Josh nodded, as though it was a natural occurrence for girls to appear in his living room. “Sometimes Elise forgets that people might not like our canine greeting committee.”
I bet.
He showed me into the kitchen, and I tried to think of something intelligent to say while I washed my hands.
“You look older,” I said, and wasn’t sure why I’d chosen this. “I guess that’s what happens.”
“Yeah. You look older too.”
The conversation was off to a roaring start. I turned off the water and smiled at him.
Maybe I ought to take the direct approach. Maybe I ought to just say, “I have a problem, and I was wondering if you could help me out . . .”
“Are you going to the park, I mean the fair, you know, the thing outside?”
“Yeah, Dan put me in charge of the pie-eating contest.” Josh nodded over to the counter, where several dozen pies were stacked up in rows. They were the store-bought kind that didn’t look appetizing enough to eat at all, let alone scarf down in large quantities during a contest.
I let my hands drip into the sink while I looked around for a towel to wipe them on. I finally located one hanging from the refrigerator door and walked to it. Goliath saw me by the refrigerator and trotted over. With ears pricked, he watched me intently, as though I might be about to open the refrigerator and produce a ham for him.
Josh came over to pull the dog away from me again. He gave Goliath a push, then stepped between the dog and me. Josh was so close I could have thrown my arms around him if I’d wanted to. I wanted to, but I refrained.
“Do you need help carrying the pies out?” I asked.
“No, the pie-eating contest isn’t going to happen for another hour or so.” He didn’t move away from the refrigerator—or from me. “That’s nice of you to offer, though.”
Even though my hands were quite dry now, I didn’t move. “So what have you been doing since you got back to Pullman?”
“Mostly laundry.”
“Oh. Fun.”
And that pretty well exhausted my entire repertoire of small talk. He was probably waiting for me to excuse myself, and yet I didn’t go. “It sounds like you’re ready for a break.
Why don’t you come outside now? I’ll give you a discount on the Jell-O toss event.”
He smiled, then looked down at his watch. “All right. I guess if I don’t go out soon, Dan will accuse me of not supporting him.”
The two of us walked to the front door. Goliath tried to follow us, but Josh shut the door on him before he could escape.
I heard Goliath bark sadly from behind the door, and when I glanced back at the house, he was standing at the entryway window, forlorn, with his nose pressed against the glass. It made me smile.
“He’s kinda cute in a gargantuan way.”
“He still hasn’t forgiven me for going off to college. He doesn’t want to let me out of his sight now.”
Something Goliath and I had in common.
We ambled down Josh’s lawn, and as we did, Katya came running across the street toward us, with Cassidy close behind.
Just my luck. I’d had a total of four minutes alone with Josh, and now Cassidy arrived in the picture. Apparently Destiny was still out to lunch somewhere, downing curly fries and root beer instead of helping me with my love life.
Cassidy caught up with her sister just as she made it to the Bensons’ lawn. She scooped up the little girl and very firmly said, “Nyet, Katya, a car could have hit you.”
Elise and Logan crossed the street next, both out of breath, and joined Cassidy on the Bensons’ lawn.
“That kid is fast,” Elise said.
Katya wiggled in Cassidy’s arms, then decided Cassidy’s necklace merited interest and wound her fingers around it.
Josh walked over to the group, and I followed silently. He gazed at Katya in Cassidy’s arms, and then at Cassidy.
“This is your new little sister? She’s beautiful.”
“Thanks.” Cassidy said the word stiffly, looking at Katya and not at Josh.
Katya wriggled around some more, and Cassidy put her down. For a moment she looked as though she was going to sprint someplace else; then she noticed Goliath staring out the window. She cocked her head and studied him. “Bear!”
Cassidy glanced at the door. “No, Katya, that’s Goliath. He’s a dog.”
“Bear,” Katya said again, and headed toward him.
Elise chuckled and crossed her arms. “See, her English isn’t so bad.”
Josh watched Katya, still smiling. “Does she know any sentences yet?”
Cassidy didn’t answer for a moment, because she went to retrieve her sister. She came back holding Katya in her arms. “She can say, ‘I love you, Mama,’ but that’s because they taught her how to say it in the orphanage. I’ve been trying to teach her to say, ‘I love you, Cassidy,’ ever since we got her, but she just won’t.”
“Here, let me try.” Elise held out her hands and took the little girl from Cassidy. She brushed Katya’s hair away from her face and looked at her steadily. “Repeat, Katya, ‘I love you, Cassidy.’ ”
Katya stared at her with wide, unblinking eyes and didn’t say anything.
“ ‘I love you, Cassidy,’ ” Elise said again.
Katya put one hand on Elise’s lips as though she wondered if it was possible to peel them off.
Elise grinned, then handed Katya to her brother. “Here, Josh, you give it a try.”
Josh glanced from Katya to Cassidy, then back to Katya. He cleared his throat and shifted his feet. “Say, ‘I love you, Cassidy.’ ”
“Try it with feeling now,” Elise said.
With a little more emotion he said, “I love you, Cassidy.”
Elise smirked happily at him.
“Let me try.” Logan held out his hands to Katya, and she came to him with a giggle.
She clearly thought this was some funny American game people played at get-togethers.
In a voice that sounded like a dramatic actor’s, Logan said, “Repeat, ‘I love you, Cassidy. I really, really love you. You are the dearest thing in my heart.’ ”
Katya laughed, but I wanted to slap Logan. To think that just days ago, he’d accused me of being an incurable flirt, and here he was performing a one-man love fest in Cassidy’s honor.
I shouldn’t have cared. After all, Logan was the most irritating guy alive. I should have hoped he hooked up with Cassidy. They deserved each other. But as Logan went on and on about his undying passion for her, a knot of anger grew in my stomach. Finally Logan exhausted his expressions of love, and he looked over at me.
“She’s not buying it from me,” he said, and handed the little girl to me. “Why don’t you give it a try?”
He probably thought I couldn’t say anything to Cassidy at this point without throwing in a few insults. He was almost right. I gritted my teeth into a smile. “ ‘I . . . love . . . you . . .
Cassidy.’ ”
Katya twisted around in my arms to look back at the Bensons’ window. “Bear!”
Everyone laughed, and Cassidy reached over and took Katya from my arms. “I guess that’s enough English lessons for now.” Katya wound her arms around her sister’s neck, and Cassidy held her close. Then Cassidy bent down and gave the little girl a kiss on the top of her head.
Josh and Logan both watched this display of sisterly affection with rapt attention.
Logan even said, “Ohhh.”
So. Apparently, all that time I’d spent studying fashion magazines to learn what attracted men had been a waste of time. What really got to guys was a girl who kissed her little sister. I had a sudden urge to say, “If any of my brothers had been a girl, I would kiss them.”
Josh’s gaze remained on Katya. He reached out and ran one finger across her cheek.
“She really is beautiful.”
Cassidy smiled, the stiffness falling away from her. “I think so.”