Chapter 31, Kayla Without a Doubt

A Better Pair of Shoes, a novel
Chapter 31

Kayla, Without a Doubt

My meetings with Dr. Kat were getting easier.  I still thought in advance about where she would lead me and how I would react.  Mostly, I thought about the question she asked me on my first visit, “why was I there”.  Initially, I thought it was about my sexual desires, but more and more as the weeks went by, I could clearly see that I was there for much more reason.  I guess it’s likely to assume that our past would get further and further away from us, as time naturally created space and distance.  Yet, somehow in my subconscious mind, time was just time. 

I couldn’t help but to notice, that on more than one occasion, when I was leaving Dr. Kat’s office, she had called in a woman with the last name Johnson.  Given that Johnson had been my original maiden name, I would always think of my father when I heard the name. 

            Today when I stepped out into the large waiting area, which served as a nucleus for what were many adjoining offices, the woman was sitting with a young girl.  All of a sudden, without a doubt, I knew that she was Nora.  How our individual orbits had directed us both to Dr. Kat Shepherd, I did not know.  As I made the dreadful realization, my heart began to pound fast and hard.  I tried to get a look at my sister without staring or making a fuss.  I’d probably been able to go undetected because Nora only knew me as Kayla Ross, and not Mrs. Singletary, which the receptionist always used to address me.  From what I could tell, Kaylin was about eight or nine.  She looked like any other ordinary child.  Her nails and toes were painted with gold sparkles.  Her skin was beautiful and rich looking.  She certainly resembled my father, but I could see that her eyes were more like Nora’s, and not large and piercing like the ones I had inherited.  I felt a strong urge to introduce myself, but it would be too awkward, so I proceeded down the long hall towards the elevators.  When I got to my car, I sat for a while trying to figure out if I was jumping the gun, or if this really was some out of this world coincidence.  I checked the time.  I wasn’t due to be at the salon for another hour and a half.  I wasn’t sure how long Nora’s session would last, but I considered waiting to speak with her.  I could not help myself.  Something within me was saying, do it now.  Speak to her now!

            I’d returned a couple of calls, and spoken briefly to Camie.  Just about forty-five minutes later, I spotted the two coming out from the building.  There was a seeming distance between the two that I detected and understood.  It wasn’t that they were standing far apart, but there was a kind of cold shoulder between them, and maybe even more.  Kaylin was holding a small tablet with ear plugs extending to her ears.  In my time, there was no such device that could provide me my own world so to speak, I thought as I likened her to myself at that age.

            I quickly exited the car, and began approaching Nora and the young girl I assumed to be Kaylin.  I could see Nora instantly take notice, and she then stopped with a certain level of concern.  Surely, she had recognized me from the Dr.’s office, but I suppose her question was why I was approaching her, and perhaps more concerning… why I had waited back.  Nora was dense in body; not overweight in fat or anything like that, but perhaps overweight in spirit and body density.  She wasn’t the type of woman you could just push over.  Obviously, she was an up-front kind of person, and probably wouldn’t mind my approaching her this way.  After all, she did make her demands of me quite clear.  However, Nora did seem to think I owed her something, and that was the part I hadn’t come to terms with. 

            “Kaylin, go to the car.”  Nora handed over her car keys and Kaylin reacted swiftly.

            “Can I help you?”  She then turned her attention back onto me.  I was now within an arm’s length of the commanding woman, who appeared to be no one’s fool. 

            “Hi.  I’m Kayla.  I couldn’t help but wonder if you were Nora Johnson.”  I said with a pleasant and honest voice.

            “Is that right?”  Nora looked shocked.

            “Yeah, I know.  I thought it quite shocking myself.  It’s just the name Johnson and the young girl… I seemed clear.”  I explained.

            “Then you received my letter.  Correct?”  Nora demanded.

            “I did.  Yes ma’am.”  I answered.

            “Good.   Then we’ll need to have a sit down.  As you know, I’m seeking professional counsel, but I think it would be helpful for you and my daughter to maybe meet, and talk a bit.”  Nora continued to take charge.  She was unique and I began to draw a contrast between her and my mother.  It made me curious about what exactly had led my father to her. 

­­­            “Honestly Nora…”

            “Mrs. Johnson.”  Nora corrected me.

            “Right!  Sorry.  Mrs. Johnson—I just don’t know how helpful I would be.  Perhaps she should continue with the sessions you know.”

            “I understand your concern Kayla, but I think both would be useful.  Let you and I talk a bit first, under different circumstances, and we’ll go from there.”  Nora was not taking no for an answer, and I felt the weight of her age, experience, and perhaps even her status, strong arming me into submission.

           “Okay.”  I heard myself respond to my step mother.

           “Great.  Then we’ll be in touch.”  Nora concluded the discussion.  We exchanged numbers, and I returned to my car.  I found myself in a state of limbo.  I was still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing.   I suddenly felt strongly, that I was being puppet mastered.  First the demand of my mother from her death bed, then Wood’s implication that I get help, and now Nora’s insisting that I meet with Kaylin.  My life was now a series of actions other people thought I should make.  I wondered when I had unknowingly swapped my role as boss for bullied.    

A Better Pair of Shoes, a novel © Grace Call Communications, LLC Copyright ©2010, 2016, 2017 by Natisha Renee Williams All Rights Reserved.