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Her brother looked confused. “Sorry about what?”
“Just talk to Mom.” She swallowed hard, wondering if either of her brothers would ever forgive her. Even though they had to know how hard it was to keep from getting pulled into their mother’s schemes, she wouldn’t blame them for directing some of their inevitable resentment in her direction.
Still looking confused, Julian shook hands with Tate. “Maybe we can talk cars again sometime soon.”
“I’d like that,” Tate replied with obvious sincerity. “I’ve enjoyed meeting you, Julian.”
“Yeah, you, too.” Remembering his niece, Julian somewhat awkwardly tickled Daryn’s tummy in farewell.
Betsy and Bob stood beside the car to say their goodbyes. Betsy hugged Daryn and snuggled kisses against her cheek and neck until Kim finally retrieved the baby so she could strap her into her car seat.
Making sure Daryn was secure, and that Mr. Jingles was within her reach, Kim turned then to her mother. “Bye, Mom.”
“Goodbye, dear. Call soon?”
“Oh, I figure I’ll be talking to you soon.” She expected her mother would express her displeasure that Kim had leveled with Grandma Dyess about her relationship with Tate.
Oblivious, Betsy nodded. “Good.”
She gave Kim a smacking kiss on the cheek, then turned to throw her arms around Tate. “I’m so glad you could come, dear. I hope you’ll be back soon.”
“Um—” At a loss for how to respond to that, Tate settled for a wry smile toward Kim and a noncommittal, “Goodbye, Betsy.”
Shaking her head in exasperation, Kim turned to take her leave of Bob. Who knew if she would ever see him again? She wouldn’t blame him at all if he took to his heels after this.
She held out her hand. “It was very nice to see you again, Bob.”
Ignoring the extended hand, he swept her into an affectionate hug. “Thanks so much for coming. It meant a lot to your mother. Next time, we’ll make it a little easier for you. I’ll see to it.”
It was nice of him to say so, but she wasn’t making any more bets this weekend. Especially on such a shaky basis.
Tate and Bob shook hands warmly, and then Tate and Kim belted themselves into the car. Kim did not look back over her shoulder as Tate drove away from the house. The weekend was over, and the make-believe along with it. It was time for a return to reality.
* * *
Kim was very quiet during the initial half of the trip home. Tate wasn’t sure if she was tired or overwhelmed or both, but it bothered him that he sensed undertones of sadness in her mood. When they’d started out this weekend, he’d hoped she would see the adventure as a lark. Fun. He’d realized rather quickly that he’d been unrealistic with that expectation; there was too much going on in Kim’s family for her to find a great deal of humor in the situation. But he hadn’t wanted her to leave sad.
They chose an inviting-looking family restaurant just over halfway through the drive. Daryn sat in a high chair, so Kim’s hands were free to feed her and herself. Because he felt as though he should, Tate offered to help, but Kim politely declined any assistance. She was very much back into independence mode, he noted.
He figured she would make an effort to get things quickly back to usual between them. She started during the meal, chatting about her work and his, about their friends and routines back at home, anything but the family gathering they had just attended. He went along, teasing with her and laughing at Daryn’s attempts to help herself to food off their plates.
“I don’t blame you, kid,” he said to the baby. “I’d rather have steak and grilled veggies than pureed food myself.”
He speared a grill-marked cauliflower floret and popped it into his mouth, aware that Daryn watched his every move. “And now you’re making me feel guilty,” he told her after swallowing.
Kim chuckled. “She’d better stick to the pureed stuff until she has more than two little teeth nubbins.”
She spooned another bite of baby food into her daughter
’s mouth, and Daryn seemed happy enough to accept it, though she still eyed Tate’s plate in a way that made him scoot it a bit farther out of her reach.
“Maybe she could have some ice cream for dessert?” he suggested, nodding toward the open dessert bar with the soft-freeze dispenser at the end.
“No, she doesn’t need all that sugar.”
“Oh. Right.” Another one of those things he hadn’t considered. It was a very good thing he wasn’t responsible for a kid’s nutrition, he reminded himself.
Maybe Kim was afraid she’d hurt his feelings by shooting down his suggestion. “I have a little jar of unsweetened applesauce in the bag. She loves that for dessert.”
