A Pound of Flesh (A Pound of Flesh #1)(93)

“A floozy, darling, plain and simple” was her no-holds-barred description of the newly widowed Ms. Harper. “So,” Nana Boo had said, smiling. “What’s new with you? I’ve missed you.”

Kat had sighed and plucked at a loose cotton thread at the bottom of her sweatpants. “I’ve missed you, too, Nana,” she’d confessed. “I’m … I’m all right. Busy.”

Nana had hummed and sighed gently. “Kat, I know when my only granddaughter is not herself.”

Kat had laughed without humor and wrapped her free arm around herself. “It’s complicated.”

“What aspects of life aren’t?” Nana had asked with a smile. “Darling, I love you very much, and I want to help if I can.”

“Thank you.”

“I know your mother worries, Kat. It’s her prerogative.”

“I know,” Kat had answered with an exasperated sigh. “But she worries too much. I’m an adult, Nana. I can make my own decisions. I can look after myself.”

“I don’t doubt that, my darling. You were always so strong. So like your father.”

“And stubborn like my mother?” Kat had asked wryly.

Nana Boo had laughed. “Without a doubt.” She’d been silent for a beat. “I know your job causes your mother great concern, but I am so very proud of you. I hope you know that you can talk to me about anything. You have my absolute confidence, angel.”

Kat had closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the sofa, knowing the truth of her words. “I … I’m …” Kat had clapped a warm palm to her forehead in an effort to ease the throbbing persisting at the backs of her eyes. “God, I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“Start at the beginning,” Nana Boo had encouraged.

So Kat had. Nana had been excited to learn about Arthur Kill and Kat’s study sessions with Carter. She’d been surprised, to say the very least, when she heard about the man who was slowly stealing his way into Kat’s heart, but, being an old romantic, Nana Boo had promised to be there for her every step of the way—going so far as to invite them both to Chicago for Thanksgiving.

“I want to meet the man who has brought that smile back to your face,” Nana Boo had said tearfully.

Kat wasn’t sure that she and Carter were anywhere near the meeting-the-family stage quite yet, but she’d offered to think about it. She couldn’t begin to express how much her Nana’s support and confidence meant to her. Words just didn’t seem adequate.

“Just promise me that you’ll try to talk to your mother, Kat,” she had said. “You don’t need to tell her everything, just try.”

“I promise,” Kat had conceded.

But when she’d brought up the subject of her job in conversation that morning, Kat had been met with huffs and tapping fingers. Eva interjected continuously with disagreeable and venomous comments. Her tone had been condescending and dismissive at best and Kat’s patience had begun to dwindle even further. Something was about ready to give. Kat was sick of the whole it’s-oh-so-dangerous spiel. Just once she’d like to be treated like an adult. She wanted understanding, not judgment.

As the celebrations continued, the bland, polite conversation began in earnest among Beth, Adam, and Eva, while Kat stayed at the side of the room, smiling politely at those who approached and spoke so respectfully of her father. As much as she wanted to be sociable, Kat couldn’t find it in herself. The inexplicable distance between her and Beth, mixed with the exasperated glances from her mother, made her heart ache.