Here We Come (Aggie's Inheritance) (98 page)

Their
laughter
should
have
awakened
the
children,
but
not
a
peep
reached
their
ears.
“You
should
go
home.
You’re
tired.”

Though
Luke
nodded,
in
evident
agreement,
he
didn’t
budge.
“Does
Tina
have
a
place
she
wants
Chad
and
me
to
rent
our
tuxes?”

“Probably.
Do
you
want
me
to
get
the
number?”

“Have
her
email
me
everything
—
down
to
the
stock
number
in
the
store
if necessary—
so
I
get
the
right
one.
Does
she
have
idea
for
gifts?
Don’t
I
need
gifts
for
the
guys?”

“Do
you
want
her
to
get
them
for
you,
send
you
links,
or
make
suggestions?”

“How
about
make
suggestions
and
send
links
and
I’ll
let
her
know
if
I
need
her
to
finalize
or
not,”
he
suggested.

“Great.
Now
where
can
we
do
the
reception?”

“The
community
center
in
Brunswick
is
nice.
Why
not
there?
It’s
not
exciting,
but
it
has
good
lighting
and
it’s
on
the
outskirts
,
so
it’s
really
close.”

“I’ll
tell
Tina.”
She
swallowed
hard.
“Oh,
and
I
told
her
the
kind
of
cake
I
want.”

“Good.
One
more
thing
done.”

“You’re
not
even
curious?”

“What
are
your
flowers?”

The
question
seemed
odd,
but
Aggie
answered,
“Red
roses
and
maybe
lilies
for
‘visual
interest.’”
Her
air
quotes
were
weak
but
effective
in
defining
whose
idea
visual
interest
was.

“Is
the
cake
red
velvet?”

“No.”

Luke
kicked
her
foot
gently
and
said,
“Then
we’re
good.
I’m
not
a
red
velvet
fan.”

“Oh,
it
would
be
pretty
though.
What’s
wrong
with
it?
I’ve
never
had
it.”

“It
has
a
quarter
cup
of
food
coloring.
Can
you
imagine
Cari
after
a
piece
of
that?”

“We’ll
not
be
doing
that,”
she
agreed.
“Mine
has
red
in
it—raspberry
filling.”

“Sounds
delicious.”

“Oh,
and
she
is
disgusted
because
her
dress
looks
good
on
her.”

“Well,
I
am
relieved.
I
dreaded the idea that
she
might
actually
like
liking
it.
It
is
much
better
that
she
should
be
miserable
about
a
good
choice.”

“She
hates
Music
Man.”

“And
this
matters
because…”

“Shipoopi?”

“Oh,
you
didn’t.”

At
first,
she
didn’t
notice
the
teasing
in
his
voice
and
wondered
if
he
truly
hated
them.
“Well,
it’s
too
late.
They’re
mostly
done.”

“Chad
is
never
going
to
let
me
live
this
down.”

Mibs says:
I know you can’t be home yet, but I didn’t thank you for taking care of everything for me. I also didn’t tell you about my conversation about Laird. Tina thinks I should apologize for dumping the problem on you—to Laird that is. Apologize to Laird. What do you think? Anyway, goodnight and thanks.

Revolt

Monday,
January
12
^th

The
school
area
was
empty—again.
It
was
the
third
time
that
morning
that
she’d
gone
to
do
something—switch
a
laundry
load,
chase
down
a
wayward
twin,
or
change
Ian’s
diaper—and
returned
to
find
the
children
missing.
She
mentally
calculated
the
time
and
decided
that
once
every
twenty-eight
minutes
was
once
every
twenty-eight
days
too
often.
“Get
back
in
here!”