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“He just said that he needed to see us right away, that it was really important.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I said I’d call you and get back to him.”
“So, he just disappears for a week,” I sputtered in frustration, “doesn’t tell anybody where he’s going, and then expects us to drop everything…”
“Wait,” Tracy said. “Who does that sound like? Oh, yeah. Dad! So, what time do I tell him we’ll be there?”
“Shit,” I said, forcing a smile toward the waiting couple, not sure whose wrath I preferred incurring, my father’s or Harrison’s. “Tell him we’ll be there in one hour.”
“See you then,” she said.
—
“This isn’t the way to McDonald’s,” Sam said from the backseat as we pulled onto Scarth Road. “You said we were going to McDonald’s.”
“I want McDonald’s,” Daphne whined.
“Wearegoing to McDonald’s,” I assured them. “We just have to stop at Grandpa’s first. We won’t be long. I promise.”
How many promises have I made today? How many have I broken?
Harrison had been as angry as I’d feared when I arrived home at almost five-thirty. He was already in his coat, his waiting car parked on the street, when I pulled into our driveway. “I don’t want to hear it,” he said, even before I had a chance to open my mouth. I watched him run down the walkway to his car, wondering what the hell I was going to do now.
“Okay, kids. Get your coats on. We’re going to McDonald’s,” I heard myself say.
“Yay!” they cried in unison.
At least I’m still capable of making somebody happy,I thought, deciding that this might work to my advantage after all. My father was less likely to yell and carry on with Sam and Daphne present.
Why had he summoned us anyway? Had Elyse quit, leaving him high and dry? Had he had a change of heart regarding selling the house? Had a nosy neighbor informed on me and Tracy?
Whatever it was, we’d know shortly.
“Okay,” I said, pulling into the driveway and turning off the engine just as Tracy’s car pulled up behind me. “Everybody out.”
