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“I thought we’d work it out as we go,” he said. “We don’t need some sort of formal agreement, do we?”
Emily sighed. “No, of course not.”
He gave her a distracted kiss on the cheek as if they were separating till dinner, rather than for the rest of their lives.
“I’ll be in touch,” he said. “Call me if you or the kids need anything.”
She watched him stride off and tried to remember how she’d ever fallen in love with a man capable of such a total lack of emotion. The last time she’d seen Derek’s eyes shine with excitement or enthusiasm, he’d been talking about some deal he’d made, not looking at her or the kids at all.
She told herself she was well rid of him, that her future was brighter without him, that she could cope with raising the kids on her own since she’d been doing it that way for years anyway.
By the time she got home, she’d convinced herself that she was just fine. She threw her purse on the kitchen table, walked outside and crossed the yard and went straight to Marcie’s back door. It opened before she could knock and Marcie held out her arms. Emily stepped into the embrace and burst into tears.
“It’s over,” she whispered. “In the blink of an eye, it was just over, almost as if it didn’t even matter.”
“Of course it mattered,” Marcie said fiercely. “You and Derek had some good times, you know you did. And you have two amazing kids. How could that not matter?”
“It doesn’t to Derek,” she said with a sniff.
“I doubt that.”
“He walked away without a second glance. He was already thinking about his next meeting.”
“Which is exactly why you divorced him,” Marcie reminded her. “But that doesn’t mean it was always that way. You’re allowed to mourn the good memories, even while you curse his black soul for making you so miserable.”
Emily grinned through her tears. “Curse his black soul? Where’d you come up with that one? Did Caitlyn sneak one of my historical romance novels over to you? Besides, he hasn’t made me miserable. He left me feeling nothing and that’s a thousand times worse.”
“I’m sorry,” Marcie said, then gave her a hesitant look. “I baked a cake for the occasion.”
Emily laughed. Leave it to the ultimate planner to have thought of that. “Of course, you did. Are we having a party, too?”
“I have half-a-dozen people on standby if you want one,” Marcie said. “Should I call them?”
“What the hell,” Emily replied. “Somebody needs to mark the occasion. Make those calls.” She hesitated. “What about the kids?”
“Paula and I have that covered. Dave’s taking all of them out to a ball game and pizza after. We thought it would be a good distraction for Dani and Josh. Okay with you?”
“What would I do without friends like you guys?”
“Have a pity party all alone?” Marcie suggested.
“Probably,” Emily agreed. “But there wouldn’t be cake.”
Chapter 5
Marcie was at her wit’s end. If Ken had been obsessed with work before, he was now a thousand times worse. Hardly a night passed when he didn’t have a business dinner and even weekends were spent playing golf with clients, then hanging around the club to have drinks.
At first, she’d anticipated that she’d be as busy as he was, entertaining the way she’d always done, but to her dismay he took his clients to restaurants. It was rare that he even thought to include her. It left her at loose ends and with the kids getting older, she had fewer and fewer demands on her time. Neither Evan nor Caitlyn appreciated a gourmet meal, when they could grab a burger with their friends. She’d even cut back on her baking, since she was almost the only one eating the cookies, cakes and pies. She still kept something on hand for Emily’s visits, but lately both of them had started worrying about their weight. More and more, brownies, lemon bars and decadent chocolate cake were guilty pleasures reserved for special occasions.
Today, though, she simply didn’t give a darn about any of that. She’d baked a key lime pie, her personal favorite, and if she wanted to sit at the kitchen table and eat the whole thing, then who was going to stop her? She was on her second slice when Emily walked in.
“Uh-oh,” she said, observing the pie. “What’s wrong?”
“It has just dawned on me that I am obsolete,” Marcie told her, taking another bite of pie.
Emily frowned at the comment. “By whose assessment?” she asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee from the fresh pot Marcie had brewed a few minutes earlier.
“Mine.”
“Okay, let me get this straight. You’re a wife, a mother, an active volunteer in the school and yet somehow you’ve decided you don’t matter?”
“Pretty much,” Marcie said, shoving the remaining three-quarters of the pie across the table. “Help yourself.”
“I don’t think so, because obviously some ingredient in that pie has addled your brain.”
“No, hear me out,” Marcie told her. “Ken’s completely consumed with work and he doesn’t even need me to entertain his clients anymore. Evan’s either playing football, practicing football or chasing girls. He manages to find sufficient time in there to keep his grades up, but the only things he needs me for are laundry and the occasional infusion of cash.”
Emily nodded. “Okay, I do recognize those symptoms. Josh is almost as bad, though he does expect me to get breakfast on the table for him and to keep the refrigerator stocked with milk and the cupboard filled with bread and peanut butter. Under duress, he will actually hold a conversation with me that consists of more than monosyllables and grunts.”
Marcie gestured with her fork. “See, I told you. You’re only marginally better off than I am. The big difference is that Dani still needs you and you have your job.”
“Well, I’m sure Caitlyn still needs you. She’s fourteen, even younger than Dani.”
“In Caitlyn’s case, she’s fourteen going on thirty. She’s convinced I know absolutely nothing of value. I suspect she talks to you more than she does to me.”
Emily flushed.
“See, I knew it!” Marcie said.
“Well, Dani probably talks to you more than she does to me,” Emily countered. “That’s typical. It hardly means you’re obsolete.”
“Well, what am I supposed to do with my time? It’s not as if they’re looking for room-mothers for the seniors, or even for the eighth-graders. I offered to chaperon a field trip the other day and Caitlyn pitched a fit. She said she would be totally humiliated if I did that.”
“And you interpreted that to mean what?” Emily asked. “That she was rejecting you? Embarrassed by you?”
“Both of those,” Marcie said.
“She’s just struggling to find her independence,” Emily corrected. “It has nothing to do with you, so don’t take it personally. Trust me, at that age none of the kids want their parents to chaperon anything, which is why teachers end up doing it.”
Marcie knew she was probably right. Emily had a lot more experience dealing with teenage angst than she did. That still didn’t give her a clue about what she was supposed to do with all this time she suddenly had on her hands.
“Okay, I’ll concede that I’m probably overreacting,” she said finally. “But I honestly have no idea what to do to fill my days.”
“Get a job,” Emily suggested.
“Please,” Marcie scoffed. “Doing what?”
“Anything you want to do. Get a real estate license. Take classes and get licensed as an interior designer. You’d be great at that. Open a catering business or a bakery. There are probably a thousand things you could do. You just have to choose something that excites you.”
“Other than a few years working retail when we were first married and the two whole weeks I worked for Ken, I don’t exactly have a stellar résumé.”
“Which is why opening something of your own would be ideal,” Emily said enthusiastically. “Ken’s business is on a solid footing now, isn’t it? You could afford to take a risk.”
“I suppose,” Marcie said, but with little conviction. She’d never been much of a risk taker. She’d liked being a housewife and mom. It had been challenging and rewarding. Any other work sounded like drudgery.
Still, Emily wasn’t letting up. “Talk to Ken,” she prodded. “See what he says.”
“I know what he’ll say. He’ll tell me I already have a job running this house. The possibility that he might have to remember to take out the trash or call the plumber would horrify him.”
“He’d want you to be happy, though, wouldn’t he?”
“Of course,” Marcie said a little too quickly, then added candidly, “as long as it doesn’t inconvenience him.” She met Emily’s gaze. “The thing of it is, I already know what makes me happy. I just don’t see any way to get it back again without getting pregnant and having another child.”
Emily stared at her as if she’d suddenly grown two heads. “You wouldn’t!”
“Believe me, I’ve considered it,” Marcie said. She jabbed her fork into the pie and stuffed another bite in her mouth.
Emily studied her worriedly, then grabbed the remainder of the pie and dumped it in the sink.
“What are you doing?” Marcie cried out, appalled.
“Getting rid of this before you kill yourself with an overdose of sugar,” she said as she turned on the garbage disposal.
Apparently satisfied that she’d rid Marcie of temptation, Emily faced her with a stern expression. “Tomorrow morning I expect you to get out of this house and volunteer for something.”
Marcie stared at her blankly. “What?”
“Doesn’t matter. Anything that will make you feel useful and get you out of this mood. And tell your kids they’re having dinner at home tomorrow night and at least three nights a week from now on.”
“They’ll hate it.”
“They’ll deal. Tell Evan he needs good nutrition at least that often to keep his body in shape for football and tell Caitlyn she’s expected to be here because you say so. Be tough. Tell them neither one of them gets a dime for spending money if they don’t follow house rules. That ought to whip them right into shape.”
Marcie bit back a grin, her mood lifting ever so slightly.
“I can do that.”
“Of course, you can. I’ll be back tomorrow for a full report. The kids might be growing up, but there’s no reason you need to let them go one second sooner than you absolutely have to. They still need to know that their mom and dad are in charge.” She gave Marcie a curious look. “Think Ken will back you up?”
“He will if he expects to have sex anytime in the next twenty years,” Marcie said, then chuckled. “God, I feel better already.”
“Then my work here is done,” Emily said, giving her a hug. “Call if you need backup.”
“Just knowing I have it should do the trick,” Marcie told her.
Maybe she wasn’t quite obsolete, after all.
Dani couldn’t recall a time when she hadn’t been in and out of the Carter house as if it were her own. Caitlyn was her very best friend. They shared all their secrets, excluding the fact that Dani had a crush on Caitlyn’s big brother. It was something she would never in a million years have told her mom or her own brother. And it had seemed totally weird to tell Caitlyn.
She wasn’t entirely sure when she’d first looked at Evan and realized what a hunk he was. For a long time, he’d been like a brother, in other words a nuisance most of the time. Then one day she’d seen him with a bunch of girls at school and taken a good long look at him. He was hot! His body had filled out with muscle. He had the most amazing brown eyes, like chocolate, she thought dreamily. They were such a contrast to his blond hair, that turned really, really pale after he’d been outside in the sun for days on end. She didn’t care that much about football, which was his passion, but she knew enough to know he was good. Really good. She’d clipped half-a-dozen articles from the local paper about what a hot college prospect he was. She kept them in an old jewelry box under her bed, so no one in her family would see them.
After she’d pretty much been hit by some bolt of lightning, she couldn’t stop thinking about him. She started getting these fluttery sensations in the pit of her stomach whenever he was around. She started doing dumb stuff, hoping he’d notice her, wearing the skimpiest bikini her mom would let her get away with, doing cannonballs in the pool, hanging out at football practice or at the Carters’ even more than usual. Evan could usually be found in the den watching movies once his homework was done. More than once she’d convinced Caitlyn to join him and hang out.
Unfortunately, Caitlyn had picked up on Dani’s interest, not Evan. The other day she’d called Dani on it.
“Do you have a thing for my brother?” she asked when they’d been in the Carters’ pool for hours and Josh and Evan had gone inside to grab snacks for all four of them.
“Quiet,” Dani said, mortified. “Do you want Evan to hear you?”
“Sorry, but you were acting all goofy. You’ve been doing that a lot lately when Evan’s around.”
“Well, you have to admit your brother’s pretty cool. Why wouldn’t I notice him?”
“You and every other girl,” Caitlyn said. “He must get, like, a hundred calls a night on his cell phone. I don’t get it myself. He’s a pain.”
“That’s just because he’s your brother. He’s cute and he’s smart.”
“And older than you. You’re wasting your time getting hung up on him. He thinks of you like a kid sister, same as me.”
Dani couldn’t deny it, but she still harbored hope that one day he’d wake up and notice her. After all she was underfoot all the time. Just last week he’d taken her and Caitlyn to the movies and decided at the last minute to see it with them. He’d even bought them drinks and popcorn. It had felt almost like a date. She’d put the movie stub into her treasure box with the clippings.
Afterward, though, Josh had gotten all weird when he’d heard about it. He’d come charging home and confronted her.
“I hope you’re not thinking about hanging out with Evan,” he said heatedly. “If you are, forget about it.”
“What difference does it make to you?” she demanded. “You’re not my keeper.”
“No, but I am your big brother. It’s my job to look out for you. Evan’s too old for you.”
“He’s eighteen,” Dani retorted. “Same as you.”
“And you’re sixteen.”
“I’m old enough to date.”
“Not Evan,” Josh repeated, his expression grim. “I mean it, Dani. Stay away from him. He’s trouble.”
She had no idea what he meant. The two of them hung out all the time. “That’s not a very nice thing to say,” she said. “He’s supposed to be your best friend.”
“It’s one thing to hang out with a guy. It’s another thing to let him spend time with your sister. Take my word for it, okay? Evan’s too experienced for you. Forget about him.”
“No, it is not okay,” Dani said stubbornly. “I’ll hang out with any guy I want to.”
Josh flushed. “If you don’t listen to me, I’ll talk to Mom. She’ll make you listen. Are we clear?”
Since having her mom find out that she was crazy about Evan was the last thing Dani wanted, she promised Josh she’d steer clear of him. He didn’t need to know that she’d kept her fingers crossed behind her back when she said it.
Now Caitlyn gave her the same dismayed look that Josh had given her.
