“Well, I hope she’s found soon,” I said smiling at her. “I think it would be terrific if she was back before your competition.”

Her eyes narrowed and she looked like she was about to let me know exactly how she felt about that. But then something flashed through her eyes and it was gone.

“Sure,” she said flatly. “That would be terrific. But I doubt it’ll happen.”

I looked at her. “You don’t think she’ll be found?”

Her face flushed pink. “No. No. I just meant that...I don’t think she’ll be back before the competition. And even if she is, she might not be up to competing.” She looked hurriedly at her watch. “I need to go. Nice meeting you, Moose River.”

She jogged off across the gym floor before I could respond.

SEVENTEEN

“Mom!” Grace yelled. “I can’t find any underwear!”

Twice a month, my three kids went to their father’s house to spend the weekend with him. It was always a weird feeling for me. I was glad they were able to spend some time with their dad, but I didn’t like them being gone. And given that Sophie’s mom lived out of state, it put her in this weird purgatory of being the only kid in the house. This particular weekend, though, she’d been invited to spend the night at a friend’s house, so Jake and I were actually going to have an entire evening and morning to ourselves.

Which meant we needed to find underwear.

“Check your drawer!” I yelled back. “I just put the laundry away!”

Five seconds later, she yelled, “Found it!”

Of course she did.

Every two weeks, we went through the same drill. The kids would wait until the last second to pack and then struggle to find what they needed. I sometimes lost my patience, but I also tried to empathize with them. It was disconcerting to all of them that they had to pack a bag to go to their dad’s. They felt more like visitors than family when they went there, and it led to a certain disconnect that each of them struggled with in different ways.

“Can I borrow your charger?” Emily asked, setting her backpack on the kitchen table. “I left mine in my locker.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I can use Jake’s,” I said. “It’s in the kitchen.”

She went and grabbed it and zipped it up into the top pocket of her bag. “Thanks. Not exactly sure what I’d do if my phone died over there.”

“Maybe engage a little?”

She rolled her eyes. “Please. I’m going to spend the next two days in my room, doing homework and texting my friends. There’s nothing else to do.”

“That’s a little harsh, isn’t it?”

“We do the same thing every time we’re there,” she told me. She blew a loose strand of hair away from her face. “Eat dinner out. Play some game. Watch some movie. Eat out again. And then something will happen and everyone will get in some big argument.” She shook her head. “It’s a waste of time.”

Emily, in particular, had struggled with the arrangement. She was at the point where she was looking to spend time with her friends on the weekend, but her dad wanted to see her, too. She felt caught in the middle. It didn’t help that she didn’t get along great with Thornton’s new wife, either.

“Maybe this weekend will be better,” I said, glancing out the window and seeing Thornton’s SUV pull into the driveway. “Keep an open mind.”

She rolled her eyes again. “You always say that.”

“I’m an optimist.”

“Well, I’m a realist,” she said, then lowered her voice. “And you don’t have to spend two days with Babette.”

Babette. Thornton’s new wife. Who was having trouble winning over the kids. And who was a constant source of amusement to all three.

Grace came racing down the stairs, her backpack thumping her backside. “I got the underwear.”

“Excellent,” I said. “And your dad just pulled up.”

“Is she with him?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.

“No idea,” I said. “And her name is Babette.”

“Yeah, don’t call her Baboon this time,” Will said, coming down the stairs behind her, his backpack hoisted over one shoulder. It looked almost empty.

“Shut up,” Grace muttered. “I didn’t mean to say it out loud.”

“Mind your manners,” I said, raising an eyebrow at her. “Be polite.”

“I will, I will,” she said.

There was a knock at the back door and Emily went to open it. Thornton shuffled in behind her and waved at me. “Hey, Daisy.”

“Hey,” I said. “I think they’re all ready.”

He nodded. He had on dark denim jeans and a big poofy ski jacket. His hair was all spiked up like usual and it looked like there was a faint outline of a beard on his face. He always looked ill at ease in the house, despite our attempts to make him feel welcome. He and I had forged a decent relationship after the divorce, mainly for the sake of the kids, and Jake had joined in the effort to make him feel welcome. He always made an effort to say hello and make small talk when he saw Thornton, and he never made him feel like an outsider in our home.

The kitchen door opened and Babette stumbled in, crashing into Thornton.

“Thornton!” she said. “You left me in the car!”

Babette, on the other hand, was a different story. Her courtship with Thornton had been a bit of a whirlwind and I knew the kids had felt like she’d been forced down their throats. She was loud and boisterous and according to the kids, not terribly kind with her words toward yours truly. I assured them that maybe she was trying to find her role in this new family they’d put together, but I’d immediately been on guard with her. I’d been met with a cold shoulder anytime I’d made an overture to her in the past year and I’d finally stopped trying. I was careful to keep my opinion of her from the kids, but I had yet to figure out what Thornton was doing with her. She treated him like he was an idiot, she hadn’t been able to hold down a job, and she regularly failed to show at any of the kids’ activities. I hadn’t been able to figure her out.

“I didn’t think you were coming in,” Thornton mumbled. “You said you didn’t want to come in and—”

“I did not!” she screeched, slapping his shoulder. She noticed me standing in the dining room. “Oh. Hello, Daisy.”

“Babette,” I said, smiling.

She brushed at her blond hair. It was cut short, like something you’d see in a magazine, all angles and waves. Only it didn’t look quite right, like she’d missed the finishing piece. The bangs swung down across her eyes and she swatted at them again. Big silver hoops dangled from her earlobes and her short, squat nose was red from the cold. She wore an oversized pink sweater and jeans that were two sizes too small and not flattering on her pear-shaped figure. Her brown boots were caked in mud… mud that was now all over my kitchen floor.

“Okay, you guys ready?” I asked.

The kids responded with low volume assent.

“We’re going to have so much fun!” Babette screeched. “Your dad has so many surprises for you!”

Thornton looked at her and I surmised that the surprises were also a surprise to him.

“Well, I’ve got a ton of homework,” Emily said, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “So we can’t be gone all weekend. I have to write a paper for my history class.”

“History?” Thornton asked. “What are you studying?”

“The past,” she said, shooting him one of her death glares.

“Em,” I said, giving her a glare of my own.

She sighed. “Something about economics. The history of the banking system.”

“I used to work in a bank,” Babette said with a huge smile. “I’ll bet I could help you bunches!”

Emily’s gaze flew to me and we both bit back smiles. It was a running joke. Not only had she not been able to hold a job, but according to the kids, she’d also tried out nearly every job known to man. And she always made mention of them.

I gave her a small head shake, then hugged each of them. Emily and Will hustled out the door but Grace took her time, gathering her things, always the last one to leave, saying goodbye multiple times before she finally exited.