Chapter 14

December 2012

It had been two months since Zach had moved to Colorado. He'd been sending Katie emails and calling her to say "hi" several times. He was trying to keep in touch like he had promised, but he could tell by the way Katie sounded that she was having a hard time. The more time passed, the more he tried to distance himself from her. He knew in his heart that she was hurting, but he wanted her to move on. He wasn't planning on coming back, and she still had 3 years left before she would go away to school. It was a no win situation, and he knew it. He just wished that she would come to terms with it.

Katie had spent the last several weeks sulking. She'd go to school and come home only to lock herself in her room. She had no interest in going out, or hanging out with Hannah. Michaela was beginning to reach the end of her rope.

"Katie", she called as she knocked on the door to the bedroom.

"What", Katie grumbled.

"Can you come out for a minute?", Michaela walked back out into the living room.

Katie drug herself up off her bed. It was a Saturday and she was planning on spending it like she had the past seven. Laying in bed in her pjs rereading the latest email from Zach. She walked into the living room and stood with her arms crossed across her chest frowning at Michaela.

"What!", she rolled her eyes.

"I don't know what's going on with you, but you have to snap out of this. He's not coming back. You need to get on with your life, Katie. This isn't healthy." Michaela pleaded.

"I don't want to get on with my life", Katie whined. "We still write each other mom. I want to be with him, not somebody else."

"Katie, you can't keep doing this to yourself. Hannah misses hanging out with you. Your friends miss you. You're closing yourself off from meeting anybody. Zach would not want you doing this.", she sighed.

"Are we done now?", Katie flipped her hand in the air.

"No", Michaela shook her head. "You're not laying in bed all day. I want you to get dressed and go shovel off the steps.", she pointed out the window by the front door. "It snowed quite a bit last night and I don't want them to ice over."

"Why can't you do that?", Katie whined even louder.

"Because I'm asking you to", Michaela glared. "I've had enough of this behavior from you. If I have to find things for you to do, then I will. Now go bundle up, it's cold out."

Katie turned and walked grumbling toward her room, "I don't know why I have to do this. Why can't she call Sully, he'd be here in a matter of minutes. She doesn't understand me. I hate this." It just kept pouring out of her.

Just as she was dragging out her heavy snow clothes, her email pinged alerting her of a new message. She flopped down across the bed and smiled. It was from Zach. She opened it and her face dropped.

Dear Katie,

We had a Christmas dance last night here at school. I really wish you could have come with me. I was finally able to put weight on my leg. The doctors say I can take the boot off next week. I wanted to say hi, and let you know I mailed a Christmas gift out this morning for you. It should arrive before the holidays. I miss you. I hope you are well. I sent a picture from the dance below.

See you, Zach

Katie scanned down the email as anger began to burn in her gut. There was Zach in dress slacks and a button down shirt with his arm around a girl. She began seeing red as tears came to her eyes. She slammed the laptop closed and shoved it off the bed. She stood and began pacing in her room. She was so angry and hurt she thought she might explode. She picked up her cell and began dialing immediately. She wanted to know who the girl was, and why Zach felt the need to rub her face in it. The phone rang a few times before a sleepy Zach answered.

"Hello?", he mumbled.

"Who's the girl?", she blurted out.

"Katie? Do you know what time it is?", he sounded disoriented.

"Eleven o'clock", she grumbled.

"Yeah, in Boston maybe. Not here", he sighed. "It's Saturday."

"Who's the girl", she repeated as the anger began to slip away only to be replaced by sadness.

"A friend", he groaned. "We've been hanging out."

"Why? Why did you feel the need to send me that?", she begged.

"Katie, I told you not to wait on me. I'm not coming back.", he sighed and she could here him shifting in the bed.

"But, I love you!", she was pleading with him.

"I know, I know you do, but this is not going to work the way you want it to. I'm trying to do the right thing here. You need to move on, away from me. Meet someone else. I will always love you, and I'll always be your friend. Right now, friends are all we can be. It's only fair that way. I need you to understand this.", he huffed.

She responded in silence. She didn't like the way this was going.

"Can we?", he finally broke the silence.

"Can we what?", she sobbed.

"Be friends?", he begged.

"I can't be anything with you right now Zach. I can't get past this with you in my life. If you truly want me to move on, then we have to stop the calls and emails. Every time I get a letter or email from you, it cuts the wound right back open. I can't heal this way.", she choked out her response.

"I understand", he sighed. "I'll always be here if you change your mind."

"Goodbye Zach. Good luck with whatever her name is. I know you like her just by the smile on your face in the picture.", Katie hung up the phone before he could respond.

"Katie! Front step!", Michaela yelled down the hall.

"Coming mom", Katie called as she tossed her phone on her bed.

She pulled on her snow hat and grabbed her gloves before storming out into the family room.

"I don't know why you just don't call Sully", she huffed.

"Because Sully has his own things to do", Michaela shook her head. "Now, outside."

Katie walked over to the front door only to swing it open and slam it shut behind her. Michaela shook her head from side to side. She was really getting tired of the teenage meltdowns. As much as she loved her daughter and didn't want her to grow up any faster than necessary, she was ready to get past this phase in her life.

Katie grabbed the snow shovel that was leaning against the side of the porch. She moved over to the top step and began pushing the snow off the edge and letting it fall to the bushes below. It was a busy Saturday for winter. Lots of people bustling around on the streets. Katie assumed that with Christmas just around the corner that most people were trying to get their shopping finished.

Katie looked up from the steps just in time to see a giant U-Haul truck trying to parallel park in front of her mom's BMW. She watched for a few minutes before going back to her shoveling. She shook her head from side to side as she shoveled. She wondered who in their right mind would want to move to Boston in the middle of winter. It was bad enough trying to go in and out and not track snow everywhere, but to be moving furniture and boxes in this mess? Who did that?

Just then, the doors to the truck swung open. Two figures jumped out. Katie couldn't tell if they were men or women due to the fact that they were bundled up. A car pulled up past the truck and parked. A figure climbed out of the car and lifted out a baby from the back. They must be a new family moving in Katie thought. The brownstone next to Michaela had been vacant since she and Katie had moved in. She was happy, because it had meant that it would be quiet. Katie groaned and went back to shoveling. She knew that this meant noise and neighbors.

After looking a little closer, she could tell that the figure driving the car was a women. She had removed her hat and carried the baby inside the brownstone. The other two figures had moved to the back of the moving truck and thrown the door up. Katie was down to the third step now with only two more to go. She had her back to the moving truck, but turned when she heard a crash. One of the figures, the larger of the two, was struggling to not drop a dresser.

"Patrick, come grab this", he yelled.

Just then, the smaller of the two came rushing around the truck to grab the other end of the dresser. The two figures, which Katie now figured was a father and son, carried the dresser in through the front door to the brownstone.

Katie moved down to the next step and paused. The smaller figure, Patrick, reemerged and was ambling over to the truck. He looked up just in time to see her staring. He hit a small patch of ice and began flailing around trying to regain his balance. Katie snickered as she watched him. When he finally righted himself, he looked up at her and took a big bow. Katie released a huge laugh and shook her head. She turned back around and moved to the last step.

Patrick stood watching for a minute and then decided to come over and introduce himself.

"Hi", he shouted as he made his way in her direction.

"Hi", she shook her head. "Salt will help with that you know?"

He looked back at the icy spot, "yeah I suppose you're right. I'm usually a little better than that."

Katie cocked her head to the side as she gave him the once over.

"I play hockey", he shrugged. "I'm Patrick", he put his hand out in front of her.

"Katie", Katie answered in a clipped tone.

"Well alrighty then", Patrick backed away. "We're moving in next door. That's my dad, Jason, and my mom, Suzanne. I have a little brother too, Max.", he pointed toward woman who was holding open the door for the man trying to carry a box through it.

"Patrick! Boxes first, then socializing", Jason pointed to the truck.

"I gotta go", he backed up a little farther and hit the ice again. As he slipped he glanced back at Katie, "it was nice meeting you".

Katie shook head and laughed, "watch your step".

She finished with the last step and made her way back up to her own front door. She tossed the shovel over to the side and kicked the snow off her boots. Once she got inside, peeled off the heavy clothes and tossed them to the side. She made her way into the kitchen only to be met by Michaela.

She handed her a mug of cocoa, "who was that?"

"New neighbors", Katie grumbled.

"Did they seem nice?" Michaela smirked as she sipped her coffee.

"Don't start mom. I know you saw him talking to me. I don't know anything other than his name and that he plays hockey.", Katie sighed.

"I didn't say anything. But it is nice to see you smile and laugh again", Michaela smiled at her and patted her shoulder as she walked out of the room.

"Don't get too comfortable", she shouted over her shoulder. "Sully's coming over in an hour and we're going to get a tree to put up tonight."

Katie sighed, her mom was crazy when it came to the holidays. She was like a kid during this time of year. Katie shook her head and made her way back to her room. Yes, she needed a distraction and going to get a tree sounded great right about now. She closed her door and walked over to her window. She peered through the translucent curtains to see Patrick still bringing in boxes. She watched him for a few minutes until he turned around and caught her. Busted she thought as she pulled back away from view. Conflicting emotions began to swirl in her head. Who was Patrick? How old was Patrick? What would Zach think if he knew she was thinking about Patrick? The more she beat herself up, the more she started telling herself Who cares what Zach thinks.

"Katie", Michaela called. "Sully's here. Let's go."

Katie emerged from her room, grabbed her coat and hat, and made her way out to the door where Sully, Hannah, and her mom were waiting.

"Ready?", Sully grinned.

"Yep", Katie smiled back. "Let's go."

They made their way down to Sully's truck and headed out of town to find the perfect Christmas tree for the Quinn house.

I know all of you have been praising me for how quickly I post new chapters. I will continue to post as often as I can, but it won't be as often as it's been in the past. I'm aiming for 3 chapters a week. More M & S in the coming chapters. Katie needed this chapter to make a break from Zach though. And yes, Patrick will get a storyline. Enjoy…