A Child's Wish

“Yes, but the school board is his boss and if they told him to fire me, he’d have to do it.”

“Are they going to tell him that?”

“No, sweetie, they aren’t,” Meredith said, with a cheerful smile, crossing her fingers. “Your dad just worries a lot sometimes.”

“I do not worry.”

Swinging around, Meredith stood up and saw Mark in the doorway behind her. His snug-fitting jeans and long-sleeved white shirt distracted her for a moment—but only for a moment.

“You worry all the time,” she told him. “About everything.”

“I get concerned, with legitimate cause. I do not worry.” He said the words firmly, with a completely straight face.

Meredith burst out laughing. Kelsey’s worried stare settled on her father, until Mark slowly smiled.

Thank goodness. He was finished being angry with her. This time.

“I’m out of here, pumpkin,” he said, resting his hand on his daughter’s head.

She nodded.

“Bedtime is ten tonight, since Meredith is here and it’s not a school night.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t answer the…”

“Door.” Kelsey turned around to grin at her father. “We know the rules, Daddy,” she said with only a hint of condescension.

“Then give me a hug so I can get lost, as you two are obviously eager to have me do.”

Meredith’s throat grew tight as she watched Kelsey jump up and throw her arms around her father’s trim waist. Mark held on for a long moment and then let her go, glancing over at Meredith.

“I don’t know how late I’ll be.”

She didn’t want to think about why—it was kind of embarrassing—but at the same time she was glad to know that Susan was intimately involved. Her best friend was slowly but surely coming back to life.

“Tell Suze I said hi and I love her.”

With a nod, Mark was gone.

An hour later, the muscles beneath Meredith’s rib cage still had not relaxed.

“You feeling okay?” she asked Kelsey. Tongue peeping out one side of her mouth, the girl was intent on following the pattern of squares and colors that Meredith had placed on the table in front of her.

“Fine,” Kelsey said, her needle going through the plastic canvas with quiet deliberation.

Meredith had assumed that as soon as Mark left she’d relax. She’d been fine before she arrived. So what was making her tense? Her own internal radar? Someone else’s?

The fact that Mark and Susan were doing what adults do when they’re alone together—while she spent her Friday evening stitching butterflies with a fourth grader?

“You and Josie getting along okay?” The girls might be suffering from too much togetherness, now that Mark had agreed to let Kelsey go to Josie’s every day after school in exchange for summer care for Kelsey’s friend.

“Yep. We’re best friends now.”

Meredith’s yarn knotted. She hated it when that happened. “You used too long a piece,” Kelsey said, glanc

ing over and then looking back at her own work.