A Lifetime

Chapter 1 - Part 2

Katherine had withdrawn to herself for a while. She forced a pleasant tone for their sakes when they called or were home. But living felt void with Chandler gone. She continued to work but barely. She had been self-employed for most of the kids’ lives. It was a choice the two made when the kids were both sick at a young age. It was less stressful to have a parent always there instead of someone who perhaps wouldn’t know what to do if either had a medical emergency. It helped with not missing work for all the doctor’s appointments as well. It wasn’t really a choice. With both children having regular specialty visits, she never wanted to let Chandler go alone. She wanted to hear how what the test results were on this visit. She needed to be there. And more than anything, she just loved the time with them.

But with Chandler gone, she felt so vulnerable. Not just being alone, but financially. She had received a large life insurance policy but knew immediately that she would pay off their children’s college balances.

She knew Chandler would have said “Pay off the house” or “Pay off everything” but her first priority now was the kids. She often thought that if the roles were reversed. If she had died, Chandler would’ve done the same thing. What was left was her cushion to now figure out what this new life was supposed to look like. Did she grow her online business or…?

That’s when she listened to her daughter. Her daughter came in unexpectedly one weekend. She found her mom looking disconsolate. She appeared even paler. Her clothes even hung differently on her mother.

“Had she lost weight?” Sophie secretly feared.

Sophie intervened with a well-rehearsed “Mom” speech and helped her mom send the book copy that had been saved for a year on her mom’s outdated computer’s hard drive. She spent hours just trying to find the word document. It had been tucked away with other writings and thousands of pictures.

That weekend changed Kat’s life. It was only about two weeks after the query was sent that she heard from Oliver. Oliver filled the hole that was left in Katherine’s life. Well, almost all of it.

Tonight, she did like most nights since she had her first book was published. She sat by the lake, ever grateful for the second chance at life. She had so many worries before, then the book published, and she was able to move to this new home. More importantly, she had confidence in herself now. She realized that fear could’ve ripped this all away from her. She finally knew that her writing touched and inspired others. That had been her true calling.

But the new place provided peace for her now. It was the closest thing to what her childhood dream looked like. She had only lived there for about two months. She sold her old home and moved to a place she knew wouldn’t be as painful. With the children away at college, she needed something that was hers now. It didn’t need to feel like it belonged to an entire family that was no longer with her. Their older home had felt so empty.

This house didn’t.

She didn’t exactly feel alone. Her life was full of family and friends. She also had a male friend, who had been her friend since grade school, who had been coming around more often lately. But she lived alone. That was now very evident on most days with only the classical music resonating down the halls. But with her new life at the lake, it was suddenly feeling like living again. Her year and a half of mourning had taken its toll.

Each day seemed to mirror the last. As with most people she suspected. Complete the workday and repeat.

She started every day sitting on the dock with her coffee and every evening sitting again, on the dock, with an herbal decaf tea of some kind. She felt most like herself when she started and ended her day out here. She always took a pad because thoughts were always coming to her in unexpected places. She had to run into the house numerous times when words just appeared to her, and she was afraid that she would forget them. Now, she always had a way of jotting down her thoughts. Quickly.

After the morning coffee, she would work out. She was no longer too hard on herself about a set time. She would alternate workouts to stay flexible and strong. Not to beat some record or keep up with a fad. But to beat her best. Be healthy for her. Ultimately, that meant being healthy for her children. That was what drove her now. At times when the workouts were tedious and she wanted to wimp out, she found her motivation from her children. She knew being strong for them was what they needed now from her. Their lives were just beginning. They lived full lives all on their own. She knew she would do what it took to remain healthy. To give them one less reason to worry. They had worried enough.

Breakfast was soon thereafter and then she rushed to begin writing. Like most moments, her brain had the innate understanding, that after breakfast, she would settle down to write. It was then, just after she finished eating that her thoughts began to have their own energy. Their own life.

She looked forward to this part of her day. She had several books in the works but couldn’t quite nail down which one would move to completion first. That was how she overcomplicated things now. She had multiple stories manifesting themselves at once. An idea for a character, of a plot twist, would come to her while she ate, or even in the shower. She had even jumped out, soaking wet to get the perfect line written down before it mingled with other thoughts and was forgotten or became imperfect.

As with most of one’s life, just when you think you are settled into something, the world likes to throw the extra curveball in. Fate likes to laugh at you when you begin to feel complacent. That’s why she never expected the phone call, that was about to pitch in the ninety-five mile per hour curveball, right at her face. 

And she forgot to wear her catcher’s mask.

She was sitting inside, pages of handwritten notes laid about her. This current chaos was again the result of the lake’s charms. 

She had just previously been sitting outside when a missing piece of her story revealed itself. She began writing page after page…freehand.

When she returned inside, as she often did, she began typing her written pages to the saved manuscript, on her computer, and that’s when her phone began to ring.

She looked down and didn’t recognize the number. 

With hesitation, she answered.

The voice, on the other end of the line, was a professional assistant for a company in New York, NY. He was pitching a business proposal that he wanted to meet with her about.

She was insistent that she was a fiction writer, but this gentleman explained that he knew this, and her writings had been considered before this proposal. His employer needed some public relations pieces written for the company and trusted that her integrity and skill made her their number one choice.

Kyle, the assistant asked if he could fly in within the week to go over their proposal. 

“I have taken the liberty of reserving a section at Ryan’s on the 22nd if that’s alright?” he explained. “I’ll have a driver pick you up. We can eat and review the proposal. We’ll take as long as you’d like. We really feel like you are the perfect fit and quite frankly, we need you on board. The company is willing to offer you a contract fee that will make it difficult to refuse. We believe in your ability that much, Katherine.”

 Kyle gave her the company name and explained that they developed medical devices. They were trying to broaden into other countries and that’s why they were now seeking the help of Katherine.

She still felt underqualified but only agreed to the meeting because she could hear her children’s voices telling her to never let insecurities hold her back.

“Fear is a liar.” She used to tell them, and they turned the phrase on their mother a time of two.

So, she would hear what Kyle had to say. 

It was flattering, to say the least.

In the days that followed, her family, with the help of Oliver, researched the background of Kyle and that he did in fact work for the company he stated.

Oliver called her one evening to give his update.

“It’s a top 500 company. It’s bigger than big Kat. The assistant works for a billionaire who started the company about fifteen years ago. This will not hurt your reputation. This is good Kat. Really good!”

Oliver casually stopped into their office, also based out of New York to snoop around a bit more. It was just a few blocks away from Oliver’s office. Now that the reconnaissance work was completed, Katherine was pained with the waiting and wondering, “Why me?” Maybe the company saw this up-and-coming author and thought it would help gain some trust with the public. She was only guessing but hoped that she was “Up-and-coming.”