“Yeah, a glass of water would be good, then I’ve got to look under the hood. My car acts like it’s about to give up the ghost and it hasn’t even reached two hundred thousand miles yet.”

“Imagine that,” Bliss said dryly.

She poured them each cups of water with ice, handed one to Katie, then followed the redhead outside where her bug-splattered car was resting in the shade of a spruce tree. Above their heads fragrant needles rustled in the hot breeze, and from the safety of a high branch a squirrel scolded Oscar, who whined and barked and ran in circles at the base of the tree.

Katie popped the hood and while she bent over the engine, she talked. “Hold this a sec, would you?” She took a long swallow of water, then handed the cup back to Bliss. “You know, those brothers of mine would know exactly what’s wrong, but where are they when you need them, huh? Around? No way. Probably somewhere raising hell. Oh.” She lifted her head and offered Bliss a knowing glance. “They’re really not as much trouble as all that. Even the twins with their reputations aren’t bad guys—just, well, irreverent would be a good word to describe them.” She turned back to the cooling engine, touched it delicately as the radiator gave out a warning hiss. “Too hot to do anything with right now,” she said, blowing her bangs out of her eyes and accepting her glass of water again.

“I decided to drop by and fill you in because I have a few minutes while Mom and Josh pick up John.” She scratched her head and frowned, her forehead puckering thoughtfully. “You know, I’d like to pretend that all this is okay and we could be one big happy family, that I was big enough to make nice-nice for Mom’s sake, but the truth of the matter is, I’m not cool with everything that went on between them and though I want them both to be happy, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to call John ‘Dad.’”

“I don’t blame you.” Bliss lifted a shoulder, as if she didn’t care, but she was glad that Katie was having the same kind of mental dilemma that she did. The situation was beyond complicated.

“Mom wanted me to tell you that while John’s recuperating at her house, you can come over any time.”

Bliss wasn’t sure about that. She still had more than her share of reservations where her father and Brynnie were concerned. “How long will he be there?”