Chapter 22
The night after Hayley’s birthday, Daniel practically staggered into his mom’s kitchen to pick up the girls after a grueling day with an extra topping of five o’clock emergency. Before he could even speak, Mom was setting a plate at the table in the breakfast nook and motioning him to sit down.
“Here, dear. Have some meat loaf. The girls are fine upstairs. You look exhausted.”
Daniel sighed. “I should get them home, Mom. It’s late.”
Mom picked up the plate and slid it back and forth under his nose, smiling, and he was powerless to resist. He kissed her on the cheek, then sat down. “You play tough.”
“Well, you may be big and strong and all grown up, but you’re still my little boy, and I’m allowed to feed you once in a while.” She poured him a tall glass of milk and set it down. “I did the girls’ baths earlier, so all you have to do is tuck them into bed when you get home.”
“Thank you. Can I hire you?”
Mom ruffled his hair like he was indeed a little boy.
“If I didn’t need my real job, I’d take you up on it in a second.” She sat down across from him in her breakfast nook, wrapping her hands around a pottery mug. “So how are the interviews going? Is there an end in sight to this crazy schedule of yours?”
“I don’t know. Hard to say.”
“Any promising candidates yet?”
Daniel took a bite, delaying his answer. “Three of them. All good.”
“Well, that’s a nice problem to have. How will you decide?”
“I don’t know. Not sure any of them are right for the job.”
“Why not?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. There’s nothing obvious. Just a feeling, I guess.”
A feeling that only one particular vet will actually fill the bill, and so far, she’s not interested.
“Well, you can’t keep doing this by yourself, can you? How many hours have you put in this week?”
“Too many.”
“You’re not at all concerned how Evelyn’s going to spin the situation when she comes up for Christmas? If you’re still working these kinds of hours that week, it’s not going to look good.”
“I’m completely concerned. I just don’t know that I have a solution. Even if I thought one of these candidates was a perfect choice, there’s no way I’d get anyone started by Christmas.”
Mom shook her head, sipping her tea. “With all that woman’s putting you through, I can’t believe you’re even letting her come up here at all.”
“I know, and believe me, I considered buying three tickets to the Bahamas so we could be out of reach for the holidays. But then I realized it would just give her more ammunition. She’s determined to prove that she doesn’t get to see them enough, so my best defense is to make sure she gets to see them anytime she wants to.”
“I get it, but I don’t know whether I’m going to be able to pretend to like her while she’s here.”
“You don’t have to. Maybe you won’t even see each other.”
Mom raised her eyebrows. “One can hope, right?” She got up and pulled a pot off the stove, spooning more mashed potatoes onto Daniel’s plate. “So when are they coming?”
“The day after Christmas. She really wanted us to come down there this year. You know, do the whole holiday thing, Evelyn-style.”
“Let me guess. Christmas Eve service, then caroling through the mansions, then home for a nine o’clock goose dinner that the girls will hate and be too tired to eat.”
“Exactly. Followed by Christmas Day services.”
“Followed by the annual Look-How-Amazin
g-I-Am bake sale afterward? Yes.” Mom set down her cup and shook her head. “We’ve done the Evelyn-style Christmas before.” She looked out the window. “Children belong in their own homes at Christmastime. I’m glad you didn’t agree to go to Denver.”
“That would be taking the cooperation thing a little too far, even for me.”
“And did she argue?”
Daniel stopped chewing. “Not like she usually does, no—which is suspicious, actually.”
Mom’s face grew serious. “So where are things at with the case?”
“Stacey-Lynne’s trying to delay them as much as possible, but they’re still pushing forward. They’re determined, Mom. And once Evelyn sets her heels into something, she doesn’t back down all that easily. I just wish we could have the holidays without this hanging over everything.”
“So what does Stacey-Lynne think you need to do in order to make this go away once and for all?”
“Ha. Well, I could take off for a country without an extradition agreement, but that might be extreme. If that’s not an option, she suggested I get married.”
Mom just about dropped her mug.
“What?!”
“Apparently it’s almost impossible to yank kids out of a stable, two-parent home where one of the parents is the real parent.”
“Oh.” She nodded casually. “Well, then. Do you have any candidates for that job in mind?”
“Good God, no.”
The words flew out because they were automatic, but as he said them, Daniel was less sure than ever that he actually meant them. When he’d seen a tired, frazzled, trying-to-pretend-she-wasn’t-lonely version of Hayley on his laptop screen last night, it’d been all he could do not to hop a plane this morning and go find her in Boston.
What he would have done when he got there, he had no idea, but the urge to go to her, to comfort her—to see more of her city life than the four-foot square section of wall he could see behind her on the computer screen—was a strange and terrifying feeling.
“So who’s Hayley? I heard a lot about her this afternoon.” She raised her eyebrows. “The girls said they made her cupcakes and you talked to her on the computer last night? And that she might be coming to visit for Christmas?”
“She’s—a friend of Kyla’s back East. She was in the wedding last summer. She was going to be alone for her birthday, so we just did a little goofball party for her over at Whisper Creek. The girls insisted on the cupcakes.”
“Huh.” She tried to hide a smile. “They actually told me the cupcakes were your idea.”
“She has a thing for cupcakes.” He shrugged. “And the girls love baking, so—cupcakes.”
Mom nodded, the same smile playing at the corners of her lips. “I see.”
“Just cupcakes, Mom.”
“All right, all right. I just couldn’t help but wonder.”
“She’s just a friend, Mom. More Kyla’s than mine, by far. And she lives in Boston. And I don’t think she’s coming out for Christmas, despite Kyla’s invitation.” He put his hand over Mom’s. “So stop with the wondering. I appreciate you being concerned, but we’re fine.”
“Except for the part about you apparently needing a new wife?”
“It’s not the only way to win this thing. I’m not looking for a wife, Mom. I’m pretty sure the girls have suffered enough upheaval for one childhood. I can’t imagine bringing another woman into their life.”
Even if, you know, it was someone they have already completely fallen in love with. Right? It would be bad, right?
“Well.” She got up from the table and took his plate. “Sometimes when we’re not looking is when we do the best finding.”