Child's Play - Danielle Steel Page 0,2

at Amanda’s parents’. He’s always with her. I think he likes their pool. It feels like he’s been kidnapped by aliens. He used to be fun to hang out with. Now he never has time for anyone but Amanda.”

“They’re engaged. It’s pretty normal for them to spend a lot of time together,” Kate said calmly. She knew Claire’s views on the subject diametrically opposed her own.

“All she talks about is the wedding. The dress, the shoes, the bridesmaids’ dresses, the flowers. She’s going to bore him blind in a year. He deserves better, Mom, and you know it.”

“She’s perfect for him,” Kate insisted, as she always did when the subject came up between them. “She comes from a good family. She has nice parents. She has a good education.”

“Which she’s wasting, picking out lipsticks for someone to write about in Vogue. She’s going to drive Anthony crazy. Don’t be such a snob, Mom. No one cares that she made her ‘debut.’ After this it’ll be all about babies, and she’ll be even more boring. Anthony’s not ready for kids. I don’t think he’s ever even seen one, except on a videogame. Amanda pushed him into getting engaged.”

Kate looked serious when she answered. “He loves her, Claire, even if it doesn’t make sense to you.”

“Does he? He looks like a deer in the headlights every time I see them together, and she never lets me see him alone. He’s my brother for God’s sake. We used to have fun together, and now he’s becoming as boring as she is. It’s pathetic.”

“They’ll think about other things once they’re married. Right now the wedding is the priority,” Kate said firmly.

“Yeah, her priority, not his. Why don’t you want more for him, someone smarter or more interesting or exciting?”

“She’ll ground him. He needs that. Otherwise he’ll be lost in his virtual world forever. She’s the best thing that ever happened to him.”

“I can’t believe you really think that. If I had a job like hers, you’d kill me.”

“She’s not you,” Kate said simply.

“Grandma agrees with me too,” Claire said, as though that were the definitive word on the subject. Kate’s mother had been the second most important person in her children’s lives, and a strong voice in their midst. She was usually the only one Kate listened to, but not this time. Margaret Chapman, Kate’s mother, was seventy-six years old, vibrant and alive, and had retired three years before as a psychologist and marriage and family therapist. Kate and her mother were not just mother and daughter, but had always been best friends too.

“You’re both wrong on this, trust me,” Kate said without hesitation about her son’s fiancée. “If he married a geek like him, they’d never figure out how to cook dinner or where the kitchen is and they’d starve.”

“And Amanda can cook? Please. She makes him take her out every night.”

“It’s good for him. He’d stay in his office till two A.M. if she didn’t. She complements him.” Kate was definite about it, and had been thrilled with the match since the beginning.

“I can’t stand her,” Claire said, looking glum, and then a smile crept onto her face again, as her mother looked at her intently, happy to change the subject. It was an argument neither of them was going to win.

“Why is it that I get the feeling that you’re happy about more than just three new cases you’ve been assigned?” Claire had that all too familiar look she got when she was infatuated with someone. Kate knew her children well. “New man?” Claire was usually fairly open with her mother. She had no secrets, or couldn’t keep them for long when she did. She was the romantic in the family.

“Hmm…maybe,” she said vaguely as the waiter set the café filtre down in front of them, and Claire smiled dreamily at her mother, with a total shift of gears. “I met someone, Mom. He’s incredible. I’ve never known anyone like him.” Kate didn’t remind her of the hundreds of times she had said that before, but Claire could see it in her eyes. “No, seriously, I mean it. He’s an adult, Mom. He’s a man.” She generally fell in love with irresponsible young boys. And however appealing at the outset, they didn’t hold her interest for long.

“That’s a point in his favor. How did you meet him?” she asked, praying it wasn’t online. Kate had a strong aversion to online dating and had expressed it often. She thought