Disclaimer: fourth verse, same as the first…in other words, I own nothing.
DCS front stepsEmma and Manny walked out of the school full of smiles. "What do you want to do this afternoon?" Manny asked her friend.
"Manny, did you forget my mom came home today," Emma reminded her. "Come on, I can't wait to find out everything they did on their trip."
"Well, not everything," Manny said, with a giggle.
The girls ran down the street toward Emma's house. Snake was outside watering the grass when they arrived. "Hi Archie," Emma greeted.
"Hey Emma, Manny, how was school? Miss me yet?" Snake asked the girls with a wink.
"You bet, Mr. Simpson," Manny told him, "Mr. Raditch is cool, but he really has no idea about computers."
Snake laughed. "Yeah, I can't even tell you how long it took me to teach him to open his email."
The girls laughed as they opened the front door and walked in. "Mom! I'm home!" Emma announced.
Christine walked out of the kitchen where she was preparing dinner. "Hi honey, hi Manny," she greeted.
"Hi, Ms. Nelson…I mean, Mrs. Simpson," Manny giggled, "I keep forgetting."
Christine laughed. "It's okay, I have to correct myself too." Returning to the kitchen, she asked, "How was school? A lot of homework tonight?"
Emma shrugged. "Not really, I finished most of it in passing period. I just have to review for finals coming up." She pulled out two sodas from the refrigerator and two glasses from the cupboard. She passed one of each to Manny as she sat down at the table and turned to her mother. "We want to hear about the trip, Mom, did you have fun?"
Christine smiled. She turned off the gas on the stove and joined the girls at the table. "Well, there's not much to tell. I was a little sick…morning sickness, you know, so we didn't get to do much. But we did take a lot of walks along this beautiful nature trail." Suddenly, she jumped up. "Oh! I forgot! I brought you girls something."
Emma and Manny waited while Christine ran upstairs to retrieve the gifts. When she came down, she handed them identical packages wrapped in newspaper. "Sorry for the paper, that's all the inn had on hand."
The girls opened their packages to reveal miniature wind chimes. "Oh, it's beautiful! Thank you, Mrs. Simpson, I love it!" Manny squealed.
Emma stood up and hugged her mother. "I love it too, Mom, thank you," she said.
Christine stood up again. "I have something for your mother too, Manny," she told her, handing a slightly larger, package to her. "It's just a little something to thank her for letting Emma stay with you."
**********
Joey's house
Craig opened the front door. "Come on, Ang," he called to his little sister, "I've got a lot of homework to do."
As he settled Ang at the table with an afternoon snack, the phone rang. "Jeremiah residence," Craig answered, "this is Craig."
"Hi Craig," Caitlin greeted, "how are you?"
"Caitlin, hi, long time no hear," Craig laughed at his own joke.
"Yeah, I've been busy," Caitlin replied, "anyway, is Joey there?"
"No, he's not home from work yet," Craig answered, "you want to leave a message?"
"Yeah, tell him I'm home," Caitlin told him.
"Okay, I will," Craig said. He hung up the phone and joined Ang at the table. "It looks like we'll be seeing a lot more of Caitlin from now on."
Ang smiled. "Yay, I like Caitlin."
Joey arrived home an hour later. When Craig gave him Caitlin's message, he dialed her cell phone. "Hey Cait," he greeted when she picked up.
"Joey! Hi," Caitlin answered. "Guess where I am?"
"At a hotel, or at your folks' place," Joey answered.
"Nope, I'm standing in the living room of my new condo," she announced.
"Really? That's great. You must really be staying awhile."
"Well, yes, I am staying awhile," she told him, with a smile.
"What's this new job you mentioned?" Joey asked.
"Well, I got this great offer to be a conservation/preservation liason at a downtown P.R. firm," Caitlin began, "I'm really excited about this."
"That's great, Cait, I'm happy for you," Joey said. "When do you start?"
"The day after tomorrow," Caitlin answered.
"Okay, tell you what," Joey began, "I'm going to take you to dinner to celebrate your first day. What do you say?"
"Okay, that sounds like a plan," Caitlin replied.
"Great!" Joey enthused. "Listen, I've got to go. Ang is hanging on my leg. She hasn't been feeling well, so I'll talk to you later, okay?"
After saying goodnight, Joey hung up the phone. He picked Ang up and took her upstairs.
Later that night, after putting his daughter to bed, Joey pulled out his high school yearbook. Craig caught him thumbing through the pages and laughed when he saw a picture of Joey. "Oh my god, you've got hair," Craig cracked himself up.
"Hey, be nice, I was cool," Joey warned him. "You should be so lucky to be as cool as I was."
Craig laughed again and went upstairs. Joey rolled his eyes at his step-son. "Kids," he muttered, and turned back to the yearbook.
(Hope you liked this chapter. Please review! Coming up: Joey and Caitlin's date!)
