The Daddy Dance Read Free Page A

he’d already come back to Eden Falls a half-dozen times. He promised himself he’d get more control over his calendar in the weeks to come.
    Lisa nudged his ribs with a sharp elbow. “Right? Tell Kat that it’s no big deal, or she’s going to get out at the traffic light and walk home from there!”
    Rye couldn’t help but smile. He could grouse all he wanted about being called home, but he loved his family, loved the fact that they needed him. “It’s no big deal,” he said dutifully, and then he nodded to Kat. “And you shouldn’t be walking anywhere on that boot. Broken foot?”
    Kat fought against her automatic frown. “Stress fracture.”
    “Ow. Our brother Logan had one of those, a couple of years back. He plays baseball for the Eagles. It took about a month for his foot to heal. A month until he could get back to playing, anyway.”
    Kat started to ask if Logan pitched, like Rye had done, but then she remembered she wasn’t supposed to have recognized Rye. She settled for shrugging instead and saying, “The doctors say I’ve got about a month to wait, myself. I figured it was a good time to come down here. Help out my parents.”
    Rye gave her a sympathetic glance. “I was at their house a few months ago, to install a handheld shower for your father. How’s he doing?”
    “Fine.” Kat curved her lips into the smile she had mastered in her long-ago acting classes. Her father was fine. Susan was fine. Jenny was fine. Everyone was fine, and Kat would be on a northbound train in less than a week.
    “Colon cancer can be rough.” Rye’s voice was filled with sympathy.
    “They say they caught it in time.” Kat was afraid to voice her fears—Mike’s recovery had taken longer than anyone had expected. He’d been in and out of the hospital for six months, and now, with pneumonia…
    At least Rye seemed to believe her. He didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, he assured her, “Everyone’s been real worried about them. Just last week, my mother had me bring by some of her chicken almond casserole. It’ll get your father back on his feet in no time.”
    Kat couldn’t remember the last time she’d cooked for a sick friend. Oh, well. Things were different down here. People had different ways to show they cared. She tried to recall the lessons in politeness that her mother had drilled into her, years before. “I’m sure it was delicious. It was kind of you to bring it by.”
    Rye wondered if he’d somehow made Kat angry—she sounded so stiff. Her hands were folded in her lap, her fingers wrapped around each other in perfect precision, like coils of rope, fresh from the factory. She sat upright like a soldier, keeping her spine from touching the back of her seat. Her eyes flashed as they drove past familiar streets, and each intersection tightened the cords in her throat.
    And then it came to him: Kat wasn’t angry. She was frightened.
    One thing Rye had learned in almost thirty years of dealing with siblings and cousins was how to ease the mind of someone who was afraid. Just talk to them. It was easy enough to spin out a story or two about Eden Falls. He might have moved away, but he could always dredge up something entertaining about the only real home he’d ever known.
    He nodded to the row of little shops they were passing. “Miss Emily just closed up her pet store.”
    Kat barely glanced at the brightly painted storefront, and for a second he thought she might not take the bait. Finally, though, she asked, “What happened?”
    “She couldn’t stand to see any of the animals in cages. She sold off all the mice and gerbils and fish, and then she took in a couple of litters of kittens. She gave them free rein over the whole shop. Problem was, she fell in love with the kittens too much to sell them. If she took money, she couldn’t be sure the animals were going to a good home. So instead of selling them, she gave them away to the best owners she could find. In the end, she decided it