The Cut of Her Cloth Page 2

  “Well we are. But I haven’t exactly been pleasant company these last three weeks.” Kate finally stopped pacing and plopped down into her office chair and rubbed her temples.

  “You can’t just stay at his place?”

  “What? You mean Jonathan’s place? Are you kidding me? And leave my father alone in my apartment for more than twenty-four hours? I’d surely come back to a disaster zone if I even came home to a standing townhouse at all. Its bad enough I have to remind him to put down the toilet seat and clean out the sink after he’s shaved. Ugh.” Kate slouched down into the chair. “I’m doomed. I’ve got nothing.”

  “You could always try calling your mom.” The look Kate shot back at her made her gulp down her coffee slowly before trying to come back with a better suggestion. She cleared her throat. “I only meant…”

  “That’s out of the question.”

  “Okay. Got it, boss.”

  “Besides, I already tried that and she hung up on me when I suggested she get over whatever they were fighting about and make him go home.”

  “And I’m sure you asked really nicely, or better still, very diplomatically, didn’t you?” Laurie knew Kate could be abrupt, if not harsh when push came to shove. She preferred getting in the last word and getting her way while she was at it. But this wasn’t a manufacturer she was trying to instruct how the stitches of a pair of pants needed to be. This was her family, and Laurie had to believe that under that tough persona, Kate had to have some sort of love for them. Laurie watched her as she pondered the question.

  “I’m not sure my mother and I can do nice anymore.”

  “But she’s still your mother.”

  “What does that even mean? We haven’t had much of a relationship since I’ve lived in New York.”

  “Well, maybe you should go back with your Dad and you could all try and work things out. Seems like it’s something you all need.”

  “Go back to Georgia? Are you kidding me? Any more suggestions like that and your job will be in dire jeopardy.” Kate said incredulously before winking back at Laurie to assure her she was only joking.

  But the thought of going back to Georgia really did leave a bad taste in her mouth. And yes, perhaps she had started off the phone conversation with her mom along the lines of…get him the hell out of my place, but this was her life they were messing with. A life she had worked damned hard to achieve. And now not only was she being distracted from her blossoming relationship with Jonathan, but she also worried just what sort of mess her father would be making at her usually immaculate abode while she was working.

  “So, what are you going to do?” Laurie said as she stood and walked over to the coffee maker. She grabbed the pot and stepped over to Kate’s desk to refill both of their cups as Kate spun her chair around to face the open window.

  “I have no idea.” Kate sighed as she stared out at the cityscape as if it would provide the answer.

  A slight knock on Kate’s office door startled them both. An office assistant poked her head in.

  “Sorry to bother you, Ms. Southwell, but your mom’s on line one. She says it’s urgent.”

  “Thanks, Jean, I’ll take it in just a minute.” Kate leaned back over to her desk and stared at the blinking red light on her phone.

  “Well that was easy! I’ll leave you to it.” Laurie headed for the door after putting the coffee pot back.

  “Nothing is easy with my mom.” Kate sighed as she sat there in her office chair wondering just how long she would let the phone blink.

  Chapter 4

  “You’ve got to be kidding me Dad! What do you mean you aren’t going with me? Mom said she was sick.” To say Kate was infuriated was an understatement. Between her mother’s frantic phone call at work and her father refusing to make the trip to Georgia with her, she was moments away from losing it.

  “She ain’t sick. It’s just a ploy, and you’re the sucker for taking the bait!” He sat down on Kate’s bed as she threw clothes into a suitcase.

  “Get off the bed, Dad.”

  “She’s barely been sick a day in her life. She didn’t happen to say what was wrong, did she.” It wasn’t really a question, more of a statement. And although he was right, her mom wouldn’t mention what was wrong with her specifically, she kept insisting that she needed Kate home. But all Kate could think of right now was the boiling anger she felt towards her father.

  “For God’s sake father, GET OFF the bed.” It was bad enough he’d taken over her entire place in the few weeks he’d been camping out, but to Kate, her bedroom was off limits. It was the one place left untouched and the only place Kate could escape to when she got home from a long day’s work.

  “You’re gonna get there and see. Let it be known right now that I predicted it. You’ll get there and she’ll tell you nothing is wrong with her and then you two will gang up on me and you’ll take her side!”

  “Get off my damn bed!” Kate’s raised and angry voice did the job. Her father leaped off the bed as if it had caught on fire.

  “Geez Kate, keep your hair on. You don’t have to be so mean about it; I am your father after all. Show a man a little respect.” Kate whirled around to face her father, bra in hand.

  “Respect? You wanna talk respect? How about showing up on my doorstep and making yourself right at home from the start? You eat my food, you hog all of the hot water, and let’s not even start on the smell in the bathroom in the mornings. I think we’re far from respect, don’t you?” She said as she tossed the bra into her suitcase.

  “Does that Jonathan guy know you have such a fancy bra?” With a furious sigh, Kate stormed out of her bedroom.

  Chapter 5

  As Kate drove down the Main Street in her rental sports car, she cringed at the sights before her. It wasn’t because it was an ugly town that her parents had chosen to move them to all those years ago. No, it was actually a very lovely town, picturesque and almost cute, the sort you’d see in an old movie.

  What bothered her was that everything still looked the same. Things were always changing in the big city, and she loved that. No two days would ever be the same when you’re scurrying past Time Square trying to make it through the crosswalk before a taxi could take you out.

  Kate looked around at the small boutiques and the corner café as she passed by. People in New York didn’t have time to slow down and notice things around them. Perhaps that was why she would always see something new throughout her day. Here it was like time had stood still from back in the fifties. And although she didn’t mind reinventing a few fashion looks from that time, the fifties was not a place she wanted to live in.

  She turned off Main Street onto a side road which would eventually lead to the highway. Her parents lived about fifteen minutes outside of town. She cranked up the radio and pressed her foot down on the gas pedal.

  She eventually arrived at her parents’ house. The gravel driveway that led up to the house seemed to take an eternity to navigate. Although it might have been that she was not so eager to see her mom, Kate decided in her wisdom that her slow driving was so none of the rocks on the drive would bounce up and damage the rental car.

  As she pulled up next to her dad’s pick-up truck, she noticed another truck beside it. Her mom’s car was parked on the other side. She didn’t remember ever having seen this truck before and wasn’t sure who the other truck belonged to. She turned off the car, pulled the keys out of the ignition and then popped the trunk. She saw the front door of the house open as she lugged her suitcase out of the back of the car. As she closed the truck, she saw her mom step out of the doorway onto the porch.

  “Hi, honey.” She gave Kate an excited wave.

  “Hey, Mom.” Kate rolled her suitcase over the bumpy gravel and made her way over to her mom, who spontaneously wrapped her arms around Kate in a tight hug. Kate responded with a fraction of the same effort as she hugged her mother back slightly and then stepped back. “How are you feeling? Why wouldn’t you tell me what’s wron
g? Oh, and whose truck is that parked next to Dad’s?”

  “Slow down a bit Kate. My, it seems that big city life really does have a hold over you.”

  “I didn’t come here to talk about my life, Mom. Are you going to tell me what’s wrong or not?”

  “Why don’t you come inside first and have some tea? I made your favorite shortbread cookies.” She disappeared back inside the house, leaving Kate standing out on the porch.

  “Of course you did. Never mind getting down to business. God, I miss New York already.” Kate grumbled as she entered the house.

  Kate stared at the cookie crumbs on the empty plate in front of her. She pinched her fingers over the bridge her nose, trying to relive the pressure that seemed to be building by the second. Taking in a deep breath, she opened her eyes, lowered her hand, and looked across the table at her mom.

  “Please don’t tell me this is why you had me come all the way back from New York. I thought you were so sick. You said it was urgent.”

  “It is urgent!”

  “It’s arthritis, Mother. You aren’t going to die from sore hands.”

  “Listen to you. The only reason you came back home was because you thought I was sick. I thought I’d raised you better than that.” She stood and took the plate, walking over to the sink. Kate’s head pounded furiously. It was going to take a whole bottle of aspirin to calm it, a bottle of aspirin and probably several shots of tequila.

  “What is it you want from me then, Mom? You know I have my work in New York. Do you know how close I am to having my own line? I can’t come down here and take over the tailor shop. I just can’t do that. Like I said a few minutes ago, I’m happy to help you look for a buyer…”

  “When you were little, do you remember, you used to say that one day you’d take over the place from me. You used to love helping me out at that store. What happened?

  “I grew up, Mom. It tends to happen.” Kate let out an exasperated sigh as her mom tossed the cookie plate in the sink and stormed out of the kitchen.

  After sulking for a few minutes at the kitchen table, Kate stood and headed for the kitchen door when she ran smack into a shirtless body.

  “Gross! Get away from me!” She took a step back, seeing the man before her. “Where the hell is your shirt?”

  “Is that any way to greet your little brother that you haven’t seen in over five years?” Garth, Kate’s twenty-seven year old brother extended his arms for an embrace, as a twisted grin came across his face. “Welcome home, sis.”

  Chapter 6

  There was no mistaking it, Garth was currently taking up residence at their parents’ house.

  “Unbelievable.” Kate muttered to herself as she paced back and forth in her old room that hadn’t been changed since she’d been in high school. She hadn’t slept more than an hour last night. Her mind kept too busy imagining how badly her father could be destroying her place back home.

  Between that and trying to wrap her head around her mom not really being sick at all and wanting her to take over the business instead of selling, and her grown brother prancing around in his underwear, it was way too much for her to process.

  After her brother had finally put on a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt, Kate found out that Garth’s wife had kicked him out and that he’d moved back in with their mom and dad. Apparently in her family, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it came to the men being kicked out by their wives.

  She spent the rest of yesterday afternoon making calls around town and outside to some of the bigger surrounding cities to set plans into motion for selling her mom’s tailoring shop. Today she’d go to the store and see how things were and if anything needed to be done before a sale could be made. She sat on the bed, finishing up one last text message to Jonathan as the familiar aroma of coffee and bacon filled her nose. She took in a deep breath as a slight smile came across her lips. Well, if she had to endure her family, at least she was going to be well fed doing it.

  With her purse and cell phone in hand, Kate made her way to the kitchen. Garth was already planted on a chair wolfing down his blueberry pancakes. He looked up long enough at his sister for a sarcastic sneer to show on his face.

  “Look at you, Miss fancy pants New Yorker. You do realize you’re in Georgia right now, right? Us country folk don’t dress all hoity-toity like that or did all that city livin’ make you forget?”

  “And do you country folk always make a habit of moving back in with your parents after a failed marriage?” Ouch, Kate knew she’d struck a nerve when Garth’s smirk instantly vanished from his face.

  “It ain’t failed. We’re just taking a break.”

  “Uh huh, sure looks like it.”

  “It’s not like you have any room to talk. At the rate you’re going, you’ll be an old spinster by the time you hit forty.”

  “Oh, you’d like to discuss my dating life would you? Okay, I’ll have you know that…”

  “Enough!” Both siblings looked over at their mother as she hastily put the last pancake on Kate’s plate. “You two stop the bickering. I’ve got enough to worry about right now.” She walked over to the table, set down Kate’s breakfast plate, wiped her hands on her apron, and headed back to the sink.

  “Way to go.” Garth mouthed silently to Kate as she sat down at the table. As she cut into the pancakes, she felt the shame sinking into the pit of her stomach.

  Chapter 7

  Kate pulled up outside her mother’s store, which was located a block over from Main Street. Seeing the old fashioned drug store and ice cream parlor across the street sent instant nostalgic waves of memory flooding through her. She remembered how she and Garth would walk to their mom’s store after school and after they’d helped her with whatever chores she needed done around the shop, she’d give them some money to go get an ice cream cone each.

  Kate got out of the car, still looking over at the drug store.

  Home of the one dollar ice cream cone.

  It was true that some things never changed in a small town. She made a mental note to grab one of those one dollar cones when she finished up with things today.

  After pulling out the store keys from her purse, Kate unlocked the front door and stepped inside. She flipped on the lights and took a look around. Just like the small town, her mom wasn’t one for change either. Things looked exactly the same as the last time she’d been there. A small, simple cash register sat on the front counter and a few plush chairs sat around a coffee table furnished with various fashion and bridal magazines. Kate walked past the counter into the back room. She had to admit, her mom did have a pretty great set-up. The back room was very spacious. At the back there were steps that lead up to a platform that was surrounded by three full length mirrors. Kate made her way over to a rack with various finished pieces ready for customers to pick up and examined the garments that had yet to be worked on. Her mom was good at what she did. In fact, she was the one who taught Kate how to sew.

  “I’ll be sure to finish up the last of your projects. I at least owe you that, Mom.” Kate mused to herself as she looked over her mom’s handwritten specifications for altering the formal dress in Kate’s hands. After returning the dress to the rack, Kate headed to the mirrored platform. Stepping up, she was flooded with memories of her mother fussing over getting her prom dress just right. Kate had wanted it shorter and her mom had refused. They’d argued back and forth for the longest time. Kate chuckled at the recollection at wanting to impress a certain boy at the dance by showing a little leg. But before she could dive deeper into that memory, her cell phone rang, snapping her back into reality.

  “Hello? Yes, this is she...Noon would be great…Yeah, I know the place…Thanks, see you then.” Kate took a look around the shop once more.

  “Well that was easy enough.” It had been a potential buyer wanting to meet with her. There was only one problem, who was going to look after the store whilst she went to meet with the potential buyer. Suddenly her eyes lit up as she tho
ught of something. She dialed a number on her phone.

  “Get up off the couch, Garth. It’s time to prove your worth. Get your butt down to the store pronto and by that I mean NOW” She hung the phone up with a huge grin.

  Chapter 8

  Kate strolled along Main Street browsing in the windows of all the various boutiques. Since the coffee shop was only a few blocks away from her mom’s store, she figured she’d just walk. Garth hadn’t been at all happy about having to mind the store, but he did show up nevertheless. And since he’d always been good with numbers, she gave him the books to go through to make sure things were properly in order for when a potential buyer would require knowing the financials of the business.

  The air was hot and sticky, much like a summer in New York. But there was always something different about the air here. It had a sweetness to it that Kate never really could place. She arrived at the coffee shop and stepped inside. The refreshing whisk of cooled air felt good against her hot cheeks.

  As she looked around, her eyes settled on a perky looking blonde who stood up and waved her over. Assuming this was the woman she’d spoken with on the phone, Kate headed her way.

  “Kate?”

  “Yup, that’s me”

  “Hi, I’m Suzanne. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Did you want to grab a coffee before we get started? I’m just waiting on my fiancé to arrive. He’s late, as usual.” There was a hint of annoyance beneath her Southern drawl.

  “Sure, that sounds good. I’ll be right back.”

  Kate made her way to the counter to order herself a coffee.

  Fiancé?

  Suzanne hadn’t mentioned she’d be dealing with two people. Kate had figured she’d do some quick smooth talking with a view to getting an instant sale. Kate had developed some excellent sales skills living in New York and she had become good at selling to people, that was for sure. She could sell a vendor an extra order of gloves in the middle of summer if need be, just by convincing them she’d read the Farmer’s Almanac and they should be prepared for a cold winter. It came easy to her.