Free Vanished in Cherry Hills (Cozy Cat Caper Mystery Book 4) by Paige Sleuth

not even live in Estacada anymore. And what if she’s married now, with a new family? What if she . . .” Kat trailed off, not wanting to ask out loud the question that still haunted her. What if she doesn’t want to hear from me?
    “Well, you’re not going to get answers to any of those questions unless you pick up the phone, now are you?” Mrs. Polanski reached for Kat’s cell phone on the coffee table and held it out.
    Kat stared at it, a flare of terror searing her chest. Now that she was so close to finding her mother, her insecurities had returned in full force.
    Mrs. Polanski sighed. “She didn’t want to leave you, you know.”
    Kat’s eyes snapped toward hers. “She didn’t?”
    “No. She asked me if I thought she should take you with her.” Mrs. Polanski closed her eyes for a moment. “I said I couldn’t imagine leaving Jessie behind if I were in her situation, but I also wouldn’t want to expose my daughter to the type of life that comes with running from the law. Plus, she still had all that drug business she was trying to shake. She knew, no matter how much she loved you, that that wasn’t the life she wanted you to have.”
    “So she opted to abandon me,” Kat said, hearing how dull her own voice sounded.
    Mrs. Polanski shook her head. “She opted to let you go if that meant you would have a better life than the one she could give you.”
    Tears burned behind Kat’s eyes, and she blinked them away. Somehow, she’d never considered that walking away might have been difficult for her mother. It had never occurred to her that Maybelle had only left her because she loved Kat so much she was willing to put her own needs aside for those of her child.
    Mrs. Polanski thrust the phone closer. “Here. Call directory assistance. It’s past time that your mama stopped running, and you should be the one to tell her she no longer has to hide.”
    Kat stared at Mrs. Polanski’s outstretched hand for a moment longer. Then she took a deep breath, accepted the phone, and dialed.
     

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    “So, you finally got to talk to her, huh?” Andrew asked, taking Kat’s hand as they walked through the parking lot toward the police station.
    Kat smiled. “I did. The conversation didn’t go at all like I expected, but it was good.”
    He looked at her, his eyes warm. “Yeah?”
    “I always figured we’d either have this big, tearful heart-to-heart or she’d tell me she never wanted to hear from me again.” Kat paused, then said, “This wasn’t like either scenario.”
    In fact, after Kat had pushed past her initial nervousness, talking to her mother for the first time in three decades almost felt like chatting with a customer at Jessie’s Diner. There were no huge displays of emotion from either party, but just hearing that twinge of excitement in her mother’s voice when Kat had revealed who she was had been enough.
    “She wants to meet me,” Kat said.
    “She’d be a fool not to,” Andrew replied.
    She stopped walking and turned to face him. “I’m not sure I’m ready.”
    He took her other hand, not saying anything.
    She looked off in the distance, her heart hammering in her chest. She wasn’t sure how to explain her hesitation. She had yearned so badly for a reunion a week ago, back before she had any method of contacting her mother. Now that they’d actually spoken, she was more unsure than ever.
    “I mean, I want to meet her,” Kat said, her eyes drifting back to Andrew. “I just need some time to get used to the idea before we actually go through with it.”
    Andrew squeezed her fingers. “That’s your right.”
    He let go of one of her hands, but maintained his grip on the other as they started walking again. Kat looked up at the sky, watching as two clouds glided past each other. When they separated, the sun appeared, casting its warm rays down upon them.
    Kat turned back to Andrew. “We agreed to keep the lines of communication open. We’re going to call each other