The Parent Trap

by Lee McKenzie

  If there’s anything I can do, I want you to call. Okay? I’m serious about that. Anything.

  She hadn’t really meant anything. That’s just what people said when they felt bad for someone and didn’t know what else to say. And he couldn’t ask her to get involved in this.

  No, that wasn’t quite correct. He’d like more than anything to have this amazing woman in his life, but this was not the sort of thing a man asked a woman to do as a favor.

  Not even when he was desperate. Really, really desperate.

  * * *

  BY DINNERTIME ON TUESDAY, it was obvious to Sarah that something was afoot. For the past several days Casey had been moping around the house, very uncharacteristically, bemoaning the fact that her best friend was leaving in a few weeks and she would never see her again, and it seemed no amount of reassuring was going to change her mind.

  “Kate says if her dad had a new wife or maybe even a girlfriend, you know, so they looked more like a normal family, then the judge would let her stay,” she’d said over breakfast that morning.

  The same thing had crossed her mind but with the hearing just a few short weeks away, there was no way that would happen. The possibility of him losing his daughter made her heart ache, but so did the idea of him having another woman in his life.

  “I’m sure the judge will take everything into consideration before making a decision,” she’d said, but Casey remained unconvinced and inconsolable.

  Kate, understandably, had been even more distraught when she came to the store after school. This was her life, she’d insisted. And while attending a posh European boarding school wasn’t exactly the end of the world, she saw it as the end of hers.

  “I told my dad he should try online dating,” she’d said after not so subtly bringing up the topic of her father’s lack of female companionship.

  Sarah had caught herself before she laughed out loud. Aside from that being one of the most preposterous things she’d ever heard, that sort of activity could spell disaster if Georgette’s lawyer or the judge caught wind of it.

  She had distracted the girl by offering her the part-time job she had discussed with Jonathan. Just a few hours a week, she’d warned, and contingent on her maintaining good grades. An ecstatic Kate had accepted, then tempered it by saying she would love to work at the store until her mother hauled her off to boarding school.

  Now, as Sarah cleared away the dinner dishes and tidied up the kitchen, pondering the girls’ fixation on finding a woman for Kate’s father, Casey came in and dumped an armload of schoolbooks on the counter.

  “Is it okay if I go over to Kate’s to do homework? We have a big science report due tomorrow and it’s worth ten percent of our final grade.”

  “What about Petey? He hasn’t been walked yet.”

  “Right. I forgot.” Then she cast a questioning glance at Sarah. “Unless, would you mind taking him out tonight? Just this once? This is a really big report.”

  She had a feeling “just this once” could become a semi-frequent occurrence. Which wasn’t a bad thing, as it forced her to get out of the house and get a little exercise.

  “All right, I’ll take him, but only because it stopped raining.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” Casey hugged her, grabbed her books and dashed for the front door.

  Sarah hoped they’d spend at least as much time on homework as they would on their scheme to find Kate’s father a fiancée.

  * * *

  AT THE SOUND of the front doorbell, Kate dashed down the stairs, narrowly beating her dad to the foyer.

  “It’s Casey,” she said, flinging open the front door. “We’re going to work on a science report.”

  Casey nodded in agreement, shrugging out of her jacket and tossing it on a hook in the closet. “It’s worth ten percent of our final grade.”

  “And it’s due tomorrow.”

  “Are you going upstairs or do you want to use the kitchen?” her dad asked.

  “We’ll work upstairs. Have you already walked your dog?” Kate asked.

  “No, my mom said she would take him since I have all this homework that’s due tomorrow.”

  “That was nice of her.”

  Right on cue, Casey smiled, totally sweet and innocent. “She asked me to tell you, Coach, that she’d be happy to have some company if you want to go with her.”

  Her father gave them back-and-forth glances. Was he buying it?

  “Sure. I could use the exercise. Is she going right now?”

  “She was getting ready to leave when I came over here.”

  Timing was everything, Kate thought, and they had timed this perfectly. They waited while her dad laced his sneakers and pulled on a hooded sweatshirt, watched him sprint down the porch steps at the same time Sarah and Petey were going down their front walk.

  Kate closed the door and slapped hands with Casey. “Are we good or what?”

  “We are awesome.”

  * * *

  SARAH WAVED AT him as he crossed the lawn.

  “Nice evening. You look like you could use some company.” Judging from the girls’ cryptic comments, he had a hunch this was a setup. If Sarah had really wanted company, she would have asked him herself. Now that he was with her, he realized he could use the company, too. He just wouldn’t have asked.

  They matched their steps and kept pace with the little dog trotting ahead of them.

  “Did Kate tell you we talked this afternoon and I offered her a part-time position at the store?”

  “It’s all she could talk about over dinner.” That and online dating, of all things. “Thank you again for doing this for her.”

  “She seems really excited about it, and I know she’ll be great.”

  He decided to take the plunge. “She’s worried about the custody hearing, though. We both are.”

  Sarah took a pair of gloves from her jacket pocket and pulled them on. “I’m sorry this is happening to you. I feel awful about encouraging you to call Kate’s mom.”

  Terrible enough to make it up to him? “This is not your fault,” he said. “I’ve gone around and around with this, and making that call was something that needed to be done. If anything like that happened while Kate was with her mother, I’d want to know right away.” And he was just as certain that Georgette would have kept him in the dark.

  “Have you spoken to your lawyer?” she asked. “Do you know if they’ve set a date for the hearing?”

  “Yes, and yes. Talked to him yesterday. He called again today but I was with a class so he left a message. The hearing is in a couple of weeks.”

  “That soon?” she asked. “That’s...wow...that’s sooner than I expected.”

  “Me, too. On the one hand, it doesn’t give us much time. On the other, I guess it’s just as well to have it over and done.”

  They walked in silence for a bit. There wasn’t much else he could say to her on this subject, at least nothing appropriate, and he couldn’t clear his mind enough to come up with another topic of conversation.

  “Have you noticed that the girls’ behavior has been a bit strange the past couple of days?” she asked.

  So, she’d picked up on it, too. “I thought it might be my imagination.”

  “It’s definitely not. They seem to think that finding you a girlfriend, or better yet a wife, will convince the judge to let Kate stay with you.”

  He couldn’t very well tell her it wasn’t just the girls who were thinking along those lines. His lawyer had sent Jon’s thoughts in the same direction. “Kate asked if I had considered online dating.”

  Sarah laughter was unexpected. “Casey mentioned that, too. But I think what they think is that you and I might...or that if we did...you know...”

  Where was she going with this? “Are you saying you think
that they think that the judge will think we’re a family if you and I were...” Okay, you can shut up now, he told himself.

  “That’s a lot of thinking.” She laughed again. “But yes, I’d say they’ve turned into a pair of matchmakers.”

  “I think you’re right.”

  “We’ll have to talk to them, explain that this isn’t the solution to this particular problem.”

  “Unless—” he blurted, then immediately wished he hadn’t. This was the wrong time to stop thinking.

  “Unless what?” She stopped, reining in the dog, turning to face him.

  “It’s not the worst idea.” It was infinitely better than trolling for a wife online.

  “It’s a terrible idea! We hardly know each other. You really don’t know me at all if you believe I would go into court and lie to a judge.”

  Lie? That hadn’t crossed his mind. “What if it was the truth?”

  “Oh, please. We just met a few weeks ago. You can’t honestly expect me to believe that you think you’re in—” She stopped herself.

  In love with her? He knew he was, and it was stab-a-knife-in-his-heart apparent that the feeling wasn’t even close to being mutual.

  “We’d be teaching our daughters that if they want something badly enough, it’s okay to do whatever it takes to get it. What kind of example is that?”

  A terrible one, and if she believed that about him, then she didn’t know him very well, either. He wouldn’t lie to a judge any more than she would, but neither did he plan to wear his heart on his sleeve. Whatever feelings she might have for him, he had completely misread them.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “We should go back.”

  The walk home was brisk and made in stony silence.

  “I guess I’ll see you,” he said.

  “Good night.” She picked up Petey, carried him inside and closed the door on what he had seen as his last hope.

  * * *

  SARAH CLIMBED OUT of bed the next morning with an aching head and a sick heart. Had she overreacted? Maybe, but to what? The idea that they pose as a couple? Or had he implied something else?

  What if it was the truth?

  Yes, she had feelings for him and there was no denying them, but not the let’s-tell-a-judge-we’re-heading-to-the-altar kind of feelings. Yes, after falling asleep on his shoulder a few nights ago, she could safely say they were more than friends, but it was too soon to know how much more. She knew too well that rushing into a relationship ended in disaster, and now there was even more at stake. It wasn’t just the two of them who needed to be sure. Their daughters had to want it, too, and not just so they could continue to be best friends who lived next door to each other. They had to want to be a family.

  She avoided her office, determined not to let herself check to see if Jonathan went running that morning, and went straight down to the kitchen instead. By the time her daughter straggled in, she had brewed a pot of coffee, taken Petey out to the backyard—they would have to have the yard fenced if he stayed—poured glasses of orange juice, and had waffles standing in the toaster and waiting to be heated.

  Casey, ponytail swinging and already dressed for school in her usual jeans and high-tops, plunked her books on the counter next to the plate and cutlery Sarah had set out for her. Instead of a T-shirt she was wearing a soft blue V-neck sweater that Sarah had bought for her last spring but that had not yet been worn, and her lashes looked a little darker than usual.

  Interesting.

  “Did you finish your science report last night?”

  “Uh, yes, we did.”

  “Good for you. Can I have a look at it?”

  Casey had a sudden and intense interest in the empty plate in front of her. “I left it at Kate’s. We’re going to hand it in together.”

  “I see.” She knew she had to say something about last night, and about the girls’ apparent expectation that their parents would pair up and win the day in court. The direct approach had always worked for her, and this was no different.

  “I know you want Kate to stay here with her dad. I want that, too—we all do—but you have to accept that it’s up to the judge to decide.”

  “But that’s so not fair. Kate should be the one to decide, not some stodgy old man who doesn’t even know her.”

  Sarah didn’t altogether disagree. “Not all judges are old and stodgy,” she said instead, attempting to inject some levity into the conversation.

  Casey was not amused. “You know what I mean.”

  “Of course I do, and I also need you to know that it’s not up to me to fix this.”

  “What do you mean?” Casey asked, attempting to appear innocent.

  Nice try. “I mean that Kate’s dad and I know what the two of you are trying to do and I have to tell you, it’s not going to work. Jonathan and I just met and we haven’t had time to get to know each other.”

  Disappointment flooded her daughter’s eyes, and Sarah shared her frustration. Maybe, if they’d had more time, this thing between her and Jonathan might have turned into something real. But she’d seen the hurt in his eyes last night. I guess I’ll see you. She didn’t expect him to forgive her anytime soon.

  “I’m sorry, sweetie. I really am.” And no one was sorrier than she was.

  * * *

  JON DECIDED TO forgo his run that morning. He’d stayed up too late, slept too little, and what sleep he did get had been troubled and his waking thoughts plagued with what-ifs.

  In the kitchen he brewed coffee before taking a loaf out of the bread maker and setting it on a rack to cool. Last night his thoughts had been fully occupied, but he’d needed something to fill the time since he couldn’t sleep, so he had started the bread, washed and dried two loads of soccer uniforms, and straightened up the books, papers and DVDs scattered around the living room.

  Kate clattered into the room in black knee-length boots with impossibly high heels. The bottoms of her black leggings were tucked into the boots and the top part was covered up by a hip-length sweater with horizontal stripes in black and purple. She had swapped the huge black-and-white bag for a smaller fuchsia-colored one that was still big enough to accommodate her schoolbooks.

  “How did the homework session go last night?”

  “Good.”

  “Did you girls finish your report?”

  She helped herself to a glass of juice. “Yes, we did.”

  “I’d be interested to see what you’ve been working on.”

  “Oh. Um, Casey took it home with her so she could fix one of the, um, diagrams. She’ll take it to school with her and we’ll hand it in together.”

  “I see.” Science report, my foot. He’d bet anything that Sarah was getting the same song and dance from her daughter.

  “How was your walk with Sarah?” she asked, just as smooth and sweet as the butter and honey she was spreading on a slice of bread.

  “Not that great.”

  She looked up then, eyes filled with concern. “What happened?”

  “She feels that you and Casey have come up with the idea that if she and I were...”

  “Dating?”

  Are we really having this conversation? Did he have a choice? Not according to Sarah. We’ll have to talk to them, explain that this isn’t the solution to this particular problem.

  “Yes,” he said. “That if we were ‘dating,’ then the custody hearing might go our way. But we’re not, and we won’t be.”

  “But Casey and I saw you. You kissed, you danced—”

  No way was he prepared to talk about kissing Sarah, especially not with his daughter. “Sarah and I are friends,” he said. “We just met and she feels...we both feel it’s too soon for our friendship to be any more than that.”

  She didn’t have to acknowledge that she and Casey we
re trying their hand at matchmaking. Her disappointment said it all.

  He could relate to that, he really could. He hadn’t entirely given up hope, either, and he intended to do whatever he could to turn the situation around, but that wasn’t going to happen in time for the hearing. For that, they were on their own.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  TWO DAYS LATER at lunchtime, Kate waited for Casey by the entrance to the school’s central atrium, then they sat with their lunches on a bench in the corner where no one could hear them.

  “How’s your dad?” Casey asked.

  “He’s being a grump.”

  Casey tore open a package of cheese and crackers. “My mom seems kind of sad, and I don’t think she’s sleeping very well, either.”

  Kate unwrapped her sandwich. “Neither’s my dad. He’s been doing crazy stuff like washing clothes in the middle of the night.”

  “Parents can be so weird.”

  “Tell me about it. Would you like half of my sandwich?”

  “Sure. Thanks.”

  “My dad might be ready to give up on this but I’m not. My mom doesn’t want me to live with her and there’s no way I’m going to boarding school.”

  “You can’t go,” Casey said. “We need to come up with a plan. I think my mom really likes your dad, but she says she’s not rushing into anything because she just met him.”

  “My dad is saying pretty much the same thing. I can tell he’s not happy, though.”

  “And have you noticed how they’ve been avoiding each other? My mom waits till after he leaves in the morning before she goes to work.”

  “Same thing when they come home.” Kate lowered her voice when a group of their classmates came in and clustered on the next bench. “I don’t think there’s much we can do about it.”

  “I’ve been thinking about it,” Casey said. “I think I know how we can get them together, or at least talking.”

  “Really? How?”

  “Do you think you’d be able to get your hands on your dad’s cell phone?”

  “That’s not a problem. He leaves it lying around all the time, and then when it does ring, he has to hunt for it.”