Cate's Future…
The day at the Hennessey household begins very quiet. Cate is walking downstairs to make her morning coffee before she has to go to work. She finds her father, Jim, sitting downstairs contemplating which article in the Detroit Post to read. He spots Cate, and says:
"Catie honey, should I read the sports article, or the entertainment article?"
This made Cate well up, because the sports articles reminded her that she was a widow, because Paul wrote sports articles each week. Cate looked at Jim, and said,
"I guess you could read the sports article first, because Rory will want to read it." Jim smiles, opens the sports article page and begins to read the paper. He then finishes it, and turns to Cate, and says," Catie, what are you going to do about your future?" Cate looks up from cooking breakfast, and says," Damn, haven't thought anything about my future. What am I going to do?" Jim glares at her and says," Well, you already switched jobs, changed your room, and made time for your kids. You could possibly date, later on get married, make even bigger changes then you have been." Cate was looking down, and then she put her head down on the table. She was sobbing hysterically. Tears were streaming down her face as she spoke. "I don't think I can make anymore changes…" she said as she was sobbing," The kids would resent me if I made any big changes!" Cate ran upstairs to her room with tears down her face. Meanwhile CJ and Rory are outside, looking at the station wagon, as it had some tire problems. Rory turned to CJ and said happily," Do you have any plans tonight?" CJ looked at Rory and said," Remember that auction site I went to last week? Well I bidded on an old vintage 1980's video game console for my dorm, and I have to go to Ann Arbor tonight." Rory smiled and asked," Can I go with you? I want to see it!" CJ made his funniest face and then said,"Well, okay I guess…but you have to let Aunt Cate know where we are going, or she'll freak." Rory ran inside to only find Kerry and Kyle hanging out (they are just friends now) and Jim sitting at the table reading the newspaper still. He went to Jim, and said,"Grandpa, where's my mom? I need to ask her something." Jim looked up from his paper and said," I don't think you want to bother her, she's had a lot happen today with having to consider her future." Rory looked devastated, but asked" Where is she?" Jim looked up as he was getting the ice cream scooper, and said," She is outside in the backyard. Last I saw her she was using your father's metal detector." Kerry looked up from watching an action movie with Kyle and said," I hope she's not picking up our allowance from stuff underground." The door opened, and Cate walked in. She was crying harder than ever. In her hands was a box. Cate ran upstairs. Rory turned to Jim and asked him," What was in that box that made Mom cry?" Jim answered," I have no idea." He went upstairs and found Cate reading letters and crying. "What's the matter, Catie?" Jim said with a frown. Cate looked up from reading the letter, and said," These letters were written by Paul before he passed away; I miss him so much…" Jim took Cate and hugged her close. "It's ok Catie honey, I'm here for you, the kids are here,and CJ's here too." She smiled weakly. "Thanks. I needed that. Now I think I'll take a nap." Jim decided to leave Cate alone and go back downstairs.
TO BE CONTINUED…