Page 6 (1/2)

I stared at the baby shower invitation It was pink (yur-rggh), and sparkly, and seven inches high (how did she find envelopes to fit?) and in the shape of a baby carriage

Coistry at Marshall Field&039;s,

612-892-3212, please no green or purple)

4:00 p overthe day, when you can&039;t come"

"Not that I&039;d want to," I sniffed, but the fact was, the baby-to-be was et her?"

"The Ant? How about a brain aneuryse "You have to get her so"

"How about a new auche, putting it right on the invitation With color preferences!"

"Yes, yes how about a portacrib?"

"A what?"

"It&039;s a crib that folds up and you can take it around"

"Why," I delass of milk as well, "would you want to take a crib around?"

"That way, if the baby coot a place to sleep"

"You think the baby will make a break for it so soon?" I answeredwill probably sneak right out of the hospital nursery"

"Will you be serious, please?"

"I can&039;t If I think about it seriously,in ht now-physical proof thatsex with the Ant"

"Itdead and all"

"TellSinclair&039;s consort, living in thisto run Scratch (it was the onlyto keep the Fiends on a short leash (literally!), trying to make nice with Dad and the Ant, and finally "So, check this Andrea and Daniel are gettingthe ceremony"

"How&039;d you know?"

"Sinclair told me"

"Look, I forbid you to speak with that man"

"I&039; polite conversation while he wrote out his rent check"

I snorted Like she needed the money Jessica was rich Not "compared to the rest of the world everyone in Aet her to loan him money for a new start-up rich She turned hi up the universe

"This whole thing is ridiculous, you know It&039;s ridiculous that we live in this place It&039;s ridiculous that he lives with us It&039;s ridiculous that you&039;re charging him rent, and it&039;s really ridiculous that he pays it You two have all theit back and forth"

"Like baseball cards," she suggested

"It&039;s not funny, Jessica"

"It&039;s a little bit funny Besides, as I supposed to do? After Nostro burned down his house, he was living on hotel room service And it&039;s not like we didn&039;t have the space"

I had nothing to say to that, just gulped more milk and slumped at one of the kitchen stools The room was laid out like an industrial kitchen, except the whole second half had a big table with chairs, and there was a long counter that ran a fourth of the length of the roo roo out there I just didn&039;t feel right in one of the parlors or the library

Besides, the Book of the Dead was in the library Like last year&039;s Vogues weren&039;t bad enough

"So off my face

"Oh, there is not"

"Jessica, there totally is"

"No way You know, you&039;re like one of those annoying yappy little dogs every time a car rolls by outside, you freak out and decide so-BONNNNNNNNNNGGGGG

"I hate you," she sighed, getting up

I checkedprobably not a va around so close to sunrise As a rule, they were asoline Or was it inflaot those two mixed up My D in che his watch

"You really need to get soave this toof fathers"

"Don&039;t tell me" I covered my eyes Should have covered my ears instead "Don&039;t even tell htly, walking back into the kitchen That was quick-she must have sprinted there and back

I droppedbehind her, puffing to keep up, his dark brown hair heavily flecked with salt, the golfing pants tightly cinched at the waist with an alligator belt, the pink plaid complemented by the pink Izod shirt

"Dad," I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster, which wasn&039;t a lot He&039;d obviously stopped by en route to the links, which should have been touching, but wasn&039;t

"Betsy Err" He nodded at Sinclair, then his gaze skittered away This was a pretty typical reaction when a guy met Sinclair Women looked away, too but always looked back

"You look nice" I pointed to the corners ofdone?"

His crow&039;s feet had radically depleted, and he nodded In fact, he looked better than he had in years I was so happyheavily on hio see Dr Ferrin He does the mayor, too," he added, because he couldn&039;t help himself

Like Sinclair or Jessica cared or needed it themselves I looked at him but, as usual, Sinclair didn&039;t take the hint In fact, he was-oh, Lord!-sitting down at the table and ot the announce down at my mail, scattered across the counter I&039;d always assus I&039;d assu

"Invitation," Jessica piped up, also sitting down "Not announcement Invitation"

"Well but you can&039;t come because it&039;s you know"

"I would be happy to go instead," Sinclair said with all the war cobra "In fact, it would be appropriate if I did Why" He grinned, which was horrifying, but also kind of funny "I&039;m practically a member of your family"

I actually felt sorry forto faint, just do a header into uy, could walk around during the day, provided he stayed inside Maybe he could borrow a fire blanket for going to and fro-shouldered Sinclair in one of his sober suits, sitting primly on one of the Ant&039;s overstuffed couches, a pink ribboned gift in his lap it was too oober, as usual, but it was kind of cute the way he stuck it to my dad on onna be okay?" I asked Dad, fighting a grin Jessica, I noticed, had given up that fight

"I-I-I-"

"You could wear the black Gucci," Jessica told Sinclair "I picked it up froo"