Her friend grinned at her. “Parents, huh? But I’m still having a hard time imagining Henry kissing anyone.”
“Um...why?”
“Because. He’s Henry. I’ve known him since we were little kids and it’s weird to think of him that way.”
“Well, I just met him and I can tell you it is so not weird.”
Casey pulled her ponytail out of its elastic, smoothed her hair back and refastened it. “Enough about kissing boys. We’re talking about the problem with your mom.”
Thinking about Henry was a very nice distraction, but she was right. “Okay, we’ll save the boy talk for later. What were you saying about your mom and my dad?”
“Just that I think you might have been right. I think they do kind of have a thing for each other, and I’m pretty sure my mom’s almost ready to let me keep Petey, and you said yourself that your dad has eased up on all the rules.”
“I guess.” Kate rolled Princess onto her back and scratched her belly. “But what does that have to do with me being shipped off to boarding school?”
“Well, if the judge knew your dad was seeing someone—”
“Someone like your mom.”
“Yes, and if the judge knew that the person your dad was seeing was practically like a mother to you, maybe the judge would let you stay here.”
Kate slid off the bed and grabbed a comb and hairbrush off her dressing table. “I’m going to fix your hair. That ponytail has got to go,” she said. “I’m not sure about our parents, though. I was watching them last night and they hardly talked to each other.”
“They danced together.”
Kate brushed out her friend’s hair, then reached for a magazine she’d been reading and flipped it open to a page of celebrity hairstyles she’d noticed. “I’m going to try this one.”
Casey glanced at it. “I can’t wear my hair like that. Why don’t you do yours that way?”
“Yes, you can. And it’s easier to try new styles on someone else first. Now hold still.” She swept Casey’s long blond hair to one side and pinned it. “Anyway, like I was saying, our parents just had one dance. Otherwise they seemed to ignore each other.”
“They were chaperones,” Casey pointed out. “And they weren’t exactly ignoring each other this morning when I came back from walking the dog.”
“Really?” Maybe this was a possibility. “What were they doing?”
“I came up the back stairs onto the deck so I could wipe off Petey’s paws before I let him in the house. I could see down the hallway to the front door, and they were standing there with their arms around each other.”
“Making out?”
“Would you stop saying that? It’s gross. And no, they weren’t. They were just standing there holding on to each other.”
Interesting. “I’ll bet my dad wanted to talk to her about the papers my mom sent.”
“Maybe. Anyway, I think they like each other and it might not take much, you know, to convince a judge.”
Kate slid another pin into Casey’s hair and finger-combed the waves into a cascade over one shoulder. “There. You look just like Carrie Underwood.”
“Let me see.” She hopped up and looked at herself in the mirror over Kate’s dressing table. “Okay, yes, it’s nice, but I can’t wear my hair like this when I’m at soccer practice or working at the animal shelter.”
“Sure, but you can when you’re on a date with Dexter.”
Kate laughed when Casey’s face turned pink. She was tempted to tease her some more, but decided against it. “So, about our parents. This might work, but we’ll have to figure out how we’re going to pull it off.”
“I’ll think on it,” Casey said. “Now can I have my ponytail back?”
“Sure.” Kate plucked the pins out of Casey’s hair and redid the classic ponytail. She was glad her friend had come over. She’d needed the distraction. “We should call Alycia and see if she wants to hang out this afternoon.”
“Sure. My mom’s at work so she won’t mind.”
And here’s hoping Alycia mentioned it to Brody and that he would tell Henry and Dex to join them.
“Just don’t say anything to anyone about my mom or the whole boarding school thing, okay?”
“Not a word.”
“Thanks. Besides, if our plan works, it’ll be just like the whole mess never happened.”
“It has to work,” Casey said.
And they sealed the deal with a high five.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
JONATHAN DIDN’T CONNECT with his lawyer until school was dismissed on Monday afternoon. After ten minutes on the phone with the man, he felt as though he’d been lashed to a railroad track in front of a locomotive on full throttle. Being awarded initial custody of Kate had been a straightforward matter.