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welcoming still, but they seemed to have no true depth of character. He didn't feel much better when Callie's nephew, Joey, came downstairs and greeted him.
    "Hi, Mr. Holiday," the boy began innocently enough.
    "Hi, Joey." Richard smiled at him. He looked a little like Callie with his blond hair and fair complexion.
    "Is.. .is Amanda allowed to go to soccer matches after school?" he asked, blushing bright red. Richard sensed girl interest, and he wasn't sure he liked it directed at his sweet, innocent, if occasionally hurricanelike niece. In fact, he was sure he didn't.
    "Well, yes, I suppose," he said dubiously, having a feeling Amanda would kill him if he said anything else. "I'd like to see her support her school's events."
    "Oh. I don't go to her school," Joey said. "I go to a private one. All the kids around here do."
    Richard stared at him. He'd had no clue she was on the wrong side of the school tracks, too. Before they moved, he had thoroughly researched the schools, and they were excellent, in the top ten percent of the country. Why would all these people send their kids to private school when the local one had a great reputation? Unless they were total status-symbol seekers - or knew something he didn't. He would have to ask Callie. In the meantime he said, "I'm sure Amanda can go to your school's soccer match if she wants to."
    The boy smiled. "Great. Thanks."
    Joey practically skipped into the kitchen. Richard frowned after him. Nice boy, he thought. Polite. And he had better be as sweet and innocent as Amanda while he was with her. Unfortunately Richard had once been an adolescent. Masses of uncontrollable hormones weren't the exclusive property of young females. While girls got moody and weepy, boys got horny - and eventually desperate for an outlet. Richard glared at the swinging single door.
    Worried about his niece, he managed to get away from the housewarming the moment it was acceptable to do so. He used the excuse of an early-morning appointment. People assumed it was some diplomatic thing, all hush-hush. He let them.
    "Everything okay here?" he asked Amanda when he came through the door.
    She nodded while staring at the den's television set. "I thought you'd be late."
    "I was concerned about you, how you were doing. Mark went to bed okay?" he asked. "And Jason?"
    "Yes," she snapped, glaring at him.
    "I'm just asking," he replied, a little tired of the sulk-iness. He wished he knew what to do with her. When her parents first died, she'd been clingy, something he understood perfectly. Now, however, she was distant, belligerent even. He wondered if she should see a grief counselor. He sat down opposite Amanda in the other wing chair. "Everyone was nice and very glad we've moved in. They gave us lots of things we can't use."
    She wasn't amused. "That figures."
    "I was joking." He paused, then decided he should play his ace. That was bound to make her happier with him. "Joey's bringing the gifts over in the morning."
    She glanced at him again, although in a barely interested manner. "He is?"
    Richard nodded. "He talked to me about asking you to a soccer game at his school."
    She bolted upright. "What! You didn't say anything stupid, did you, Uncle Richard?"
    Richard straightened happily, knowing he was on solid ground. "No, I didn't. I'm not that dumb. You'll be happy to know I told him it would be okay with me if he asked you to go."
    "Uncle Richard!" she wailed, horror in her voice. "You didn't."
    Richard gaped at her in bewilderment. "What's wrong with that?"
    "He didn't ask me and now he won't!" She leaped from the chair and ran out of the room.
    Richard slumped. "When will I learn to keep my mouth shut?" he muttered. "Especially when I didn't know I opened it?"
    A few moments later he got up. He'd wronged Amanda - somehow - justified or not. He needed to tell her he was sorry. He'd also wronged Callie over the invitation. Well, no, he hadn't; her sister had. Still, he owed Callie an apology, too.
    He