“She got the mashed potatoes!” Charlie crows.
“I’m gonna beat you down,” Eddie announces.
“Nuh-uh.”
“Yuh-huh.”
“I’m faster.”
“You’re uncoordinated.”
“But only young men who use their manners and don’t fight get the mashed potatoes,” Lana adds.
Charlie drops to the ground, lands in a squat, and rushes us. “Love you, Mum.” He bends over and hugs Lana as Eddieoofsto the ground behind him.
“No fair! You got a head start because you didn’t go as high, you idiot.”
Charlie grins and dashes for the house, his hoodie hood flapping along behind him. “Potatoes!”
“I’ve authorized Tank and Butch to separate you if necessary,” I call after them.
“Excuse you, hugs first,” Lana adds.
Eddie huffs, rapidly changes direction to give Lana the barest hug and a peck on the head, and then he’s off for the house too. Leaves cling to his hair, and a large smear of dirt mars the back of his shorts.
Lana rises.
I bolt to my feet. “You were saying, about my dinner on Saturday?”
“I wasn’t saying a thing.”
“Your face was.”
“That was me letting out all of the expressions I didn’t want to make in front of Mom all day.”
“What do you know about this restaurant? Or about Bea?”
She purses her lips together and looks up at the blue sky.
“Truly, Lana. If there’s something terrible, I should know.”
“For inspiration?”
“So that I may cancel the date if necessary.”
“Did Bea actually tell you she wants to use you for publicity for her burger bus?”
“Naturall—” I play the conversation back in my head. “Ah. Hmm. I suppose I suggested it. Though she didn’t contradict that she intends to use me.”
Lana smirks. “You are such a man sometimes, Simon.”
“What else could she want me to take her to dinner for?”
She starts toward the house. “What do you know about Bea?”
“That she was in her first year at university when her parents died in a house fire, and she moved home to raise her three brothers, and now she owns a burger bus. Oh, and she was wrongfully arrested last weekend—my fault—and her ex-boyfriend’s brother was the arresting officer.”
“Mm.”
