“You don’t understand,” she said to Ted. “You haven’t had a child turn her back on you when she should’ve been needing you more than anyone else.”

“You’re right. I don’t understand the situation in that particular way. But that was then, Maureen. This is now.”

“And now is a second chance. Don’t take the joy out of it. Please.”

He stared at her for several long seconds, then he wrapped her in his arms and held her tight. “Okay, sweetheart,” he said, resting his chin on her head. “As long as you’re putting Riley’s needs first.”

Of course Riley’s needs would take center stage, but her needs mattered, too, this time.

When they returned to the living room, Daniel was stretched out on his stomach on the floor playing demolition derby with Riley. They were making all sorts of crash sounds—brakes squealing, metal hitting metal. Cars were flying into the air then crashing down.

Riley climbed onto Daniel’s back and ran a car up his spine and into his hair, where it just about got lost in the denseness, then did get stuck.

“Oops,” Riley said, tugging at the car. “Sorry, Papa.”

“Ouch. Hold on, bud. You’re gonna give me a bald spot.”

Maureen watched Daniel try to extricate the car before she finally set down his glass of water and went up to him. “Here. Let me. Sit on the chair.”

It was like performing microsurgery, unwrapping long strands of hair from the tiny tire axles, almost one by one. His hair was incredibly soft, and up close like this, she could see it was shot with silver here and there, not easily visible since his hair wasn’t very dark. He bounced Riley on his knee, and they kept their heads together, as if they were telling secrets.

Maureen yanked the final few strands free to get the job over and done with.

“Hey!” He rubbed his head.

“Sorry. It wouldn’t come loose.”

He gave her a look of disbelief but muttered his thanks.

“Nap time,” she said to Riley.

He gave her a look. “I’m six. You know what that means, don’t you?”

“What does it mean?”

“I don’t take naps anymore.”

“A rest, then. You got up early and you played hard at the park. Just close your eyes for a little while.”

“But—”

“Do as your grandmother says,” Daniel said.

Which really ticked Maureen off. How dare he stick his nose where it didn’t belong? But Riley had already headed for the bedroom.

“Bathroom first,” Maureen said.

The three adults stood waiting, the silence awkward. When Riley emerged she followed him into the bedroom and made sure he took off his sneakers before getting onto the bed. She handed Stripe to him, then covered him with an afghan that Cherie had crocheted and kissed his forehead.

“I’m not gonna sleep,” he said, the words muffled by the stuffed tiger.

“That’s fine.”

“Papa will still be here when I get up, won’t he?”

“I don’t know what his plans are. But I’m sure he’ll say goodbye before he goes anywhere.” Like back to Seattle on the next available flight.

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Okay.” He pulled the afghan up to his chin then. “Don’t shut the door.”

“I won’t shut it all the way.”

When she returned to the living room, she found Ted in her big chair and Daniel picking up the toys, putting them in their plastic containers.

“Thanks,” she said.

“He likes to start over. There’s something about creating a new city that appeals to him.”

“Maybe he’ll be a builder,” she said, taking a seat on the sofa, next to Ted’s chair. She was determined to stay calm.

“Maybe.” Daniel picked up his glass of water and sat down, too. He looked at Ted. “I don’t think I heard what you do for a living.”

“I’m a CPA and financial planner.”

“How did you two meet?”

“At work,” Maureen said. “I’m not sure if Jess told you about Carlos Martinez, my boss at Primero Publishing? He passed away suddenly five months ago, and his wife, Bernadette, stepped in as publisher. Ted’s been a friend of theirs for years. She asked him to take a look at the company finances.”

“Then I took a look at Maureen, too,” he said, smiling at her.

She smiled back. “He came along at a busy time, since we’d just started working on two new projects a couple of months before Carlos died. We’re trying to see them through, but it’s taking everything out of us.”

“She works very long hours,” Ted said, laying a hand on her shoulder, his fingers resting against her collarbone in a proprietary way, making Maureen uncomfortable. She’d never seen him possessive.

“It took me months,” he went on, “but I finally convinced her to take a vacation. We’re leaving two weeks from today.”

The implications of that statement reverberated through the room. They all knew Jess was supposed to be gone for six weeks.

Maureen was stuck. She needed to tell Ted that they would have to postpone their vacation, but she couldn’t do it in front of Daniel.

“Why are you here?” she asked Daniel, taking control of the discussion. “What did you hope to accomplish by just showing up?”

He dragged his hands down his face. “We had an argument.”

“You and Jess? About what?”

“About this harebrained scheme of hers to be on True Grit.”

Maureen might have agreed with him, but she wasn’t going to let him criticize her daughter. “My understanding is that she beat almost impossible odds to make it onto the program.” She and Riley had looked it up on the Internet that morning. “So many people apply, yet she was chosen. It’s a huge accomplishment.”

“I’m not denying that. I even had a hand in it, since I’m the one that got her training. She’s become quite an athlete.”

“I could tell. When I hugged her, I could tell. I would think you would be proud she got on the show.”

“Proud? What about her job?”

“She had a job?”

“You didn’t know?”

Maureen shook her head. “She never said. What was she doing?”

“She’s an assistant in my department at the university.”

“Since when?”

“Since Riley started kindergarten last year. She only works—worked—part-time, just while he’s in school. It was ideal. She would’ve been able to increase her hours as his school days got longer.”

“Would have?”

He nodded. “She’s supposed to be there now, for summer session. She quit.”

Why hadn’t Jess told her? How little she knew of her daughter’s life.

“So, you arranged the job for her?”

“Yeah. I stuck my neck out, too, since she didn’t have any experience, and there were other candidates more qualified. I thought it might get her interested in going to college. Her tuition would’ve been almost free.” He tunneled his fingers through his hair.

That soft, thick—Maureen caught herself. “She’s lived with you all these years and you don’t know what a dreamer Jess is?” she asked, not unkindly. “This is the big-fantasy kind of thing that Jess thrives on.”

Daniel leaned his arms on his thighs and turned his head to look at her. “I didn’t think she’d go through with it, in the end. She may be a dreamer, but she usually has little follow-through. I certainly never expected her to take off as she did. I was out of town. She left me a note.”

“And you hopped a plane without calling first? What if Jess hadn’t come here? What if I hadn’t been home?”

He frowned. “Where would you be? You’re always home.”

She really needed to get away more.

“Anyway,” Daniel went on, “Jess said in her note she was leaving Riley here, but I knew you probably couldn’t take much time off from work, and I’m off for the summer….”

“This works out perfectly,” Ted said, participating in the conversation for the first time. “We can figure out a way to keep the boy until we go on vacation, then he can go back to you for the remainder of the time.”

Daniel cheered up. “I could work with that—”

“No.” Maureen didn’t raise her voice. Her heart pounded in her ears. She could barely swallow. She felt both men focus on her, and for a moment she looked out the front window, not wanting to continue what was bound to be a hard conversation.