"Uh, excuse me?"
"I think I'm inoculated against Svenssons now," Hazel said.
"Geez, I'm a little hurt!" Liam complained.
"I like your dress," Chloe said to Hazel. "It's very nineteen fifties."
"Thanks. It has pockets." The black dress was formfitting in the bodice but flared at the waist to a scalloped edge.
"I picked it out," I said.
"I don't know why you're bragging," Liam sniffed as he carefully sliced tomatoes.
"You hold that really well," Hazel commented.
I laughed.
"There is nothing inappropriate about that statement," she cried. "I meant that he holds the knife very professionally!"
"We all know Archer is a twelve-year-old boy at heart," Liam said.
"While we're grateful for the help," Hazel said, "don't you guys have to work?"
"We're billionaires," I said. "That's one of the perks. We can play hooky in the middle of the day."
"I mean, it's not that middle," Liam countered. "I woke up at three a.m. to come here. Not that I'm trying to guilt-trip anyone. I needed to meet with Mace about the new factory anyway."
Chloe added, "I bribed him with cookies."
"I would make an inappropriate joke about eating your cookies," Liam said, "but then I figured Jack would kill me."
"That is a correct assessment," Jack said.
* * *
After preparing all the food,we loaded everything up and took it over to the hotel after dropping Jemma off at Ida's.
During breakfast, Hazel passed out itineraries while I chatted up the judges.
"How is everything?" I asked Zarah, determined to make her like me. I was always very charming, but Zarah looked down her nose at me.
"It's an adequate display," she said, picking at her food.
"I hope you're wearing your walking shoes," Trudy was saying to Maxine.
"Oh, you know me. I can walk a mile in these heels."
There was more than a mile of walking. First, we had to walk for the architecture tour.
Olivia took the judges, Harrogate Trust members, and city representatives to several historic buildings. These included the judicial building, the town hall, and the old mayoral mansion, which was now a museum. Then, we went to one of the shared work spaces in a renovated warehouse. Finally, Olivia announced we would be touring the old Harrogate estate, aka where my insanely large family now lived.
"I didn't realize this was on the tour," I told Hazel in a low voice as we filed onto the luxury bus.
"The estate is a great example of historic architecture," she whispered back, squeezing my hand.
I braced myself as we drove through the gates. "For the love of God, I hope Remy doesn't insist on showing them the bunker."
Otis, Theo, Peyton, and several of the other boys were waiting, dressed in slacks and shirts, with freshly washed hair, when we walked inside.
