Katherine’s heart skipped a beat. If anything, she was surprised and in shock. She would never have imagined that he would have the nerve to call her own phone and try and talk to her. The silence lasted 15 good seconds, which is a really really long silence when you’re on the phone with someone.
“Look, Katherine, I know you don’t want to talk to me, but I’ve been asked to call you. Believe me I would never have done that to you, I know you never wanted to hear about me again, you made that quite clear.”
“Then why did you come settle in Malibu, Nick? If you were so aware that I didn’t want to talk to you, not buying a house in my neighborhood would have been a rather bright idea.” Katherine snapped.
“That’s not what I called you for, I just …”
“You don’t get to choose what you want or don’t want to talk about, Nick. You should understand how hard it is to be reminded of my sister’s tragic death every Sunday when I go to church. To be reminded that it could have been her, smiling next to you, happy, with kids, like she always wanted. So yeah, you owe me an explanation. I don’t blame you for her death, because it’s never anyone’s fault but I need to know why you needed to come to Malibu, and if you’re not willing to answer that, then I’m not listening to anything else you have to say or whatever people asked you to tell me.”
“Katherine, I really don’t think it’s necessary, I…”
“Oh believe me it is. So…?”
“One of my girls has leukemia. We wanted her to be treated in one of the best hospitals in the country and not too far from Sacramento since my… My wife has all of her family over here… I really didn’t want to, but it’s our child Kath…”
The silence that settled after this sentence was a realy heavy one.
“Nick, I’m so sorry.” A tear came streaming down Kath’s face. Never had she imagined that Nick’s decision of moving to Malibu could actually have been motivated by reasons that had nothing to do with Christina or the Cimorelli family. Was that what grief had made her become? So obsessed with her own pain she was incapable of imagining people were suffering for other reasons too?
“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault or anyone’s fault anyway. She’s doing good at the moment, she just finished chemo so she’s really tired but she’s a fighter.”
“I’ll pray for her, I really will Nick, she will be OK, she’ll make it through with the help of God. What’s her name?”
“Tori. Kath I…” Nick’s voice broke, he was unable to continue because of the emotion that blocked his throat. Kath felt it and left him time to breathe and carry on
“Kath even after all those years I wish we would have talked. When she died I mean. Maybe it would have been easier for both of us. Maybe it would have helped us moving forward. I’ll never forget her, Kath, to this day I can’t even say her name without crying.”
“I am really sorry I couldn’t help you dealing with your grief, but there was so much pain in my heart, and I had declared I would never speak to you again for, well, obvious reasons, like the rest of my family did.”
“I never blamed you for not wanting to talk to me, I totally understood. I am glad one of you broke the silence though. I think we helped each other a lot.”
“Wait, I had no idea anyone had talked to you about it, I’m confused…”
“Haha I knew she never told you… The day after the funeral Dani came to my hotel where I stayed for the night after the ceremony. She was so young, you know, and yet I swear I was incredibly afraid of what I saw in her eyes, it was more than pain, she really wanted to hurt me the way she was hurt. She tried to beat me up. I don’t think I even resisted at all, I felt so guilty. She even gave me a black eye that day. That was pretty embarrassing.”
