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Helen said, “that’s all. Nothing to do with Erik.”

      “If you say so,” Grace said, but she sounded skeptical. “Maybe you were hoping he’d kiss you again, the way he did at Sullivan’s a few days ago.”

      Helen nearly groaned. So, Grace knew about that, after all. Unfortunately Helen didn’t have time to stick around and debate the subject with her. And what would be the point, anyway? It would only add fuel to the fire. Grace had more than enough fodder for her lunch-hour gossip mill as it was.

      “Mommy, I got a tummy ache,” Daisy told Karen when it was time to get out of the car at the day-care center.

      She’d picked her up from kindergarten five minutes before and spotted her climbing a jungle gym when she drove up. She regarded her daughter with dismay. “You didn’t look sick when you were playing with your friends on the playground.”

      “Because I wasn’t sick then,” she said, clearly exasperated. “I want to go home.”

      “You can’t go home. There’s nobody there to take care of you and I have to go to work. I’m working the late shift today.”

      Daisy’s lower lip quivered. “But I’m sick,” she wailed. “I can stay with Frances.”

      “Frances can’t take care of you all afternoon and evening, Daisy.”

      “Please!”

      Karen felt her own stomach twist into knots. She’d thought she’d put these crises behind her. She’d found a new day-care center that kept both kids ’til five, and thanks to Helen and Dana Sue, she’d found an excellent sitter to pick them up and watch them until she got home. For a week now things had gone smoothly.

      In addition, Dana Sue had interviewed Tess and scheduled an on-the-job evaluation for tomorrow. Karen knew Tess would pass that with flying colors and then Karen’s backup plan could be set in motion.

      She reached into the backseat and put a hand to Daisy’s forehead. No fever, thank goodness. “Sweetie, do you have a pain in your tummy? Or do you just feel sick?”

      “Sick,” she said miserably, then promptly threw up to prove the point.

      Karen wanted to weep. It wasn’t Daisy’s fault. She needed to keep reminding herself of that. Kids picked up a million germs at school, particularly at Daisy’s age. Karen grabbed some tissues and packets of baby wipes, then got out of the car and opened the back door to clean up her daughter.

      “I’m sorry, Mommy,” she said with a sniff.

      “It’s okay, baby. You can’t help getting sick.” The thought of calling the restaurant to tell Dana Sue and Erik what was going on made her feel sick to her stomach, as well.

      “Do I still have to go to day care?” Daisy asked pitifully.

      “No, sweetie. I’m going to take you home.”

      “And stay with me?”

      “Yes, I’ll stay with you.” Maybe she could go to work once the sitter got there, assuming she still had work to go to.

      Half an hour later she had Daisy settled on the couch in front of the TV with a glass of ginger ale. She was about to brace herself to face Erik’s reaction, when it struck her there might be another solution. She dialed Tess.

      “Tess, I know you’re not supposed to have your on-the-job evaluation ’til tomorrow, but I’ve got a problem,” she explained. “Daisy just threw up in the car. The sitter’s not due for three hours. Is there any chance at all you could work today, if Dana Sue agrees?”

      “Hold on and let me check with my mom. She came in early from picking vegetables because the heat was bothering her. If she’s up to babysitting, I can do it.”

      Within minutes she was back. “It’ll work on my end,” Tess said. “Call me as soon as you’ve spoken to Dana Sue. I’ll get ready in the meantime, just in case. Tell her I can be there in half an hour.”

      “Thank you! You’re a lifesaver.” As soon as she’d hung up on Tess, she called the restaurant. Unfortunately it was Erik who answered. “It’s Karen,” she said.

      “You’re late,” he said, obviously exasperated.

      “I know. I was running right on time, but then Daisy got sick. I had to bring her home.”

      “Then you’re on your way?”

      “Actually I need to stay here with her,” she admitted.

      “Not again,” he said, now sounding beyond annoyed. “Karen, things can’t go on like this. I thought these last- minute absences were going to end.”

      “I know. I thought so, too. But it’s not as bad as before. I’ve already spoken to Tess. She can come in for her evaluation right now and take my place. She said she could be there in thirty minutes, if it’s okay with you guys.”

      “Fine,” Erik said tightly.

      “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I really am, but at least this proves that my suggestion about having two of us in this job will work.”

      “That remains to be seen,” he said, then sighed. “Tell Daisy I hope she feels better. She’s had a tough time lately.”

      “Thanks,” she said. “Maybe you could come by sometime and have a tea party with her. She loved that.” And Karen had gotten a huge kick out of watching the very masculine Erik holding one of Daisy’s delicate, tiny teacups and drinking pretend tea.

      “Sure,” he said. “We’ll work it out.”

      She hung up and called Tess back, then called the sitter to tell her she wasn’t needed tonight. She’d either have Frances keep an eye on Daisy for a few minutes while she went back to the day-care center to get Mack, or she’d take Daisy with her.

      In the meantime, she sank onto the sofa next to the now- sleeping Daisy and closed her eyes. Thank heaven for Tess. Without her pitching in, Karen knew that her job would have been history and there would have been nothing Helen or anyone else could have done to save it. Erik’s fragile patience was obviously at an end. And though Dana Sue owned Sullivan’s, Erik had a lot of clout when it came to decisions about what happened in the kitchen.

      Not for the first time, Karen was nearly overwhelmed by just how close to the edge she was living. She had hardly any savings and very little reserve of energy for these constant emergencies. Sometimes when the kids were screaming and she was juggling bills, she wondered just how much longer she could cope without snapping.

      Then she glanced over at her sleeping daughter, her long, dark eyelashes a smudge on her pale skin, and the force of her love for Dasiy flowed through her. She would do anything—anything—to protect her babies and give them the kind of loving home and security she herself had never known.

      Helen wasn’t one bit surprised when she opened her front door at eight that night and found Maddie and Dana Sue on the doorstep. The only surprise was that it had taken them so long.

      “Shouldn’t you be home?” she asked Maddie, then regarded Dana Sue just as inhospitably. “And shouldn’t you be at work?”

      “We would both be where we belong, if you hadn’t taken off from the spa in tears this morning,” Maddie said.

      “And then landed at Wharton’s with Erik, who was so concerned he dragged you over there for a hot-fudge sundae,” Dana Sue added.

      “I see it didn’t take long for that piece of news to make its way around town,” Helen commented sarcastically.

      “It didn’t have to travel far,” Dana Sue said. “Erik told me.”

      “Really? I’m surprised. He doesn’t seem inclined to talk much about himself,” Helen said.

      “In this case, he was talking

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