“You know what I meant. Like I said, you don’t have anyone to bring, do you?”

Nope, unwed and childless Victoria Reese didn’t have a date. “Whether I do or not, you can’t meddle in my life like that,” she said in a tired voice.

“What you call meddling, I call concerned and attentive,” Katherine said. “Matthew will be there and I’d like you to at least speak to him, like a lady.”

Like a lady...

“I’ll be there, but I’m not promising anything.” It was the best response to get her mother off the phone. Flat-out nos were not allowed in their relationship. If she let her mother believe there was a small chance of controlling the situation, they were better off for it.

“Excellent.”

She could hear her mother’s grin. “I’ll see you on Friday night,” Victoria said.

“Arrive early at the house and we’ll all go to The Drake together.”

“Sure.” When she hung up, Victoria was exhausted.

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

It had been a full twenty-four hours since John Donovan had to trade in his title of “Fun Uncle Johnny” for the role of full-time father figure to his niece, Becca. And it wasn’t going well. After an awkwardly silent dinner of Chinese takeout, the twelve-year-old had retired to her bedroom, leaving John to watch television by himself. As he lounged on the couch, he tried to decide if he should call Becca’s mother for advice or talk to Becca himself. After a sixteen hour flight, his sister, Jessi, would most likely be exhausted. If he tried his hand at talking to Becca, he might come away learning very little about what bothered her. He could only assume that her mother leaving for a work trip was only part of it. The other part was that communication with her father went quiet soon after Jessi filed for a divorce.

Unbeknownst to Becca, all hell had broken out several months ago when Jessi had discovered Allen’s infidelities...plural. When John found out, he hadn’t reacted with the most tact, but he did feel that a swift punch to the jaw was justified. He didn’t know where Becca’s father was at the moment, but he knew the man wasn’t in a hurry to visit his daughter. Not while she stayed with John. Not all of the details were explained to Becca: not the secretary or the young recording star that Allen was an agent for, nor the punch John landed at a church cookout. All she knew was that her parents were divorcing and her mother was making efforts to advance her career by traveling to Sweden for two months. Becca wasn’t happy about that either.

So John had to decide what to do. Talk to the girl or talk to his stepsister.