Marking Time by Marie Force Page A

she’d missed so much with the girls?
    “ Ugh ,” Clare groaned. At four thirty, she gave up on sleep and decided to get up. There was no point in trying to sleep when her head was spinning. As she walked out to the kitchen to make coffee, all she could think about was Kate’s face when she’d all but begged her to come to the party.
    By the time the girls began appearing just before eleven, Clare had finished a pot of coffee, baked blueberry muffins, and cleaned the kitchen. The work had helped to occupy her mind.
    “Morning,” Jill grumbled as she came into the kitchen in search of coffee.
    Clare poured Jill a cup from the fresh pot she had just made. It still amused her to see the older girls drinking coffee. “Morning, honey. Did you sleep well?”
    Jill nodded and inhaled her first sip of coffee.
    “What’s up for you today?”
    “I have to be back to school for a study group meeting at two.”
    “Have you given any more thought to declaring a major? You have to do that by January, right?”
    Jill nodded again. “I’m thinking about pre-law.”
    Clare raised a surprised eyebrow. “Really? Since when?”
    Jill took a muffin and her coffee to the table. “For a while, actually. I’m taking a constitutional law class this semester that I love.”
    “That’s wonderful. You also love to argue, so you’d make a terrific attorney.”
    Jill grinned. “Dad said the same thing.”
    That stung. In the past, Clare would have been the first to hear this kind of news.
    “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask one of you: do you know where my snow boots might be?” Clare asked. “I can’t find them anywhere.”
    “I think Andi put all that stuff down in the basement by the oil tank.”
    “Oh,” Clare said, struck by the reminder that Andi had lived in the house with Jack and the girls for more than a year. “I haven’t looked down there. Thanks.”
    Maggie shuffled into the kitchen with a grouchy look on her face. “Does anyone have a tampon?”
    “ Maggie ,” Clare gasped. “How long have you had your period?”
    “Almost a year. Since right after my birthday.”
    “I have some,” Jill said and went upstairs to get them.
    “ God ,” Clare groaned as she flopped down onto one of the kitchen chairs. “Have I missed everything ? It’s so early. You were just twelve!”
    “Believe me, I know,” Maggie said.
    “What a thing to go through without your mother,” Clare said, filled with regret.
    “It’s okay, I had—” Maggie stopped herself and blushed.
    “You had Andi, didn’t you?” Clare asked softly.
    Maggie nodded. “She gave me what I needed and took me out to dinner to celebrate. She made a big deal about it. Totally over the top.”
    Clare could tell Maggie was playing it down to spare her feelings. “It was nice of her to do that.” Clare once again fought off what was becoming a constant urge to weep.
    Jill returned with a handful of tampons and handed them to her sister. “Here you go.”
    “Thanks,” Maggie said and shuffled off to the bathroom.
    Kate came in with her hair still wet from the shower. “Morning,” she said as she reached for a travel mug for her coffee. “I’ve got to go. I’m working at the hotel at noon, and then they’re having a going-away party for me.”
    “No drinking, right?” Clare asked.
    “I don’t drink. You can save that speech for Jill,” Kate said with a teasing grin for her sister.
    “Shut up , Kate,” Jill said in a singsong voice.
    Kate laughed. “Mom, I was thinking about the party at Dad’s. I’ll understand if you can’t come. It’s okay.”
    Clare kissed her middle daughter. “Thanks, baby.”
     
    After Jill and Kate had left, Jack called.
    “How are you?” he asked tentatively.
    “I’m fine. I’m sorry for making such a scene the other day.”
    “Don’t be sorry. I really am fine with having Maggie. I don’t want you to think I have any problem with that.”
    “I know. Thanks.”
    “Did Kate mention the party