Disappointment flooded her daughter’s eyes, and Sarah shared her frustration. Maybe, if they’d had more time, this thing between her and Jonathan might have turned into something real. But she’d seen the hurt in his eyes last night. I guess I’ll see you. She didn’t expect him to forgive her anytime soon.
“I’m sorry, sweetie. I really am.” And no one was sorrier than she was.
JON DECIDED TO forgo his run that morning. He’d stayed up too late, slept too little, and what sleep he did get had been troubled and his waking thoughts plagued with what-ifs.
In the kitchen he brewed coffee before taking a loaf out of the bread maker and setting it on a rack to cool. Last night his thoughts had been fully occupied, but he’d needed something to fill the time since he couldn’t sleep, so he had started the bread, washed and dried two loads of soccer uniforms, and straightened up the books, papers and DVDs scattered around the living room.
Kate clattered into the room in black knee-length boots with impossibly high heels. The bottoms of her black leggings were tucked into the boots and the top part was covered up by a hip-length sweater with horizontal stripes in black and purple. She had swapped the huge black-and-white bag for a smaller fuchsia-colored one that was still big enough to accommodate her schoolbooks.
“How did the homework session go last night?”
“Good.”
“Did you girls finish your report?”
She helped herself to a glass of juice. “Yes, we did.”
“I’d be interested to see what you’ve been working on.”
“Oh. Um, Casey took it home with her so she could fix one of the, um, diagrams. She’ll take it to school with her and we’ll hand it in together.”
“I see.” Science report, my foot. He’d bet anything that Sarah was getting the same song and dance from her daughter.
“How was your walk with Sarah?” she asked, just as smooth and sweet as the butter and honey she was spreading on a slice of bread.
“Not that great.”
She looked up then, eyes filled with concern. “What happened?”
“She feels that you and Casey have come up with the idea that if she and I were...”
“Dating?”
Are we really having this conversation? Did he have a choice? Not according to Sarah. We’ll have to talk to them, explain that this isn’t the solution to this particular problem.
“Yes,” he said. “That if we were ‘dating,’ then the custody hearing might go our way. But we’re not, and we won’t be.”
“But Casey and I saw you. You kissed, you danced—”
No way was he prepared to talk about kissing Sarah, especially not with his daughter. “Sarah and I are friends,” he said. “We just met and she feels...we both feel it’s too soon for our friendship to be any more than that.”
She didn’t have to acknowledge that she and Casey were trying their hand at matchmaking. Her disappointment said it all.
He could relate to that, he really could. He hadn’t entirely given up hope, either, and he intended to do whatever he could to turn the situation around, but that wasn’t going to happen in time for the hearing. For that, they were on their own.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
TWO DAYS LATER at lunchtime, Kate waited for Casey by the entrance to the school’s central atrium, then they sat with their lunches on a bench in the corner where no one could hear them.
“How’s your dad?” Casey asked.
“He’s being a grump.”
Casey tore open a package of cheese and crackers. “My mom seems kind of sad, and I don’t think she’s sleeping very well, either.”
Kate unwrapped her sandwich. “Neither’s my dad. He’s been doing crazy stuff like washing clothes in the middle of the night.”
“Parents can be so weird.”
“Tell me about it. Would you like half of my sandwich?”
“Sure. Thanks.”
“My dad might be ready to give up on this but I’m not. My mom doesn’t want me to live with her and there’s no way I’m going to boarding school.”
“You can’t go,” Casey said. “We need to come up with a plan. I think my mom really likes your dad, but she says she’s not rushing into anything because she just met him.”
“My dad is saying pretty much the same thing. I can tell he’s not happy, though.”
“And have you noticed how they’ve been avoiding each other? My mom waits till after he leaves in the morning before she goes to work.”
“Same thing when they come home.” Kate lowered her voice when a group of their classmates came in and clustered on the next bench. “I don’t think there’s much we can do about it.”