The Things We Crave

Chapter Five

Catherine pulls into the driveway of the home she was raised in. Right now, her father is at the office, her mother would be working through her first break while her bladder was about to explode. She takes in a deep breath and gazes at the 52-acre suburban property and two-story country home from the front porch. She can see the dirt track her father made that she learned to ride her first dirt bike at seven. She used that same track to practice go-carts, four wheelers, it had a motor she rode it. She can tell her parents keep it free from weeds and grade it.

To the east of the dirt track, she could see the horse paddock. Luke and Norbert hang their head over the white post fence, their tails swishing behind them. Catherine walks over and strokes them both between the eyes. Their unique smell fills her nose. She used to ride when she used to live here. It was more Tammy’s thing. Catherine preferred riding thing without a mind of their own.

She opens the front door to the smell of fresh cookies. Is Mom feeling better? She usually too tired or weak to stand at the counter to mix the batter for cookies. She thought.

Her pace quickens as she makes her way through the living room, down the hall, through the dinning room to see Tammy in the kitchen. Her mother is in the dinning room to her left in her wheelchair by the window. Tammy smiles big when she sees her sister. Her strawberry blonde hair in a bun on top of her head and she’s wearing a robin’s egg blue sundress. Her mother’s face lights up. Her hair in a lose braid, a few short hairs fall around her face. She has on black t-shirt and gray capris. Catherine tries to hide the disappointment on her face. She sits next to her mother.

“Hey, Kit-Kat! You’re looking good. Those pictures Mom sent don’t do you justice.” Tammy says happily as she pulls out a tray of cookies from the oven.

“Hey!”, Catherine replies weakly, “I see you made it her safe. Where’s Brad?”

“He swung over to the city to check out new club opportunities with Vincent. They want to work closer to Mom while she’s sick, so I can spend more time with her. It will give you a break from watching over her.” Tammy answers.

“You say that like she’s a burden to me. I don’t mind coming here.” She says with a smile as she takes her mother’s hand.

“I wasn’t implying that she was, I was just saying you do a lot for Mom, and I know you’re under a lot of stress. You don’t need to shoulder it all yourself, she does have other children.” Tammy’s voice turns defensive.

“Well some people don’t have the luxury to find a man to whisk them off to far off places.” Catherine remarks raising an eyebrow.

“Girls, stop.” Their mother interjects. “I love all my children, and I think it’s great that Brad is willing to move this way so I can see my daughter again.”

Catherine grits her teeth to stop herself from giving her sister a piece of her mind. Tammy smiles smugly at her.

“I’ve got something for you. Be right back.” Tammy says with a mischief grin. She leaves the room, a few minutes later she returns.

What is she up to? The little viper. Catherine thought, anxiety building as her stomach ties in knots.

Tammy tosses a magazine on the table. I pick it up. The first thing I see is my bright red hair on the cover. This must be the tabloid Lexie was taking about. She didn’t realize she made cover page. This is going to be difficult to explain. Her mother would flat out die right before her eyes if she found out that she has been working at an escort service for the past three months. She didn’t get any big-name clients at first, until this guy came to the city.

LA is about an hour commute from here. Catherine heard you could make money fast being an escort. Turns out the whole, “having s*x part”, is illegal so you can’t get fired if you choose not to sleep with your clients. If you do, any money exchanged is under the table and between you and the client. The agency just recommends putting a disclaimer on your profile to alert potential clients you’re not interested in s*x. Her mother wouldn’t understand. Catherine was never good at lying to her mother so she figured she would generalize and hope she’ll drop it.

“How did you hook up with this guy? He’s like a freaking celebrity, isn’t he a professional football player?!” Tammy asks with a sneer.

Catherine’s eyes dart around as she explains, “Well, I didn’t realize it at the time, I don’t watch sports. I was at the bar and he was there, and he offered to buy me a drink.” She lied. “It was when I saw a few paparazzi guys following us that he was someone important.” She fidgets in her seat. She strokes her thumb on the top of her mother’s hand. “The guy was a total jerk and I hope the hearing in his left ear doesn’t come back.”

“What happened?!” Her Mom said concerned.

Catherine snorts and crosses her arms. “I guess he didn’t get the memo that no means no, so I played my panic button on my phone full blast in his ear. It’s a foghorn.”

The jerk thought I was just playing hard to get when he read my profile. What he didn’t know was this agency has a zero tolerance for pressuring their girls for s*x if they were uncomfortable. They give us training to get out of these situations. They also had me download the foghorn media file as an extra precaution. He won’t be able to hire anyone of us girls through this agency again. She kicked him to add good measure before she stormed out of the room.

“Damn, girl. What were you doing in LA?” Tammy asks after she closes the oven door and throws the oven mits on the counter.

“Just hanging out. No big deal, we go there all the time. But enough about that crap,“ She stands and tosses the magazine in the trash, “What did you want to do today? You have both of you fabulous daughters with you.”

“Well, I was thinking, since Tammy’s wedding is this weekend, we could go shopping, get our nails done and spend the afternoon at the spa.” Her mother said excitedly.

Dread instantly fills Catherine. She was never a girly girl and hated doing the very thing she was suggesting. However, this is her mother’s request and she would walk through fire if her mother asked her to. So, she puts on a fake smile the best she can.

“Great, when do we start?” Catherine asks. The sooner we start, the sooner I ca get to the track.

“As soon as these cookies are done.” Tammy grunts as she plops down in a chair on the other side of her mother.

“I’m so happy both of my girls are here. I feel so loved.” Her mother whispers, her eyes going misty.

Catherine hated to see her cry, but at least these were happy tears. Even though this was going to be boring, happiness bubbles up inside her.