“Never!”
Ed went to the sink. “You wouldn’t be spying on her.”
“Yes, she would,” Ryan said, taking his father’s empty glass and dousing it in the sink.
“She would be checking in on him.” Ed spoke slowly, distinctly, the way they used to spell words around the kids when they were trying to keep a secret. “It’s not the same thing.”
“Speaking for those of us who have had Mom—” Ryan pulled his hands from the water, suds flying as he made quotation marks in the air “—‘check in’ on us when we weren’t doing anything but practicing a guitar piece with Amy, I say it stinks of spying.”
“Since you were ‘practicing’—” Ed’s large blunt fingers mimicked his son’s gesture “—with Amy on the front porch, with the light off, it’s fair to say that when your Mom checked on you, she had a good reason.”
“And if I checked on Daddy, I would have a reason,” Sadie told her son. Then she turned to Ed, her forehead scrunched down tight. “What would be my reason?”
“Well…you could…or maybe…” He stroked his chin, the lines around his eyes creasing deeply before his whole face lit and he said, “You know how your daddy loves chocolate-covered cherries?”
“Yes.”
“And how Hannah never has any sweets around because she’s always on a diet?”
“That’s true, she is. Ever since she married Payt, she’s always on a diet. In fact, she’s completely banned all candy from her home. Banned it. That skinny little—” Sadie wrangled to find the right description “—candy banner.”
“Well, we just got a fresh shipment in at the store today.”
“Pretty lame, Mom.” Ryan pulled the plug, and the water rushed down the drain in big gulps.
“Lame is in the eye of the beholder, son. My daddy likes chocolate-covered cherries, and there he is, stuck in a house with a woman who hasn’t let sugar-laden fatty snacks cross her lips or her threshold for five years.” She tried to look sincere, though not overmuch, as she didn’t want to give her son the impression she didn’t understand how thin a justification she’d chosen. “Can you imagine how that makes him feel?”
Ryan used the wad-the-tea-towel-up-in-a-ball method of drying his hands. Using that same level of attentiveness, he deadpanned, “If I say yes, can I go to my room?”
“Go.” Ed waved his son off. “And speaking of that, I think it’s time I headed out, as well.”
“Yes, you should go. I have to go, too. I’m a woman on a mission.”
“A spy mission,” Ryan called out from the hallway.
“A family mission,” Ed corrected, taking Sadie by the shoulders. “That is, it will be a family mission if you stop by and get April.”
Sadie winced. As if things hadn’t already been stretched to the limits between the sisters, to then have two of them show up on the third’s doorstep armed with nothing more than a box of chocolate-covered flimsy excuses? “I don’t think April and Daddy are talking yet.”
“All the more reason to do it.”
Sadie wanted to see her father. She wanted to see how Hannah and he were getting along. She wanted to know just what exactly happened between April and Moonie.
In the distance Ryan’s bedroom door slammed shut.
She wanted to keep the channels of communication open between her sisters and father.
Ed already had his lab coat in his hand, ready to go back to the store.
But most of all she wanted not to have to spend yet another night feeling lost and alone in her own home.
“Okay, I’ll do it. But don’t lock up the store until you hear from me, you got that, Ed?”
“Okay, but why?” he asked as he ushered her out their front door.
“Because if I drag April over to Hannah’s house to see Daddy unannounced, we may need emergency medical supplies before the evening is through.”
Chapter Nine
“Y ou’re sure Ed suggested this?” April waited in Hannah’s driveway, her arms folded.
“Yes.” Sadie withdrew from the back seat
Ed went to the sink. “You wouldn’t be spying on her.”
“Yes, she would,” Ryan said, taking his father’s empty glass and dousing it in the sink.
“She would be checking in on him.” Ed spoke slowly, distinctly, the way they used to spell words around the kids when they were trying to keep a secret. “It’s not the same thing.”
“Speaking for those of us who have had Mom—” Ryan pulled his hands from the water, suds flying as he made quotation marks in the air “—‘check in’ on us when we weren’t doing anything but practicing a guitar piece with Amy, I say it stinks of spying.”
“Since you were ‘practicing’—” Ed’s large blunt fingers mimicked his son’s gesture “—with Amy on the front porch, with the light off, it’s fair to say that when your Mom checked on you, she had a good reason.”
“And if I checked on Daddy, I would have a reason,” Sadie told her son. Then she turned to Ed, her forehead scrunched down tight. “What would be my reason?”
“Well…you could…or maybe…” He stroked his chin, the lines around his eyes creasing deeply before his whole face lit and he said, “You know how your daddy loves chocolate-covered cherries?”
“Yes.”
“And how Hannah never has any sweets around because she’s always on a diet?”
“That’s true, she is. Ever since she married Payt, she’s always on a diet. In fact, she’s completely banned all candy from her home. Banned it. That skinny little—” Sadie wrangled to find the right description “—candy banner.”
“Well, we just got a fresh shipment in at the store today.”
“Pretty lame, Mom.” Ryan pulled the plug, and the water rushed down the drain in big gulps.
“Lame is in the eye of the beholder, son. My daddy likes chocolate-covered cherries, and there he is, stuck in a house with a woman who hasn’t let sugar-laden fatty snacks cross her lips or her threshold for five years.” She tried to look sincere, though not overmuch, as she didn’t want to give her son the impression she didn’t understand how thin a justification she’d chosen. “Can you imagine how that makes him feel?”
Ryan used the wad-the-tea-towel-up-in-a-ball method of drying his hands. Using that same level of attentiveness, he deadpanned, “If I say yes, can I go to my room?”
“Go.” Ed waved his son off. “And speaking of that, I think it’s time I headed out, as well.”
“Yes, you should go. I have to go, too. I’m a woman on a mission.”
“A spy mission,” Ryan called out from the hallway.
“A family mission,” Ed corrected, taking Sadie by the shoulders. “That is, it will be a family mission if you stop by and get April.”
Sadie winced. As if things hadn’t already been stretched to the limits between the sisters, to then have two of them show up on the third’s doorstep armed with nothing more than a box of chocolate-covered flimsy excuses? “I don’t think April and Daddy are talking yet.”
“All the more reason to do it.”
Sadie wanted to see her father. She wanted to see how Hannah and he were getting along. She wanted to know just what exactly happened between April and Moonie.
In the distance Ryan’s bedroom door slammed shut.
She wanted to keep the channels of communication open between her sisters and father.
Ed already had his lab coat in his hand, ready to go back to the store.
But most of all she wanted not to have to spend yet another night feeling lost and alone in her own home.
“Okay, I’ll do it. But don’t lock up the store until you hear from me, you got that, Ed?”
“Okay, but why?” he asked as he ushered her out their front door.
“Because if I drag April over to Hannah’s house to see Daddy unannounced, we may need emergency medical supplies before the evening is through.”
Chapter Nine
“Y ou’re sure Ed suggested this?” April waited in Hannah’s driveway, her arms folded.
“Yes.” Sadie withdrew from the back seat
Similar Books
