“Shirley hasn’t got time—”
“Shush, if you’re officially dating Steve, it’s our duty to make sure he wants a second date, got it?”
“Uh …” Cassie wasn’t sure that involving her friends in this dinner date was such a good idea.
“You’ll need an appointment with Alice, too. She’ll do your nails.”
“I just painted them this morning,” Cassie protested.
Rosie sighed expressively. “Apparently, you weren’t listening. Hair and nails we can do at the shop. What we need to think about next is your outfit. What you wear is ultra-important.”
“She hasn’t got anything decent to wear,” Amiee said loudly.
The kid had radar a bat would envy.
“Let me check with Elaina,” Rosie continued. “You’re about the same size, aren’t you? She has that pink dress …”
“Not the dress she wore for her wedding,” Cassie protested.
“Yes, that dress. It isn’t like she’s planning on getting married again, so it’s just hanging in her closet. Someone else might as well make good use of it. It was a lucky dress for her. Come to think of it, though, that dress is a little demure. Scratch Elaina’s pink wedding dress.”
“Thank goodness.”
“We’ll go shopping,” Rosie insisted.
“I can’t afford—”
“Stop. There are places where we can find the right dress at a bargain price. What do you have in the way of jewelry?”
“Ah …”
“Don’t worry about it. Maureen has lots of beautiful pieces. She’ll donate to the cause.”
The same feeling she’d experienced earlier when Steve had initiated his little chat with Amiee returned. “Look, Rosie … I know you mean well, and I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but—”
“Don’t say another word,” Rosie barked. “Put Amiee on the phone.”
“Amiee? Why do you want to talk to my daughter?”
Rosie exhaled loudly. “Just do as I ask.”
“When did you get so bossy?”
“Me, bossy? You haven’t seen anything yet. Now let me talk to Amiee.”
Dazed, Cassie stretched out her arm to hand the phone to her daughter. Amiee leaped up as if Cassie was extending her the Holy Grail. She grabbed it and took it over to the sofa, where she knelt on the cushion.
“What’s the plan?” Amiee asked, smiling as her eyes followed Cassie, who’d taken to pacing in the small apartment.
Cassie’s hearing wasn’t nearly as good as her daughter’s. She was able to make out only a few words here and there of the conversation. What she did hear gave her just enough to get the gist of what they were discussing, and it didn’t sound good.
Amiee approved because she mumbled words like: Great. Perfect. That’ll work.
At one point Amiee laughed out loud.
“What?” Cassie demanded. She had no inkling of what the two were plotting.
Amiee waved her off like she was swatting a pesky mosquito.
The two continued deep in conversation when Amiee abruptly pulled the phone away from her ear. She glanced at the face of the cell phone, pushed a button, and then continued her conversation with Rosie. It must have been fifteen minutes later when Amiee ended the call and handed Cassie back her phone.
“You don’t have a thing to worry about,” her daughter assured her. “Rosie and I’ve got it all figured out.”
“That’s nice to know.” Cassie was being sarcastic, but Amiee took her seriously.
“Rosie said you’re gonna knock Steve’s socks off.”
“Really? Do I have a say in any of this?”
Amiee considered the question, tapping her index finger against her cheek as she mulled it over. “Not really.”
Cassie was afraid of that.
“Oh, and Mom.”
“Yes?”
“A call came in while I was talking to Rosie. It was Steve. You might want to call him back.”
Chapter 27
Karen Goodwin sat at her desk at Spokane Title, going over the closing documents for a retired couple who were due in that afternoon. When the phone at her desk rang, she automatically reached for it and was surprised to hear Nichole’s voice on the other end of the line.
“Why didn’t you call my cell?”
“Oh sorry,” Nichole said. “You have so many numbers I sometimes forget which is which.”
“Did you talk to Cassie?” Karen asked.
“I did.”
“How’d it go?”
“It went great. You were so right … I should have called her long ago … I don’t know why I didn’t.” She hesitated and then added in a hushed voice, “That’s not exactly true. I do know why I delayed.”
“It’s awkward for us all—”
Nichole cut her off and blurted out, “Back when everything happened with Duke? I read Cassie’s journal … I knew she was pregnant and she knew what I’d done. She was afraid I’d tell Mom and Dad, and that’s why she left.”
“Nichole, what? That isn’t why.”
“Yes, it is,” she insisted.
“Did Cassie tell you that?”
She paused for a moment before she answered. “No … we didn’t talk about anything from back then.”
It sounded as if her sister was close to tears. Karen carried her own guilt—they all did, but it was time to put the past behind them and become a family again.
“I have a business meeting in a few minutes. Listen, we’ll talk more about this later, but before we hang up, tell me how your weekend went,” Karen said. She wanted to end their conversation on a positive note.
“The spa was fabulous,” Nichole admitted. “And really, how could it not be? I was pampered and catered to for three entire days, and also managed to drop a couple pounds.”
“That’s great.” Karen couldn’t help being envious. It’d been three years since their last family vacation.
“I came home refreshed and deeply in love with my husband. Unfortunately, Owen didn’t do well without me. By the time I got back to Portland Sunday afternoon, Jake and his mother were worn to a frazzle.”
“It’s nice to be needed, isn’t it?” It was easy to remember what it’d been like when her own two children were toddlers. There didn’t seem to be enough hours in the day. It was a blessing they’d had Garth’s parents and her own close at hand, and as first-time grandparents, both sets had been eager to help.
“Needed and wanted,” Nichole said, lowering her voice. “You’d think I’d been away for a month the way Jake reacted.”
Nichole was still enough of a newlywed to appreciate romance. Karen did, too, but after several years of marriage, her love life with Garth had become predictable and low-key, though very good.
“I’m buying Jake that fancy BMW he wants so badly,” Nichole announced. “He’d never ask for it, but I saw the brochure and it’s his birthday next month, so as a surprise, I called the dealership and bought it for him.”
Karen knew what that meant. Her sister had now spent the majority of their parents’ inheritance on a fancy car for her husband. Of course, that was her choice—Karen wouldn’t fault her for loving her husband and wanting to give him a special birthday gift.
“You aren’t going to talk me out of it, are you?” Nichole asked.
“Not at all. It’s none of my business what you do with the money we got from Mom and Dad.”
“I know … it’s just that Jake has been so wonderful lately. He’s always so thoughtful and kind, especially since I’ve had Owen.”
“Nichole, you don’t need to justify it to me.”
“I know, it’s just that—”
“Stop,” Karen said, cutting her off. She didn’t know why her sister felt like she needed permission. Everyone seemed to want approval in one form or another. They said good-bye and hung up.
Ten minutes before the Anson couple were due to arrive to sign the closing papers, her desk phone rang again. Karen reached for it.