“I’m okay.”
Reaching into the fruit drawer, Kate pulled out two apples. “Want one?”
“Sure.”
They settled at the kitchen table, companionably munching their apples. “So you don’t live far?”
Alyssa pointed north. “About a block that way.”
“Great, we’re neighbors!” She reached for a paper napkin. “Did you let your parents know that you were stopping here?”
She shook her head. “It’s just my dad, and he’s at work.”
“Oh.” Kate cleared her throat. She had wondered on Sunday where the girl’s mother was. “Shouldn’t you still check in?”
“In a few minutes. Dad got me a cell phone after…Anyway, I’m not supposed to use it to talk to friends, just if I need him. So I call from home. But we got out an hour early—it’s Teacher Day or something.”
Kate wasn’t thrilled that this likeable girl belonged to the obstinate sheriff, but she knew how parents worried. “Surely he knows that.”
“He’s got a hard job and he forgets little stuff.”
Like when his daughter was due home? He shot down further in her estimation. Sure, divorce was difficult, but if he had primary custody, he needed to step it up. Not something she wanted to say to this child. “Okay, you have to be completely honest with me. Did I stink at teaching your class?”
Alyssa giggled. “Everybody likes you. Sasha’s worried you won’t let us have as many parties as Miss Laroy, but it’s cool that you lived in Houston and you’re an artist.”
“I restore paintings—so I’m a fixer, not an artist.” She leaned forward. “I haven’t taught a Sunday school class in a really long time. Think everyone will give me time to get my footing?”
“Sure. Miss Laroy moved away.”
Kate laughed aloud. The frankness of youth.
“I thought I heard somebody.” Marvin rolled into the room, then scrunched his brows in concentration. “Alyssa?”
The girl beamed, pleased that he remembered her name. “Uh-huh. How do you feel?”
“Still rolling.”
She giggled.
And Marvin grinned in return.
Kate could see that a dose of Alyssa would be very good for her father. “We’re having a snack. You hungry?”
He shook his head. “I’m still stuffed from lunch. Mrs. Ford makes a killer lasagna, but I overdid.”
“It’s about gone.” Kate sighed. “Then you’re in for my cooking, and it won’t be pretty.”
“I can cook,” Alyssa offered, shy again.
“That makes one of us.” Kate glanced at the nearly bare counters. “I wouldn’t mind if the neighbors started bringing over goodies again. We had almost every kind of cake and pie, and—”
“That reminds me,” Marvin interrupted, “I volunteered you to make a pie for the hospital bake sale tomorrow.”
“A pie?” She stared at her father in disbelief. “You know I can’t cook.”
“Making a pie’s not cooking. It’s just fruit and crust.”
Kate rolled her eyes. “You think so? Um, a little detail. I haven’t the faintest idea how to make crust. For that matter, I don’t know what goes in the filling.”
“I do.” Alyssa’s voice was quiet, but her face looked hopeful.
“Really?” This child was a wonder.
“Some people buy canned filling, but it’s easy with real fruit—and it tastes better. We have some peaches that’d make a good pie.”
“I can’t let you do that!”
“Why not?” Alyssa’s large dark eyes grew rounder in expectation.
“Well…I imagine you want to see your friends…and it’s an imposition.”
“I have to go home and call my dad anyway. I could get the peaches and come back.”
Kate stared helplessly at her father.
True to form, he was a big help. “Sounds good to me. Kate teaches you Sunday school, you teach her how to make a pie.”
Alyssa grinned, then hopped up. “I’ll be right back.”
After she scooted out the back door, Kate pinned her father in a chiding gaze. “What was that?”
“You can see the child’s hungry for attention.” Marvin’s grin faded. “Reminds me of another little girl a long time ago.”
“Oh, Dad.” Reaching out, she patted his hand. “You’re such a softie. I thought I noticed something on Sunday, too. Hmm. Her parents are divorced, but I imagine her mother’s still part of her life.” Kate pursed her lips. “You get all the gossip. What do you know?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t meet her father until you did. Seems I heard something about him…. Can’t remember just what it was.”
Kate sighed. “Do you know if you have a pie pan?”
Marvin shrugged.
“Great. This may be a square pie.” She stood and began rummaging in the cabinets. “At least you have flour and sugar.” She sniffed the bag of flour, not sure how to tell if it was stale. “Do you know what goes in crust?”
Marvin shrugged. “Nope.”
“Would you do me a favor?”
“Anything, Katie.”
“Don’t volunteer me for anything else.”
He chuckled. “Small towns aren’t like the city. Everybody gets involved.”
“I think I have enough involvement to last for some time.”
Nearly an hour later, a light knock sounded on the back door.
Kate opened it. Seeing that Alyssa’s hands were full, Kate reached out to help unload them.
“I’m sorry I took so long, but I thought you might not have a pie pan or some of the other stuff we’ll need.”
“Good guess.”
“I need to make a second trip. I’ll be right back.”
She popped out the door again and Marvin laughed. “She’s got enough energy for half a dozen people.”
“Youth, Dad.”
“Speaking from your own advanced years?” he retorted.
“I never thought about it much before. But I look around and see other women my age with two or three kids, and…”
“When the time’s right and the man’s right, you’ll know.”
“You sound very sure.”
“Experience, kiddo. I hit the jackpot with your mother.”
Her throat tightened as she thought of Derek. She’d chosen so very poorly. How could she know that she’d ever get it right?
“We start on the crust first,” Alyssa told her, once she’d brought over all the ingredients. “Cause it needs to be cold.”
Kate frowned. “But if