First Visions: Second Sight Book One

Chapter Fifteen

Aimlessly, Kate stared at her ceiling as the night wore on. Claiming a massive headache, she told her mom she was going to crash early. Holding her phone in her hand, she peeked again at the text that had come about an hour ago.

It was from Jared and it simply said, I'm sorry.

Debating whether to reply, she was trying to piece together what to say. A part of her craved to call her mother in and tell her she must make Jared promise to never call or text her again. However, the insight from earlier plagued her and she knew she was done with hiding from confrontation.

He picked up on the second ring. Without a hello, he launched into an apology. "Kate, I can't tell you how sorry I am about the story. Your mother said reporters were hounding you two all day."

"Was it Nikki?"

"Yes," he replied and swallowed hard. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess," she said dryly. She was glad to have a definite confirmation—she now could begin working on her voodoo doll. "It's not your fault this happened. I just wanted to call and explain that this doesn't change anything. I'm still trying to see into Cori's head and I'll pass any info along to you."

"Well... I'm grateful for that," he said awkwardly. "Kate, about the other night..."

"Oh no, we're definitely not going there. I've had a traumatic enough day to not rehash that particular humiliating debacle. Listen, we're good, no hard feelings. I'll call you, Detective Corbett, if I see another vision of Cori." She hoped her formalizing his name conveyed her need to keep things professional.

She had never heard him sound so off kilter. "I feel horrible about the news story and everything else..."

"Really, don't worry, it will work out. To be honest, I'm getting to the point where I no longer give a rat's ass who knows I'm psychic. Talk to you later," she said and abruptly ended the call. She was thinking maybe that would be her new calling card: hang up mid-conversation before anyone had a chance to say anything she didn't want to hear.

***

Julie gave her the silent treatment until Wednesday. It had been Kate's prerogative to stay home for a few days to avoid any reporters. When she requested a week's vacation from her job and they didn't argue, she figured they were probably relieved she wouldn't be there causing a stir among the patients. Reporters had come to the house regularly until Tuesday. Tragically, that night on the other side of town, an abused wife had killed her husband after one too many beatings. Kate was horrified that this was what it took for the media to back off. Her mother had changed the number of their house line and her cell phone was never compromised. Not that it mattered since it remained silent without calls from her father, Julie or Jared.

She was having trouble sleeping. As days passed without any visions of Cori, Kate prayed she hadn't been hurt. In the meantime, the only vision she had was lifted from her father's memories. It was a recollection he had of Kate as a preschooler. She was trying to show off for her parents and slid down the railing of their stairs. They weren't impressed and she landed herself in the emergency room with a deep cut on her knee. Two needles and five stitches later, she was allowed to leave. Her father had taken her to the toy store immediately and allowed her to pick out any toy she desired. A huge dollhouse was brought home for her that day and it was still stored in their attic after all these years. The stitches were long forgotten by the time he took her and her mother out for ice cream.

It was obvious Kate was on his mind and she had a good feeling their relationship could be mended. He needed to accept her for who she was and she had to forgive him for his shortcomings. It sucked her parents were getting a divorce, but it wasn't the end of the world. She could still have a healthy relationship with both of them. Getting along with her father didn't have to be a betrayal of her mother. If anything, her mom encouraged her to work things out with him. She wasn't a young child pitted against parents in the midst of a nasty custody battle. Labor Day was in two weeks and she planned to see if her father would be interested in maybe planning a mini-getaway.