To Be a Family

“It hurts that you don’t want to know me.” The epithet “superficial” especially had stung. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I promise I won’t try to flirt with you again. I’m not asking to take up where we left off.” Yet. “But I would like to be friends.”

There, he’d said it. If she turned down his friendship after all that groveling, he would move away from Summerside and never come back. “So…?”

“You’re only saying this because you want my help with Tuti.”

“I do want your help. I don’t deny that. But that’s not why I’m flaying myself before you. If you don’t have time for her then I’ll figure something else out. But just don’t…cut me dead when I meet you on the street. Don’t leave a party the minute I arrive. Say ‘good day’ like you mean it. Have a coffee with me now and then.” He felt his throat catch and cleared it. “It’s not a lot to ask.”

“I’m sorry.” Her hands clasped tightly around her teacup. “I wasn’t aware I was that mean to you.”

“Well, you are. People comment.”

“I’ll try not to do it again.” She sucked in a breath, regained her composure. “So, do I have your word—no flirting? No innuendo? No double entendres?”

He grimaced. Had he really been that louche? “None of that. If only you’ll give Tuti extra help to bring her up to speed.”

Katie tilted her head to one side. The curve of her breasts beneath her draped blouse rose and fell as she thought about it. His mind drifted in an inappropriate direction. Damn it all. He was a man. He couldn’t help the way his body reacted. She could ask him to keep his mouth shut but she couldn’t control his thoughts.

But he would learn to stay quiet. The comments were more a nervous reaction than anything he really wanted to say to her, anyway. If she actually conversed with him like he was a decent human being then maybe he could respond in kind.

Tuti slid back onto her chair next to Katie and smiled up at her teacher. The little girl couldn’t have made a more timely entrance if she’d been scripted. But that just ratcheted up the tension. Katie wouldn’t like feeling pressured from two sides.

John sat back and glanced away, as if it wasn’t a big deal if she tutored his daughter or not. When, in truth, her continued presence in his life had become of paramount importance to him in a very short space of time.

* * *

KATIE WOULD LOVE to help Tuti. But she’d agreed to write three books this year. Plus, she was teaching full-time. And spending time with Tuti would inevitably mean spending time with John. Sure, he’d promised to curb his teasing and flirting but that didn’t mean she wanted to be his new best friend. He’d hurt her. Badly. Tuti’s very existence was a constant reminder of the extent of his betrayal.

But Tuti needed her in the here and now, and that was bigger than Katie and John’s unhappy past. In only a day Tuti had made her way into Katie’s heart with her shy smile and sparkling eyes. Somehow she would find the time to teach, write and tutor Tuti. As for John, she could be friendly without getting involved. “I’ll do it.”

“Really?” John said, sitting forward. “Thank you.”

“But you have to reinforce my teaching,” Katie said. “That involves reading to her every night, talking to her as much as possible, explaining things.”

“I can do that.”

“Even if she doesn’t understand every word you say, the meaning will gradually sink in. Children pick up languages easily. Tuti seems very bright.”

Tuti’s gaze was flicking from Katie to John.

“I’m going to give you extra time after class, just you and me,” Katie said, and Tuti beamed up at her. To John, Katie added, “The school will provide a teacher’s aide. We should be able to bring her up to speed in a few months.”

“I really appreciate this. Let me know what days and times are good for you and I’ll arrange to be home.”

“That’s not necessary,” Katie said quickly. A cozy threesome at John’s house felt a little too similar to a family unit for her comfort. With anyone else she wouldn’t have even thought that, but with John she didn’t want any reminders or allusions to what they might have had.

“I’ll take her home with me after school a couple of days a week then drop her off at your place when we’re done.” Katie reached for her purse among the bags of produce at her feet. “I need to get back. Are you ready to go?”

On the return trip to Summerside Katie pointed out trees, cars and houses to Tuti. The girl listened attentively at first then gradually lost interest to play with her doll.

Katie fell into silent contemplation. Had she really cut John dead at parties? Walked out of the room when he walked in? It wasn’t always about him, although she would never get used to seeing him with his arm around another woman. She simply wasn’t a party person, preferring small groups of close friends. If she was invited to a large gathering, she put in an appearance then often left when the night was still young. She winced to think how others might view her behavior. Riley sometimes gave her a hard time for being standoffish but she put that down to her brother’s not-so-secret wish that his best mate and his sister would get back together.

Katie glanced sideways at John, one hand draped over the steering wheel, a slight frown creasing his brow as he gazed at the road ahead. So what if she did snub him? He’d left her to die and gone surfing.

It didn’t get much worse than that. And yet…

Seven years on she was still punishing him. She didn’t like what that said about her. And it wasn’t the way a woman who didn’t care behaved.

“It’s Tuti’s birthday in a couple of weeks,” John said. “Would you like to come? My parents are hosting it at their place. They’ve got the space for all the cousins to run around.”

“When is it exactly?” she stalled. Once upon a time she’d felt part of his family, even though the noisy boisterous Forsters were so different from the more reserved Hennings. Acting friendly was one thing but going to a party with him was quite another. Her introverted nature aside, if she went to the party would everyone think she and John were getting back together? That wasn’t going to happen. The pressure, the sincere good wishes, might be uncomfortable.

“Not this Saturday but next.”

“I’ll have to see. I have these insane deadlines now.”

“It’s going to be Tuti’s first time being around the whole family. It would be great if she had a few people there that she knew well.”

“Oh, right.” Her cheeks burned and she turned away to look out the window. He was asking her for Tuti, not him. Of course. How could she have thought anything else?

“Tuti and my mother haven’t hit it off,” John went on. “You know how Mum is, so over-the-top. She’s trying too hard. Tuti runs and hides every time she comes around.”

Katie could relate. She’d been overwhelmed by Alison at first, too, and she’d been a teenager when she’d first met John’s mother. Gradually she’d come to appreciate Alison’s exuberance, and then to love her as a second mother. “You want me to be an intermediary. Isn’t that your job?”

“I’ve tried. So far it’s not working.”

“I don’t know. The tutoring is within reason. But getting involved in family stuff…” She shook her head.

“Okay. I’m not going to pressure you. Just thought you might like to come for your own sake.” He paused. “My sisters ask after you.”

Suddenly her chest felt tight. She’d lost a whole family when she and John had split up. His sisters and his mother had rallied around her when she was ill and in the hospital. It wasn’t until John had returned to Australia and she refused to make up with him that Alison had turned cool toward her. She understood that Alison would be loyal to John and side with him, but she’d come to rely on Alison’s love and support. When she’d withdrawn it, she’d hurt Katie.