“Sure it’s going to work. We’re inventors, just like my grandpa.”
“But do you really think we can make a family?” Kristy shifted on the porch stairs as she tried to pull a plastic comb through her Skipper doll’s tangled brown hair so Skipper would look good in her flower-girl outfit. “Isn’t it kind of…well, impossible?” To Kristy, an instant family, complete with built-in sister, seemed like a little too much to hope for. And having a mom…well, that was just a dream, a beautiful fantasy, really.
But, oh, the thought of having a mom she could talk to about girl stuff and go shopping with! Sure, her dad was great. But he was a man. What did he know about the coolest nail polish colors?
Zoe sifted through the shoe box full of Barbie clothes on the porch stairs, pulling out a Barbie-sized wedding veil and tiny white satin shoes. “I don’t have a dad, you don’t have a mom. Your dad is so funny, and my mom likes to laugh, and they both like to work out and they both own restaurants. They’re perfect for each other. How hard can it be?” She plopped the veil on Barbie’s head, then shoved the shoes on her feet.
“But what if they don’t fall in love?” Kristy wanted a whole family more than anything, but her dad had to love the woman he married, if he ever did manage to find someone he was interested in. That seemed pretty impossible right now. She was only eight, but it wasn’t hard to see that he still really missed her mom, even though it’d been seven years since she died and went to heaven.
Zoe flipped her blond hair over her shoulders and gave her an exasperated look. “Would you relax? Everything’ll work out fine as long as we follow my grandpa’s formula. Make a plan. Go over the plan again. Ex…um…oh, yeah, execute. Execute again if we have to.” She smiled and held up her Barbie, who was decked out for a wedding. “As long as we don’t blow anything up like my grandpa usually does, everything will be okay.”
Kristy wished she could be as sure about all of this as Zoe was. Zoe was so cool, so confident, so much fun. All the things Kristy longed to be.
Maybe going over The Plan would help. “So Plan A comes first, right?” Kristy asked.
Zoe nodded. “Right. Plan A, dinner at my house tomorrow night. Use any excuse you have to, just get your dad there. My mom’s taking the night off from the restaurant, and I’ve already got the romantic music picked out.”
“Gotcha.” Kristy fiddled with the end of her braid, admiring how well Zoe had planned all of this. “Then Plan B, right?” She wasn’t hot on Plan B, but would do it if it helped invent her a family.
“Right again. Plan B, we fight at school. Both parents will have to meet to take care of that.”
“Plan C after that.”
“Yup. Plan C, Girl Scout field trip to the beach next weekend. I’ve already fixed it with the troop leader so your dad and my mom will have to be in the same car and spend the whole day together chaperoning. My grandpa told my mom he needs her car that day, so she can’t offer to drive herself. And remember, our whole plan will probably be ruined if my mom finds out what your dad’s job is and if your dad finds out what my mom’s job is, so we have to be quiet about that, okay?”
“Okay.” Kristy swallowed hard. “And then…Plan X.”
Zoe gazed at her, suddenly looking serious. “Plan X is last-ditch, only executed if nothing else works.”
“I don’t want to do Plan X,” Kristy said, biting her lip. Her dad would ground her for life if she actually went through with it.
Zoe put her hand on Kristy’s arm and squeezed. “Don’t worry about Plan X. It’s not gonna happen.” She picked up her Ken doll and adjusted his black tuxedo. “But if it does, it’ll be okay. We’ll be safe the whole time, Kris. No one will get hurt.”
Kristy hoped so. She wanted to invent a family a lot, but Plan X made her kind of nervous.
Too bad. She was determined to be more like Zoe. Confident. Fearless. Sure of herself and their plan.
“This is my mom, and this is your dad,” Zoe said, picking up Bride Barbie and Groom Ken. Then she gently pressed them together as if they were kissing, her mouth curling into a huge smile. “We can do this, Kris. If we want to be a family, we have to.”
Zoe was right, as usual.
It was time to invent a family however they could.
Chapter One
“Here, Mom, put this on.”
Jill Lindstrom put down the lasagna she’d just taken out of the oven, then swung around and met her nine-year-old daughter Zoe’s excited gaze. Zoe had a bottle of Jill’s favorite perfume held high, her finger on the spray button, ready to blast Jill in the face with the scent.
Jill quickly danced back a step, out of spray range, then raised an eyebrow, dubiously regarding the bottle of perfume. “Geez, Zoe, watch where you point that stuff.”
Zoe rolled her eyes. “Just put some on.”
“I already put perfume on this morning,” Jill said, moving to the fridge to take out the Caesar salad she’d made earlier. “I don’t need any more.”
“C’mon, Mom—”
Jill held up a hand. “Look, I already wore the jeans and sweater you set out, and I left my hair down as you so forcefully demanded.” She put the salad down and went in search of the salad tongs. “I’m drawing the line at excessive amounts of perfume. We want to welcome Kristy and her dad, not knock them out with loads of Ralph Lauren.”
Zoe huffed, flicked her blond hair over her shoulder and spun around to leave the kitchen. “Okay, Mom. I’ll be waiting in the living room.”
Jill watched her go, shaking her head, one side of her mouth quirked. It certainly didn’t take a genius to figure out that Zoe was very, very concerned that Jill look—and apparently smell—her best. Similarly, she suspected it was no coincidence that Kristy’s father was single, just as Jill was.
Looked as if Zoe and her new best friend were up to a little matchmaking. Was that thanks to the influence of Zoe’s grandpa? Zoe absolutely adored her grandpa, and he had made no secret of his desire to see Jill married again.
Jill rolled her eyes. No matter who was involved, any matchmaking was a waste of time. Even though it had been six years since her ex-husband, Doug, had left her for another woman, she still wasn’t ready to put her heart, and self-respect, on the line again. She might never be.
Jill returned to the fridge and dug out the salad dressing and Parmesan cheese. As she gathered up the salad plates, she reiterated to herself how important it was that she not get sucked into any sort of relationship. And not just because she wasn’t ready to open herself up to again being ditched when someone better came along. Although that was a darn good reason all on its own.
No, she also needed to focus on her restaurant, The Wildflower Grill, and make it a success, an elusive dream she was determined to catch and hold on to.
Jill took the salad fixings to the dining-room table, her mind going over familiar territory, fueling her desire to become a successful, well-respected businesswoman.
