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Kate chuckled. “No worries, I’m sure we have the perfect thing. Let’s see… your son is eight? Nine?”

“He’s nine.”

“Follow me.”

Kate and Phoebe headed up the stairs and to the room that housed all of the childrens’ and young adults’ literature. Reaching for a book on the top shelf, Kate knocked the adjacent book off balance and it tumbled to the floor. “Oh get up and get back where you belong!” Kate said to the book as she returned it to its proper place. Retrieving the book she had in mind for Phoebe’s son, she handed it to Phoebe and said, “You might want to take a look at this one. I think he’ll love it.”

“Flyboys,” Phoebe read off the cover, flipping it over in her hand.

“It goes through a chronological history of famous pilots, and has tons of neat stories both about their lives and about the planes they flew. It even gets into space travel a bit at the end. It’s a really interesting read, but not too advanced for a nine-year-old.”

“Sold!” said Phoebe, who started to head down the stairs to the counter. “How much is it?”

Kate stepped behind the register and scanned the book. “It’s $8.99.”

“Small price to pay for some peace and quiet! Thanks, Kate. You’re the best.”

“I try,” she said, handing Phoebe the bag containing her purchase. “See you at church on Sunday.” Kate felt her phone buzzing in her pocket and waved goodbye to Phoebe with one hand while she pulled out her phone with the other.

“Hello?” she said. “What? You’re what? Are you kidding me? You better believe I’m excited!”

~~~~~

Kate left The Bestselling Dwelling at the end of her shift and stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things before heading over to Rick and Amy’s house to cook dinner and spend the evening with her dear friends and their two little boys. Although she enjoyed frequent solitary nights in her apartment with a good book (even though the time alone was probably what gave birth to Kate’s habit of talking to things such as her hair and her iPod), she also loved spending time with the Baileys.

She met Amy in her children’s literature class during their freshmen year. Amy was a confident, extroverted girl who wasn’t afraid to tell you what she thought, and she and Kate quickly became friends when they were the only two brave enough to speak up during class discussions. When Kate and Amy realized that they were both Christians, they immediately bonded on another level. While many students were out partying on a Friday night, Kate preferred to spend her time in newlyweds Rick and Amy’s tiny apartment, cooking amazing meals with whatever ingredients they could afford, playing board games, and laughing until the early morning hours. Many times it was just the three of them, but Rick and Amy never made her feel like a third wheel. She somehow just seemed to fit in the equation.

When graduation rolled around, Kate found herself with an English degree and no real direction. So when Rick and Amy told her about Meredith’s store, which was in desperate need of a manager since Mark’s passing, she had no reason to say no.

While she struggled to pull three paper bags full of groceries out of her car (she was going to make Mexican food, a favorite of hers as a native Californian), she heard the front door open and slam shut. Five seconds later, she heard two little voices.

“Kate! Kate! Can we carry a bag?”

She smiled down at six-year-old Parker and four-year-old Todd. Growing up, she had never been around children much. She was an only child and spent much of her free time in high school working at the local pizza joint instead of babysitting like many of her friends. Parker and Todd were two adorable reasons that Kate had decided she’d like to have children someday.

“Here you go, Parker, you can carry this bag,” she said, handing him the lightest bag. Todd stood there with outstretched arms and a huge heart-melting grin. Knowing that his little arms weren’t strong enough to carry a heavy bag of groceries, she still didn’t want to disappoint him by refusing his help. She grabbed the giant plastic bottle of margarita mix out of one of the bags and handed it to Todd.

“Here buddy, this is a very special bottle for you to carry. Can you take this inside to your daddy?”

“Yes! I can do it!” said Todd enthusiastically. He proudly scurried off towards the house, bottle in tow.

Kate chuckled to herself, knowing that her intentional irony of choosing the margarita mix to give to a four-year-old would not be lost on Rick, and she was right. She heard Rick’s hearty laughter and his voice through an open window in the kitchen. “Why thank you for bringing me this…this giant bottle of margarita mix, Todd. You’re so helpful.” And then a second later, “Kate! Stop corrupting my son and get your behind in the house. I’m starving!”

The group of five enjoyed a dinner of tacos loaded with Kate’s famous homemade guacamole (the secret to it was lots of garlic and cilantro with just a hint of lime juice) and ice cream for dessert. Reminiscing about college, they began to recount stories from their college years.

“Do you remember tape faces, Kate?” asked Amy.

“Um, of course I do. I still can’t believe you convinced me to participate in that.”

“Tape faces?” said Rick. “What are you talking about?”

“Baby, you remember tape faces. You’ve seen the pictures, I’m sure.” Rick shrugged, apparently not recalling the alleged pictures. “We took pieces of masking tape and taped them all over our faces. I think we had our noses taped up like pigs and our eyes and lips taped in crazy ways to completely contort our faces. Then we walked through the freshmen boys’ dorm and tried to get some phone numbers for Kate.”

“Which we did not,” said Kate.

“Look, if none of those boys had the sense of humor to appreciate tape faces, then they
clearly
weren’t worth your time.”

“Your mommy is a little crazy,” Rick whispered to the boys, who were focused on their ice cream.

“Oh, please,” said Amy. “Like you weren’t a little crazy yourself. Remember the time you and a bunch of guys decided it would be funny to fill the little pond near the cafeteria with dish soap? There were bubbles in there for weeks!”

“You’ll never be able to prove that I was a part of that,” said Rick with an expressionless face that could fool a prosecutor. It certainly had been able to fool the dean of the college. “But, speaking of bubbles, it’s time to bathe these filthy boys. Come on, Tarker and Podd. Bath time.”

“Dad! That’s not our names!” they said through their giggles as they hurried down the hall after him.

Stuffed, Amy began to clear the dishes while Kate put on a pot of coffee.

“Thanks for dinner,” said Amy, scrubbing the cutting board covered with avocado remnants. “It was delicious, as always. You’re so sweet to come over and cook for us.”

“You know it’s my pleasure, Ames. I love spending time with your sweet family. And besides, cooking for one isn’t very fun,” said Kate.

“Speaking of cooking for one,” said Amy slyly, “what’s going on with you? Met anyone special recently?”

“Oh please,” she replied. “You’d be the first to know if I had.” Kate hadn’t dated much in the past few years. Sure, there were a few guys here and there, but she wasn’t really one to be interested in casual relationships. She picked up the pan that had been used to transform tortillas into hard taco shells and ran it under the hot water. “But…I actually did get an interesting phone call at work this morning.”

“Oh? Who was it?”

“Ian,” Kate replied nonchalantly. Amy put down the cutting board dramatically and said, “Ian? Wait, Ian from college Ian? Ian who everyone thought you were dating because you spent so much time with Ian? Ian who went off to law school Ian? Ian who I tried to convince you time and time again was
your soul mate
Ian
?
That
Ian?”

Kate smiled. “That’s the one.”

“Okay. Just making sure I had the right person,” said Amy with fake nonchalance. She had known full well whom Kate was referring to. “Hmmm. Ian. Well, you talk on the phone from time to time, right? What made this phone call so interesting?”

“He’s moving to Raleigh.”

“What?!” shrieked Amy, dropping a handful of dirty ice cream spoons into the sink with a clatter that made Kate jump. “He’s moving to Raleigh?”

“He just found out that he got a job as a junior associate at Wilson, Warnock & Levinson. Apparently he applied all over the country, but he liked this firm the best out of everywhere that he interviewed. They have a big focus on patent law…or maybe it has something to do with contracts…well, whatever he’s interested in, that’s what they do. So he’ll be here in two weeks!”

Amy smiled and picked up a towel to dry the pan that Kate had finished washing. “Well, I guess we’ll be seeing less of you in two weeks, won’t we? It’s only a little over an hour to Raleigh. I’m sure you’ll both want to reconnect,” she said with a smirk and a raised brow.

“Kate!” called Parker from down the hall. “Daddy said you would read us a bedtime story. Will you do the voices like last time?”

“I’m coming, guys!” she yelled. She flicked some of the soapsuds from her hands at Amy and said, “Don’t get ahead of yourself. Ian and I are just friends. We’ve never been anything more.”

“Whatever you say,” Amy said to Kate’s back as she left the room to go read a bedtime story to the boys.

“Interesting,” said Amy with a knowing smile. “Very interesting.”

Dear Mom,

In the two months since Ian moved to Raleigh, I see him at least two or three times every week. It’s surprising because it seems like he’s always working, but somehow we’ve found the time. Sometimes I drive up to Raleigh on my day off to meet him at his office and go to lunch. He’s been over to Rick and Amy’s a couple of times for dinner and once for a game night. (Don’t worry, I bankrupted him in Monopoly. I know you’d be proud.) He drives over to Rocky Mount almost every Sunday to come to church with me. And the most fun part is that he’s letting me decorate his apartment. He’s got a great loft in the city, but poor guy, no aesthetic eye whatsoever.

Maybe “poor guy” wasn’t the best choice of words, because now that he’s a lawyer he’s definitely not poor. Remember how in college he would never pay for anything? I seriously don’t remember him ever buying me a meal. Well, now he pays whenever we go out. And I’m not talking about just grabbing a sandwich or coffee (although he pays then, too). He takes me out to nice dinners all the time and insists on buying expensive meals and fancy desserts. It’s nice to be treated this way, for once. I’m really enjoying myself. What can I say? I like being spoiled.

Thanksgiving is coming up soon, and I’m sorry to say that I won’t be able to afford a plane ticket home. You know how expensive it is to fly across the country, especially during holidays. But I’ve been saving up and I’ll definitely be home for Christmas. Meredith has already told me I could have several days off, so I plan to spend the whole time with you in Carmel. I can’t wait to see you! I love living out here, but I miss you so much I can hardly bear it. Start looking through your puzzle collection and pick one out for us to do when I’m home, okay?

Anyway, Thanksgiving. Meredith and the Baileys are going over to Amy’s parents’ house, and of course they invited me to join them, but I’m going to do something a little different this year. Ian has invited his parents and his sister from Chicago to Thanksgiving dinner in his new place and he wants me to join them. I think we’ll be done decorating by then, and I’m going to teach Ian how to cook a turkey. It should be fun! It’s so nice having him here. It’s just like old times. Except with better food.

Lots of love, Your favorite daughter, Katie-Bug

Kate pulled an envelope that matched her polka dotted stationary out of her desk and addressed it to her mother: Olivia Henry, 41088 N. Lavender Ct., Carmel, CA 93922. She smiled as she thought of her childhood home by the ocean. She had been writing letters to her mother for years. Sure, there were always plenty of emails and phone calls, but there was something about pulling out a piece of paper and hand writing words onto it that was so appealing to Kate. She was very close to her mother and wanted to keep her in the loop of what was happening in her life, but she wasn’t always the best with expressing her feelings through a phone call. She found that she was able to communicate better when she had time to sit down and process her thoughts by writing a letter. Besides, Olivia loved reading the letters from her daughter. She kept every one in chronological order in a box in her sewing room.