Katy's Homecoming Read Online Free PDF

the container she’d brought in. “Mom sent over some appleturnovers. She wanted Mrs. Graber to try them in case she might want some for the wedding dinner.” She looked around. “Is she here?”
    “Not tonight.” Katy carefully lowered the pork chops into the frying pan. They started to sizzle.
    “I’m kind of surprised.” Annika shifted aside as Katy reached to give the potatoes a stir with a long wooden spoon. “Isn’t she pretty much here every night?”
    Katy shrugged. “A lot, but not always.” She headed to the cabinet to take down a can of peas. She dug in the drawer for the hand-operated can opener and clamped it onto the can. “I guess that’ll change soon enough, though. Only two more weeks.”
Two weeks from today, and I’ll have a stepmother.
Her heart gave a little leap.
And then I’ll have a date with Bryce.
Both events had the potential to bring permanent change into her life.
    “Mom said your dad and Mrs. Graber are going to take a quick trip right after their wedding, back to Meschke to load up her remaining belongings.”
    Katy nodded. Everyone in Schellberg always knew everyone else’s business. Sometimes it was comforting to live in such a close-knit community, where everybody knew her name and her family. But sometimes she wished they didn’t know everything — like how her mother had left Katy, Dad, and the Mennonite faith. Katy didn’t like living in Kathleen Jost Lambright’s shadow. Maybe now that Dad was remarrying, people would forget about Katy’s mom.
They might forget, but I won’t.
    “Since you’re going to be here by yourself, maybe I can come over and stay the nights while they’re gone.” Annika pulled out a small saucepan and held it out forKaty to dump in the peas. “Wouldn’t it be fun, having the whole house to ourselves?”
    Katy put the pan of peas on the stove and adjusted the flame underneath it. “It would be fun, but …” She offered a sorry look she didn’t really feel. “Dad made arrangements for me to stay in Salina with Shelby and her family.”
    Annika’s lips pinched together. Katy knew Annika was jealous of Shelby — Annika wanted Katy to herself. But Katy refused to give up her Salina friends. If she didn’t have Shelby, Trisha, and Cora, she’d be totally alone at the school.
Except for Bryce
…
    Katy hurried on before Annika could argue. “Dad’ll take me to meet the bus on Friday, then he and Mrs. Graber will leave for Meschke. I’ll just go home with Shelby after school on Friday and stay until Monday. Then I’ll be back Monday after school, like always.”
    “Except it won’t be like always,” Annika pointed out. “Because Mrs. Graber. I mean —” She giggled.
“Mrs. Lambright
will be here too. For good.”
    And after that weekend, Katy would know what it was like to have a date with a worldly boy.
To be like all the other teenage girls in the school…
She mused,“That won’t be the only thing that’s changed.” She hadn’t really intended to say the thought out loud, but Annika perked up.
    “What else is changing?”
    The smell of scorched meat reached Katy’s nose. She turned the pork chops quickly, grateful for the distraction. As much as she wished she could tell
someone,
Katy didn’t dare tell Annika about homecoming. Annika would tell her mother, who would tell someone else, and eventually everyone from town would know. And they’d all disapproveShe searched for something that would make sense without giving away her plans.
    “If I have a stepmother, she’ll be doing a lot of the cooking and stuff that I’ve always done. I’ll have a lot more free time.”
    Annika nodded, making the ribbons from her cap bounce. “I’m glad too. Maybe we’ll get to spend more evenings together.”
    “I’ll still have homework,” Katy said, adjusting the flame under the pork chops since they were almost done. “But if I don’t have to cook and clean up every night, we ought to have more time. Unless …” She