They both turned to look at her. “Awhat?”
“A line dancing convention,” she repeated. “At the Dulles Expo Center. And then they’re going to the Blue Diamond Bingo Emporium.”
“Reggie the retired marine corps drill instructor is doingline dancing?” Piper asked.
Kiersten nodded. “He says it keeps his mind sharp.”
Rosamund looked perplexed. “And they are doing this because ...”
“Because apparently they’ve started going to the Scoot Your Boot country and western bar in Lorton on Thursday nights for line dancing lessons, and now they’re going to take a two-hour workshop to further refine their technique.”
“Are Valentina and Reggie ...” Rosamund waggled her eyebrows. “You know ...”
“A thing?” Kiersten asked. “I’m not sure. I tried to ask last week. He made me run an extra mile for, quote, ‘expressing curiosity about things that are none of my damn business.’”
“Wow,” Piper said.
“I know.” Kiersten grinned. “But that’s the problem with having a faculty made up of mostly unpaid retired people who may or may not be conducting a romance outside of school hours. If they want to take the day off to hang out at a line dancing convention and play bingo, we obviously can’t say no.”
“So who watches the kids while we go next door to the Influencer’s party?” Piper asked.
Kiersten frowned. “I supposed we could just let the kids hang out here, unsupervised. We’ll be right next door.”
“Absolutely not.” Piper shook her head.
“Chip said they’d have childcare available,” Rosamund said. “We could bring them along.”
“No way.” Piper shook her head again. “I’d rather leave them home alone for an hour than trust them to the tender mercies of Evil Dickie’s son.”
“You mean the man Evil Dickiethinksis his son but who is actually the offspring of a mechanic who died in Viet Nam,” Rosamund added.
Piper exhaled loudly. “Holy soap opera, Batman.”
“No kidding,” Kiersten said. “I think I’ve lived a very sheltered life.”
Rosamund patted her hand. “Welcome to the big city.”
“But thisisn’tthe city,” Piper argued. “It’s a quiet, respectable suburb. Or at least we thought it was, back then.”
“Maybe nothing is the way I thought it was back then.” Kiersten attempted to swallow her sorrow for Dottie, for the past, for a sweeter, simpler time that apparently never existed.
Piper rapped her knuckles on the table. “Dudes. Focus. Childcare for this damn party ... to which I have nothing to wear. Maybe I should stay here with the kids while you guys go to the Influencer’s house.”
“Oh no you don’t.” Kiersten eyed her with a determined expression. “Weallneed to go. And if Grammy and Grampy are there, maybe one of us could sneak next door and check their basement for a fallout shelter while the other two keep them distracted.”
“Excellent point,” Piper conceded with a sigh. “So is the least terrible option really leaving the kids here by themselves for an hour?”
“They’re good kids,” Rosamund said. “They’re responsible. And we will literally be next door. Plus Miles is working from home tomorrow. He’ll be right across the street.”
Piper cast a sideways glance at Rosamund. “By the way, are you and Miles ...”
Rosamund rolled her eyes. “Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.”
Piper grinned. “Shakespeare?”
“Jane Austen,” Rosamund said with a sphinxlike smile. “And I have no further comment at this time.”
They rose from the table to go in their separate directions. After helping Piper load seven children and Travis the puppy into an SUV, Kiersten headed two doors down to find out what her neighbor remembered about Beaverbrook Lane in 1965.
