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KAT
REBECCA AND I HAD returned home from New York two weeks ago, and I missed Anna and Riley terribly. Especially because my other friends still weren’t talking to me. But I wouldn’t stand for that anymore. Fierce Kat was back, and I was done hiding out.
My car bumped along the dirt road to Mindy’s house. She didn’t need me for the next few months. The farm was closed for the winter and would open again in the spring. I needed to clear the air with her, so I was planning a sneak attack. It was something she would have done, so she couldn’t be mad at me.
Thankfully, there weren’t any cars in front of the house when I pulled up, which meant they didn’t have visitors. I got out of the car and walked up the porch steps, stopping to take a deep breath before knocking on the door. The door opened, and Frank looked out at me. I waved, and he reached forward, pushing the screen door open and inviting me in.
“She’s in the kitchen. Shoes off,” Frank said.
“Thanks.” I toed off my shoes and walked in that direction. I rounded the corner and stopped in the doorway. Mindy put her hands on her hips and stared me down.
“Hey,” I said.
“What took you so long?” she asked.
My eyes widened. “What?”
She ignored me and went back to chopping vegetables on a cutting board on the island. I took a seat at the breakfast nook. The air was thick with tension, and my heart raced. Maybe this wasn’t the right thing to do.
“I’m hurt that you lied to me,” she said.
Mindy wasn’t a bullshitter, so it didn’t surprise me that she cut right to the chase. Plus, it had been nearly a month since the incident.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you.”
“No? Then what was it?”
“It wasn’t just my secret. It affected Sid too.”
“Which means you didn’t trust that I wouldn’t say anything,” she countered.
“You’re right. I was worried that if everyone knew the truth, it would get out. Even if people didn’t mean to leak it. The gossip blog was writing about us left and right, and you follow the blog voraciously. I couldn’t risk it.”
Mindy stared at me. Her jaw ticked, and her eyes were cold. I’d never seen her that angry before.
“I thought we were friends.” She went back to chopping.
“We were—are friends. You mean so much to me, and it was killing me not to tell you the truth. I didn’t even tell my sister.”
“That I can understand because she would have told your parents, but me? If you would have said it was a secret, I wouldn’t have even told Frank.”
“It’s true. She keeps things from me all the time,” Frank yelled from across the hall in the living room.
“Shut up, Frank,” she yelled back.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It got so out of hand. One minute Sid and I were going to join forces to trick our parents, the next, we were engaged. And then we were banging on a mountaintop.”
“Wait, what?” Mindy asked. She set down her knife and rounded the island, taking a seat across from me. Frank wandered into the kitchen and leaned against the doorjamb.
“Go away, Frank.”
“No. I gotta hear this.”
“Go. Away,” Mindy repeated.
He muttered something under his breath, then stormed out the back door, letting the screen slam.
“Ignore him. Tell me what happened.”
