John snorted. "She's still at school. She should be studying." Spoken like a true professor-in-the-making. Not that he'd ever studied that hard at school. Katie would be seventeen, coming up on her senior year. He grabbed a chip and ate it. "Mom might send her over, just to find out what I'm doing." Or just to be able to say her daughter was holidaying overseas, of course. "But next time I sneak her a message on Facebook, I'll see what she thinks."

He shook his head a little at the compliment, and then reached for a handful of fries to dump them on his plate: "If you ever meet my mom, you can thank her for teaching me how to cook." Which was the kicker, wasn't it? His eyes glinted with amusement. He probably was more like his mom than he'd ever want to admit.