“You’re in luck, dear. I can move some things around if you can be here in the next thirtyminutes.”
Kaden entered the office and made a beeline for the chair next to Kimber, throwing his arm around her shoulders when hesat.
“We’ll be there. Thank you somuch.”
“You’re very welcome. I look forward to meeting you and yourchildren.”
Her heart squeezed a little tighter. Not in the way it usually did that left an ache. More like a pulse of happiness.Herchildren.
She stared at her cell phone for a moment, then looked at K-Squared. “Let’s go on a fieldtrip.”
* * *
“So, what did you think?”Denise asked as they walked out of the school toward the visitor parkinglot.
Kimber skipped beside her. “It’s awesome, Aunt Denny! They have a mathclub!”
“You’re such a nerd,” Kadensaid.
“You’re a geek,” Kimber replied. “I saw you jump when Ms. Morris mentioned therobots.”
“Robotics lab. Robots arecool.”
“So’smath.”
“Isnot.”
“Istoo.”
“Guys!” Denise said. “Quit fighting. You are both smart and cool.” Holy cow, how had Sarah handled this all the time? “I take it you both like theschool.”
“Yes!” they said inunison.
“When can we go here?” Kimberasked.
“Well, that’s the thing,” Denise said as they reached her SUV. “The plan was to wait until next year after we move to Bree’s house during the summer. But if you guys want, we can see about moving sooner and you can transfersooner.”
She opened the back door and Sprocket jumped in, sitting in the center of the seat. The kids climbed in and Kimber got bathed in doggie kisses as she shuffled to the farside.
“You’re letting us decide?” Kadenasked.
Denise leaned into the car. “Here’s the deal. This affects you two, not me. You’re the ones who have to move to a new house and change schools and leave all your friends behind. I want you to have a say in when we do it. I thought waiting until summer would be easier for you, but if you want to transfer now, I’ll make ithappen.”
They looked at each other for amoment.
“I’ll miss my friends,” Kaden said. “But we’ll make newones.”
“I’ll only miss Melody and she can always come over to play on theweekends.”
It was a lot to ask of them, to make a responsible decision like this, but she’d never had the option growing up. They’d just always moved. While they needed to move houses—and schools—she wanted them to feel like they were part of making the process happen instead of having the process happen tothem.
“I really like this school,” Kimberwhispered.
“Me,too.”
They looked at Denise. “Can we move tomorrow?” Kadenasked.
Denise laughed and ruffled his hair. “Not tomorrow, buddy. I need get you guys registered and make arrangements with Bree to move into her house. We can probably make it happen in a couple of weeks,though.”
