“Yeah.” Jack nodded solemnly. “We’re a team.”

“You’re a great team.”

Jack turned his apple slices around, making pictures and patterns. She was pretty, he thought. And she was nice. She could play games and read stories. He even liked when she kissed him, and the way she laughed when he pretended not to like it. Dad liked to kiss her, too. He said he did, and he didn’t lie.

So she could maybe marry his dad—even though Dad said she wasn’t going to—and then she could be Dad’s wife and Jack’s mother. They’d all live together in the big house.

And maybe, sometime, they could all go to Disney World.

“What are you thinking about so hard, Handsome Jack?”

“I was wondering if—”

“Oops.” She smiled, rising as she heard the doorbell. “Hold that thought, okay? That must be your grandma.”

She gave Jack’s hair a quick rub and hurried out to answer. With her hand on the knob, she took a quick bracing breath. Silly to be nervous, she told herself. Then opened the door to Mr. and Mrs. O’Connell.

“Hi. It’s good to see you.” She stepped back in invitation. “Jack’s just in the kitchen, having a snack.”

“It’s good of you to watch him for Brody.” Mary O’Connell stepped inside, tried not to make her quick scan of the entrance too obvious. She’d fussed with her makeup, too—much to her husband’s disgust.

“I enjoy spending time with Jack. He’s great company. Please come on back. Have some coffee.”

“Don’t want to put you out,” Bob said. He’d been in the house plenty. When you fixed people’s toilets, you weren’t particularly impressed by their doodads and furniture.

“I’ve got a fresh pot. Please, come in—unless you’re in a hurry.”

“We’ve got to—”

Bob broke off as his wife gave him a subtle elbow nudge. “We’d love a cup of coffee. Thank you.”

“Brody’s going to be remodeling the kitchen for my mother,” Kate began as they walked back. “My parents love the work he’s done in the rest of the house.”

“He always was good with his hands,” Mary commented and gave her husband a quiet look when he folded his lips tight.

“He’s certainly transformed the old house I bought. Hey, Jack, look who I’ve got.”

“Hi!” Jack slurped his chocolate milk. “I’ve been playing with Kate.”

Like father like son, Bob thought sourly, but his heart lifted as it always did at the sight of Jack’s beaming face. “Where’d you get the chocolate cow, partner?”

“Oh, we keep her in the garden shed,” Kate said as she got out cups and saucers. “And milk her twice a day.”

“Kate’s got toys. Her mom has a whole store of toys. She said how on my birthday we can go there and I can pick one out.”

“Isn’t that nice?” Mary slid her gaze toward Kate, speculated. “How is your mother, Kate?”

“She’s fine, thanks.”

Mary approved of the way Kate set out the cups, the cream and sugar. Classy, but not fussy. And the ease with which she handed Jack a dishrag so he could wipe up a bit of spilled milk himself.