Guilty By Association

Chapter 43 - Tying Loose Ends

Chapter 43 – Tying Loose Ends

There was once a quote about how life was all about waiting for the right time to act. The truth was, though, that it was all an excuse.

Patience was a lifeline for anyone who didn’t have the courage to act right away and after all of the things that had happened in the past few months, Kelsey had managed to create an ideal of what courage truly was, according to her.

Kara had been in jail ever since that day at the factory. Kelsey had attended all of her court hearings and she had also never testified against her sister in the courtroom. She’d testified against Caleb and also against Ricardo Ortega. Ricardo had died. The shot Kara had fired had hit a vital artery and it had proven to be very fatal to him.

But Kelsey had never directly spoken to her sister. Kara had been locked up for almost a month, now, and Kelsey wasn’t sure if she was ready to talk to her sister. She didn’t know what she would say. She didn’t know how she could possibly apologize for all the things they’d had to go through. She didn’t know if Kara was still in love with Caleb.

It would have been very easy to fall in love with him for any girl. He was just like the kind of guy they described in romance novels: handsome, charming, and damaged. He wasn’t the kind of guy Kelsey would fall for. Her type was entirely different.

She felt a small ache in her heart when she thought about Alex, but she didn’t think about that for too long. She was here for Kara, now.

She sensed movement in front of her and she quickly looked up with wide eyes. Kara was dressed in an orange jumpsuit. Kelsey thought it suited her, but not in a bad way. Her hair had grown a little longer than she had last seen her in the trial. She smiled a little when she saw her.

Kelsey smiled, too. She picked up the phone, sitting on the side of the wall. Kara did the same on the other side and for a moment, they were mirror images of one another.

They just stared at each other. Neither said a word for the longest of time. There were a long, comfortable silence between them and neither seemed to want to even say a word.

Kelsey knew she had to take the first step, though. This was her sister and Kara probably felt a lot more ashamed than she did.

“Hey.” She breathed out. That was the only word she could say.

“Hey.” Kara breathed from the other side of the glass.

Then, there was that awkward silence again. Kelsey couldn’t believe it, still. Despite all the fights she’d had with her sister as a child, she’d never thought that Kara would ever land behind bars. It was surprising to her, but she now owed Kara her life.

“Thank you.” She said.

Kara looked up at her surprised. “Why?” She asked. “Why are you saying thank you to me? I almost got you killed. I almost killed you, myself.”

“Yeah.” Kelsey agreed. “That was a really mean thing to do.”

“Mean and deadly.” Kara responded in agreement.

“But I owe you my life, now. If you hadn’t shot Ricardo when you did, I know he would have killed me. I think something like that warrants a thank you.” Kelsey smiled at her sister. “But also, because of you, I’ve experienced adventure in my life. You brought me out of my shell.”