“Sure.” But the girl remained seated.
“Is there something else?” Sarah asked.
“It’s just...I just wanted to say that Casey...she’s lucky. You know, to have you as her mom.”
Even if Sarah could have spoken at that moment, she wouldn’t have known what to say. So instead she reached out and hugged the girl.
“Thank you, Kate,” she whispered when she was finally able to speak. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
Kate wriggled out of the embrace and jumped to her feet, keeping her head turned away. Sarah knew the gesture was meant to keep her from seeing the tears.
“Okay. That’s...it’s...all good. I’d better get out there and see if Juliet needs some help.”
Sarah watched her go, glad they’d had this talk. After dinner tonight, she would tell Jonathan about it. He was a good father, a great one, and Kate was a great kid. It bothered her that at no time during this conversation had Kate mentioned her mother’s expectations. Under the circumstances, Sarah hadn’t wanted to ask what those might be, but surely Georgette must have some.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
ON FRIDAY EVENING, Sarah left the house with Casey and Kate in their freshman dance finery and drove to the school. As a teacher-chaperone, Jonathan had to be there before the doors opened. The girls hadn’t wanted to be the first to arrive, though, so Sarah agreed to drive them to the school at a time that was just late enough to be fashionable but not so late that they missed anything.
Inside, the school gym looked straight out of a movie set. A disco ball glittered high above the center of the dance floor and tables draped with white cloths lined the perimeter. She couldn’t identify the song that was playing although she had heard it on the radio. The dance floor was empty but that would change soon enough.
“Wow, you girls did a great job with the decorations.”
Casey and Kate had volunteered for the dance committee and had stayed after school to decorate the gym. Sarah had picked them up after she closed the store and they’d arrived home in time to enjoy Jonathan’s homemade spaghetti and meatballs, served with a big tossed salad and a loaf of garlic bread. There was a lot to be said for a man who knew his way around a kitchen.
After dinner, he had returned to the school and she stayed to clean up his kitchen while the girls fussed with hair and makeup and changed outfits several times before each was satisfied with her appearance. Kate’s preening didn’t surprise her one bit, but this was completely new for Casey. Sarah had to admit she was more than a little intrigued.
“Look what we did with the tables,” Casey said. “The centerpieces were Kate’s idea.”
“They’re beautiful.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Sarah had left the store in Juliet’s very capable hands so she could drive the girls down to Sechelt to shop for decorations. At Kate’s insistence, they had chosen small disco ball ornaments in several sizes, battery-operated LED candles because open flames in the school gym were strictly forbidden, and spools of silver ribbon. At the time Sarah had known the girl would come up with something amazing, and she certainly had.
Strings of tiny white lights had been used to disguise gym fixtures, and between those and the disco ball and the faux candlelight reflecting off the table ornaments, the room was filled with sparkle and bling.
“Great job,” Sarah said. “Very classy.” She would make sure Kate’s dad knew his daughter was the mastermind behind the stunning decor.
Speaking of Jonathan...
She scanned the room and found him on the opposite side near the DJ booth angled into a corner. Even from this distance, she knew his smile and nod were for her. The hands of the clock flew in reverse, the pages of the calendar flipped back in time, and for a few heartbeats she was at her very own first high school dance, wondering if the boy she liked might ask her to dance. Back then, he hadn’t. Tonight, he might.
Were chaperones allowed to dance? As if she cared! For once in her life she was open to breaking a few rules.
She turned her attention back to the girls, watching them rush to join their friends. Casey was wearing her powder-pink cap-sleeved top with a slim dark gray knee-length skirt that Kate had insisted she borrow and a pair of black ballet flats. She had refused to wear the heels Kate had wanted to lend her, saying she was already tall enough. Her long blond hair, freed from its usual ponytail, had been pulled away from her face, fastened at the back with a large rhinestone-encrusted clip and left to cascade down her back in a river of loose curls. And all the credit went to Kate. She had pulled off what Sarah had never been able to accomplish.