Page 92 of Mistletoe and Mischief

Beth didn’t feel much like company at the moment. “I thought I’d let the dogs run a bit first,” she said.

Sophie joined her sister. It’d started to snow again, thick flakes that drifted lazily down. The wind chilled her through her thick jacket. Because she spent so much time outdoors, she’d learned to ignore the cold. But this particular chill seemed to come from the inside out....

“Are you upset about Dad and Danielle?” Sophie asked, still putting on her gloves. She didn’t look at Beth, as though she wanted to hide her own reaction to Kent’s “friend.”

“You mean because your father has someone else in his life? Oh, heavens, no.” She wondered how effective her lie had been.

“We don’t like Danielle,” Bailey announced for the two of them.

“You have to admit she’s beautiful.”

Both girls rolled their eyes. “Mom, she’s plastic. I can’t imagine what Dad sees in her. Besides, she treats us like we’re still in diapers.”

“Give her a chance,” Beth urged. She didn’t know why she was championing the other woman when she agreed with everything her daughters said.

“Tell us again, how did you and Dad meet?” Bailey asked.

Instead of answering their question, she asked one of her own. “Did you know that at one time your father wanted to be a veterinarian?”

“Dad?”

“Get out of here!”

“We met in college,” Beth said. “You remember that.” They’d heard the story a hundred times. It didn’t make sense to repeat it now. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”

Their response was immediate and enthusiastic. “Yes!”

“Okay. We met on campus. A friend-of-a-friend situation. My roommate was dating your father, and I was dating another guy named Steve. I liked your father a whole lot more than Steve, but he was with Melanie and I couldn’t very well make a play for him. We dated as a foursome quite a bit and then one day Melanie told me she liked Steve better than Kent and I confessed that I liked Kent better than Steve.”

“And the two of you wanted to switch dates,” Sophie finished for her.

“That is so cool,” Bailey said.

“Well, it would’ve been if the guys felt the same way about us, but they didn’t. Steve claimed he wanted to marry me, but I wasn’t interested. Kent, on the other hand, only had eyes for Melanie.”

“Oh, brother. Clearly, Dad’s needed direction in the girlfriend department for a long time.”

“We worked it out. Melanie broke up with Kent and I took the initiative and phoned to console him. What he wanted was for me to convince Melanie to take him back....” She paused and kicked at a pile of snow. “I guess I was always the second choice with your father.”

“Oh, Mom, that isn’t true!”

Beth smiled, letting her daughters know she wasn’t serious. Well, maybe she was, not that it mattered.

“Whatever happened to Melanie? Did she marry Steve?”

“No. She left college in our junior year and dated a guy from France. Eventually she followed him there. We lost contact after a while. I haven’t heard from her in years.”

Princess raced to Beth’s side. Panting, the collie dropped a stick at her feet. “You want to play fetch, do you?” she asked, and bent to pet her thick fur. Princess was a rescue someone had brought her. Her friend had found the collie on the side of the road near the freeway. With some effort she was able to get the large dog into the car. Rather than take her to the animal shelter, Beth’s friend had brought her to Beth. Half-starved, Princess was in bad shape, and Beth had nourished her back to health. She’d tried to find her owner, but the dog had no identification. Now Princess was deeply attached to Beth and was one of the dogs in the Reading with Rover program Grace had instigated at the library.

“Dad still loves you,” Bailey insisted.

“Of course he does,” Beth said, and meant it. “We were married for twenty-three years. I’m the mother of his children. While we might have opposing opinions on certain issues, when it comes to you girls, we’re in total agreement.”

“Bailey means hereallyloves you.”

Beth threw her arms around her daughters and brought them close. “Listen, you two. I know this is difficult. Maybe you believed that your father’s visit to Cedar Cove meant more than he intended it to mean. Maybe you believed he was making a statement about reconciliation.” Well, he’d made a statement, all right. He wanted to introduce their daughters to his “friend.” “The reason your father’s here is because he wanted us all to meet Danielle. He wants us to welcome her into the family.”

“I can’t do it.” Sophie’s chin rose defiantly.

---