Page 27 of Fire Dancer

Nowas on the tip of my tongue, but guilt held it back.

“What does Auntie Erin need, Mommy?” Claire asked, proving how loud Erin was. And I didn’t even have the speaker on.

Abby shrugged. “Some kind of favor.”

Claire brightened, eager as always. “Can we help?”

Abby shot me a pointed look.

Even as kids, we sisters had vowed to stick together, especially with three different fathers andwithouta devoted mother acting as the glue in the family. When Abby had faced becoming a single mother, Erin and I had renewed that vow, and all three of us had promised to model those values for Claire.

I gritted my teeth and forced a smile. “No need to, sweetie. I can do it.”

“You’ll do it?” Erin cried over the phone. “You’re the best! Thank you! He’ll be at the Desert Skies office at four o’clock today. Okay?”

“Okay, okay,” I sighed, already lecturing myself.

I was a grown woman. I could spend a couple of businesslike hours in Ingo’s company without jumping his bones. I might even be able to convince him Sedona wasn’t brimming with evil vampires at the same time.

“Four o’clock,” Erin repeated. “Don’t forget.”

“All right, already. I have to go.” Before I clicked the phone off, I threw in, “But you owe me. Nash does too.”

“We do owe you,” Erin agreed. “Thank you.”

“Bye,” I mumbled, ignoring the alarms ringing in my mind.

“Ready to go?” Abby asked her daughter as I hung up.

Claire rushed to the door. “I just have to say goodbye to the horses.”

Abby looked at the clock. “Three minutes. And don’t let them slobber on your nice new shirt.”

Claire hurried off, cheery as ever. Another example of the apple falling from the tree and rolling far, far away. She did have Abby’s creative mind, though.

“Okay, Mommy! Meet you at the car in a minute!”

Abby sat with a sigh and bit into her toast.

I went back to the paper, checking the sports section on the back page.

“Sad about that hiker, huh?” Abby murmured, skim-reading the front side.

I nodded absently, then stopped and peered over the edge of the paper. Abby was staring at an article on the front page, somewhere near the bottom. I half turned it for a peek. Something about a mining accident in Nevada.

Uh-oh. I narrowed my eyes on Abby. Was she worried about her father?

Not aWhat if he was hurt in the accident?kind of worry. More like,What if he’d caused it?

Erin and I had lucked out with amazing, doting dads, but Abby had never been on good terms with her father. I’d met him twice, and he didn’t seem like a bad guy. Just a bit overzealous about his “job” as an eco-warrior.

I sighed, thinking of Ingo. At least the mission he devoted himself to didn’t land him in the slammer every few years. But he would probably end up being just as much of an absentee father, and I refused to subject my kids to that.

Kids I would never have, if I couldn’t have them with Ingo.

I bit my lip, thinking, then looked back at Abby.

“Everything okay?” I asked her.