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dad was bringing someone by to look at the house.”
    Already? “That was fast. How did anyone even find out about it so quickly?”
    “It’s Wednesday in Lone Oak, Katie dearest,” Savannah said. “Newspaper day. If you’d been up in time to look through it, you’d know there’s an ad in there for the house.”
    Katie stuck out her tongue at her sister.
    Claudia was making her way to the kitchen. “Allie, Logan. Why don’t you kids come up and play outside while we have guests.”
    Logan ran up the stairs noisily. Allie looked at Savannah. “I’d rather stay down here with you.”
    “That’s fine, sweetie.”
    “Wonder who the circling shark is,” Katie said, touching the locket around her neck.
    “No idea. Why don’t you go check it out?”
    “Aren’t we supposed to be gone when people go through the house?”
    Savannah shrugged, still going through the pages of an old picture album. “Look how cute you were. What happened?”
    “Aww,” Allie said. “That’s Aunt Katie?”
    “When she was brand, spanking new. Look at that red face.”
    Katie walked a few steps closer to see the photograph. Her mom lay in the delivery-room bed, holding a tiny baby bundled in a pink and yellow blanket. “I was cute. Still am, much to your mother’s dismay,” she said to Allie. “I’m going to investigate. Maybe I can scare away the potential buyer.”
    “I have no doubt you probably can,” Savannah said with a grin. “I’ll just be down here slaving away.”
    Katie rushed up the stairs. She could hear her dad’s voice, along with another one, in the living room. A vaguely familiar voice that she couldn’t quite place.
    When she poked her head around the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, the mystery was solved. The shark was none other than Dr. Fletcher, of the grumpy younger variety.
    “Hello, Katie,” he said. “I wondered if you two were related.”
    “Katie’s my youngest daughter,” her dad explained. “You two know each other?”
    “Dr. Fletcher had to resew my stitches yesterday.”
    “Resew them?” her dad asked. “What happened?”
    “Nothing much,” Katie said. “I fell while I was skating. Popped the old ones.”
    “And you didn’t tell me?”
    “I’m on my own health-care plan. What did it matter?”
    Her dad stared at her, speechless. “I just would’ve thought getting stitches warranted a small mention.”
    “I wasn’t in a talkative mood last night. Be sure he tells you all about the leak in the ceiling of my sister’s room,” she said to Dr. Fletcher before heading outside to see what her nephew was up to.
    “It’s all in the disclosures, dear daughter of mine.”
    “Perfect. Then there won’t be any problems.” Katie walked out without saying goodbye.
    Too bad she didn’t really believe that. She was having a serious problem with the idea of Dr. Fletcher—or anyone else—living in her space. She’d known last night there was nothing else she could do. She even understood her dad’s reasoning and could admit it made sense.
    But for all the telling herself everything would work out fine, she was sure having a big problem believing it.

CHAPTER THREE
    J OGGING WAS A SORRY substitutefor the rock climbing Katie normally indulged in when something was bothering her or when she simply wanted some exercise. The thing about rock climbing was that not only did it give her a great workout, but she had to concentrate fully on what she was doing the whole time. Jogging, not so much.
    Running didn’t occupy her mind and it didn’t allow her to forget her problems. But something about the pounding of her feet on the paved trail at least gave her the illusion she was working off steam. The path wound along the riverbank, hugging its curves, and it was shaded by towering trees on both sides. But the beauty and serenity were lost on Katie at the moment.
    Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself to speed up. She glanced at her sports watch as she spotted another