a little time together with her daughters. The girls didn’t have school the next day because of a teacher training thing and Silver could hang out all day with friends if she wanted while the babysitter was there with Mia.
But Silver had struggled to fit in socially and find good friends since they moved to Haven Point and Dani didn’t want to discourage any progress in that area.
“That’s fine, then. Do you want me to give you a ride?”
“No. I’ll walk. It’s just through the block. Can I stay until eleven?”
“Yes, since you don’t have school tomorrow. Text me when you’re done and I’ll pick you up. It doesn’t matter how close she lives, I don’t want you walking around town so late.”
“It’s like a block away, Mom. And, again, we’re in the middle of freaking nowhere, Idaho. Walking is good for me.”
She sighed, choosing to pick her battles. “Watch for cars.”
On impulse, Dani hugged her daughter, fighting the urge to wrap her arms around her and not let go. After a moment, Silver hugged her back but quickly pulled away and hurried out the door.
Dani watched after her, trying to ignore the niggle of worry.
How did parents survive these teenage years? She constantly felt like a raw bundle of nerves, always afraid she was going to say the wrong thing and set off an emotional meltdown.
She watched until Silver walked around the corner, then turned back to Mia.
“Guess it’s just you and me, pumpkin. I’ll make the popcorn. You pick the movie.”
“Elf,” Mia said without hesitation, which was just fine with Dani.
She was pouring kernels in the air popper when Mia came into the kitchen holding the Blu-ray.
“I found it.”
“Good job. Why don’t you grab some ice water so you don’t have to leave in the middle of the show if you need a drink? Your glass with the elephants on it is still at the table from dinner.”
Mia took her water glass and filled it from the refrigerator ice maker.
“Mama,” she said, features pensive, after the rattling ice stopped, “why doesn’t Silver like us anymore?”
Dani’s heart cracked apart a little at the sadness in her six-year-old’s voice, mostly because deep inside, she felt as bewildered and abandoned.
“She does, honey. She’s just a teenager living in a strange town and trying to make friends. It hasn’t been very easy for her.”
“I think I liked the old Silver better.”
Dani didn’t want to tell her daughter that she did, too.
After she finished adding toppings to the bowl of popcorn, she and Mia settled onto the couch. With Mia snuggled against her, Dani felt some of the tension leave her, but she couldn’t shake her worry about Silver. She wanted so desperately for her daughter to find good friends who were also decent human beings.
The movie was familiar enough that her mind began to wander. Not for the first time, she wondered if she had made a huge mistake by bringing her daughters to Haven Point.
It had seemed the perfect opportunity. She and Frank Morales had struck up an instant friendship her second year of veterinary school when she’d stayed after a seminar he presented at a conference to ask him some questions.
That initial meeting had developed into a semiregular correspondence. She had a feeling Frank had looked on her as a mentee of sorts. He had been unfailingly patient and kind with her questions about various aspects of veterinary medicine and what went into running a successful practice.
A month before her graduation, Frank had called her with a proposition. He was looking for another doctor to take some of the load at his veterinary clinic. If she liked it here in Haven Point after her year’s internship was up, he wanted her to take over the practice.
It was an offer she couldn’t refuse, beneficial to her professionally while being perfect for her little family on a personal level.
This was everything she used to dream about, the chance to raise her girls in a safe place surrounded by nice people who cared about each other. Here, people didn’t know about Tommy, about his disastrous choices.
Of course, when she’d accepted the internship and moved here, she couldn’t have known about the tragic sequence of events to come later, the horror story that unfolded across the country mere weeks after she came to town.
She felt the beginnings of panic again, just thinking about what would happen if news of Tommy’s final moments were to filter through to everyone.
Frank knew, of course. She had to tell him. While he had been kind and understanding, she couldn’t imagine the other people in town would accept the truth so easily.
Coming to Haven Point had sounded great in theory but the reality of making a life here was harder than she had imagined. The truth was, she didn’t know how to socialize casually, which was a ridiculous thing for a thirty-year-old woman with a doctorate degree to admit.
She had married Tommy when she was seventeen. The years since, she’d been so focused on her girls, on school, on work and on simply surviving that she had gotten out of practice when it came to making and keeping friendships.
She didn’t know how to relate to these people who were so darn nice all the time, and her awkwardness in the beginning had made her leery about accepting new invitations. Then Tommy had become a household name in the worst possible way. Dani knew she couldn’t socialize now. She kept finding new excuses not to attend book club meetings or the Haven Point Helping Hands’ regular luncheons and after a few months, the invitations had tapered off.
Her girls were struggling, too. Silver had all this attitude all the time, some of that from grief and shame over her father, Dani was certain. Even Mia, who hadn’t even known Tommy, had become painfully shy in public, though she was her usual warm, sweet self at home.
Dani had to fix this or they could never make their home here, but she didn’t know the first place to start.
“Mama, you’re not watching the movie,” Mia chided her.
“I’m sorry.” She forced a smile and reached for some popcorn. “I’ll watch now.”
She couldn’t do anything at this moment but worry, so she vowed to put it aside for now and focus on something light and silly and fun.
And then maybe take that hour-long soak in the tub after Silver was home and her girls were both safely tucked in bed.
For about the twentieth time in the last fifteen minutes, Yukon went to the back door and peered through the glass toward the backyard and the lake at the edge of it.
Retired police dogs were a lot like retired police officers, in Ruben’s experience. They sometimes had a difficult time remembering they weren’t on the job anymore.
“Easy, buddy. What’s going on?” Ruben scratched
