All during the day, Bette was plagued by previous night’s dream. The snapshots robbed her equilibrium, sending her conscious into frenzy. The identity of the woman in her dream eluded her.

It was just at the edge of her mind, distracting Bette from her work. There was a familiarity to the woman, yet she could not tell for sure. Eventually, they all became background noise when she picked up Angelica.

Mother and daughter spent an uneventful weekend together visiting the park and frolicking in the pool. They had made a brief appearance at the Planet, and invited the McCutcheon siblings over for a swim.

Shay, upon seeing this golden opportunity, brightened immediately. He liked Bette, and more so Angelica. Shane had no chance of declining the invitation. So the group migrated to the back yard pool soon after, and the activities did not die down until the day began to turn cool.

“Time to go, buddy,” Shane told her brother as she left the pool and wiped herself dry. She wrapped a towel around her body, sitting on a lounger while watching the trio.

The boy peeled his attention away from Angelica long enough to reply, “Five more minutes!”

Bette, who was in the pool with Angelica, chuckled at Shay’s answer. She shot an amused glance at her friend, delighted at the ease with which the two siblings interact. A short wind-down ensued, much to Angelica’s dismay. Her high pitched, excited garble signaled her reluctance.

“Hey Shane, could you pass me the towel?” Bette wisely took her daughter out of the pool before she could kick up more fuss.

Shay scrambled out of the pool and helped Shane dry off Angelica. “Can we stay for dinner?”

Shane blinked at her brother’s question. Her forehead wrinkled in amusement. “Did he just …”

“Oh yes he did.” Bette had to stifle her laughter while she got out of the pool. Making sure he could not hear her next words, Bette whispered to Shane, “First male to be able to pull off that kind of audacity toward me.”

The resulting laughter warmed both of them. She took over Angelica from the siblings, hugging her tight before continuing, “You’re more than welcomed to join us for dinner. See you in an hour?”

“Are you sure? ‘Cause we can …” Shane’s words trailed off when she saw the expectant look from Shay. “OK. Yeah, an hour’s fine.”