Noah heard a low whistle behind him. Still shell-shocked, he turned. Drake Mackenrowe looked out of place leaning against a minivan in a flannel that must have been sewn on him. “You sure pissed her off,” he stated the obvious with a blinding grin.

“She’s not going to come back here with a weapon or anything, is she?” Noah asked, feeling just a little like he just wanted to limp off to lick his wounds.

Drake laughed. “No, man. Her verbal skills are usually the first line of defense, and if a solid warning doesn’t work, she’ll go with a right hook.”

Noah shook his head, processing. His brain was reeling from confrontation that had gone decisively in Cat’s favor.

A now fresh-faced April skipped out onto the porch. “Hi, Noah! Where’s Cat?” The resilience of children, Noah sighed to himself.

Sara peeped between parked cars. “Dad? Can I come back and hang out if we’re not leaving yet?” Sara’s question was teetering on whining.

The Hais’ front door opened again, and Jasper and Kathy appeared. Of course, they had been there for the filming. Noah swiped a hand over his face and found he was sweating in the chilly air.

“Oh, hey, Noah! Mind if we steal Sara for dinner tonight?” Kathy asked. “Jasper’s parents are cooking up a feast, and we need more mouths or we’ll be bringing fifty pounds of leftovers back to your house with us.”

April and Sara embraced as if it had been weeks not minutes since they’d seen each other. “Please, Dad?” Sara begged.

“Yeah, please, Mr. Yates?” April added her sad puppy eyes to the equation.

“Hi, Drake,” Sara said slyly.

“Hey, cutie,” Drake said with a grin designed to devastate pre-teens. Sara and April giggled in response.

“Have you guys seen Cat?” Jasper asked. “We were going to ask her if she wanted to join us since shooting’s done for the day. We all worked up an appetite, didn’t we?”

“Dad, you should have seen it,” Sara said, bouncing on her toes at his side. “Cat and Drake were all like ‘show us your house,’ and April got to give the tour, and Kathy and Jasper were on camera too. It was so cool!”

“You seemed pretty upset there,” Noah prodded April. He couldn’t have completely misread the situation, could he?

April nodded earnestly. “It’s hard to see our home in such disrepair and seeing Mom and Dad worry. But Cat’s right, it’s only stuff. And stuff is fixable. And even though it’s okay to feel downtrodden, it’s better to do something about it. She’s going to help us, and so I’m going to help someone else.”

“Cat calls it paying it forward,” Sara nodded.

Everyone calls it that, Noah wanted to point out.