Oh, it's one of those days

 

"What?" Cara was in total shock when Jody called. She was at the airport on her way to Kansas City. Granted she could have driven but the company was paying. And well, she was on her way. Something about the branch there needed help since they were afraid of a security breach. These kinds of things kept happening lately. 

"Gosh, it's tonight?" She winced hard when she found out about the dinner, a family dinner for her. She wanted to say, you should have told me this a week ago, but she didn't want to sound like the bad sister. Well, not that kind of bad sister.

"I'm sorry, I'm on my way to Kansas City," She was looking at the flight schedules wishing she was going anywhere, but to work. "It just happened," Cara told Jody. Although, this had never happened in her life. Just suddenly Oh we need you in Kansas City. They never needed her for anything. She looked at her watch. At this hour she would be at the bar already, saying she would order to-go food and never getting around to ordering it.

Of course, Jody kept telling her over and over again that it was OK. It would be fine. "We'll just do it when you get back."

"Great! That sounds great," she was all smiles, hoping Jody could feel her smile. "I mean, It means a lot that you guys want to do this. It's just, I know I'm the worst. I never remember anyone's birthday." Of course, this was a lie. She would never forget Jay's birthday. Never. But she would never call him either. It wouldn't be right.

 As the years spun by she did her best that it would just drift away what she felt. At least, she wouldn't let it be a problem. Still, every time she thought of him, she wondered who he saw when he did see her. Nothing, she supposed. She kept telling herself she was nothing to him. Nothing at all.

"Who's that?" Kenny her younger co-worker asked when she got off her phone. He teased her that she never talked on the phone.

"Oh, just my little sister," she shrugged.

"You have one of those? You always sound like you don't have family," he said as they walked toward the route to their plane.

"It's not-" She bit her lip before she could finish. She looked at him as if he could not make her sad about any of this. "Yes, I have a family. A lot of brothers and one sister." She swelled a frown then, "It's just  I don't look like any of them." Maybe that's why she hadn't put out a family photo. But then if she saw it, she would see her Dad and he would be the only one she could see in the picture. So it was best not to look at it because it would just make her bitter. 

Of course, she wanted to hurry lanky Kenny along, but then he was ahead of her waiting for her to get on the plane.