the kitchen counter. Maureen stood up, and so did Kim.
“Paula, what a wonderful surprise!” Maureen exclaimed, walking over to her with her arms extended. Paula gave her an air kiss, removed her shades, and placed them on the counter next.
“Hello, mother,” Paula replied, faking the best smile she could.
“How come you’re back so soon? Where’s Garrett?”
“He had business in California. How’s everything with the diner?” Paula asked, pretending to be none the wiser.
“Hi,” Kim beamed, as she wiped the last of the tears from her face. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked like Rudolph with her nose, the cherry red color it was.
“Well, everything is going great, dear! I’m so happy you’ll be here for the grand reveal tonight!” Maureen exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
Paula walked into the living room and sat on the couch. Maureen sat next to her, a huge smile on her face, waiting for Paula to say something. Kim slowly sat back down on the couch, keeping her eyes on Maureen.
“That’s excellent news, Mom. Where is Kayden?”
“Oh, he’s still upstairs, I think. He hasn’t come down yet,” Kim interjected.
“And why are you still here, Kim?” Paula quizzed.
Kim tried her best to put on a smile and brighten up her face.
“Kayden and I are getting married, remember?” she exclaimed and hopped off the couch, her arms open for a hug. Paula politely put her hand in the air and stopped her from getting any closer.
“Please don’t,” she protested.
“Pauline Capshaw—,” Maureen started.
“Mother, please,” Paula interrupted, as Kim’s face turned beet red.
Paula stood up and walked over to the fireplace.
“I don’t understand your behavior. This is your brother’s fiancée. Your soon to be sister in law, Paula.” Maureen replied, perplexed.
Paula started the fireplace and turned slowly around to face them both. She took a slow, deep breath and tried to calm the rage bubbling in her chest.
“Mom, this is the same girl who was sleeping with every guy with a trust fund in New York, so excuse me for not feigning happiness for my brother,” Paula replied, placing the fire poker back into its holder as Kim burst into more tears.
Paula walked over to her and sat next to her. She picked up her hand and looked her in the face.
“I’m sorry, but I’m also going to need you to collect your belongings and leave my house,” Paula cooed.
Kim’s face crushed under the weight of the words. Her eyes were huge, darting from Paula to Maureen.
That felt good, Paula thought.
Maureen stood up, her mouth hanging open in shock. “Paula!” She managed to squeeze out.
“Mother, this is my home, and I choose who I want in it. She isn’t someone I’d associate myself with, and I don’t want her here.”
Maureen looked at her daughter and couldn’t find the words to retort. Kim stood, waiting and watching Maureen for a rebuttal. After a few more seconds, she ran out of the living room down the hall, the door slamming behind her.
“I suppose I should leave too if that’s how you feel,” Maureen said, smoothing her dress down.
“I never said you weren’t welcome here, but if you want to leave, mom—I’ll see you later.”
Maureen stood frozen, her face now flushed, confused. Kim came out of the hallway, dragging her suitcase, crying hysterically.
“Wait a minute, sweetheart. I’ll be joining you,” Maureen called out to Kim.
She stalked down the foyer and out of the house with Kim slamming the front door behind them. Paula took a breath, stood up from the couch, and walked into her kitchen. Two down, one to go, she thought and leaned onto the kitchen counter.
Kayden trotted down the stairs, his eyes barely open and his hair a wreck.
“What’s going on?” He grumbled, rubbing his eyes.
When he opened them, he froze.
“Hey, baby brother,” Paula chirped, smiling.
“Paula!” He hurried over and gave her a huge hug.
Paula held for a few seconds longer than he did. She had become so proud of her brother that she wished she hadn’t wasted so much time making life harder for him.
“I’ve missed you, too. So glad you came for the opening,” he replied, and she let him loose.
“Me too,” she said, fighting back the tear that sprang to her eye.
“You just getting in?” He asked, walking into the kitchen and getting coffee grounds out of the cabinet.
“I got in last night, actually,” she admitted.
“Really, where’d you stay?”
“Spence Hotel,” she slid into the barstool as he filled the coffee maker with water.
“Spence Hotel? Why?”
“I’ll explain over coffee,” she replied.
He turned to her and smiled.
“You hate my coffee,” he grinned as he set it to start.
“Yeah, well, I need something radioactive for what I have to tell you,” she replied.
Kayden furrowed his eyebrows, and Paula took another deep breath. Shit, meet fan, she thought, and wondered how she would even begin.
MAUREEN AND KIM stood rigidly in the elevator of Spence Hotel as the doors closed. Kim erupted into more sobbing, and Maureen rolled her eyes for maybe the hundredth time that morning, finally having her fill.
“Stop it!” She yelled.
Kim instantly stopped wailing, but the tears and moaning didn't.
“Had I known you to be such a whining waste of time, I would never have brought you here!” Maureen seethed.
“I’m sorry,” Kim whispered.
“I’m sorry—I’m sorry, is that all you can say?” Maureen turned to her and held her chin, looking her in the eyes.
“You see the way my daughter handled you? That’s what I’ve been trying to teach you since I took you under my wing.”
Kim looked into Maureen’s eyes. They seemed caring but were still as cold as the snow on the ground.
“Whenever someone challenges you that way, you stand up for yourself. You do not run away and hide!” She chastised now, letting her face go.
“This is hard for me,” Kim challenged, wiping her face.
“Well, you’d better get it together soon, or you’ll be the next one to leave town, never to be heard from again.”
The elevator doors opened, and Maureen stalked out.
Kim remained in the elevator a moment longer, absorbing the threat she had just been given.
If she didn’t live up to Maureen’s expectations, she’d be tossed aside.
It was bad enough that Kayden didn’t like her, but if Maureen turned her back on her, too, she would surely lose everything.
She stepped off the elevator just as the doors began to close again.
LANA LAY SPRAWLED across the sheets, having finally drifted into a nap to make up for the night that had given her no rest. The room door knob began to jiggle and jolted her out of bed, her heart racing in her chest. Who was that?
she thought, as she jumped out of bed and ran to the door.
She looked through the peephole to see Kim standing there.
She was crying profusely and jiggling the door handle. Lana turned around, her hand over her mouth, wondering what had happened. Did Paula spill the beans already? Was Kim there to settle a score with her? She looked back through the peephole.
“What are you doing?” she heard through the door and recognized the voice immediately.
It was Maureen. Lana turned back to the door and watched them from the peephole.
“The door won’t open,” Kim sobbed.
Maureen snatched the key from her and held it up to her face.
“Wipe the tears from your eyes and you’d be able to see this is room eleven-oh-five and your room is eleven-oh-six!” She scoffed and tossed the key at her.
She stomped away down the hall, away from Kim, and slammed her door.
Kim wiped the tears from her face and walked down the hall, her head hung low.
Seeing the way Maureen treated her, Lana almost felt bad for her.
Almost. She remembered the joy her pain had given Kim a month ago and wiped away any sympathy she might have felt.