Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
The rest of the week flew by for Sarah as she settled into the routine of picking up the girls, dropping off the cat, and then returning to pick up the cat and drop off the girls. The arrangement was working well.
They shared no more dinners.
By the time the weekend came, Dash was used to his new routine and, so far as she could tell, Dot was also adapting. All in all, their experiment of co-parenting a pair of cats was successful.
Except something was missing.
She could pretend she didn’t know what that something was, but she’d be lying to herself. And, in her experience, that was the very worst person to lie to.
What she missed was the friendship she and Simon had been developing. She’d looked forward to having a friend who was also juggling home and work, and now cats. But ever since dinner Monday evening, he had changed. Why?
She thought back to their conversations that evening and could only come up with one explanation. She’d confided in him about her ex-husband. Her ex-husband who had left her.
She didn’t remember blaming Graham—no one wants to listen to someone bashing their ex—but maybe she was misremembering. Maybe she had said something else to offend him? Or maybe it had nothing at all to do with her.
She would have asked him outright if she knew him well enough, but she didn’t, so she would continue to go along with their new rhythm of shared cat custody. She would just enjoy the new cat, the summer, and relax.
But she couldn’t help reflecting on the spark of attraction she was sure she had detected between them.
During that late afternoon time slot when people often snuck out of the office for a muffin, coffee, and a quick chat about their weekend plans, she would forget the merits of the cases she was working on and instead dwell on Simon’s merits. His smile. His laugh. His lips.
Visiting Simon in her mind was better than a chocolate chip muffin—which, from a chocoholic, was saying a lot.
She needed an excuse to talk to him, she decided. And so, on Friday, instead of letting Riley go in and grab Dash, she got out of the car and walked to his front door.
“We should come up with some kind of arrangement for the weekend,” she began. “I’m happy to take both cats and both girls for both days… or one day. Whatever you think.”
He looked startled to see her. As though she had just appeared from thin air.
“Yes,” he said. “I have some prep to do for next week’s pottery lessons at the rec centre, and it would help if Sally and Dot could spend time with you for at least one of those days.”
“Perfect,” said Sarah.
“And I told Sally I would take her to the indoor climbing place on Saturday. Do you think Riley would like to join us?”
“She would love that,” said Sarah. “It would give me some time to get caught up around the house.”
“What if I take the girls tomorrow and leave the cats and my playpen at your place for a few hours? On Sunday, I could leave Sally too.”
“Deal,” she said, feeling some of his coolness dissipate. She was glad Riley would get to try climbing, though she would have liked to try it too.
She stood for a few minutes and waited for Riley to come back with the cat. Simon glanced behind him as they waited, not once but three times.
“Nice weather this weekend,” she said, trying to fill the silence.
“Um, yes,” he said.
“I’ll be able to do some weeding.”
“Right.”
Finally she excused herself, stepped in through the front door, and yelled, “Riley, it’s time to go.”
She turned to see Simon staring at her, as though shocked by her yelling.
“Tell her I’m in the car,” she said. “What time should she be ready to go tomorrow to the climbing gym?”
“I have a slot at ten,” he said. “So, about nine fifteen?”
She nodded, thanked him again, and went outside to wait.
Well, that was awkward. At first, he seemed almost glad to see her, but soon his barrier had arisen again. What was it all about?
Perhaps he had been talking to one of Graham’s old friends and had been warned not to get too close.
Graham seemed to be concerned about their cat arrangement, and his friend Chaz was a member of the climbing gym.
He doubted Chaz had anything good to say about her.
Any time she saw him around town, he merely nodded acknowledgement and crossed the street or left the room before he had to exchange words with her.
She sighed.
It was hard to be the one left behind, especially when all the so-called friends she had in this little town—a town she had loved when she first arrived—were loyal to a man who had failed to be loyal to her.
She turned on the car, and the radio sprang to life, so she listened to the five-thirty news break and contemplated honking the horn—an obnoxious habit, but one that would get her daughter’s attention.
Ten minutes later Riley still hadn’t come out, so she turned off the car and went back up to the front door and knocked.
Simon answered again, his hair ruffled. “We’ve had a bit of a problem,” he said.
“What kind of problem?”
“Dash escaped under the couch, and we’re trying to coax him out.”
“Do you need help?”
“Mom!” Riley came into the kitchen, her face distressed. “He doesn’t want to come home.”
“Should we leave him here until he comes out on his own?” Sarah wondered aloud. “We could always pick up Dash later, when he’s ready for bed.” She looked at Simon for his reaction.
“Nooo,” said Riley. “He has to come home now.”
Simon stepped back and motioned for her to enter, so Sarah set down her bag, kicked off her shoes, and rolled her shoulders back. She was ready for battle, or cat-catching duty at any rate. “Okay, lead the way. Show me where he is.”
Riley led her to the living room, where she found Sally crouched near the couch, peering underneath. “They’re under there,” she said softly. “But I don’t think they’re scared.”
“No?” asked Sarah, getting down on her hands and knees and hoping her skirt would cover her butt. She found two pairs of bright blue eyes peering back at her.
“I think they’re just being mischievous,” said Sally.
“I think you might be right,” said Sarah. “They don’t look frightened at all.”
“How are we going to get Dash to come home?” Riley asked, her voice rising to a whine Sarah felt down her spine.
“Well, we could try lifting the couch while you two crawl in, one on each side, to grab them.” She looked up at Simon to see what he thought of her plan, but he didn’t seem to like it. What an odd look he had on his face. Was he even paying attention?
“Is the couch heavy?” she asked him, finally getting his attention.
“Not if we pick it up together. Then one of you girls can crawl in and grab the cats.”
“I’ll do it,” said Riley.
“And I’ll wait to catch them before they escape,” said Sally.
Sarah stood up and straightened her skirt. Simon seemed to have returned to normal. “Which end do you want to take?”
He pointed to the end closest to him, and she walked to the other end. “Okay, on the count of three, let’s tilt it back so Riley can climb under. Ready?”
Simon gripped his end of the couch and nodded.
“One, two, three.” Together they lifted the couch, which was thankfully lighter than she expected, and two balls of gray fur scampered across the room and away. “There they go,” said Riley, bounding after them, with Sally following close behind. “Let’s get ’em.”
“Let’s lower it back down,” he said, “and I guess we wait a few minutes. I’m sure they’ll catch them.”
“Sorry to have disturbed your evening,” she said. “I’m sure you have better things to do than catch a cat.”
“No, not really,” he said, taking a seat on one end of the couch they’d just lowered and motioning for her to sit as well. “Sorry your dinner is delayed.”
“I’m going to order some chicken curry from the place near our house and take that home tonight. I don’t really feel like cooking.”
“Is it good? I haven’t tried that one.”
“Yes. Riley likes the chicken, and I get the chickpeas. Then we usually have it with a salad at home. Do you want to join us?” she asked, before she could stop herself.
“Umm…”
“Can we, Daddy?” asked Sally, who was walking into the room holding a not-at-all-chastened Dot.
He seemed undecided, and Sarah didn’t press him. If he didn’t want to spend time with her, she wasn’t going to make him.
“What?” asked Riley, walking in a moment later.
“I was asking Daddy if we could go get Indian food and eat at your place,” said Sally.
“Can they, Mom?”
“If your dad says yes.”
They all looked at Simon, who looked torn between pleasing his daughter and something else.
“Please, Daddy.”
His daughter won. “Okay, as long as you let me buy.”
“How about you pay for Riley’s climb tomorrow, and I’ll buy dinner? That should make us even.”
“Climb?” asked Riley, her eyes sparkling with interest.
“Simon and Sally are going to the climbing gym, and they asked if you would like to go too.”
“Yeah!” said Riley, looking as though she wanted to punch the air before remembering that she held a cat.
“I have a menu from the restaurant in my purse,” said Sarah. “I’ll get it, and you can tell me what you like.”
“Sure,” said Simon, rising to follow her to the kitchen, where they reviewed the menu a moment as she opened an online order form for the restaurant on her phone.
“It’ll be ready in about twenty minutes,” said Sarah. “I’ll pick it up on the way home and you can follow in about half an hour? Would that work?”
“Yep,” said Riley, who now had Dash in his carrier and was standing at the door. “See you soon,” she said to Sally.
“Yes,” Simon said, in a strangled voice. “See you soon.”
As they drove to the restaurant, Riley bounced in the seat next to her. “Sally’s dad is so great, isn’t he?”
“He seems like a nice man,” said Sarah.
“He likes climbing. I always wanted to go climbing.”
“That’s why I said you could go,” said Sarah, keeping her attention on the road.
“And he’s smart, and he can cook too,” said Riley. “Don’t you think so?”
“The meal he made for us was very good, yes.” Sarah glided to a stop at a red light and waited.
“Sally’s mom left a long time ago.”
“Uh-huh.” The light turned green, and Sarah looked both ways before entering the intersection.
“So it’s just him and Sally,” said Riley.
“I know.”
“I think Sally misses having a mom,” said Riley.
“I’m sure she does,” said Sarah, turning left on the next street.
“Do you like him?”
“He seems very nice, yes. So I’m fine with you spending time with Sally, if that’s what you’re asking.
” She turned right and pulled up a few moments later in front of the restaurant.
“Now, if you wait here for a minute, I’ll be right back.
” She rolled down the windows to allow in some air.
Though it was late, it was still too warm to leave kids and kittens in the car.
As she paid for their dinner and walked back toward the car, she found Riley watching her with one of those looks she had learned to be wary of. What was her daughter up to now?