They giggled. “Daddy! She did it! Nobody ever gets it right!”
Sam was staring. “I see that, and I am properly impressed.”
Katie shrugged. “You can’t fool a teacher. They see all, know all.”
The girls’ eyes widened. “Really?”
“Pretty much,” Katie said.
Sam saw the rapt expressions on his daughters’ faces and then had to look away for fear Katie might see the same look on his face.
He took the last of the wieners off the grill and turned off the gas.
“Okay, everybody. I think we’re ready to eat,” he said. “Grab your drinks and let’s get inside out of this heat.”
The girls flew back into the house and were sitting in their chairs waiting when Sam put the platter down on the table. Then he pulled out Katie’s chair.
“Thank you,” Katie said, and scooted into her seat.
Both girls looked at each other and giggled, then caught Sam’s look and sucked it up.
“Katie, please help yourself while I fix the girls’ hot dogs.”
“We can do it, Daddy,” Beth said.
“Last time I let you ‘do it,’ I was the one wearing ketchup. So I’ll be doing it for you tonight. You can get your own chips.”
Katie put a blackened dog on her bun, shot it with mustard, then licked a speck of mustard off her thumb before adding pickle relish. But all the while she was putting her hot dog together, she was super aware of Sam.
Sitting at the table with him was like the day she’d ridden in the police cruiser with him. Then, she’d thought it was the gun and the badge that had given him presence, but now she was feeling it again, and he had neither. He was calm, patient but firm, and the girls didn’t argue with him. She was impressed.
“Don’t wait on us,” Sam said. “Dig in.”
Katie took a bite. “Mmm, oh my gosh…so good.”
Sam was more pleased than he had a right to be. It was just a hot dog, but Katie was treating it like fine dining.
“Okay, baby girls, remember the rules. Hot dogs on the plates. In your mouths. Not on your clothes.”
The girls giggled.
“Daddy made a rap,” Evie said.
“That’s ’cause Daddy can’t sing,” Sam said. “Now calm down and eat. Dessert is a surprise.”
“We love surprises!” they said.
Katie smiled. “I love surprises, too.”
Sam shook his head. “Even if it’s on the same cooking level as hot dogs?”
“Most especially if it’s on a level with hot dogs,” Katie said.
Sam sighed. “Then all I have to say is you are so in the right place.”
Katie gave him a thumbs-up because there was no way she could voice what she was feeling.
As the meal progressed, the girls were full of questions, but they’d obviously been warned not to be nosy because instead of asking Katie outright, they would turn and first ask Sam if they could ask Katie. And the longer it went on, the more comical it became.
Evie waved a potato chip to get Sam’s attention and then poked it in her mouth, chewing and talking at the same time.
“Daddy, came we ask Miss Katie about her brothers and sisters?”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” Beth cried.
Sam flinched, but before he could respond, Katie answered.
“I don’t have any brothers or sisters,” she said. “Are you girls getting excited about school starting?”
They nodded, then Beth held up her hand for permission to speak.
“Daddy, can we ask her if she’s going to be our teacher?”
Katie just smiled at Sam and shook her head as if to say I’ve got this.
“I don’t know who will be in my class,” Katie said. “And I’m not the one who will choose. They’ll be assigned to me.”
“We can’t read so much,” Evie said.
“Yeah, not much,” Beth added.
“You’re not supposed to know all that before you start a new grade. That’s what you’ll learn during the next school year. Every year, you learn new things, right?”
They nodded and were about to nail her again when Sam ended what was becoming an interrogation.
“Who’s ready for dessert?” he asked.
All three females raised their hands.
Sam grinned, and when he got up, Katie got up, too, and began clearing the dirty plates from the table.
“You don’t have to do that,” Sam said.
“I’m not doing it because I have to,” Katie said.
Sam didn’t say anything more, but it felt good to have a partner in the kitchen. By the time he had ice cream sundaes made, the table was cleared.
The girls clapped when they saw their desserts. Vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and sprinkles.
“We love sprinkles,” they echoed.
“Who doesn’t love sprinkles?” Katie said, and dug a bite out of the top of the sundae and popped it in her mouth. “Yum.”
The girls took bites and swallowed. “Yum,” they repeated, and then for the first time, they were silent.
Sam winked at Katie. “I think the cold has frozen the words on their tongues.”
“No, my words aren’t frozen,” Evie said. “Just my tongue.”
Sam sighed. He’d spoken too soon.
Katie stifled a laugh.
As soon as dessert was over, Sam sent the girls to their room to play. The ensuing silence was welcome, but for Sam, a little scary. He almost wished he didn’t know anything about Katie. It would have been easier to make small talk. And there wasn’t much left to talk about, since his daughters had pretty much covered what was left.
But Katie came to his rescue and started asking questions about him while he was loading the dessert dishes into the dishwasher.
“Did you grow up here?” Katie asked.
“I grew up just outside of Nashville. My parents still live there. Where did you grow up?” he asked.
“In the Chicago area. I was a foster kid. I got moved around a lot.”
Sam looked at her. “It must have been rough.”
“Mostly,” she said, and then shrugged. “What made you want to go into law enforcement?”