"Hey, Mom," Maya called out.
"Yeah, sweetie?" Katy answered.
"Whatcha' doin'?" Maya asked, trying to be casual.
Katy gave Maya a weird look. "What do you mean? I'm playing euchre right now."
"Can you come here, please?" Maya asked nicely.
Katy looked around at the other players, sighed, and excused herself. She stood from her chair in the kitchen and walked over to the couch where Maya was sitting.
"Yes?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and looking at Maya expectantly.
Maya wiggled her finger, motioning for her mother to move closer. Katy leaned closer.
Riley scooted away from Maya and patted the seat in between her and Maya. Katy sat down.
"What is it, girls?" Katy asked, looking from one to the other.
Riley lowered her voice. "We just wanted to talk to you a little bit."
Katy mirrored Riley and lowered her voice as well. "About what?" she asked, growing tired of the game.
"We have a couple questions about Shawn," Maya said hesitantly, not knowing what reaction to expect from her mother.
"Okay?" Katy asked.
"So, what do you think about him?" Riley asked.
"Well, he seems very nice, and I'm glad he's around for you girls," she answered.
"That's it?" Riley asked, hoping for more.
"Well, what else is there?" Katy asked suspiciously. "I only just met him. I don't really know him all that well."
"Well…just look at him. What do you think of when you see him?" Maya asked.
"Maya, I'm not going to just-" Katy began.
"Just look at him, Mom. When you see 'Shawn Hunter,' what do you think?"
Katy sighed and turned to look at Shawn. Maya and Riley also turned to look.
Shawn, facing the living room, immediately noticed and wrinkled his eyebrows.
"Yes?" he asked.
Katy blushed and quickly said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't- I mean I- the girls were asking me…never mind." She turned to Maya and Riley with a firm look on her face. "This conversation is done now. I'm going to finish the card game."
Maya turned and leaned toward Riley. "Do you think it worked?" she whispered with hope on her face.
"I don't know," Riley answered. "We'll have to see." She turned again to look at Katy and Shawn.
"It's your turn, Katy," Cory said. "We are totally going to win this, Topanga!"
"I'm sorry, what's trump again?" Katy asked, distracted from her conversation with the girls.
"Diamonds," Topanga answered.
"Oh, okay," Katy answered. She placed a card on the table from her hand.
Cory and Topanga scowled and Shawn smiled.
"Cory, why would you call diamonds if you didn't have the jack?" Topanga asked, playfully annoyed.
"I don't know. You're the one who always wins, so I figured you'd win it for me!" Cory shot back.
Topanga scowled again, but then looked at Cory's face. She smiled and started laughing. Cory began laughing as well, and then Katy took the pile of cards from the middle of the table.
"Good job, Katy," Shawn said.
"Thanks," Katy answered proudly, with a smile.
"Shawn, it's your deal now," Cory said.
Shawn took the deck of cards and shuffled them before dealing them out and placing one card up on the table. Everybody passed on their turn, and Shawn turned the card over. Cory, Katy, and Topanga passed again. Then it was Shawn's turn.
Shawn looked up at Katy and said with care in his voice, "I call hearts."