Colleen began twirling and Tara opened the refrigerator door. Her parents had bought her a new pressure cooker for Christmas, and she had discovered its wonders. Pulling out the ingredients for beef stew, she began cutting the vegetables.
Colleen quickly abandoned the kitchen, giving Tara a few minutes to herself before her sisters arrived. Her workday had been busy with the cold weather forcing more people to seek shelter. But as she dumped the vegetables and beef into her cooker, it was not the homeless or her job that filled her mind. It was Detective Fiske.
But why? With three handsome brothers, three handsome King brothers next door, and their friends, it was not as though she didn’t have any good-looking men in her life. Brothers. Friends. Coworkers. But no one seemed to stay on her mind the way he did.
“Aunty Caitlyn!”
Assuming Caitlyn had walked through the front door, Tara wiped her hands on the dish towel and made her way toward the front. Caitlyn was just a little shorter than Tara but had the same dark, thick McBride hair and blue eyes as the other siblings. Being the youngest, she always went her own way, and while Tara colored between the lines, Caitlyn reveled in coloring all over the page. Right now, she sported a flash of pink highlights in her hair. Tara could only imagine the boys at the high school where Caitlyn taught looked upon their teacher with a little bit of awe and a lot of lust.
“Hey, baby girl,” Caitlyn called out, bending to give Colleen a hug. Tara reached her, and the sisters hugged as well.
“Guess who’s coming?” Colleen prodded, bouncing on her toes. Without giving Caitlyn a chance to answer, Colleen said, “Aunty Erin!”
Caitlyn’s eyebrows lifted and she smiled, looking at Tara. “Good. I’ve been so busy lately I feel like I haven’t had a chance to see anybody.”
The two women walked back into the kitchen, where Tara checked on the pressure cooker. Looking over her shoulder toward Caitlyn, she said, “You’ve been busy this school year. What’s different?”
Tucking her hair behind her ear, Caitlyn huffed. “It’s a new principal. I was so excited for him to start this year, having heard good things about him. But it seems to be mostly talk. He wants everybody to be super busy on paper. Volunteer for committees. Stay after school for tutoring. Making sure the students can pass their state tests. Nothing about that is inherently wrong, but he doesn’t seem very interested in the students as individuals. If I go to him with a concern about a student, he brushes me off. I know the counselors are just as frustrated as the teachers are.” Lifting her shoulders in a shrug, she began to set the table. “I’m already hearing rumors, though, he’s hoping to get moved to the school board office next year. I hate having to get used to a new principal, but maybe that’s for the best.”
Before Tara had a chance to respond, Colleen’s squeal of delight was heard once again. “Aunty Erin!”
Caitlyn laughed and shook her head. “Is she always so exuberant?”
Passing her sister on the way to the front door, she popped Caitlyn with the dishtowel. “You won’t remember it, but you were just as bouncy and excitable as Colleen when you were that age.”
Caitlyn wrinkled her nose and Tara laughed. When Tara reached the front door, she found Erin hugging Colleen.
“Mom! Aunty Erin brought cupcakes!”
“You didn’t have to bring anything, Erin, although Colleen and Caitlin will love them. I love them too, but my hips will hate me in the morning.”
“Oh, my God, Tara. Your hips are fine! Honestly, after getting out of the Army, I’d like to get a few curves back.”
“Good grief,” Caitlyn said, walking to the front and hugging Erin. “Listen to us talk about being too thin or too curvy. McBrides have good genes. We just have to embrace them!”
“When did you become such a sage?” Erin asked.
“Try working with teenagers with body image issues!”
Tara nodded, agreeing. “You’re absolutely right. As far as I’m concerned, we’re all perfect the way we are.” Glancing down at the plate of cupcakes she was now carrying, she added, “But I will stop at just one!”
The women laughed as they walked into the kitchen, sitting at the table while waiting for the stew to finish cooking. The conversation was easy, each chatting about their week.
“Well, I’m already looking forward to spring break,” Caitlyn said. “There are some teachers who are going to take a cruise and asked me to come along. I’m thinking about it, but I may just want to do nothing for a whole week.”
“Ooh, the possibility of a shipboard romance,” Tara said. “Sounds lovely.”
Erin smiled at the others, but the smile did not reach her eyes. Tara cast a gaze toward Erin but said nothing. Erin had been home from the Army for almost two months, but it was as though a shadow had moved over her. Erin had begun to talk to Tara, not just because she was an older sister but because of her counseling background. She had encouraged Erin to seek professional counseling, but so far, her sister just wanted to talk to her. And whatever her sister wanted, if Tara could give it to her, she would.
“Mom said that you had to deal with the morgue this week,” Erin said.
“What happened?” Caitlyn asked before glancing toward the den to make sure Colleen was not listening. Caitlyn and Erin moved from the table into the kitchen to make sure their conversation was private.
She sighed heavily, sweeping her hand over her hair, pulling out the ponytail holder, hoping it would relieve her headache. “It was someone that I had worked with at the shelter. I was able to give them his name and the fact that he had been in the military. The detective took me to the morgue where I was able to identify
