Page 73 of Rest In Pink

“No,” she said. “Can I?”

“No. There’s no point. Beijing is not on the China Sea. I’m not even sure China is on the China Sea. My grasp of geography is not strong.”

“Why would I have to go to China to fly a helicopter?”

“It was a key part of your mother’s plan,” I said. “How was karate?”

“Good,” Peri said, and then she sighed. “I hate it when people cry.”

If I was her mother, I’d ask her who cried and why, but I’m just Liz, so I said, “Me, too. Listen, as long as we’re out this way, we’re going to stop by Porters and see if they have a car to sell me so we can get out of this midget clown car Anemone rented.”

“They sell cars there?”

“Sometimes. I bought my old car there.” I didn’t say, “The one that fell into the ravine.” Peri’s daddy had fallen into that ravine, too.

Peri nodded. “Okay. Can we pick up more bears after that?”

I had a moment where I could see us walking into a bear bar, me looking to pick up Papa Bear and Peri stunning Baby Bear with her Mandarin and karate, but then I realized she was talking about my mother’s bears and that I really needed sleep. Soon.

“Can we?” Peri said.

“Bears? Yes,” I said.

“And ice cream?”

“Why not. Although Marianne probably has better stuff in the freezer.”

“I want a cone. And sprinkles.”

“You got it, kid,” I said and drove to Porters.

* * *

Patsy came out to the car when she saw us get out and brought Peri a sucker out of the bowl she keeps for kids on the counter in the office, the nicest thing I’d ever seen her do.

Will, on the other hand, was not encouraging about selling me a car.

“We might have something,” he said, not meeting my eyes.

That was so not like Will, I looked at Patsy.

Patsy was laughing. “Sorry,” she said. “Will, you have a call, emergency,” and then she went back into the office.

“Can I see this maybe car?” I asked.

“Tomorrow,” he said. “Tomorrow after work. About six. I might have something then.”

“And how much would this something cost?”

“It’s the deal of a lifetime,” he said. “Tomorrow at six.”

He turned and walked away from me into the office and the emergency before I could ask about make, model, and color, which was absolutely not like Will, who loved talking cars.

I got back in the car and stared at the garage for a moment. Patsy had said it was an emergency, but she didn’t sound like it. She sounded like it was a joke. I had no idea what was going on. Which was pretty much normal for me ever since my car had broken down here six weeks ago.

“What’s wrong?” Peri said around her sucker.

“I’m not sure,” I said. “I guess I’ll find out tomorrow at six.”

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