Kate sipped water and checked her phone for messages. “Have you heard from Mom today?”
“No, I haven’t. I know she’s been really busy, but she knows this is your first day at a new school. I’m sure she’ll call.” If she didn’t, he’d send a discreet message to remind her.
“Whatever.” Kate set her phone down and picked up her water. Better to focus on the positive, he decided.
“Did you meet Casey’s friends today?”
“Some of them. Her best friend who lives across the street will be back on Friday.”
“Right. She mentioned that when we were on our way to school this morning.” He tossed chopped onions into the pan and stirred till they were coated with hot oil. While those softened, he minced the garlic and measured oregano into the pan, then added a pinch of hot pepper flakes.
“Mmm. That smells good,” Kate said.
“Thanks. I thought it’d be good to celebrate with one of our favorite meals.”
“My all-time favorite.”
He didn’t know what had changed, but whatever it was, he was glad for it. He opened a can of tomatoes, dumped it into the pan, added the fresh tomatoes he’d chopped because he liked the texture they added to the sauce and gave the whole thing a good stir.
“I’ll let that simmer for a bit before I cook the pasta.” Meanwhile, he’d start on the garlic bread.
“Soccer practice went well,” he said, hoping to keep the conversation going but shift the topic away from her for a bit. “Lots of great players.”
“I’ll bet Casey’s pretty good. She told me she’s been playing for three years.”
“She is.” And her experience showed. He hoped the rest of the team would give her the nod as captain, or at least assistant captain, but he couldn’t reveal that to Kate.
“We had lunch with Alycia. She’s on the team, too.”
Right. Another good player, if memory served. He unwrapped the French bread and set it on a cutting board. “What did you do after school?”
“Oh.” A guarded look flickered across her face and was gone again a split second later. “Not much. Nothing, really. I walked home and then I worked on some ideas for my collage.”
“Good for you. You know, if you want to stay at school on the afternoons the team has practice, you could work in the library and then we could drive home together.”
“I’ll see. I don’t mind walking, though.”
“Sure.” Since these kinds of conversations were few and far between, he resisted the impulse to remind her that wherever she was after school, she needed to spend time on her other homework, too. He’d save that confrontation for another day. Besides, she was likely to change her mind about walking when the still-mild weather turned to rain.
He sliced the bread into two lengthwise halves and set them on a baking sheet. In a small bowl he whipped a stick of butter, added minced garlic and chopped parsley, and slathered the mixture onto the bread. After generously sprinkling both halves with freshly grated Parmesan, he moved the sheet to the counter next to the stove.
“On my way home, I ran into Sarah at the grocery store.”
Kate raised her gaze from scanning the phone screen, momentarily wary. “You saw Sarah?”
“I did.”
“Did she say anything?”
“Just that she and Casey are going out for hamburgers tonight, and we chatted a bit about school.”
“Ah.”
“They seem to eat out a lot, or fix fast food at home, so I thought I’d run over later with some leftover sauce and garlic bread. Sort of a thank-you for the cookies, and for having us over for pizza on Saturday night.”
“I can take them over,” Kate said. “I didn’t see Casey after school and I wanted to ask her some stuff about the...um...about our science class.” Abruptly, she slid off the stool. “I’ll just run upstairs and take a look at my notes.”
He stared after her as she raced out of the room. What on earth was that about? He loved his daughter more than life itself, but that wasn’t enough to skew his perception of what was real and what was, well, not. And on the first day of school, he knew with absolute certainty that science would be the last thing on Kate’s mind. If he had to guess, whatever it was that she so desperately needed to discuss with Casey had nothing to do with schoolwork. More likely it had something to do with the kids she’d met today, maybe even a boy.
Right now, it didn’t matter. He was so happy about having a pleasant conservation with her, and so relieved that she seemed to be making friends, he’d let her deliver the sauce and garlic bread and find another excuse, make that an opportunity to talk to Sarah. She was right next door, after all. That should provide plenty of chances to see her, whether by design or otherwise.