Chapter Two
Memories

November, 1993

"What's going on, Katie?"

Katie huffs out a sigh, her feet shuffling through the leaves that coat the trail. "Nothing," she lies. When her mother stays silent, though, she sighs again. "I hate my teacher."

"Now, Katie-"

"I know, 'hate is a strong word,'" she interrupts, repeating words she's heard a million times. "She's just so boring and mean and I don't get any of it. Why do I even need geometry? It's not like I'm going to be a mathematician."

Johanna is silent for several long moments, but Katie knows better than to keep talking. That's when she gets herself into trouble.

"I had a hard time with math," she finally begins. "Like you. Algebra was okay, but I struggled a lot with geometry. But I pushed through. I had to learn how to ask for help, but I did it. Now, you don't like your teacher, that's fine." She pauses and Katie can hear her smirk. "I don't like her very much either. But you will always have to deal with people you don't like. Classmates, teachers, even coworkers and bosses. You can't just ignore them."

Katie rolls her eyes, and her mom nudges her shoulder.

"You've been talking about Stanford since you were four years old," she continues. "Whether you use geometry as an adult or not, that doesn't matter right now. Right now, you need it to keep your grades up and get a good score on the SATs, so you can even try to get in."

Katie kicks a rock out of her way and shoves her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket. She doesn't want to admit it, but her mom's right. Stanford has been her dream college for as long as she can remember, and if she doesn't pull her grade up, she'll lose the chance to go.

"You're right," she mumbles.

"What was that?"

"You're right," she repeats, just a little louder. "I'm sorry. I'll try harder."

"You'll-"

"Ask for extra credit."

"And-"

"Actually turn in my assignments."

"And-"

"What else?"

Johanna glances at her. "What will you do if you don't understand something?"

"Ugh, fine. I'll ask Mrs. Roberts for help if I need it."

Kate doesn't have to look at her mom to know that there's a self-satisfied smirk on her face. She's seen that smirk before. Luckily, the "I told you so" doesn't come until the end of term, when Katie brings home an A.

Many years later

"Hi babe," Kate greets her husband with a kiss, runs her fingers through his hair. "How was the day?"

Rick leans back in his desk chair and stretches his arms out before shutting his laptop. "My day was fine," he says. When Kate just lifts a brow, he jerks his head in the direction of the stairs. "Your daughter had a tough one, though."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Midterm grades."

Kate nods in understanding. She's seen Lily hunched over her chemistry book more times than she can count with her nose in a familiar scrunch. "Bad?" she asks.

Rick shrugs. "She got a B. I tried telling her that it's okay, especially since she tries so hard, but she's been sulking all afternoon." He tugs Kate onto his lap and lifts his mouth to hers.

"I'll go talk to her," Kate murmurs when she pulls away. "I had a similar issue when I was her age with math. Well, I just wasn't trying." She pushes herself up and ruffles Rick's hair. "Do you mind doing dinner?"

"Not at all." Rick's lips lift in a slow smile, and Kate can't help but kiss him again. "Take your time," he adds. "I'll check on you in a bit."

Kate raps lightly on Lily's door and waits until she hears a muffled invitation to enter. When she opens the door she finds her daughter facedown on the bed, head covered by a pillow, and she can't help but smile.

Her dad has said many times that Lily is practically Kate's clone. And this sulking is definitely giving Kate deja vu from when she was a teenager.

"What's wrong, Lil?" Kate asks, shutting the door behind her with a soft click.

"Nothing."

Kate lowers herself to the mattress and puts her hand on her daughter's back. "I heard midterm grades were released."

"Ugh!" Lily grunts and flings herself onto her back, her pillow falling to the floor. "Why can't I just pay someone to take chemistry for me? We're rich enough for it."

Kate just raises her eyebrows at her daughter, a trick she'd learned from her own mother. It has the same effect on Lily, causing her to flush and look away.

"I didn't mean that," Lily mumbles.

"I know. So what did you mean?"

"It's just-" She huffs. "It's just so hard! I read and I study and I just don't get it! And if I don't get an A then my GPA will drop and I won't get into Princeton and my life will be ruined."

"Come here." Kate motions for Lily to sit up, and drapes her arm around her shoulders. "Have you talked to Mr. Sanchez, try and get some extra help?"

"No."

"Okay, that's the second thing I want you to do. Your dad and I would be happy to meet with him if you want, but it will be better coming from you. We won't pay for someone to take the class for you-" Kate feels Lily's chuckle. "But we will pay for a tutor. And you know who else knows a lot of chemistry, who I'm sure would be happy to help?"

"Who?"

"Your sister."

Lily sniffles and lifts her head from Kate's shoulder. "But she's in Miami."

Kate nods. "Yes, and there's this thing called video calls. You should try them some time."

"Funny."

"Maybe you can talk to her when she's here next week."

Lily gives her a slightly panicked look. "How did you know-"

"I can read your father like a book," Kate reminds her. "I know he's planning a surprise birthday party, and I know Alexis is coming for it."

Lily's cheeks flush, confirming Kate's suspicion. "Please still act surprised?" she begs. "Dad's really excited."

"Don't worry, I'm really good at that."

Lily chuckles and Kate finally feels her relax. After a few minutes Kate hears light footsteps in the hallway, and she hears her husband say something to the twins. She stands and tugs Lily up.

"Come on, let's go downstairs. I put your father in charge of dinner, and he's liable to order from ten different restaurants if he thinks it will cheer you up. He's done it before."

Lily steps into her arms and gives her a long hug before moving away and shoving her hands in the pocket of her hoodie. "Thanks, Mom."

Kate brushes her hand along Lily's thick hair. "Any time, sweetheart."

"Wait - what was the first thing?"

"Hmm?"

"You said talking to Mr. Sanchez is the second thing I should do. What's the first?"

"Ah." Kate motions to the bed. "The first is to take the evening to wallow. Scream into your pillow, cry, eat a bunch of ice cream, whatever makes you feel better tonight."

That gets a smile from the teenager. "Think Dad will let me eat all the potato chip fudge?"

"He will if you give him your puppy dog eyes." Kate opens the door to find the man in question on the other side, as she's expected, pretending like he wasn't trying to eavesdrop. "Speaking of," she mutters to Lily, nudging her.

Rick glances between the two of them. "Speaking of what?"

Lily breezes past him with an all-too-innocent "Nothing," pausing only to hug him, but before Kate can follow their daughter downstairs he grabs her hand and tugs her into his side. "Everything okay?"

Kate locks her fingers at the small of his back. "It will be." She sighs and drops her forehead to her husband's sternum, feels his arms encircle her back. "It's times like these I miss my mom the most," she admits into his shirt. "When I could use her advice on how to raise a teenage daughter."

"Could she have helped with raising almost-teenage twins?" Rick grumbles as the boys rush downstairs.

"What'd they do?"

"Nothing. Today," Rick adds, his voice filled with dread. He drops a kiss on the top of Kate's head and takes a step back. "I ordered Italian. From Tony's."

"Pizza?"

"And lasagna for Lil."

Kate loops her arms around his neck and lifts her mouth to his, but keeps the kiss short and chaste lest any of their children come back upstairs. "You're amazing," she murmurs against his mouth, kissing him once more before taking his hand. "I might have volunteered Alexis as a source for advice or help. And if Lily wants one, we'll pay for a tutor."

"We're not just going to pay for someone to take the class for her?"

Rick's chuckle echoes through the loft when Kate pinches his side.