The Good Daughter by Jane Porter Page A

answering her cell and hitting the speaker button so she could tug up her favorite old Levi’s jeans and button the fly. “What’s up?”
    “Just checking to make sure you girls got in safely,” he said.
    “We arrived a few minutes ago.” Kit glanced at herself in the dresser mirror and dragged a hand through her hair. “And we’re just about to head out for dinner. We’re starving.”
    “Where are you going?”
    “Probably Margaritaville.”
    “That’s a meat market. Go to that wine bar place. Nicer for you girls.”
    Kit rolled her eyes. He’d never liked Margaritaville since he caught Sarah making out in the hallway with a guy she’d just met. Sarah wasn’t a kid, she’d been twenty-one, and drop-dead gorgeous,but Dad had still hauled her back to the cottage and sent her up to the girls’ room. Kit and her sisters still giggled about it, although Sarah had been mortified at the time. “We’re hungry, Dad, and we want to eat unhealthy things like nachos and quesadillas.”
    “Be careful.”
    “Dad, I’m always careful. I’m a middle child, remember? Give Mom my love. I’ll call you on Sunday after Mass.”
    Polly had stepped from the bathroom to catch the last of the conversation. “Your dad is the sweetest. I love how he still worries about you.”
    Kit grabbed her coat and purse. “He forgets we’re all grown up.”
    Polly grinned as she wrapped a black scarf around her neck and tugged on her coat. “I don’t think he’s forgotten. I just don’t think it matters to him.”
    K it and Polly were enjoying their second round of margaritas at Margaritaville when Polly’s phone rang. Polly checked the number. “It’s Fiona,” she said, flashing the phone at Kit before taking the call. “Did you make it to Carmel okay?”
    Polly frowned, listening to Fiona for a few moments, before covering the phone to speak to Kit. “Fiona’s miserable in Carmel. Doesn’t want to be there by herself. Can she come join us here?”
    “Yes!” Kit put down her drink, nodded vigorously. “Does she need us to go get her?”
    “She’s got her car.”
    “Tell her to come.”
    “How long will it take her?”
    “Depends on traffic. If the roads are good, she could be here in forty-five minutes to an hour.”
    Polly got back on the phone and was trying to give Fiona directions,but Fiona was getting so confused it exasperated Polly. She shoved the phone at Kit. “You tell her,” she said. “She’s not listening to me.”
    On the phone, Kit tried to explain that it was simple getting to Capitola, she’d just take Highway 1 north all the way from Carmel, but Fiona kept interrupting to talk about how beautiful and romantic the hotel was and how angry she was that Chase wasn’t there to enjoy it with her.
    Kit covered the phone and leaned toward Polly. “She’s buzzed!”
    “I think she’s been drinking for a while.”
    “Then she can’t drive tonight.”
    “Tell her to sleep it off and come up in the morning.”
    Fiona didn’t like the idea but eventually Kit managed to convince her that she wasn’t missing anything in Capitola since she and Polly were heading to bed soon, and that Fiona should just go to bed, too, so that she could wake up early and be ready to drive up in the morning.
    “That was good,” Polly said when Kit finally hung up and handed the phone back. “You were really patient and calm. How do you do that?”
    “I’ve had a lot of practice. There’s always drama in my family.”
    “Like last summer when Meg took a walk on the dark side?”
    Kit shifted uneasily. Meg’s affair had been so painful, and even though Meg and Polly knew each other, Kit couldn’t discuss the details with Polly. It had been a heartbreaking summer and the only good news was that it was over and Jack and Meg were still together. “Mm.”
    “Do you think she ever thinks about Chad?”
    Kit did wonder if Meg was completely over Chad, but there was no way she’d ask her. If Meg brought it up,