Purrycat Sims

True to her word, the next morning Katie came over, ostensibly for Sunday brunch, but she winked at Margaret as she walked in. Margaret was about to close the door after her but a voice said, “Hey, what about me?”

“Alex!” she squealed and ran down to hug her best friend.

“Hey Margaret… uh, sis,” he said hesitantly. She punched him on the arm.

“Ow, what was that for?” he asked, rubbing his arm in mock pain.

“Just for not telling me the second you found out. Now we’re even,” she said airily.

“Women!” Alex said, throwing his hands up in the air. He dodged another punch and ran into the house, Margaret hot on his heels.

 

Katie made waffles with fresh bananas and they all sat down to breakfast. With Katie and Alex over there wasn’t room for all of them at the table, so Anthony and Jane-5 ate their breakfast sitting on the couch. Margaret felt sorry for Jane-5 – all Anthony wanted to talk about that morning was shoes.

 

After breakfast Katie pulled Timothy into the study to talk to him.

“So, what do you think about Margaret?”

“Uhh… what about Margaret?” Timothy asked.

Katie frowned. “Her hair? Her outfit? Timothy, tell me you noticed something different about her this morning.”

“Oh! Yeah, she looks nice today.” He paused, searching Katie’s face for some clue as to what he was supposed to say next. There’s got to be something else. She’s not saying something, there’s got to be a reason she asked that. Think, man, think!

“Oh!” he said again. “You guys did a girly makeover thing didn’t you? Great job, Katie!”

 

“‘Great job, Katie?’ That’s all you can say?”

Uh oh, wrong answer, Timothy thought. “Umm… uhh…”

Katie rolled her eyes in exasperation. Men! she thought.

 

Men! Margaret thought, listening at the door.

Margaret pressed her ear harder to the door as Katie tried to explain to Timothy that while Margaret was also upset that her mother had left…

Humpf! Not now that I know she doesn’t want me!

…she’d also been unhappy sharing a room with her little brother, and that Timothy hadn’t taken the time to help her update her wardrobe or furniture. “She’s living like a little girl and she’s nearly a grown woman,” Katie concluded. “I think what’s really upsetting her most is that you haven’t been paying any attention to her lately. I know there’s been the divorce and work’s been busy lately, but she’s your daughter. Pretty soon she’ll be going to college and you’ll miss not having spent this time with her.”

“Hmm…” Timothy looked thoughtful. “So you really think some renovations will help?”

“Didn’t I just say that?”

 

Timothy clapped his hands together so suddenly Katie jumped backwards in surprise. “Okay! Let’s do it! We’ll change the whole house while we’re at it!”

“That’s great, Timothy! Margaret will be thrilled. Having my own room and getting to decorate it how I wanted helped get me through moving to a strange town, and I’m sure it will… wait, did you say whole house?”

 

“Yeah! Why not? This house hasn’t changed much since Mum built it. I mean, I added that second floor, but it doesn’t really suit the old house. We’ll start again!”

He pretended to be a TV host on a renovation show. “Join us now on Lonely River Renovations as we follow the Legacy family on their journey to a new house… on the same land as their old one!”

Katie laughed at him. “You’re still a big dork aren’t you?”

“Yup!” Timothy grinned happily. “Hey, it’s going to be fun. You designed your shop didn’t you? You love doing this sort of stuff and the kids will get a kick out of picking out paint and furniture for their rooms like you said. You’ll take care of it all, won’t you?” Without waiting for a reply he babbled on. “Thanks, Katie, you’re the best! This is a great idea! What would we do without you?”

Katie stared at him in shock. Does he want me to…? No, he wouldn’t… Oh God, he does. He wants me to design the whole house! Good one, Katie. What have you gotten yourself into now?

 

On the other side of the door Margaret pumped a fist in the air. “Yes!!”

This was so much better than she thought it would be. A whole new house? She’d never even thought of that! The house was kind of tiny and old-fashioned, and they could never really have that many people over for parties. This would be great!

Margaret was so busy imagining a dedicated party room, and maybe a fountain out the front, and definitely a big kitchen for Katie to make those waffles in, that she didn’t even spare a thought for poor Katie and the big job ahead of her.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 21st, 2007 at 10:08 am and is filed under Lonely River. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.