Page 189 of State of Suspense

“I told her! And she said that’s what we should have for dinner!”

Sam loved seeing the twins happy and excited and full of joy. She kissed the top of his blond head and then Aubrey’s before taking a seat next to Scotty.

“Thanks for this, Mom.”

Brenda smiled. “I had the best time this afternoon. Thank you for letting me cover for Celia.”

“We appreciate it.”

“What’s wrong?” Scotty asked between bites of chicken tenders and tater tots.

Sam was glad to see he also had a salad on his plate. “Just a very, very crazy day.”

“More so than usual?”

“Yeah, it was.”

“We need a different word for those days. Like, nuclear crazy.”

“I don’t think we can throw the word ‘nuclear’ around under this roof.”

Her son’s deep guffaw touched her heart. She loved to make him laugh.

“You’re probably right about that. How about ballistic crazy?”

“That’s a good one. Today was definitely ballistic crazy.”

“Where’s Dad?” Scotty knew that Nick never missed dinner with the family if he could help it.

“Dealing with his own ballistic craziness. Have you seen Shelby and Avery?”

“I was up there earlier to see the kids,” Scotty said.

“How’s Avery?”

“Sore, but glad to be home.”

“I’ll run up and see them after dinner.”

“Are you hungry?”

“I’ll wait and eat with Dad.”

She supervised dessert, homework, baths and bedtime for the twins and looked in on Scotty, who was finishing his homework. As usual, he was watching a Caps game while Skippy snoozed next to him on the bed. “How was your day?”

“Another day in eighth grade paradise.”

“How’s it going with Beowulf?”

“Much better now that I actually understand it. I’m nominating you for mother of the year for getting me that guide.”

Just when she thought he couldn’t top the things he’d said to her in the past… “I do what I can for my people.”

“I’ll never understand the purpose of reading something centuries old when we’ve got enough problems to contend with in this century.”

“I feel like I had this very conversation with my parents once upon a time, and I have to say, I was right and so are you. There’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t get taught in school that would be far more useful than algebra and Beowulf.”

“We need to get Dad to make a law.”

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