She’s done eating though. There’s half the waffle left on her plate and she’s barely touched the strawberries and whipped cream. Oscar eyes it. “Is that all you’re gonna eat?”
Henri narrows her eyes. “As if it’s any of your business, but yeah, I’m done.”
He reaches across the table, grabs her plate and sets it on top of his empty plate.
“Hey!” Henri protests.
Brody squeezes his eyes shut as I say to Oscar, “You should ask first.”
Oscar furrows his eyebrows. “I did. She said she was done.”
Fair play.
He shovels the rest of the waffle into his mouth, then sets his fork down, and belches as he smirks at Henri. I guess my impression of his table matters was premature.
When Brody and I are finished, Brea pours us more coffee, then disappears with the plates. It’s showtime.
“You go first,” Brody says.
“Coward,” I mutter. Then, “Brody and I talked it over.” I stop. Brody sounds disrespectful and since I’ve asked for his respect, I’ve got to give him mine. “Eight…” I try on. “Yeah, Eight.”
The three are looking at me with varying expressions of confusion.
I shrug. “Eight and I talked about you two getting along and we decided on another plan.”
“Groannnn,” Henri says.
“No, no. You’re gonna love this. You and Oscar don’t have to breathe the same air for a while.”
Oscar looks heavenward. “Thank god.”
“Instead, Oscar’s going to spend three days with me and Henri’s going to spend three days with Eight.” I’m staring at Eight, hoping he’s still on board.
“It’ll be fun,” he says lamely.
“What?” Henri says, her eyes wide, her mouth gaping. “Why? No!”
Oscar says nothing. Just looks at Eight in shock.
“Because you both need to spend some time understanding who each other are.” Even to my ears it sounds lame, but I think Oscar and Henri are too stunned to notice.
Henri slumps in her seat. “You’re kidding, right? Like you’re trying to scare us straight.”
“We’re not kidding,” I say in my most-unkidding voice.
“No. No. Nooooooo!”
Oscar is still speechless but the betrayal on his face as he looks at Eight gives me perverse pleasure.
“It’s a big yes, kid,” I reply to Henri. “We’re doing this and you’re going to learn to like it.” I pause. “Or tolerate it. Or whatever.”
“I’m telling gramma.”
“Elle,” I correct with a grin. “And you know as well as I do that she’ll love the idea. She’s all about embracing adventure.”
Henri moves her gaze from me to Oscar. “Help.”
Oscar flattens his features. “No point. When dad makes up his mind, he doesn’t change it.”
