Page 59 of Sharkbait
“Yikes. Couldn’t you guys cool it for one night until she got settled?”
Her face goes deadly serious. “No. We could not.”
These two are wild.
“Anyway,” Calliope continues. “I think she’s mad at me for defiling her baby.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“No. It’s not. This morning at breakfast she said, ‘I’m mad at you for defiling my baby.’ She hasn’t looked at me since.”
“Ugh. Sorry.”
“So can she stay with you?” she asks sweetly.
“What? No! No way.”
“I figured you’d say that. Forget I asked. I totally understand.”
“I don’t know why you guys agreed to this family experiment in the first place. Ralph should have told her to get a hotel.”
We push out the main door and reach the street. The leaves are starting to turn, and that crispy fall smell is in the air. I take a moment to breathe it in.
“Yeah, well, with his birthday coming up, I guess he’s feeling sentimental.”
I scoff. “For what? All the good times we didn’t have?”
She places a hand on my shoulder. “He‘s entering the last year of his twenties. Our parents are all getting older. I think he just wants to have as good a relationship as possible with her moving forward.” She shrugs. “We’re adults now. Maybe we don’t need to hold on so tightly to the mistakes our parents made with us along the way.”
“When did you get so introspective and wise?”
“I guess your brother is rubbing off on me. Literally and figuratively.” She winks.
“Ew. I should have seen that one coming, ya perv.” I pull her in for a hug. “Thanks for trying the whole dinner thing. And good luck with Mom. She’s... unpredictable with her moods. But she’ll warm up to you, and everything will be fine.”
“Thanks. You’re still good to arrive early on Monday night to get things ready to rock with James?”
I step back from the hug.
“What am I rockin’ with James where?”
Calliope laughs, then speaks very slowly. “The party. You’re arriving first to set up with James, so I can bring Ralph an hour later for the not-surprise, yes?”
“Right. Yes. I will be there early.”
“Great. Thank you.”
I give my head a scratch and try to look nonchalant. “Have you, um… Have you seen him lately?”
“Who, James? Nah. He’s been out of town. But I’ve emailed with him plenty about the party. Why?”
“Has he... asked about me?”
Man, I sound pathetic right now.
“Oh constantly! Dude won’t shut up about you!”
“Really?”
