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“If you go in my room again, I’ll—”
“Alex!” Dana stepped into the living room and folded her arms across her chest. “Molly!”
“Mo-om, he says I messed up his computer. I never even went in there today.”
“I didn’t say today,” Alex snapped. “You used it yesterday. Now it only goes into Safe Mode, and I can’t even log on to the Internet.”
Dana looked from Alex’s angry scowl to the mutinous set of Molly’s jaw. “Look, I can’t deal with this right now. I need to run over to Zach’s place for a while. When I get back, I’ll help you, okay?”
Alex glared at his sister. “I tried everything. Do you know how far it is to Denver? How long it will take to get my computer back from a tech?”
“Just wait, okay? When I get back—”
“It’s always like this!” He threw up his hands. “You’re never here. I’m stuck here with Molly, and you’re working all the time. It’s so unfair!” He spun on his heel and headed down the hall to his bedroom. “I hope you have a great time.” Seconds later his door slammed shut.
Molly stared after him. “I didn’t hurt his stupid computer,” she said in a small voice. “Honest. One minute he’s nice, the next minute he’s mad about everything.”
“Being a teenager can be difficult. Not having a dad probably makes it even harder. Come here, sweetie.” Dana opened her arms and enveloped Molly in a bear hug. “Zach needs my help for a few minutes. When I get back, I’ll put some steaks on the grill, okay?”
“Maybe they could come over?”
“Well...”
“Please? Katie is really cute. And you could talk to her dad. Wouldn’t that be fun?” Molly stepped back and flashed a grin. “I’ll run downstairs and get another package of steaks from the freezer. I could make the salads too, and there’s a cake mix in the cupboard.”
“Wait, this really isn’t the right time—”
But Molly’s footsteps were already thundering down the basement steps.
* * * *
SINCE LEARNING OF JANET’S death, a hollow feeling had settled in Zach’s heart. Regrets and dim memories played over and over through his thoughts. Janet, barely walking yet, playing with her blocks on the living room floor. Bedtime stories, with the two of them curled up with their mother on the sofa.
Flashes of long-ago events that slipped away like mist—too fleeting to savor.
He’d been just five, and hadn’t been very tolerant of a little one who toddled after him with pure adoration in her eyes.
She’d giggle and grab at the trucks he’d lined up so carefully in his garage under the coffee table. Grab crayons and scribble over the latest masterpiece in his coloring books. Or was he only remembering what his mother had told him?
What he’d give to have just a few of those moments back.
The crunch of tires on the driveway and the cacophony of geese honking in the backyard told him that Dana had arrived, but he stayed on the living room floor with Katie, his back braced against the sofa and elbows propped on his upraised knees.
She’d fallen asleep on a blanket, her favorite old doll firmly edged in the crook of one arm, her damp, pale curls clinging to her forehead and plump, rosy cheeks.
In her new pink sundress and little pink shoes, she might have been any suburban toddler. She’d come a long way from the dirty and bedraggled waif who’d appeared on his door back in April. She was doing so much better.
But now she had to be told the most devastating news a child could ever hear.
* * * *
“HELLO!” DANA LET HERSELF in the back door. “Anyone here?”
He rose in one swift movement and met her in the kitchen. “Katie needed a bath after playing with Buffy outside, and she dozed off afterward.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “It hasn’t been the best day.”
He looked so drawn and gray that she laid a hand on his forearm and nodded toward the kitchen table. “We can visit here for a while while she’s asleep. Do you have any coffee?”
He gave her a blank look.
