Dark-feathered chickens jabbed the ground around her for more scraps.
“Do you guys ever feel confused? Course not. Look at you. Maybe I should talk to the goats about this one. No offense, but I’ve heard they’re better listeners. Plus, you guys sort of freak me out with your pointy little beaks.”
Her phone rang in her pocket. “Shoo,” she said to a chicken eyeing her toes a little too hungrily. Then “Hello, Mr. Sullivan.”
Even if she hadn’t seen his name on her screen, she could have guessed it was him. He was pretty much on a one-to-one ratio with her calls to Vivi at the airport.
“B-but the triplets’ birthday photo shoot,” Mr. Sullivan’s warbled voice said after she broke the news that she hadn’t made any progress on finding the ring. “Bada bing, bada boom. That’s what you said. You already missed the Fultons’ anniversary shoot yesterday.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. I didn’t expect this trip to get so complicated.But listen, Kristi messaged me and said everything went fine. I think she’s more than ready to fill my shoes.”
“Nobody can fill your shoes.” She hoped he was speaking figuratively, but considering he’d asked her on more than one occasionJust how big a shoe size do you wear?she couldn’t be sure. “Triplets, McKenna.Triplets.I need my assistant. Remember how long it took me to train you? I can’t go back to scratch when there’s three babies involved. Please tell me you’ll be back for that.”
“I... probably won’t.”
“Oh,” he groaned.
“But you know you’ll be fine.”
“I don’t know that. Nobody knows that.”
“Well, I do. You’ve been doing this job for ages. Three babies will be a snap. You can handle them in your sleep.”
“Nobody can handle three babies in their sleep. Nobody can handle three babies awake. I need you. Why are you still there? It can’t just be for a ring. Are you in danger? Blink twice if you’re in danger. Did you blink twice? You did, didn’t you?”
“I did not.”
“What about now? I hear a strange sound.”
“You’re probably just hearing the chickens.”
“Chickens? NowI’mblinking twice.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
“Not soon enough. You might think Kristi can handle a hundred children between the ages of newborn and twenty, but she can’t handle the bar mitzvah, we both know that much.”
The triplets could handle the bar mitzvah. “Mr. Sullivan, I need to go. I’ll call you if anything changes.”
“Oh, I hope something changes if it means you’re coming back sooner.”
That made one of them. Even if McKenna found the ring today, would she honestly want to hop on a plane straight back to Nebraska? At least here she felt useful. Helping Nate out with the to-do list,helping his mom out with her website, even just taking minutes for random quirky meetings, filled a cup inside McKenna that she hadn’t known sat empty until now.
Once Mr. Sullivan ended their call, McKenna jogged back up the porch steps just as Gus opened the screen door. “Guess what!”
“I couldn’t even begin to.” If McKenna had learned anything, it was to never guess what anyone in this group had to say.
“We just talked Georgie into giving us another clue,” Gus said, dragging her by the elbow inside.
“It’s the last one I’m giving today,” Georgie shouted from the dining hall. “No more after this.”
“Wait for me,” Evie yelled from the bathroom behind the check-in desk.
“Hurry up,” Gus yelled back.
“Wouldn’t it be something if it was Sammy Davis Junior?” Barb said.
“Isn’t he dead?” said McKenna.
