Page 52 of Taking The Shot

“What?”

Keith blinked. “Awhatnow?”

Paige’s grin was pure mischief, her eyes glinting in the dim glow of the dashboard. “A cat. You promised. You won the game, we’re moved in, and you said when we got here and settled that we’d get a cat. Time to pay up.”

Oh, heck. Hehadsaid that.

And he had completely forgotten.

Keith groaned and scrubbed a hand down his face. His little bloodthirsty heathens never forgot a thing, it seemed. Not when it worked in their favor. His daughter was practically a vault when it came to comments he made in passing, yet somehow never remembered to pick up her Barbie shoes off the floor and out of the couch cushions.

And worse?

From the passenger seat, Constance was laughing—full-on, shoulders-shaking, completely unsympathetic laughter—because she already knew this was coming.

Keith shot her a narrow-eyed glare. “You could’ve warned me.”

“And miss this reaction? Not a chance.”

Betrayal. Utter betrayal. He turned back to Paige, who looked way too pleased with herself. “Listen, kiddo. You don’t spring big things on someone when they’re still basking in the afterglow of a major life accomplishment. There should be a grace period.”

Paige propped her chin on her hand, thinking. “How long?”

“Like… a year.”

She snorted. “You said ‘when we get settled.’We’re settled.”

Keith exhaled dramatically and muttered under his breath, “I really gotta start watching what I say around you.”

Constance, still shaking with silent laughter, patted his knee like she was consoling a wounded soldier. “I guess this is what parenting is like? Having a steady, walking and talking reminderof things you’ve said?” he tossed lightly to her in a knowing whisper.

“Oh, very much so,” she said with a wicked smile. “That, and inappropriate questions when you least expect it in public.”

Keith winced. “Lovely.”

“It really is,” she grinned, tilting her head toward him.

He let out a dramatic sigh, but his lips curled in an easy smile as he flicked a glance her way, his heart settling in a way it never had before.

“I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

13

CONSTANCE

The car hummedalong the road, the faint glow of early morning light filtering through the windshield. Constance turned in her seat, casting a sharp, knowing look at the two deceptively angelic faces in the back. Paige and Kayla sat primly, hands clasped in their laps, their eyes wide with forced innocence.

Keith, gripping the steering wheel like it was his last tether to sanity, heaved a sigh so heavy it might have physically lowered the car. Constance ignored him.

“All right – ground rules, girls,” Constance began pointedly, looking over her shoulder in the car at the two excited faces the next morning… and ignoring Keith’s heavy sigh of defeat. “First of all, we wash our hands when we are done visiting the cats –with soap.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Her radar just pinged wildly as she squinted her eyes at the two wide-eyed angels that were looking at her, perched on the back seat. The glow from the sunlight could have been a halo at that moment… but it was more like a glare to hide the horns.

“I’m serious,” Constance continued. “And we are just looking today. We do not have to bring home the first cat. There arethousands of cats in this world, and we need to make sure it’s the right one to fit with our family.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

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