Hard to Resist - By Kara Lennox Page 0,26
the thought of Samantha and me sitting on the floor to eat our meals, even though I was okay with it. Even though it was just going to be for a few days.”
She was right about that. He couldn’t stand thinking about her with no furniture.
“And the TV! I’ve been thinking how nice and quiet it was without one—how Samantha would spend more time reading and coloring and playing.”
“Okay, I get the picture,” Ethan said. “I thought you’d be pleased. But since you’re obviously not, I’ll take it all to the Salvation Army. Is that what you want?”
“Yes!”
She was the most frustrating woman he’d ever known. “That’s just crazy!”
Kat opened her mouth and closed it again.
“I’m sorry,” Ethan said softly. “I didn’t mean that. But I really don’t understand. Help me.”
All the fire seemed to drain out of her. “You’re right, it is a little crazy. And maybe if I explained some things, it would help. But right now, Samantha’s expecting dinner, and I promised her some just-us-girls time. After she goes to bed—if I can get her to go to bed by herself—I’ll come back. We’ll talk.” She slipped out the door.
* * *
“AND THEY LIVED happily ever after.” Kat closed the Dr. Seuss book she’d been reading. It didn’t really end with those words, but Samantha expected to hear them at the conclusion of every bedtime reading session, even if they had to stop in the middle of a book. She said she couldn’t go to sleep if she was worried about the people in the story.
“Mommy, you get in bed with me.”
“Sweetie, you’re a big girl now. You’ve been sleeping in your own bed since you were a baby.”
“But I can’t go to sleep by myself.” She chewed on one of her sparkly pink fingernails. They’d done each other’s nails after dinner, and Sam had seemed more relaxed again.
“I bet you could if you tried.” Kat set it up as a challenge. Samantha, every inch her mother’s daughter, couldn’t resist a challenge.
“Bet I couldn’t.”
“Tell you what. Let’s give it fifteen minutes. I need to clean up the kitchen and get ready for tomorrow. I’ll check back in fifteen minutes, and if you’re not asleep I’ll get in bed with you. Is that a deal?”
Samantha thought about it. “Okay.”
“I love you, Sammy. And if you wake up or you’re scared, you just call me and I’ll be close by.” She hugged Sam, kissed her, and hugged her again, then tucked her in and turned out the light.
In fifteen minutes, Samantha was fast asleep. Kat breathed a sigh of relief. She figured if she could get Samantha to sleep by herself for one night, she could break the pattern.
Now, for the other tricky task of the evening. She’d promised Ethan an explanation and she supposed he deserved one. She’d gone a little bit nonlinear on him, when he really thought he was helping. Her reaction had been a knee jerk and not very logical, and she could see that now. What harm was the loan of a few pieces of furniture that no one was using?
She tried to keep this in mind as she tiptoed out the door and down the stairs. Ethan was waiting for her on his deck. He lounged in one of the patio chairs.
He stood as she climbed the steps to the deck. “You got Samantha to bed okay?”
“Yeah. Kids who experience trauma, like a fire or a car accident, often revert to the behavior of a younger age. Samantha has never had problems at bedtime. She’s slept in her own bed since she was an infant. So wanting me to stay with her is definitely unusual. But she went to sleep without tears tonight, so we’re making progress.”
“Good. It’s only been a few days.”
“I know.” She chose another chair with a good view of her apartment and sank into it. The window to Samantha’s bedroom was open a few inches, so Kat could hear if the child cried out, but she doubted that would happen. Sam, like her mother, was a hard sleeper.
It was a beautiful spring evening, with the scent of honeysuckle heavy in the air. A couple of lightning bugs blinked crisscrossing patterns around the yard.
She didn’t know how to ease into what she had to say, so she just started. “When you were younger, did you ever know one of those kids with mismatched socks and threadbare clothes, always a bit malnourished? Their hair looked like someone just hacked it off