“It’s troublesome, but I’ll figure it out. I like a challenge.”
“You should try internet dating,” Lucy said. “Get to know them online, and then don’t waste your time actually seeing them unless they check all your boxes.”
“Who says I have boxes?” Kate asked.
Everyone at the table, even her father, moaned with skepticism.
“I would be shocked and amazed if you don’t have a color-coded binder dedicated to this project,” Lizzie said.
“It’s not that elaborate,” Kate said defensively. “There’s no binder involved.”
“Notebook? Excel file? What then?” Lucy asked.
“Never mind,” Kate said, waving a hand to dismiss the topic. No one needed to know the details of her manhunting operation. Perhaps there was some color-coding involved, but how else would she be able to see at a glance how things were going?
“Don’t worry about it, Katie,” Lucy said. “Lizzie’s right. You’re amazing, and you’ll find someone just as awesome when the time is right.”
“Thanks, but me and my half-dry ovaries are mentally preparing for lots of cats and dying alone.”
“Hey. I have cats,” Emma said.
“When you get three, we’ll worry about you. Two’s fine,” Kate said.
“You seem a little young to start hoarding cats,” her father said. “What about the guy before that? He seemed nice.”
“Sure, that’s because he was vying for the job as your new campaign manager. When I didn’t recommend him and you hired someone else, he suddenly disappeared.”
“Geez, Katie. You gotta stop dating assholes.”
“Thanks, Dad. Stellar advice. I will take that to heart.” Kate smiled sweetly at her father, who gave her the side-eye, knowing full well he was being mocked. Undaunted, he turned to another daughter and tried again.
“Lucy, what about you? You always seem to have a boyfriend. Who are you seeing?”
“No one, Dad. I’m between lovers at the moment.” Lucy popped a bite of roll into her mouth as her dad choked on his.
Edward coughed. “Uh, do we really need to call them that?”
“No. But I’m hoping that if I do, you won’t ask again,” Lucy said as Lizzie snickered beside her.
“All right now,” her mother jumped in. “Has anyone heard from anyone else in the family? Nana? Or—”
“You mean has anyone talked to Daisy?” Lizzie interrupted.
“That’s notnecessarilywhat I meant,” her mother replied.
“Yes, it was,” everyone else at the table said in unison.
“Fine, okay. You act like it’s a sin to worry about your baby. Any news from Daisy?”
Daisy was the youngest of the five Parker sisters. She was a “free spirit,” and no one had seen her since Christmas.
“She’s probably in some Tibetan monastery, halfway through a thirty-day vow of silence,” Lucy said.
“Or at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. Or river rafting on the Nile,” Kate piped in.
“Hm, or fallen on hard times and is hooking in Amsterdam,” Lizzie said. This earned her a stern look from their father.
“Don’t talk mean about your sister,” admonished their mother.