Someday: 3 (Sunrise) by Karen Kingsbury Read Free Book Online Page A

notice. He touched Katy’s cheek, and a longing filled his expression. “It’ll come.”
    “I know.” Katy nodded, but neither of them seemed very convinced. She set the frozen meat on the counter just as Jenny hurried in from outside.
    “The barbecue wouldn’t light. Can you believe it? We must have the world’s biggest grill out there, and with fifty kids waiting for burgers we couldn’t get a flame.” Jenny rushed by Katy and Dayne and washed her hands in the sink. “Jim had to get a match and light it the old-fashioned way.”
    Katy rolled up her sleeves and grinned at Dayne. Again she was glad for the chaos of the moment. “Well, if you’ve got a flame, put us to work.”
    “Take the tray from the bottom drawer and spread the burgers across it.” Jenny looked slightly frazzled but brimming with joy, the way she always looked at one of her parties. She rattled off directions to Dayne, telling him where the condiments were and how many tomatoes to slice. “Once you’re outside, I’m sure Jim could use your help. He likes a teammate for megameals like this.”
    The burgers were perfect that night, and the kids took their full plates and found places at the patio tables. Katy and Dayne sat on the outdoor sofa and watched the scene, how the veteran CKT kids blended with the younger boys and girls.
    “Seeing them like this, I can almost picture them the way they are onstage, their costumes and lines. Everything.” Katy set her burger down on her plate and gazed across the pool to the table on the other side where Tim Reed was sitting. He was a freshman in college this year. If the drama program had been able to continue, this would’ve been Tim’s last year. There were other kids too. Bailey and Connor Flanigan, the precious brother and sister who had been family to Katy all the years she lived in their apartment over the garage. The Shaffers and the Picks, the Schneiders and the Larsons.
    Katy shifted her attention and spotted Bethany Allen, CKT’s area coordinator. Her life would also change now that CKT had no place to perform.
    “I know what you’re thinking.” Dayne balanced his plate on his knees and put his arm around Katy’s shoulders.
    “Hmmm.” She leaned against him. A breeze washed over the field behind the Flanigans’ house and whispered through the maple trees that surrounded their property. She liked this, the way being here brought with it a relaxed intimacy, the sort of normal atmosphere she and Dayne never shared outside Bloomington. She smiled at him. “What?”
    “How auditions should be taking place in a few weeks. How this’ll be the first time in years that Bloomington won’t have a fall CKT production.”
    “That and the kids.” She narrowed her eyes. “CKT’s been so good for them. What’ll they do now? How’ll they stay together?”
    There was no answer, and Dayne didn’t try to find one. Instead they both let the conversation stall, their attention on the kids and their laughter.
    As they finished eating, a few kids jumped up, and someone turned on the soundtrack from High School Musical . The kids on their feet launched into a replicate version of one of the dance numbers from the hit teenage movie, and the others gathered around, singing every word.
    What would give these teenagers an outlet now? They could hardly burst into song at Bloomington High, not without getting strange looks from the other kids. CKT had been a unique environment that allowed kids to sing and dance and feel good about their God-given gifts. A sick feeling tightened Katy’s stomach. In comparison, working on a movie in England felt almost trite.
    As darkness fell over the backyard, Jim and Dayne built a fire in the pit, twenty yards back from the pool and patio area. Everyone gathered blankets and folding chairs, and as the circle filled in, someone pulled out a guitar.
    After Jenny passed out marshmallows and roasting sticks, she took a seat a little farther from the fire next to