Page 9 of Saint Céline
“She’s the girl from the cottage.”
I turned.
The girl from the window stood at the edge of the kitchen, watching me. In the daylight, she looked smaller than she had behind the glass. Dark blond hair fell straight past her shoulders, neatly brushed but a little messy at the ends, like she had run her hands through it. She wore a navy sweater over a white collared shirt and a plaid skirt that looked like a uniform. Her socks sat at the same height on both legs.
She looked at me the way someone studies a question they haven’t finished reading yet.
“Katherine,” Nora said, “your breakfast is in the dining room.”
“I know.”
“You’re not supposed to be in the kitchen.”
“I know that too.”
My mother wiped her wet hands on a towel and straightened up fast.
“Good morning, Miss Montgomery.”
Katherine glanced at her, then back at me.
“You’re Selena.”
It wasn’t really a question.
I nodded.
“You moved here last night?”
I nodded again.
“From Portland?”
Another nod.
She frowned a little. “Do you talk?”
Nora made a soft sound like she was trying not to laugh. My mother’s eyes went wide.
“I talk,” I said quickly.
Katherine studied me for another second. “Then why didn’t you?”
“Because you were saying everything already.”
For one heartbeat, the whole kitchen went still. Then Katherine smiled. Not a big smile, just a tiny lift at the corner of her mouth, like I had surprised her in a good way. I felt strangely proud of earning it.
“Katherine,” a woman called from down the hall, “you’ll be late.”
Katherine’s smile disappeared. “I’m not going to school today.”
“Yes, you are.”
“I have a stomachache.”
“You had a stomachache yesterday.”
“It came back.”
