One Year Later

It had been a rough transition, but Sam felt as if he was finally home. They'd moved from South Dakota a few weeks earlier, just after Kayla's eleventh birthday and right before school started. Kayla had resisted the move fiercely at first. She worried that being so far away from her grandpa and uncle Bobby meant that she'd never see them. She worried she wouldn't make friends. But once they were settled, Kayla reluctantly admitted that she 'sorta liked it'.

Kayla ran up the stairs, excited to be invited to a sleepover for the first time ever. Her mother would be much easier to convince than her father. Back in South Dakota, Sam had known all her friends, all her friends' parents, and it made it easier to do things with them away from home when she wanted to. When she noticed her father was already home, she decided to get it over with.

"Daddy, I'm home!"

"I'm in the kitchen!"

Kayla walked in and started talking right away. "I need to ask you some…." she stopped when she noticed someone at the table she'd never seen before. "Oh. Hi."

"Hi, there."

"Kay, this is Mr. Lindstrom. We work together." Sam explained.

Kayla waved a little, her shyness taking over.

"It's nice to meet you, Kay."

Kayla winced. "You too. But please don't call me Kay. I only like my parents calling me that."

"Kayla Ellen…" Sam started to reprimand her for being rude, but Art cut him off.

"It's okay, Sam. My apologies, Kayla. You can call me Art. I hope we can be friends one day."

Kayla couldn't explain it, even to herself at first, but she didn't trust Art. Her instinct told her to get as far away from him as she could.

"Kay, you said you wanted to ask me something?"

"Oh. Yeah. I got invited to a sleepover tomorrow. Can I go? Please, please, please?"

"Who with?" Sam asked.

"A girl in my class."

"And since you won't give me her name I'm guessing Mommy and I haven't met her or her parents." Sam guessed. "You know the rules, Kayla."

"Daddy, please. It's my first sleepover ever."

"Why don't you invite your friends here next weekend, and then me and Mommy can decide if you can go to one later in the school year?" Sam suggested.

Kayla scowled. "Because no one wants to sleep over with a girl they don't know."

"We'll talk about it later tonight, Kay." Sam said.

"That means no."

"It means that when Mommy gets back from Mary's doctor's appointment, she and I will talk about it. Unless you want an answer right now, in which case it's no." Sam said.

When Kayla turned to leave the kitchen, Sam very nearly gave in. He could see the tears forming and he was transported back to his younger days. All Kayla wanted was friends, just like Sam when he was her age. The difference, of course, was that they had a stable home, and there really wasn't a good reason that Kayla couldn't go, other than the fact that Sam and Jess hadn't met the parents. Which wasn't Kayla's fault.

"Kay?"

Kayla turned around, and there was no attitude, no defiance there whatsoever. Just a loneliness and a longing for friends her own age, a need Sam more than empathized with.

"I know you've had a hard time making friends. I will talk to Mommy when she gets home. Give me your friend's phone number, and if Mommy's okay with you going, we will call your friend's parents and go over and meet them tonight."

"And…."

"And if we trust them, we will let you go tomorrow." Sam said.

Kayla smiled. "Okay. Thanks, Daddy."

"You're welcome. Go on, go do your homework."

"Yes, sir." Kayla said. She turned back to Art, and the weird feeling still hadn't gone away. But she knew Daddy expected her to be polite. "Bye."

"Bye, Kayla." Art said with a smile that unsettled Kayla. Kayla turned and went to her bedroom as fast as she could.