“Oh, Kath I’m sorry, Leanne needs me for her homework, was there anything in particular you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Well actually yes, but it can wait, don’t worry, go take care of her, and we’ll call each other again later this week, call me whenever you have time, you know I always have my phone with me anyway, so you can call me anytime!”
“Thanks sis, I’m glad it can wait, I’ll talk to you soon, I promise. I love you, have a nice day!”
Katherine didn’t even have enough time to answer, Lisa was gone already. Leanne was 12 and really demanding when it came to Math homework, Katherine knew that by heart. Actually she knew approximately everything that was to be known about Lisa’s kids. At first, when she learnt she could never have kids, she tried to stay away from any kind of interaction with children. But first Mike and his wife Amanda had their first kid. Her brother had met Amanda during a Cimorelli concert, she worked as a sound engineer on their first tour, and they had been in love ever since. In 2018 they had gotten married and brought a charming little boy, Callum, to life. It had been the turning point for the grieving Cimorelli, this little boy had brought joy back and the whole family could finally start moving on after the “tragic drama” that had happened. Katherine now had 12 nieces and nephews to keep her happy every day. From an amazing and loving big sister she had become an amazing aunt to all those kids who clearly loved her so much. Mike and Amanda now had 5 kids. All their names began with a C, a subtle salute to Christina’s memory. Callum was now 19, and the lucky big brother of Caroline, 16, Cory, 13, and the twins Carla and Cindy, 9. The whole family lived in Oregon, they all had moved from California, officially to be closer to Amanda’s family, but Katherine knew Mike just couldn’t handle to live in the place Christina had put an end to her life, because they had always been rather close, even though they were really different, they were the oldest boy and the oldest girl, the role models, and this had always brought them closer. Lisa had married a wonderful guy called Ross who was starting his Travelling agency after travelling the world with them and their kids for 6 years. They had 3 wonderfully smart and witty girls, Delaney, 14, whose name was obviously inspired from their first music video ever, Leanne, 12, and Michaela, 9, who looked a whole lot like her mother. Amy, in spite of her medical condition had been able to have one child with Erik Lauer, with whom she had been in a relationship since she was 18. The boy was called Brandon and was now a 13 year old ball of fire and energy. Lauren, unsurprisingly, had taken her time to settle down, and had been chased by a lot of boys before making her pick and creating a home with the most unexpected man. Jason and her met at a restaurant. He was the waiter. And he had no idea who she was to begin with. They ended up having three children, Sara-Anna, 6 years old, Jonah, 4 years old, and little Mackenzie, one year and a half. They were living in Miami, where Lauren had started a very successful clothes-designing brand. The little boys, like she still like to call them, didn’t have kids yet. Christian had been married for two years to a girl named Alanna and their first one was on the way. Joey and Nick were not married yet, and not exactly looking for someone to settle down. There they were, her 12 nephew and nieces, the 12 most precious things she had in her life. Callum, Caroline, Delaney, Cory, Brandon, Leanne, Cindy, Carla, Michaela, Sara-Anna, Jonah, Mackenzie. She could name them all in “order of appearance” like she liked to say.
Maybe she had nieces and nephews she didn’t know about though? She couldn’t help but wondering where Alex was as this exact moment and what he was doing. After a major fight with Mike a good fifteen years ago, he had left California for India. He had always been eager to travel so he was probably living his dream right now, but the only one he accepted to be in contact with was Amy, and Kath was really wondering where he could be now. If he had kids. If he was married. Last time Amy updated them on their brother’s situation he was headed to Australia where he wanted to meet someone from a church in the middle of the desert… No wonder why she was worried. No need to ask about Dani, though, even if they barely had talked in the past 10 years her whole life was displayed everywhere in the news. Danielle Nicole. Was there even one person in the United States who didn’t know that name? Dani had always been special, even when the band was still together, managers kept calling for her to go solo, so when the band adventure stopped, she just took a chance. Her managers let her free and alone in the whole wild world of stardom and advised her to cut off bridges from her family for the sake of her career. She was hurting, and in pain, because Christina had always been the one she looked up to, and even Lauren never managed to really reach her and bring her back on earth after she started living on her own and hanging out with party people who made her wild. 4 years after Christina’s death, Dani put out a viral single that was a world hit. It was called “Only child”. She decided she refused to talk with her family, after her Dad tried to make her career stop by lodging a complaint against her label. Of course, he lost, and Dani just kept getting bigger. As far as Kath knew, her baby sister, who was now 37 was recently divorced from a famous boys band singer, and was dating a very popular actor, all while slowly switching from singing to acting. She looked happy. No interview ever mentioned her family, the journalists had been asked not to, and since Dani’s management was the most influent, they wouldn’t risk their job for a simple question. Danielle. That was how everyone called her now. The thought of it made Katherine shiver.
As she was lost in her thoughts again, she decided to take another slice of the pumpkin pie because after all it was incredibly delicious and she had her pilates lesson in 2 hours anyway so she would burn the calories fast. She had always loved maintaining herself in shape and she wasn’t ready to quit that. In her younger years she had been asked to model but had always refused, because she was afraid it might expose her to the public again. After the end of the band, all she wanted was to go back to her anonymity, because she really needed her real friends and not all those fake people seeking for fame that she had been surrounded by during those four years of success. She actually kept a lot of friends from the time she lived in NorCal and her church friends from the Malibu years, a few exceptions apart, never had left her side. She watched through the window, thinking of her plans for when Skyler would be home. They had scheduled a romantic dinner at his favorite restaurant, like they did every month and this night was certainly going to be awesome. She heard her phone rang and she quickly picked up, thinking it was Lisa calling her back
“Oh, well, that was a quick maths assignement!”
“Hi, am I talking to Katherine Cimorelli?”
“Oh, sorry, yes, it’s me, I mistook you for my sister, who’s asking?”
“It’s Nick. Nick Reali.”
