it bother you if she was?”
Casey narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know. Why?”
If Kate had learned one thing from her mother, it was how to choose her words carefully. “My dad hasn’t dated anyone since he and my mom split, and he and your mom seem to be hitting it off.”
“So you think they’ll start dating?” Clearly, Casey was not warming up to the concept.
“I’m not saying they will, but I wouldn’t mind if my dad had someone to focus his attention on besides me.”
“Really? Your dad seems nice and everything, but I don’t know. I think my mom must have really loved my dad because ever since he died, it’s just been the two of us.”
Kate shrugged. “Whatever. I just thought it’d be nice if my dad could be happy again. And otherwise occupied.”
“You want him to start dating so he’ll pay less attention to you?”
“It wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen. And I’ll bet if your mom was dating someone, you’d be able to use that to your advantage.”
“How exactly?” She seemed interested in spite of sounding skeptical.
“You said you want a dog, right?”
That got her attention. “More than anything.”
“Well, if your mom feels guilty because she’s seeing someone and not spending as much time with you, then she’ll want to do whatever it takes to make it up to you.”
Casey was grinning now. “And that something would be Petey.”
Kate shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.”
And then Sarah called to them from the bottom of the stairs. “Casey? Kate’s dad is leaving now but she’s welcome to stay a while longer if she’d like.”
“Thanks, Mom!” she yelled back. “Do you want to?”
“I should probably go, too. We haven’t finished unpacking.”
Casey followed her downstairs and they joined their parents in the foyer.
Sarah was smiling. “Kate’s dad offered to give you a ride on the first day of school. Isn’t that nice?”
“Thanks,” Casey said. “But I always go with my friend Henry. He lives across the street.”
“Henry’s welcome to get a ride, too. The more the merrier. Right, Kate?”
Dad, don’t be lame. “Sure,” she said. “More is totally merry.”
She watched her dad exchange a look with Casey’s mom. “Thanks for having us over,” he said.
“Anytime,” Sarah replied.
Kate liked the way they were looking at each other. She winked at Casey, Casey winked back, and she gave herself a mental high five. This plan might work, she thought. It just might work.
SARAH CLOSED THE door after saying good-night to their new neighbors and turned to her daughter.
“That was okay, don’t you think?”
“Yeah. Kate’s dad seems pretty cool. Do you like him?”
That was an odd question, she thought, although Casey probably didn’t intend for it to sound the way it did. “He seems nice. I’m sure they’ll be good neighbors.”
Casey gave her an odd smile that suggested the question wasn’t so innocent after all. Best to let that go, especially since her conversation with Jonathan had ended on a sour note.
“How about you and Kate?” she asked. “Did you hit it off?”
“I think so. She doesn’t like my critters, though.”
Sarah laughed at that. “She’s not alone. A lot of people aren’t fond of rodents and reptiles.”
“True. She’s really into clothes and stuff.”
“She certainly seems to be. That was an expensive outfit she was wearing.”
Casey climbed two steps and draped herself over the banister. “I think her mom pays for a lot of her things but at least she wasn’t all, ‘oh, look at me and all my fancy stuff’ like some of the girls at school. She’s actually the only kid I’ve ever met...well, aside from Henry...who’s already figured out what she wants to be.”
“Really? And what’s that?”
“The editor of a fashion magazine.”
“Does she? That’s an ambitious goal.” One her father seemed to know nothing about, and given his scathing comments about fashion magazines and the mall, it was no surprise that she hadn’t told him. Poor kid. “Speaking of Henry, have you heard from him?”
Casey’s enthusiasm waned. “No. I was hoping he’d be home by now. He’s been gone all summer and school starts in a few days.”
“I’m sure he’ll be home soon.”
“I sure hope so.”
Sarah reached up and gave her a hug. “Why don’t you go upstairs and send him a text or an email? I want to clean up the kitchen.”
“Good idea. I also need to post the rest of the pictures I took at the shelter this morning.”
“I’ll pop in and say good-night when I’m done.” And there was no doubt she’d hear more about Petey when she did.
Back in the kitchen, she finished loading the dishwasher and turned it on, tossed paper napkins in the trash, stuffed the empty pizza boxes in the recycling bin, filled the sink with hot water and detergent. She swished the dishcloth in it and wiped every square inch of every surface in the kitchen. Take-out dinners meant she didn’t have to cook, and she loved that they made cleanup so easy. Now everything was spic ’n’ span, just the way she liked it.
Jonathan had not lived up to her first impression of him, and she found that more disappointing than she had any right to. Yes, he was way better-looking than any man needed to be, but looks weren’t everything, and it bugged her that she found him attractive.
There was a chance that she wasn’t giving Jonathan the benefit of the doubt. Moving was stressful, changing jobs was stressful, getting divorced was stressful, and he had hinted that Kate’s mother didn’t have much time for her. Casey had been young enough when her father died that the loss hadn’t seemed to have had an adverse effect on her, although there were times when Sarah wondered if losing her dad explained why her daughter didn’t form a lot of close personal attachments.
She strolled back out onto the deck and leaned on the railing where she and
