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Riley liked to experiment with fashion and sometimes her choices weren’t right for a semi-nice dinner with one of her parents.
I stopped over at the guest house to throw on a pair of my nicer pants and a button-down shirt.
When I got back, I headed upstairs and had to fight Riley so she wouldn’t wear one of her favorite t-shirts that had a farting unicorn on it.
“Can we please not do this now?” I asked. “You can wear it tomorrow. All your friends will love it.”
She pouted and stomped her feet, but I got her to put on another shirt (without a farting unicorn) and shoved them downstairs.
Honor was perched on the couch in the family room off the kitchen.
“You still here?” I asked.
She gave me a tight smile but didn’t answer.
“Ready to go?” Mark asked as he came down the hall from the master bedroom in a fresh shirt and tie.
“Yup,” I said, stealing a glance at Honor, who wasn’t moving.
“Look at you two,” Mark said, going to the twins and kissing both of them on the head. “My girls are so grown up.” They’d gotten their red hair and height from Mark, and their sweet smiles and more of their personalities from Sadie.
They both beamed and gave him hugs. In a few years they would probably hate his guts and not want to be seen with him in public, so I knew he was cherishing these last few times before that happened.
“Oh, Honor is going to join us,” Mark said, ushering the girls out to his car.
I turned to look at Honor, who smirked at me with a smile that could only be described as the cat who ate the canary.
I kept all my cursing internal as I smiled back at her and said, “The more the merrier.”
* * *
Somehow Honor endedup in the front seat and I was in back with the kids. I chatted with them and kept my eye on Honor as we drove outside of Arrowbridge to the twin’s favorite restaurant. They got to pick where they went, and every year we ended up at a medium quality chain steakhouse, much to their father’s chagrin. Mark was more of a linens and expensive wine list and menu mostly in French kind of person, but he would lower his standards for his kids.
I did have a little bit of satisfaction that Honor was probably going to lose her shit eating at a place like this. She was a fancy pants, through and through. I bet she wouldn’t even know what to do in a fast-food drive through.
Mark had reserved us a booth, which was good since the wait would have been awful. I guess every other local family had the same idea of bringing their kids out tonight. Riley and Zoey waved to their friends as I sat down.
Even though I’d tried to maneuver myself in between the twins, I ended up with Zoey on my right and Honor on my left. She made sure to get a seat next to Mark.
I could smell her perfume, which probably cost more per bottle than my car. It’s got to be some expensive fancy shit. It’s actually lighter than I would have expected. Like…fresh-cut flowers or fresh laundry or something. It wasn’t overpowering. I’d just get little whiffs of it every now and then as she moved.
The smell was messing with my brain as I stared at my menu and tried to decide what I wanted.
Much to my surprise, Honor didn’t order wine. She got a blended lemonade which was what the girls ended up ordering as well. It was strange to see her getting something like that.
And then she ordered the steak and lobster, the most expensive thing on the menu and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Of course, she did. Mark was paying and she was going to take advantage.
I got my usual of a cheeseburger topped with onion rings and the bacon cheese fries.
Both girls ordered way more than they could eat, as usual, so I was already calculating how many to-go boxes we’d need to take everything they didn’t eat home.
Mark ordered a steak, and you could tell he was not excited about eating it, but he sucked it up.
Our appetizers arrived and I watched as Honor daintily ate chips and spinach artichoke dip, using a spoon to put the dip on her chips. I tried not to stare too much.
Mark asked the twins about their day and what they were doing for their sleepover and I was only half paying attention.Honor hadn’t bothered to engage them in conversation at all. She only had eyes and ears for Mark.
“Having fun?” I asked Honor in a low voice.
