“Either way they both need to get married just so their names aren’t Dolly and Molly Golly,” said Barb.
“Good point,” said Georgie. “Make sure that gets added to the minutes.”
His mom’s arm tightened around Nate’s. “You’ll have to finish taking the minutes yourself. I’m getting this boy some food.”
“In that case, meeting adjourned,” Georgie said. “Let’s plan to pick up where we left off next meeting, shall we?”
“You take minutes for a gardening club?” Nate whispered as soon as his mom led him away from the dining area and into the kitchen.
“Oh, honey. We take minutes foreverythingnow that Lottie’s involved and Georgie feels like she’s got something to prove. I get the impression there’s an old rivalry that goes a long way back with those two.” She reached for a frying pan. “Now what sounds good?”
“Yes.”
“Everything. Got it,” she said with a smile.
Nate slid onto a stool at the kitchen island while she cracked an egg and glanced over her shoulder. “So? Tell me everything. What have you been up to? What happened to your head? Who are you dating? When does the airport think your luggage will get in?”
Nate rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses. “Well, you know how busy I’ve been working on my PhD these past couple years. That’s finally done. Then the past month I’ve pretty much been working around the clock getting everything wrapped up for the school year in Brooklyn and moving all my stuff up to the house I’m renting in Buffalo, so I can finish settling in later this summer and start gearing up for my new teaching position at the college in the fall.”
His mom nodded, stirring the eggs in the frying pan with a spatula. “My goodness. You have been busy. And the other questions I asked?”
“Hoping to hear something back from the airport in the next day or two.”
“Keep going.”
“Huh? Oh. My head. Right. Some guy fell in some river while I was near some town in Nebraska.”
“You always did know how to paint a vivid picture with details. Continue.”
“The guy panicked, so I helped him out of the river. Then he panicked again and collided with my head afterward. That’s all.”
“Yeah, I’m going to need to hear much more of that story, but for now, go ahead with the other major talking point you still need to address.”
“Pretty sure I already told you about the missing luggage.”
“Had to do with dating.”
“What’s that? Got a bad ear. Doesn’t always pick up on everything.”
“Are you dating anyone? And since when do you have a bad ear?”
“Probably just plugged from the flight.”
“Who was the girl Gus was talking about?”
“Of course, a dunk in cold river water would turn any good ear bad.”
She snapped off the burner. “Fine. Be that way.” She dished his eggs onto a plate. “But Iwillget answers eventually.” Her phone dinged with a text message. She set the pan back on the stove and pulled her phone from her back pocket. Then frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Nate said around a bite of eggs.
“Just got an odd message from Shane.”
His cousin? “What’d he say?”
“Thanks for helping out. We all know how stubborn Mom can be. Earliest I can get out there is June twenty-seventh.”She looked up from her phone. “What in the world is he talking about?”
“Maybe he sent it to the wrong person.”
