The Parent Trap

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She felt sorry for Kate, though. In spite of her polished exterior—the girl certainly knew how to put an outfit together—and an outward air of confidence, Sarah thought the girl could use a healthy dose of self-esteem. There was also an underlying sadness to her, which was not a surprise. Between the hormones and impending womanhood, the early teen years were a confusing time for girls, and there was probably never a time when a girl needed her mother more than at this age. All the phone calls and text messages and lavish gifts in the world couldn’t replace a warm hug and a shoulder to lean on.

Sarah hoped the girls would become friends. She cherished the close bond she had with her daughter, but she also understood the importance of having close friends, and Kate might be as good for Casey as Casey could be for her. That would also provide a chance for Sarah to offer a shoulder once in a while, encourage Kate to pursue her dreams.

What about Jonathan?

What about him? Sure, she had concerns about his daughter, starting with his attitude, but she had no intention of interfering.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the lights were still on in his kitchen, but there was no sign of anyone in it. Apparently the man could cook, and that intrigued her. Over dinner tonight, he’d said he would like to reciprocate by having her and Casey over for homemade pizza next Saturday. Paolo’s were good, but his were better. She had accepted, thinking it would be good for the girls, and she was curious about the man’s made-from-scratch pizza. And her curiosity ended there. Letting herself ponder any of his other attributes was simply too risky.

* * *

CASEY SWITCHED ON her laptop and went back to work, posting the rest of the photographs she’d taken of the dogs at the shelter. She wasn’t posting Petey’s picture, though. Instead, she clicked on it and set it as her desktop background. After Kate hinted that she should guilt her mother into letting her have a dog, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She wouldn’t have thought that up on her own, that’s for sure. Her mom was just her mom. She didn’t go on dates and it was weird to think of her having a boyfriend.

Casey barely remembered her dad, wouldn’t know what he looked like if it weren’t for the photograph on her dresser. She’d been sitting on his shoulders and they’d been laughing about something when her mom had taken the picture. Even though she didn’t remember him or anything about the day that photograph was taken, he was still her dad. She’d always thought it would be fun to have a sister or a brother, but another dad? The idea had never crossed her mind.

Casey liked her new neighbor, though. Kate wasn’t like any of the other girls in Serenity Bay. Not even the coolest ones were as cool as Kate. Her clothes were super trendy and her manicure was crazy cool. All the girls at school who were into those kinds of things would have gone on and on and on about them—seriously, sometimes they made her want to scream—but Kate hadn’t said a thing. Instead of talking about clothes and hair and makeup, she said she wanted to work for a big fashion magazine someday, probably starting as a photographer and maybe writing articles, too, but eventually she’d be editor in chief.

She’d also seemed interested when Casey told her she was going to be a veterinarian, even though she’d been squeamish about some of the critters. Not everyone was comfortable with rodents and reptiles, but she’d said Manny the praying mantis was the grossest thing she’d ever seen.

Casey leaned in for closer look at her terrarium. “Good thing I didn’t feed you a fly while she was here.”

If Kate thought Manny eating a cricket was gross, watching her tear a housefly apart and gobble it up would totally freak her out.

They’d talked about their families, too, since having only one parent was something they did have in common. Kate’s mom was alive and well and living in Europe with her new and disgustingly rich husband. They traveled a lot so Kate couldn’t live with them. Then she’d said she didn’t think they wanted her anyway.

Casey had a hard time believing that. Her mom was strict about some things, like homework and curfew and not friending strangers on Facebook, but they also had fun doing things together. Like Saturday movie-and-pizza night, which had still turned out okay tonight even though Kate and her dad had been here and they hadn’t watched a movie.

Kate had confessed to being mad at her dad for making her move away from her friends in the city. Casey had tried to sympathize, but she hadn’t told Kate that she didn’t have many friends, mostly because other kids thought her obsession with animals was weird and her determination to get straight A’s was completely lame. If Kate thought she was weird or lame—or both—she hadn’t let on.

Casey’s phone whistled and she grabbed it off her nightstand. A text from Henry! He must be back at home, finally.

How R U?

Good. U?

Also good. Won’t B back 4 school tho.

No way. We R supposed 2 go 2gether.

Still visiting the fam. Back Fri.

Rats. This was not how things were supposed to go. Henry was her best friend. They always went together on the first day of school, and this was the first day of high school. She needed him there.

UR loss. Getting a ride to school with new neighbor anyway.

The new teacher?

Yep & daughter Kate.

Is she hot?

Let’s just say some of the girls at SBH were going to freak when they saw their new competition. Instead she typed:

Don’t be gross.

Ha! She is!

But UR not so 4get it.

Ouch. How R things with U and Dex?

There is no me and Dex.

That bad huh? U still haven’t made a move?

No, she had not, and even if she had wanted to, she had no clue what the moves were.

I said don’t be gross.

Gotta go. Mom’s yelling lites out.

What time is it in Montreal?

After 11.

K. G’night.

TTYL.

She set her phone back on the nightstand, slid off the bed and walked over to the window. It was getting dark and across the driveway she could see the light was on in Kate’s room. No sign of her, though. Maybe she was helping her dad unpack.

Casey had never considered the possibility that Henry wouldn’t make it back in time to start school. Good thing she’d accepted Kate’s dad’s invitation to get a ride with them. The first day of high school seemed like kind of a big deal, and she’d never imagined having to go alone.

Casey was looking forward to high school because she would finally have science classes with real labs, but she wasn’t looking forward to some of the other stuff. Like not having anyone except Henry to hang out with after school. But maybe that would change. Maybe she’d be heading to high school, not just with a friend but with one who was totally cool. That’d sure make people sit up and take pay attention. Maybe even Dexter would notice her.

Her uplifted spirits took a sudden dip. Would Kate still want to hang out with her once she realized Casey wasn’t one of the cool kids? Better question. Was there even the remotest of chances Dex would notice Casey, or would he only pay attention to Kate?

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_3a8728c5-4ede-598e-bdce-3eba4e378762)

ON THE MORNING of the day school started, Jon was up before dawn. He pulled on running shorts and a T-shirt and, with a pair of socks in hand, padded downstairs to the kitchen in bare feet. He started a pot of coffee and checked that the bread maker was doing its thing, then sat on a kitchen stool and pulled on socks and laced his running shoes.

Princess strolled into the room, meowing loudly to announce her presence and to indicate it was time someone served her breakfast.

“Good morning, girl.” He rubbed the top her head and she started to purr as she did a sideways sashay around his legs, back arched, tail in the air.

He retrieved a can of cat food from the fridge and scooped some into a bowl, dumped kibble into a matching bowl and returned the can to fridge. After he fulfilled his role, Princess promptly lost interest in him.

He poured himself a glass of water and stood at the kitchen counter while he drank it. He would never tire of this view. The bay would soon reflect the sunlight, but in the faint light at this early hour, the surface was flat and dark gray. A lone sailboat slowly motored past the end of the breakwater, on its way to open water where the sailor would hoist the sail and catch a breeze.

After letting himself out the back door, he locked it and tucked the key in a pocket inside his waistband. He spent a few minutes warming up before he set off down the driveway at an easy jog. Early morning was his favorite time of the day. Even in the city he’d liked the quiet, cool stillness, but here it was magnified, exaggerated in the best way possible. At the end of the block he turned right and took the steep road that led downhill to the beach, where he picked up the walkway that paralleled the seawall. He nodded at another man jogging in the opposite direction, passed an elderly woman walking a small dog, but otherwise he had the beach and his thoughts to himself.

He ran past the quaint little downtown business district that stretched for six blocks along Shoreline Boulevard and three blocks away from the beach. There it gave way to a mix of old cottages, newer homes and low-rise condominiums. Over the years, residences had slowly crept up the hillside, biting chunks out of the rain forest, affording homeowners spectacular views of the bay and the breakwater. His house was one of those. Moving here felt right, as though he’d finally come home to a place where he belonged instead of being someplace biding his time. Convincing Kate that this was her home, too? That would take some doing.

For the past few days he had pretty much worked from morning till night, and now the furniture was in place, the boxes unpacked, the closets and cupboards full. Kate had hated her bedroom curtains so they’d driven down to Sechelt yesterday afternoon so she could choose new ones. She had asked if Casey could go with them, and he had agreed, although he’d also recalled what Kate had said about their new neighbor after the cookie delivery. She’s probably a geek. Now he wasn’t sure if she actually wanted to be friends with the soccer-playing tomboy next door or if she simply hadn’t wanted to be seen alone with him in public. Either way, he was glad Casey had agreed to join them. She was a nice kid, and unlike some of Kate’s friends in the city, she seemed as though she’d be a positive influence.

And there was no ignoring the fact that her mother was pretty nice, too. Easy to talk to. Very easy on the eyes. Her parenting skills were as enviable as her culinary skills were deplorable, and he had no idea why but he found that charming. Over the past few days, though, he’d only caught rare glimpses of her, and he suspected she might be avoiding him. He regretted his blunt comments the other night. He’d been comparing his parenting to Sarah’s, his daughter to hers, and had fallen short on both counts. He hadn’t meant to sound critical of Kate but he had, and Sarah probably thought he was a jerk. She was right, and he hoped she would accept an apology the next time he saw her.

At the end of the seawall he exchanged a wave with a young couple on the beach whose golden retriever was hauling a stick out of the water. He swung around to make the return trip, laughing as the pair narrowly avoided a shower of seawater as the dog shook out its fur.

Not only did Kate seem to get along with Casey, she liked Sarah, too. She had even hinted that if Jon thought he might like to start dating, then maybe he should think about asking Sarah out. The idea had already crossed his mind, not that he would admit that to his daughter, at least not yet. What if Sarah said no? He would still have to live next door to her and that would, at best, be awkward. Better to wait till he had some sense of what her answer would be.

And then Kate had dampened his enthusiasm by pointing out that it’s not as if her mother were ever coming back. She was right. Georgette was never coming back and the truth was, he didn’t want her to. But dating someone else? Until now he hadn’t been ready to consider it. Kate needed to have one parent who was there for her, and for better or worse that parent was him. He couldn’t focus on being a parent, and maintaining a home for them and reestablishing a career, if he was back in the dating game. There was also the not-so-insignificant matter of figuring out how and where to meet eligible women. But then, on their first day in Serenity Bay, there one was, standing on his porch with a welcoming smile and a plate of really awful cookies. That had immediately been followed by a pizza dinner. Sharing a couple of pizzas with their teenage daughters was not a date. It was simply...a simple dinner. And still he’d managed to mess it up.

During the drive down the peninsula to Sechelt, he had to admit he’d listened shamelessly and with interest to the questions Kate asked Casey.

Did she help her mom at the store?

No. Sometimes Casey went there after school and sat in her mom’s office to do her homework, but working in the store was boring.

Did her father live in Serenity Bay?

No. He’d died. Jon already knew that.

Did her mom have a boyfriend?

No.

If Kate hadn’t already dropped a less-than-subtle hint about him asking her out, he would have thought it a strange question. Casey didn’t seem to think it was but she didn’t elaborate and Kate didn’t ask her to, so he couldn’t very well ask her to expand.

He left the seawall walkway and tried to maintain his pace as he ran back up the hill, turning onto his street, winded, perspiring and ready to take on a new day just as the sun lit up the eastern sky above the Coast Mountains. He still had plenty of time for coffee and a shower before Kate would be up and getting ready for school. He slowed to a walk as he approached his driveway, and pulled up the hem of his shirt to wipe sweat from his forehead. As he let it drop, he glanced at the house next door and was sure he saw a curtain flutter in a second-floor window.

He spent a couple of minutes stretching muscles that hadn’t had a decent workout in a couple of days. While he did, his thoughts remained on the woman next door.

Was she a morning person? Was she a runner as well? She was in great shape for someone who admitted to eating a lot of takeout. Maybe instead of asking her out to dinner, he should invite her to run with him in the morning. Running wasn’t a date, and if she said no, she still might accept an invitation to dinner.

“And you are way overthinking this,” he said, letting himself into the house, inhaling the aroma of newly brewed coffee and the cinnamon scent of whole-grain raisin bread. This weekend, he and his daughter had started a new life. Today he was starting a new job. The other firsts—whatever those might be—would happen in good time. And if a first date was going to be one of them, he had to apologize to Sarah for being a jerk and somehow convince her that he wasn’t.

* * *

SARAH PARTED HER office curtains just enough to watch her neighbor return from his run but not so much that he could see her watching him. His dark-colored knee-length running shorts revealed the muscular calves of an athlete, exactly what one would expect of a high school gym teacher and soccer coach who ran for half an hour in the morning. She’d been downstairs and had caught sight of him as he left and headed down to the beach, and from her deck, coffee mug in hand, she had glimpsed him running along the seawall. Impressive.

Impressive also came to mind as she watched him now through the narrow slit in the curtains. His light blue T-shirt hung loose over the shorts, sweat-darkened in places that emphasized just how fit he really was. And then he pulled up the hem and swiped it across his forehead, briefly revealing strongly rippled abs. Her breath caught, her insides started to hum, then the shirt fell into place and he was gazing up at her window. She took a hasty step back, still a little breathless, still humming, the vision of those delectable abs etched in her memory.

“Mom?” Casey was awake.

Sarah jolted, realizing she’d been frozen in time, one hand pressed to her chest as though that might slow her heartbeat, stop her heart from pounding through her rib cage. The sound of her daughter’s sleepy voice snapped her back to reality. She swung around, quickly turned on her desk lamp and picked up a file folder, fanning through the contents as though searching for something. She glanced up when her daughter appeared in the doorway in purple plaid flannel pajama pants and an old yellow sweatshirt.

“Good morning, sweetie. Excited about school starting today?”

“Yes, but kind of nervous, too. I mean, it’s high school. And Henry isn’t back so I’m kind of bummed about that. He and I always go together on the first day of school.”

Henry, whose family lived across the street, and Casey had been friends forever and they did have a lot in common—straight-A honor students, academically competitive, seasoned bookworms. Outside the classroom, though, their interests couldn’t be more different. Casey was athletic and crazy about animals. Henry was into photography and creative writing. He was also two inches shorter than Casey, and he was the only kid Sarah had ever met who could, and often did, trip over absolutely nothing.