Sunrise by Karen Kingsbury Page B

now that the danger had passed. “The whole house coulda burned down.”
    “I know.” Katy put her hand over her mouth. “It’s my nervous laugh. Used to drive my parents crazy.”
    Dayne slipped his arm around her waist. “I know the feeling.” He leaned in close to her ear. “Everything about you drives me crazy.” He kissed the tip of her nose and winked at her. “But in a different sort of way.”
    Katy managed to pull off a salad without dropping anything or slicing her fingers. BJ prayed for the meal, and the sloppy joes tasted only mildly like smoke.
    All through dinner Dayne kept reminding himself that he wasn’t on the set of a movie. This was real life for the Flanigans—a houseful of kids with merriment and boys teasing each other while they ate. Yes, they would have to deal with their concerns about Cody Coleman at some time, but for now the dinner was full of life and love and everything Dayne had always thought a family should be about.
    “Hey, let’s play the Three!” Shawn raised his fork.
    “The Three?” Dayne gave Katy a look. “Help me out.”
    “It’s a dinner game the Flanigans made up. Someone picks a category, and we go around the table. Everyone has to say three answers.” Katy shrugged. “Simple.”
    “I called it. I get the topic.” Shawn grinned at the others. “Three favorite moments of all time.” He went first, naming the time he’d scored the winning goal in a championship soccer game, the day he arrived in the United States from Haiti, and the afternoon a year ago when their dad took them to get Mandy, their yellow Lab puppy.
    Ricky went next. “Christmas mornings and birthday mornings and every time we go swimming!”
    “No, no.” Justin leaned his forearms on the table. “That’s tons of moments. Shawn was talking about three moments.”
    “Those are three!” Ricky halfway stood at his place. He held up one finger. “Christmas mornings.” The second finger. “Birthday mornings.” And a third finger. “And every time we go swimming.” He looked at his three fingers. “See, three moments.”
    “I think we can call it three.” Katy dabbed her mouth with her napkin and smiled at Ricky. “Very good, buddy. I like the same three.”
    And so it went. Finally it was Katy’s turn. She looked at her plate for a moment as a soft laugh came from her throat. “I have about three million.” She glanced at Dayne. “In the last few years, anyway.”
    “But you need three exact ones.” Justin was still defining the rules, keeping them on task.
    “Hmmm.” Katy tilted her head. “Okay, looking across the theater during opening night and seeing Dayne there, knowing that he had come to see me when he should’ve been in LA. And the second, when Dayne pulled that dusty old Christmas tree off me after I fell on the stage, and then he took out a ring and asked me to marry him.” She looked deep into Dayne’s eyes. “And the third was when we came home a few days before Thanksgiving and found half of Bloomington had fixed up our house. Even Dayne’s brother, Luke.”
    “Your turn.” Ricky pointed at Dayne. “Three best moments.”
    Dayne held Katy’s gaze a little longer. He loved her so much, and she was right. It was impossible to limit the number of amazing moments to three. Each of hers was still very much alive in his heart as well. But the boys were waiting, so he needed to give an answer. He gave Justin a silly look and jabbed his thumb in Katy’s direction. “She stole mine.”
    “You have to think of different ones then.” Justin nodded at his brothers. “Right, guys?”
    “Yeah.” Ricky giggled. “Stealing doesn’t count.”
    “Okay.” Dayne sighed and looked at the ceiling for a moment. “The first time I saw Katy—the time when I walked into the theater and heard a bunch of kids singing a song from Charlie Brown , and then when the show ended, Katy climbed onstage and thanked the kids and families.” He looked at her. “I haven’t