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“It will need charging,” Stone said. “Leave it until later.”
Peter put the gifts back into their boxes, and a waiter took away the tattered wrappings. Peter looked at them both. “Thank you so much,” he said. “I think you two should get married,” he added.
Arrington put her face in her hands. “Oh, God!”
“You need to edit your thoughts before speaking, Peter,” Stone said.
Arrington took her hands away. “You certainly do, young man. My marital status is not at your disposal; in fact it’s none of your business.”
“Yes, it is,” Peter replied. “It will make me happy.”
“You’re already happy,” she said. “Stone and I will make any decisions about our personal lives without your further input. Is that clear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, but not sheepishly. “Oh, and I want to change my name.”
Arrington looked at him, baffled. “What’s wrong with Peter? It’s a very nice name.”
“No, I want to change Calder to Barrington.”
She stared at him, speechless.
“You don’t know what I’ve had to go through at school for having a movie star for a father. I don’t want to hear that at my next school.”
Arrington’s face became sympathetic. “Oh, I’m sorry, Peter, I didn’t know.”
“It wasn’t so bad in L.A., because lots of kids had movie people for parents, but in Virginia it’s very, very different.”
Arrington thought about it for a moment, then turned toward Stone. “What do you think about this?”
“I wouldn’t be in the least displeased,” Stone replied.
“Do you think he’s old enough to make that decision?”
“It’s your decision, really,” Stone said, “but it needs to be decided, one way or the other, before he gets any older.”
“What would we tell them at the school?” Arrington asked Peter.
“That we’re changing my name from my stepfather’s to my father’s.”
“I suppose that’s accurate,” she said.
“I would be a lot more comfortable in myself,” Peter said.
She looked at her son, then at Stone. “How can I object?”
“Welcome to the Barrington family, Peter,” Stone said, “such as it is. You and I are the only living members.”
“Thank you, Dad,” Peter said.
“He never called Vance that,” Arrington said.
“He asked me to call him Vance,” Peter said.
“Yes, he did,” she admitted. “I wondered why he did that.”
“Because he knew something I didn’t,” Peter said.
The captain came with menus, and the subject was put aside while they ordered. Then, when the menus had been taken away, Peter said, “Next subject: my new school.”
