A Child's Wish

“He’s blind as a bat on this one, but he has a good heart.”

“I know.” Meredith nodded. “Otherwise I’d never have trusted him with you.”

Susan sat back, wineglass in hand, slowly sipping. “I just wish I got along better with Kelsey.”

Meredith did, too. She was missing something there. They all were. In her spare time, when she thought about it, it was driving her crazy. “She’ll come around,” was the best she could manage to offer.

“Do you really think so?”

Oh, no. Susan was giving her that look: she wanted complete truth.

“I think it’s possible,” Meredith said slowly, trying her best to differentiate between what she thought and what she felt—to separate it all from the depression that had been threatening to descend ever since she’d been summoned to Mark’s office the previous Friday.

Susan nodded. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Because Mark meant that much to her. Which was exactly what Meredith wanted for her.

So why did the thought make her melancholy when it should have brought her joy? Was her own situation pulling her that far down?

If so, she was going to have to do something to change that. Immediately.

“You want to go for ice cream?”

“A banana pie creamie?”

The first time they’d shared that concoction from a local ice cream carry-out chain, they’d been in college.

“We could take one to Mark.” If she came bearing a delight to feed his ice-cream fetish, maybe he wouldn’t dislike her so much.

“Kelsey loves cookie dough,” Susan said.

“There you go! You’re already learning how to please her.” Meredith began to clear the table, and with Susan’s help they made short work of the dishes. “All it takes is paying attention to the little things and Kelsey’ll come around,” Meredith assured her friend as they drove across town in Susan’s silver BMW. She hoped she was right and that it would really be that easy. “Kelsey’s like anyone else,” she added. “She just needs to know that she matters.”

“Did Mark tell you she refused to go see her best friend from across town today? He’d made arrangements with the girl’s mother and had to call and cancel that, too.”

“Mark and I weren’t exactly on speaking terms today,” Meredith said slowly, thinking about Kelsey. “Did she and Lucy have a fight?”

“Apparently not.”

Meredith looked at the houses they passed, noting the lights on in living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, wondering about the darkened ones. So many people, so many lives saturated with hope and fear and love and regret; so many emotions. Trapping her.

“I told Mark I’d be happy to keep Kelsey overnight any weekend the two of you want some time alone,” she said slowly, deciphering her feelings as she spoke. “Maybe we should do it this weekend. Think you can come up with a plan to entice him?”

Susan pulled to a stop at the corner. “You want some time alone with her.”

“I enjoy Kelsey.”

“You’re worried about her and you want to see if you can figure anything out.”

Meredith didn’t answer. She had no idea if there was anything wrong with Kelsey Shepherd other than the usual little-girl jealousy that came with the territory when a single dad started dating. She had no idea if there was any real justification for this feeling that she should be paying special attention to Kelsey right now. She had no idea if she was being overemotional, reacting to the trauma of the past several days, or if she was getting intuitive guidance.

“I’ll make it happen,” Susan said, her foot back on the gas.

CHAPTER FIVE

“I THINK I WANT HER, Don.”

Barbie Shepherd lay naked in her lover’s arms, hoping he wasn’t going to get all bossy and manly—and hoping he’d stay in bed with her until she fell asleep. She hated nights. The dark, the loneliness….