I can cook?”
“Didn’t you take home economics this trimester?”
“Yes, but we’re not—”
“You get home first in the afternoon—you can put on dinner for Eddie and me.”
“You want me to cook just because I’m a girl, don’t you?” Her eyes filled with fiery indignation.
Zach wasn’t about to get caught in the “My Dad is a Chauvinist” trap. “If Eddie was home from school before you, I’d put him in change of dinner, but as it happens, you’re the first one to walk in the door. Congratulations, you’re elected. Your brother and I will wash the dishes.”
“I’d rather cook,” Eddie piped up.
“I’m afraid you’re out of luck, sport. Allison’s going to come up with a dinner plan for us.”
“A dinner plan?” She looked aghast. “What’s that?”
He wondered if she’d been sleeping through her classes. “Make a list of what we’re going to eat for the next seven days and then compile a grocery list from that.”
“Oh.”
“You can cook spaghetti every night if you want to, Allison,” Eddie said enthusiastically.
“Here, write.” Zach set a notebook on the table in front of her.
“Can we have tacos one night?” Eddie begged. “Please, please?”
“I guess.” Allison reluctantly wrote tacos at the top of her list.
“What do we need for tacos?” Zach asked.
“Meat, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and taco shells,” she said.
“Great,” Zach said, pointing at her. “Write all that down on a separate shopping list.”
“We have cheese,” Eddie told him. “Mom bought it for macaroni and cheese on Monday night.”
“Fine, but we need taco shells, tomatoes and lettuce.” Allison dutifully listed the ingredients. They continued, with Eddie making dinner suggestions and Allison creating the list. Actually it was fun, and by the time they’d finished, the table was set and they were ready for dinner.
Eddie held a chicken leg with both hands. “Are you really going to cook for us, Allison?” he asked his sister.
Allison shrugged. “Only because Dad’s making me.”
In an effort to bring family discussions back to the dinner table, Zach asked his two children about their days.
In typical Allison fashion, she rolled her eyes. “All right, I guess.”
“I had a great day,” Eddie said, describing in detail every aspect of his fifth-grade life.
“What about you?” Allison asked when Eddie had finished.
“Me?” Zach replied, and then realized he didn’t have anything to hide. “I hired a new assistant this afternoon.”
“Is she pretty?” Eddie asked.
Before he could answer, the phone rang, and like a comicstrip hero in a mask and cape, Allison dove for the phone. Her enthusiasm died when she discovered it was her mother.
Although Zach could only hear one side of the conversation, it was obvious from Allison’s answer that Rosie had asked what they were doing.
His daughter gave a long, beleaguered sigh. “We’re just sitting around the dinner table and Dad’s telling us about hiring a new assistant.”
Zach wanted to groan aloud. He’d rather Rosie didn’t know that Janice had quit and left him high and dry. The fact that she’d handed in her notice was embarrassing enough. But to own up to the poor choice he’d made when he’d hired her—to Rosie of all people—would be mortifying. It’d been hard enough to admit it to himself.
His appetite gone, Zach stood and carried his plate to the kitchen. He scraped it off and set it inside the dishwasher.
Eddie talked to his mother, too, and after a few minutes, his son called him. “Mom wants to talk to you.”
“Okay, sure.” He knew she wasn’t going to let the information slide, and he was right.
The moment he was on the phone, Rosie asked the question he’d been expecting. “You’re hiring a new assistant?”
“Oh, I guess Allison told you,” he muttered. “I’m trying to get back to family discussions over the dinner table—all of us sharing part of our day.”
“What happened to Janice Lamond?”
She was certainly persistent. “Nothing’s happened to her.”
“If that’s the case, then why are you hiring another assistant?”
“Why?” he repeated as if the answer should be obvious. “I need one.”
“Janice got a promotion, didn’t she?”
“Yes.” Zach could say that in all honesty. Janice had gotten a promotion—only it hadn’t been with his firm. He knew very well that he should admit Janice had been everything Rosie believed. She’d had an agenda that had nothing to do with the job.
“I guess congratulations are in order, then—for Janice, that is.” Rosie sounded deflated.
“Yes…I suppose they are,” he said.
A few moments later, Zach hung up the phone. An uneasy sensation settled over him. He had an inkling that he was going to end up paying for this lie—and soon.
Fifteen
Something was wrong with Jon. Maryellen had been thinking about his strange behavior ever since he’d come to collect Katie the night before. Monday morning, as she pulled into the parking lot at the gallery, her troubled thoughts stayed with her. Harbor Street, which curved around the cove, was bright with Christmas lights arched over the street, and the traditional candy cane displays were suspended in a festive arrangement from the light posts.
Jon was wonderful with Katie, but lately he didn’t linger for more than a minute or two when he was picking her up. He’d even announced that he planned to drop Katie off at Kelly’s house rather than at Maryellen’s.
Until recently, Jon seemed to invent excuses to spend time with her, but now everything had changed. The only reason she could imagine was that he was involved with someone else. The possibility brought with it a curious ache, an unfamiliar distress. Maryellen feared this emotion was jealousy, and she hated the way it made her feel.
By midmorning, she had to know. The first person she asked for advice was her sister. In the first free moment she had between customers she called Kelly, who answered right away.
“Hi,” Maryellen said, forcing a cheerful note into her voice. “I just wanted to make sure Katie’s with you.”
“She is. Jon dropped her off an hour ago.”
“Good.” She strove to maintain a casual tone, although her curiosity was killing her. “How did he seem?”
“Jon? No different than any other time I’ve seen him. He came with Katie, spent a few minutes, exchanged high fives with Tyler and then was out the door. Any reason?”
Ten responses popped into her mind. “He…he seems different these days.”
“Different? How do you mean?”
Maryellen pressed the phone tighter to her ear. She didn’t want to admit he didn’t seem interested in her anymore, especially since that wasn’t even supposed to matter.
“Doesn’t it seem odd that Jon wants to drop Katie off at your house instead of mine?” she asked.
“No.”