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Well, Dad looked completely content.
I couldn’t let myself linger too much on that look. My father being happy I’d found a safe place to land with good people around me, coming at me right on the heels of them inviting me to the renewal of their vows was too much.
So I set it aside in a cozy, warm place in my internal Oasis, shifted my attention to Linda, and answered, “Yes.”
Linda looked to Martha. “You’re going to compost like all the rest of us.”
“Not gonna,” Martha mumbled obstinately.
Zach strolled up,sansBill (for once, those two really needed to get engaged, I didn’t know what the holdup was, but I figured I might need to have a Jacob-style come to Jesus with them soon). “Are you guys talking about the mural?”
“No. Martha’s complaining about the compost again,” Linda told him.
Zach rolled his eyes before he aimed them to Martha. “My God, Martha, it isn’t that big of a deal.”
“Tell me that in a month when your little bucket gets slimy and smells up your kitchen,” Martha shot back.
“You line it with a liner made of compostable plastic so it won’t get slimy,” Zach retorted.
“I’m not adding that to my budget,” Martha returned.
“They cost maybe ten bucks for fifty of them. That’ll last you a year,” Zach stated.
“Can I just interrupt to introduce you all to my dad and stepmom, Charlie and Deb,” I said.
“Heya,” Zach replied.
“Nice to formally meet you.” Linda smiled.
“Do you compost?” Martha asked.
“We live in a condominium, and no, they don’t offer composting, unfortunately,” Deb said.
“We should talk to the board about adding that amenity,” Dad noted.
“We should,” Deb agreed.
“I’m surrounded by weirdos,” Martha groused.
“What about the mural?” I asked Zach.
He turned excited eyes to me. “The artist has the outline done, and it looks like it’s going to be absolutelyinsane, with palm fronds and hibiscus flowers coming from the long, flowing skirt of a woman walking toward the southeast corner. We’re going to have the coolest complex in Phoenix,” Zach told me.
“We already got that, boy,” Martha declared.
I heard a splash and turned my head to see Alexis had slipped into the pool and Jacob was diving over her head into the water.
When he came up for air, and after he did that man shake of his head to get the water out of his hair, Martha shouted, “If you two fornicate in the pool, I’m not speaking to you for a year.”
Deb gasped.
Cap sounded like he was choking, but since it was on his laughter, that was okay.
Alexis’s cheeks got red.
Zach muttered, “Oh my God.”
Linda snapped, “Martha!”
