“Yes.”He swallowed hard, wondering what she would look like in a bathing suit.“See you then.”
Sarah clicked off the phone and took a few minutes to serve pizza to Riley and herself.“We’re going to both go tomorrow, unless you don’t want me to come,” she said to Riley.
“What about the kittens?”
“Simon figures they’ll be okay on their own for a couple of hours.”
“I’m glad you’re coming,” said Riley.“You can talk to Simon while Sally and I crab.”
“Yes.”She took a bite of her pizza and chewed slowly, not trusting herself to speak more and giving herself time to examine her feelings about this.
There were no cats involved in this outing, so it felt like crossing a line.And if Graham heard about it from one of his friends, or Riley told him about their day together (which she likely would), Sarah could already imagine the tone of his next text.Just checking I’ve got the right picture.
Though she was sure Simon had invited Riley to help reduce her disappointment about not spending time with Graham, she wondered why he cared.
She also wondered why she was so looking forward to crabbing.And why crossing the line from cat parents to play date felt more like arealdate.
Too late to worry about it.He had asked her to come, and she’d accepted.
So where did they go from here?
ChapterNineteen
The following morning at five to nine, there was a knock at the door and Sarah opened the door to Sally, who wore shorts, a T-shirt, and a huge smile.
“Good morning,” said Sarah.“We’re almost ready to go.”
“Dad told me to tell Riley to bring a hat too,” she said, pointing to the fishing hat on her head.“And to say he’s got sunscreen in the car if you need it.”
“Come in for a moment,” said Sarah, ushering the girl inside.“Riley!Sally’s here.”
She heard Riley run across floor above and then turned to see her rushing down the stairs.“Hi,” said Riley.
“Do you have your things?”asked Sarah.“Sally reminded me you should take a hat.”
“A hat?”
“Take the old baseball cap of your father’s from the closet.”
“Oh, the Canucks hat?”
“Yes, that one.It will keep the sun off your face.”
“Come on,” Riley said to Sally, dropping her backpack on the floor beside Sarah.“You can help me find it.”
“I’ll put our stuff in the car and be back in a minute,” said Sarah, hoisting Riley’s backpack and her own filled with water, a towel, and sunscreen.
“Good morning,” said Simon, getting out of the car and coming to greet her.“Let me put these in the back.”
He took her bags and stored them in the trunk, leaving Sarah to reflect that it would be nice to have this kind of help sometimes.
Graham had never been particularly helpful with day-to-day tasks—he was always working late hours, planning for the future.She had loved that about him, how he would plan for what their life could look like.He had encouraged her to continue on to a legal career and helped her see them owning a house together, building a future.
But the trouble with always planning for the future is that you forget to live in the present.And with children, you had to live in the present too.
Maybe now that he was expecting a second child, Graham would change his ways.Or maybe he wouldn’t.What he did was no longer her concern, except when it came to Riley.
“Are the girls coming?”
