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She can’t pass up the opportunity of a lifetime.
Kate got pregnant before she finished law school, and the blight on her reputation was more than Daddy could forgive. But when her father wants to include her and her husband and children in his big magazine interview after all these years of silence, Kate believes she can make up for a lifetime of disappointments if given a solid chance to prove she isn’t a failure. But as she tries to get her family in shape for Daddy’s arrival by dragging them to church against their will, Kate realizes she’s bitten off more than she can chew. As the day of the interview approaches and her family falls apart at the seams, Kate fears her father won’t be the only one to never speak to her again.
Keep scrolling to read the first chapter of this book.
ONE
Wednesday, August 28
6:49 AM
“LILY, STOP!” Kate Wilson snatched the glass pitcher of milk from her six-year-old’s grimy palms and set it on the counter. “That’s not for you. It’s for the brunch. Here,” she pulled out a plastic half-gallon jug of milk from the fridge and plunked it beside the cereal bowl, “be a good girl and use this one.” She wiped Lily’s dribbles of milk off the table with a dishcloth.
Claire snorted from behind her hot-pink phone. “Wow. Selfish much?” She blew her bangs out of her long lashes and glared at Kate, challenging her mother to reply.
Kate closed her eyes and summoned her patience. Her firstborn had transitioned from a whiny middle-schooler to a sass-mouthed high-schooler over the summer. Claire had a stubborn streak ever since she was in the womb, but her attitude grew worse by the day, it seemed. Kate polished Lily’s fingerprints off the glass pitcher and placed it back on the carefully organized shelf in the refrigerator.
“I’m not trying to be selfish. That milk was skim, and Lily only likes two percent.” Kate patted Lily’s head and lifted her chin, tempted to send a smug look across the table, but keeping her face blank. No sense to tempt Miss Moody-All-The-Time to come back with more hurtful words.
Claire rolled her eyes and buried her face back in her phone screen where it seemed most at home.
Breathe in, pick your battles, let it go.
Kate wouldn’t let Claire press her buttons. Not this morning. Not when the kids were finally going back to school and could fill their days with something more productive than endless screen time, bickering, and constantly being underfoot. This was her day to get back in the swing of things by hosting an enjoyable poolside brunch with close friends, and no one was going to ruin her good mood. Not even Claire.
“Lily, I put your lunch box in your backpack. You have a special surprise snack to celebrate the first day of school. I also put a note in there for Miss Ling so she knows I can come in and volunteer any day she needs an extra set of hands. I put a little gift in your bag for her, so make sure not to leave it in there, okay?”
“That still won’t make her like you.” Claire’s jab was a low whisper, but it hit Kate like a splash of ice-cold water. She blinked rapidly, not trusting her voice to stay unbroken if she replied.
“Nooo! Dead again!” Jaxon slammed his tablet on the table and thew his hands in the air. “Not fair!”
Kate pinched the bridge of her nose. Good thing she’d invested in that extra-thick protective case for these frequent outbursts.
“Jaxon, please. Put your tablet in the charging station, and finish your toast. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”
Claire stood and shrugged on her backpack. “I’m going to watch for Kelsey. Her mom’s bringing us today.”
Another splash. “What? Why? I always bring you to your first day of school.”
Claire strode to the living room window without another word. “Wait a minute, Claire. I still need to take your first day of school pic—”
“Mommy! I need a napkin!”
Kate turned to see jelly smeared down the front of Lily’s brand-new white blouse. Her shoulders sagged. “What did you do?”
“I dropped it.” Tears welled in Lily’s eyes as she wiped jelly all over her cheeks in an attempt to stop herself from crying.
Kate tamped her frustration down as she marched Lily upstairs and helped her change out of the sticky shirt into a new one. It didn’t quite match Lily’s unicorn leggings, but it would have to do. She wet a washcloth and hurriedly scrubbed the jelly off her daughter’s face.
“How did you manage to get jelly on your forehead?”
“I don’t know.”
“Doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s go take your picture by the front door.” Kate grabbed Lily’s hand. “Jaxon! Claire! Picture time!”
She stopped at the bottom of the stairs to find an empty living room.
“Jaxon! Claire!”
Jaxon spoke from the kitchen table without looking up from his tablet. “She left with Kelsey.”
Kate deflated. So much for the traditional first day of school picture of all the kids. “Okay, you two stand by the door, and I’ll take your picture at least. I’ll get the group shot when you all get home.”
Jaxon and Lily complied, and Kate took a quick snapshot with her phone, deleted it, and told Jaxon to stand up straighter and Lily to put her hands at her sides and stop squirming. The second picture came out better, so she posted it to Facebook and hurried the kids to the car. There was so much to do before the ladies came over for brunch at ten.
After dropping Jaxon off for his first day of middle school, she drove across the street to the elementary school and parked the car.
“Ready for first grade, pumpkin?”
Lily had a white-knuckle grip on her booster seat.
Kate didn’t have time for one of Lily’s panic attacks. Not this morning. She stroked the back of Lily’s hand and spoke in a soft tone.
“I think you’re going to have a lot of fun. You already met Miss Ling last week and she was super. Claire and Jaxon had her and liked her. And look, that’s Jaxon’s school right there. While you’re out at recess, you’ll be able to look right over and wave to him. I’ll walk you to your room, and as soon as you’re having fun with your friends, I’ll sneak out, okay?”
“Can you stay with me? Just for today?” Lily hadn’t budged.
Were they going to have to go through this separation anxiety every year? Kate glanced at the time on her phone and swung her door open. She coaxed Lily from the car and briskly led her to the first-grade classroom, smiling and nodding at each teacher and parent on the way in.
Lily clung to Kate’s hand with a grip that would impress a python, but when they reached the purple door with a bright yellow smiley face painted on it, Kate pried Lily’s hand away from hers and waved to Miss Ling.
“See? There’s your teacher. And I see Ava and Peyton over there looking at books in the reading corner. Why don’t you hang up your backpack and say hi?”
Lily shook her head and stuck four fingers in her mouth. Kate bit her lip and dropped into a squat.
“Honey, please take your fingers out of your mouth. You don’t want the other kids calling you a baby.” She made sure none of the other children were looking as Lily obeyed. “Listen, you’re six years old. You’re a big girl now. You handled kindergarten fine, and you’ll be able to handle first grade too. Just go in there and have fun. You’ll like it. I promise. I’ll see you as soon as you come home. I’ll have some cookies fresh out of the oven, and you can tell me about your day.” Kate checked the time again. Almost eight. “School’s going to start any minute. I need to leave now. So, go in there and be a big girl, okay? That way when Daddy comes home tonight, I can tell him how brave you were.”
Lily’s feet seemed planted where they stood. Joe would have used some humor to make her giggle and forget her worries, but Lily was stuck with Kate. She gave Lily a gentle push into the classroom with another string of encouraging words, begging her to get over her fear. Once Lily hung up her bag and stuffed her fingers in her mouth again, Kate wiped her forehead and scooted down the hall, footsteps echoing through the empty corridor.
That girl needed to stop sucking on her fingers. When Kate had struggled with the same vice, Mother made her soak her hands in vinegar every morning for two weeks. “You don’t want your Daddy to catch you doing that, do you?” she’d asked. Three-year-old Kate shook her blonde pigtails vigorously and worked hard never to stick her thumb in her mouth again.
Shouldn’t Lily have outgrown this habit by now? What was Kate doing wrong? Should she try the vinegar treatment? She traced the twisted scar on her wrist and forcefully bit her lip. No. Her kids wouldn’t be raised the way she was. Not if she could help it.
Her thoughts switched to brunch as soon as she stepped outside. She still had to finalize the centerpieces and cook the new egg casserole recipe she’d found online. The girls would be invading her home in two hours flat, and everything needed to be better than last year.
Plopping into the driver’s seat, she checked the Facebook post of Jaxon and Lily by the door smiling sweetly. Only twelve likes so far. And, oh joy, her mother had commented.
< No Claire? >
Kate quickly tapped out a cheery reply, explaining that Claire rode to school with her best friend and had to leave moments before they had a chance to get her in the picture. She ended her comment with two heart emojis she didn’t feel in the least and pushed the back of her head into the car seat, forcing herself to take a cleansing breath.
Claire just had to be difficult and ruin things, didn’t she? Oh well, Kate would upload some pictures of the brunch and the recipe for the egg casserole later and then grab a picture of all the kids once they got home from school. If she threatened to tag Claire’s Facebook page, she’d get a good smile out of her, at least for a moment. That should make everyone forget about the subpar school picture. Maybe Kate would delete it once she had a replacement.
She threw the car into gear and sped down the road, pushing this morning’s troubles out of her mind and channeling her energy into making this brunch absolutely unforgettable.