Chapter 25

Lev was sitting at breakfast with Arwen when Dennis emerged from the residential wing wearing a pair of black sweatpants and bright blue Crocs, phone in hand. “Hey, Ari, Lev. Tiffany wants to know if you two want to come to Kathmandu with us this weekend.”

“If that’s a sex thing, maybe,” said Arwen.

“Why does everybody think that,” grumbled Dennis. “Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal. Tiffany’s shooting a concert video there to raise money for earthquake relief. I’m going with her. She wants to know if you two would join us.”

“Us specifically?” Arwen asked.

“Well, she asked about you. I mentioned you’d want to bring Lev. She says it would be awesome to have you both,” said Dennis.

Lev was glad Dennis had mentioned him. He wasn’t entirely sure Arwen would remember to bring him along if she went to Kathmandu with Dennis and Tiffany Glass whether it turned out to be a flight to Nepal or some as-yet-unspecified sex act. As his girlfriend and his friend spoke, he quickly looked up pictures of Kathmandu and was still looking when Arwen asked, “What do you think, Lev. Do you want to go to Kathmandu with international recording artist Tiffany Glass and our friend Dennis?”

“Does Tiffany know I’m Israeli?” Lev asked. “We can’t always travel as easily as Americans.”

“Good point.” Dennis started texting. That gave Lev time to look at the images he’d brought up - Asian temple, Asian temple, giant golden Buddha, slum, minaret surrounded by people. It looked beautiful, exotic, and perfect.

“Seriously? You’d just up and go to Kathmandu this weekend?” Arwen looked up at him, hope in her eyes.

“Sure.” Lev had a million concerns about such a trip, but now wasn’t the time to express them. “The world is full of adventures.”

“She says her tour manager is Israeli and that it’s not a problem to list you as part of the crew,” said Dennis.

“So, let’s go to Kathmandu.” Lev shrugged like it was no big deal.

Dennis looked at Arwen, who looked at Lev like she thought he was joking. When he just gave her a deliberately unreadable look, she said, “Sounds good. Let’s go to Kathmandu.”

After Arwen had gone downstairs for her workout, Dennis said, “I didn’t think you’d say yes.”

“If you didn’t want me there, you shouldn’t have asked,” said Lev evenly.

“No. It’s awesome that you’re coming, but I figured if you did, Arwen would have to cajole you into it,” said Dennis. “You’ve changed, Warborn.”

Lev smiled at the nickname. It was one of many their group had given him: Warborn, Ogre, Brick, Tank. All of them grew out of his propensity to play characters who were solid, stoic, dutiful, and honorable. Nick had admitted that his paladin Cedric was largely an imitation of Lev’s play. Playing paladins and noble warriors worked for Lev because they were frequently extensions and exaggerations of his own personality.

“Everybody changes, Dennis,” he said. “Arwen wants an adventure. I can discourage her or I can let her go without me or I can say ‘let’s go to Kathmandu.’ That’s not really a hard choice.”

“Yeah? Cool.” Dennis looked down because his phone had chirped. “Tiff wants to know if you would mind hauling some equipment up a mountain or two. She’s still trying to find enough roadies for the trip.”

“I can pick things up and put them down,” said Lev, an oblique inside joke among the group. “But, tell her I might want a favor in return.”

Dennis typed. When Tiffany responded, he said, “She wants your number.”

Lev nodded and rose from the table. “Give it to her, please. I’ll need to talk to her.”

He made it back to his room before Tiffany called. She said, “You want a favor besides flying you to Nepal on my dime?”

“I assume you’re flying all your roadies to Nepal on your dime and paying them besides,” said Lev. “I don’t need to be paid, but I would like to ask a favor.”

“Go ahead and ask,” said Tiffany. Lev told her what he wanted. She laughed. “Seriously? Aren’t you like eighteen?”

“I’m eighteen, but I know what I want,” said Lev. “Will you help me?”

Tiffany laughed. “Sure. Why not?”

Nick was at breakfast with Opal, Kay, the twins, and a coterie of other Montana Stones when his phone rang with a 212 number. He answered.

“Nick, it’s Jesse. I want to ask a favor,” said his cousin.

Nick frowned. “Ok. Ask.”

“Detective Marco Sullivan led the raid on your loft Friday night. He’s taking a lot of heat for it at work and might lose his job,” said Jesse. “If you told your friends on the force to lay off of him, I’d appreciate it.”

“Why would I do that?” Nick asked and rose from the table. People were pretending not to listen to his call.

“He’s a personal friend - kind of an ass, but a friend. We’ve fenced together a lot,” said Jesse. “I’m pretty sure whoever arranged for that raid chose him because he was my friend and they could hit both of us at once.”

Nick took a deep breath. “There’s just one problem here. I don’t think I have any friends on the force.”

“Somebody tipped you off about the raid,” Jesse prompted.

“A politician at Borough Hall who owed me a favor,” said Nick. “He might have police contacts. I don’t.”

“Would you tell him you don’t want Marco to lose his job?” Jesse asked. “I’d consider it a big personal favor.”

Nick thought about it. He’d talked to Max, Tanvi, and Ainsley about the raid and found two of them more amused than upset about it. He sighed. “Yeah. All right. I’ll call him.”

Jesse took a moment to respond, then said, “Good. What do you want in return?”

Nick didn’t have anything specific he wanted from Jesse at the moment. He said, “I’d like you to owe me a big personal favor.”

“Fair enough,” said Jesse. “Ainsley might not be too happy if he gets off without some punishment, though.”

“Ainsley?” Nick frowned. It wasn’t that common a name. “My lawyer?”

“Yeah. She was mad enough to skin him alive on Friday night,” said Jesse. “She might have calmed down a little by now, though.”

Nick’s frown grew deeper. “How is it that you’re on a first-name basis with my lawyer? Have you two worked together.”

“Uh, no.” Jesse sounded faintly embarrassed. “We hung out after the raid for a while. Is that a problem?”

Nick didn’t like the idea, but took a deep breath. “Did she see your playroom?”

“No. I do sometimes just enjoy an ordinary hook-up like a normal person,” said Jesse. “And she was already really unhappy about having been restrained once that night.”

Nick laughed. He couldn’t help himself. He was stuck between imagining his occasionally very proper lawyer hooking up with Jesse and wondering if his cousin hadn’t missed a golden opportunity with the woman who had literally kissed Nick’s feet to keep her job. “All right. I’ll deal with Ainsley when I get back to New York.”

“And you’ll talk to your friend in Borough Hall?” Jesse reminded him.

“As soon as I get off this call,” said Nick. “Is there anything else?”

“No, I just...” Jesse paused. “I assumed you would say ‘no.’ Threnody asked you for a lot less and you said no.”

“Threnody’s factotum asked me for a favor on her behalf and wouldn’t tell me why she wanted it. I would have had to break a promise to do what she asked. That wasn’t a good combination for securing my compliance,” said Nick. “Your approach was better. She’d do well to learn from it.”

“She has a style that has worked pretty well for her.” Jesse chuckled. “I don’t think I want to help her get to yes with you.”

“You’ve got a really screwed-up relationship with her. Don’t you?” Nick asked.

“The original screwed-up relationship ... for me at least,” said Jesse. “Listen, you own some land in Italy that she’s been trying to get her hands on forever.”

“And I should use that as leverage with her?” Nick asked.

“You could, but I was actually thinking maybe I could buy it from you ... or trade you something you’d like more,” said Jesse. “I could really use some leverage of my own right now.”

Nick considered the idea. “It’s not the palazzo in Milan. Is it?”

“No. It’s a vineyard and a glassworks and some farmland,” said Jesse. “It has some historic significance to the Ferrari-Stones and Threnody wants it.”

Nick nodded into his phone. “I can’t make any promises, but I’ve been looking to expand my holdings in Manhattan and maybe Brooklyn. Have you got anything in the city?”

“Tons of things. I own about a billion dollars worth on New York real estate,” said Jesse. “I suspect we could find something to your liking.”

Once Nick got off the phone, he couldn’t help but shake his head. Trading actual real estate with Jesse might be easier than it was in Monopoly with his friends.

Before he could return to breakfast, Inez found him. She was wearing jeans, a white athletic tee, cowboy boots, and a white cowboy hat. Her long, black hair was even in braids. “Hey, Nick. We’re going shooting soon. Do you want to come?”

“Shooting? Like with guns?” Nick asked. Inez nodded. He shook his head. “Sure - if they don’t mind having a complete beginner along. I haven’t fired a gun since scouts.”

Inez laughed. “You won’t be the most complete beginner along, then. Pilar’s coming. I don’t think she’s ever touched a gun.”

“Can you try a porn site?” Emily asked.

Max looked over at Emily. She just laughed at the look on his face. “I won’t tell anyone you know how to find porn on the Internet if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Max sat back on the couch and ran his hand through his hair. After three weeks in New York, it was starting to get long and a little shaggy. He was debating letting it grow. It seemed to work for Dennis. He shook his head. “That wasn’t the problem. The problem is that, as soon as you said that, my first impulse was to try to come up with the filthiest, perviest site to try to shock you. Now, I can’t think of any mainstream sites.”

“Casey mentioned one that wanted her to pose. It was ... homicide girls,” Emily said.

“Suicide Girls,” Max corrected her and typed in the URL. The nannyware redirected to a warning page.

When he looked over, Emily was laughing. “You sure knew the right name awfully quickly.”

Max shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Did you do that on purpose?”

Emily nodded. “They did ask her, though.”

“Is she going to do it?” Max asked.

“I think she’s considering it,” said Emily. “Would you check it out if she did?”

Max shook his head and went back to configuring the nannyware. “I’m sure I would. I’ve got to say the idea of looking up somebody I actually know personally on the Internet to see them naked takes some getting used to, though.”

“Weirder than seeing it across the poker table?” Emily asked.

“Yeah. Definitely weirder.” Max gestured with his head at the TV screen where they’d hooked up the new PC. “You know, I feel like a gender traitor setting up a porn blocker.”

“Tucker’s twelve,” Emily reminded Max.

Max tilted his head in a gesture of acknowledgment. “Twelve is probably a little young. By the time he’s old enough, he’ll probably have figured out how to get around this anyway.”

“Are you putting in a backdoor for him or something?” Emily frowned.

“I don’t have to. It’s pretty much impossible to keep boys from getting their hands on porn once they decide they want to see it.” Max shook his head. “Porn is information and information wants to be free.”

“So, how young were you the first time you saw porn?” Emily asked.

Max considered the question and realized how far he’d come in a very short time. The first time he’d met Emily, he’d been intimidated as hell. He’d covered by making some lame jokes, but when he thought she was generally angry at him and Nick, his first thought had been “Oh shit. We’re going to get thrown off the shoot” even though Nick had in fact bankrolled the whole shoot. Now, he was alone with her discussing porn and it felt all right. Of all the women Max knew, Emily might actually be the easiest to talk to.

“You’re going to have to define your terms,” said Max. “One man’s porn is another man’s lingerie catalog.”

“By that definition, I’m a porn star.” Emily folded her legs Indian-style, injured ankle resting on her opposite thigh. “I’m not sure what I mean by ‘porn.’ What do you mean when you say that word?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Max after a while. “When I was younger than Tucker, I got my hands on a book about nude photography. I remember it feeling absolutely forbidden to be looking at that book - like it was the worst thing I’d ever done. I’m sure if I looked at it now, it would be really tame and artistic.”

“So, how do they define porn?” Emily gestured at the TV screen.

“I imagine anything that shows more than you can show on broadcast television,” said Max. “I didn’t actually ask the guy who sold me the software. I just asked him what was the most popular.”

Emily shook her head. “It sounds like everybody’s obsessed with porn, but nobody actually knows what it is.”

“I think someone once said that obscenity is anything that gives a judge an erection,” said Max. “Does that help?”

Emily shook her head, but there was the sound of a key in the front door. She glanced at a clock on the wall. “They’re back early.”

Tucker came running in and stopped dead when he saw Max. Then, he spotted Emily sitting in a recliner. “Hi, Emily. Is this your husband?”

“No. I’m not married,” said Emily.

“How old are you?” Tucker frowned.

“Twenty-two,” said Emily.

“I’m almost thirteen,” said Tucker.

“You’re going to have to wait a few years before you can propose to her then,” said Max fliply.

Tucker looked him over, sizing him up. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen,” said Max.

Tucker nodded thoughtfully. “You could marry Emily.”

“I’ve been thinking about it.” said Max.

Anne came into the room carrying Rebecca. She froze when she saw Max. “Hello.”

“Max is our computer guy. He’s setting up your TV and Internet,” said Emily. “How was church?”

“Bo-RING,” said Tucker in a singsong. “It was all in Russian.”

“Russian is a pretty language,” suggested Emily.

“Yeah, but God’s not going to understand it,” said Tucker. “It’s all gobbledegook.”

“God invented Russian at the Tower of Babel. He made it sound like gobbledegook to keep us from working with the Russians” Max pointed out. “I’ve got your TV and Internet set up.”

Tucker looked to Anne. “Mom, can I?”

“I’m about to make lunch.” Anne put Rebecca down. “Go upstairs and wash up. Make sure your sister washes her hands too.”

Tucker rolled his eyes dramatically, but took his sister’s hand. “Come on, Becky. We’ve got to wash up for lunch.”

Anne turned to Max. “You’ll stay for lunch?”

“We should probably get going,” said Max. “I’ve got...”

“Not without lunch?” Anne looked surprised. “It’s almost noon.”

There were a lot of things Max could have said. Ever since moving to the loft, he’d been eating almost exclusively what Nick’s staff made for him. They’d cooked with an eye to healthy, nutritious food and the weight had been coming off at a brisk clip. Anne was probably a nice person, but she looked like she cooked like Max’s mother. Besides, lunchtime wasn’t anywhere near noon in New York. Some of his housemates were barely out of bed by noon.

But, he’d come here as a favor to Emily and she’d spent most of the ride over warning him how sheltered Anne was and asking him to be nice to her. She probably wouldn’t have spent that much time if Max hadn’t deliberately asked questions suggesting he would take the first opportunity to say something wrong. So he said, “We don’t want to be a burden.”

“Oh, please.” Anne waved the concern off. “I haven’t been allowed to pay for anything yet. It’s no burden on me at all. I’m just making spaghetti and meat sauce.”

Max smiled and nodded. As long as Anne’s meat sauce didn’t include hot dog slices, it would probably be fine. “Before I forget, I put a filter for adult content on both the cable and the Internet. These are your passwords for turning them off.” He handed her a business card.

“Why would I turn them off?” Anne asked.

Max swallowed his first six smart-ass answers. “Sometimes they get overzealous and block something you’d like to see. Or, you might want to watch something more grown up than the filter thinks is appropriate for a twelve year-old boy.”

“Oh.” Anne blushed and tucked the card into her purse.

Max turned to Emily and raised an eyebrow. As they’d been picking out a TV, he’d asked why Nick hadn’t just taken Anne in at the loft and Emily had laughed until tears ran down her cheeks. Now he understood. If Anne was blushing already, she wouldn’t have lasted long on Lafayette Street.

Anne turned to start cooking. “So, are you Emily’s boyfriend?”

“No, but he’s apparently been considering marrying me.” called Emily.

“I said I’ve been thinking about it - in the abstract sense,” said Max firmly. “I think Dennis might have something to say if I tried.”

“Dennis doesn’t get to decide who I marry. He’s going to Timbuktu with Tiffany Glass,” said Emily.

“Kathmandu,” Max corrected.

“That sounds terribly exotic. Is it foreign?” Anne asked.

“It’s in Nepal, which is near Tibet in Asia,” said Max.

Anne turned and gave him a polite smile. “I must seem horribly provincial to you - jetting off all over the world, hanging out with exotic, foreign women, and knowing so much about computers...”

“I haven’t jetted anywhere yet,” said Max. “My family drove us to Michigan once, but that’s the farthest from home I’ve ever been.”

“And I’m about as unexotic as a foreigner can be,” said Emily.

“Well, you could be Canadian ... or English. They’d be less exotic,” said Max. Emily shot him a dirty look.

“Well, you’re very exotic to me,” said Anne. “I love your accent.”

“Thank you,” said Emily. “I like yours. I’ve never been to the American South.”

“Do I have an accent?” Anne drawled. “I don’t hear it.”

They talked for a while about trivial things while Anne cooked. Eventually, she called upstairs, “What’s taking so long?”

“Becky has to pee and she’s taking forever!” called back Tucker.

Anne looked down at the pasta boiling on the sink, then at Max and Emily. “Shoot. I should really see what’s going on up there. Emily, is there any way you can keep an eye on this for a couple of minutes.”

“I can watch it,” said Max.

Anne gave him a doubtful look. “Are you sure? You’ve cooked spaghetti before?”

“I have.” Max rose and took the wooden spoon from her.

Anne said. “You just have to stir it once in a while to keep it from sticking.”

“I’ve got it.” Max nodded. “Go see what your kids are up to.”

As soon as she went upstairs, he turned to Emily. “Have you ever made spaghetti? I’ve got no idea what I’m doing?”

“Seriously?” Emily goggled at him.

Max laughed. “No. It’s fine. I actually do know how to cook. Anne probably thinks I’m gay now.”

“She is...” Emily trailed off.

“Yeah. She is,” said Max. “New York is going to be a really rough adjustment for them.”

“I know,” Emily sighed. “Do you think you could talk to Tucker? He could use a positive male role model right now.”

“Me?” For the first time in years, Max’s voice cracked. “I’m not a positive male role model. I’m barely male. Look at me. I’m cooking.”

“You’re plenty male. And the sooner Tucker finds out real men know how to cook, the easier he’ll be able to adjust to living here.” Emily made a praying gesture with her hands. “I’m not asking you to be his stepdad. Just talk to him.”

Max shook his head. “You know I’m like a giant dork. Right?”

“Max, I promise you that you are the coolest person Tucker has ever met,” said Emily. “You know about the Internet. You know how to swear. You’ve been to R-Rated movies.”

“I’ve played strip poker with Emily King,” said Max. “That should impress him.”

“Don’t impress him too much.” Emily sighed. “I think he’s got a little crush on me.”

“You think?” Max laughed. “You’re probably the prettiest person he’s seen by two orders of magnitude. You show way more skin than he’s probably used to. And you talk to him like a human being. Of course he’s got a crush on you. Everybody’s got a crush on you.”

“Sorry? Am I interrupting?” Anne came downstairs.

“No. Max was just offering to talk to Tucker if you like, help him get adjusted,” said Emily.

“Oh, would you?” Anne looked so relieved. “I think it could really help.”

Max sighed. “I can show him how to use the TV remote and make sure he knows how to use the computer. Beyond that, I have no idea what I would say to him.”

“I don’t know. He’s been really surly and suspicious since we left Montana. I haven’t even figured out how to tell him his daddy’s not going to be joining us. Anything you could say would be helpful,” said Anne.

Max closed his eyes and sighed. “I really do want to help. But, I have nothing in common with a little Christian boy from Louisiana who’s just moved to Coney Island. I’m not a Christian. I never even had to move. He doesn’t play video games. Does he?”

“He played Angry Birds on a friend’s phone once,” said Anne. “Hank said it was a waste of time and threatened to punish him if he ever caught him playing it again.”

“That’s something,” said Max. “But I’m not like you and your son, Anne. I barely even feel like we’re from the same country.”

“I know,” Anne nodded. “Max, Tucker is going to hear a lot of things he doesn’t like. He needs to get used to it. It’ll go down easier if it comes from a man who’s at least trying to be friendly. Whatever you say, it’s better than nobody talking to him. I promise.”

Max sighed, trying to find a way to wriggle out of what was coming. He might have come up with something, but he looked up at Anne. She had dark circles under her eyes and worry lines across her forehead. The net effect was to make her look like a beautiful movie star who’d decided to try for an Oscar by playing a coal miner’s wife. It would be really hard to say no to her.

Knowing it sealed his doom, he looked over at Emily and saw the hopeful pleading her her face as well. A man who could say no to two beautiful blonde women who were only asking him to do what men had been doing since before humans became humans should probably just hand in his testicles and his man card once and for all. He nodded. “Tucker should probably have more Internet access than he can manage if it’s only on the family TV.”

Anne glanced past Max at Emily. Whatever Emily did, Anne nodded. “All right. Are all the horrible things people say about the Internet true?”

Max sighed. “There’s a lot of bad stuff out there. I can talk to him about that. He’s going to run into it eventually.”

Anne sighed and looked resolute. “I guess I can’t bring him to New York and expect to protect him from everything.” She lowered her voice on the location name like it was a profanity.

Max was trying to formulate the words that would express the worthiness of the trade-off when Emily said, “My father did a pretty good job of protecting me when I was growing up - no Internet, no TV, no electricity sometimes. I didn’t even see my first tree until I was sixteen.”

“Tucker’s seen plenty of trees,” said Anne. “Hank says he watches too much TV.”

“You don’t agree,” Emily offered.

Anne noticed that Max had found a strainer and was balancing the pot in one hand while holding the strainer in the other. She went to help. Max gestured for her to hold the strainer. She did while he poured. “Man’s the head of the household. That’s what the Bible says. Right?”

“I imagine you left Hank for a reason,” Emily prompted.

“Not because he thought Tucker was watching too much TV.” Anne poured the drained pasta back into the pot, then shooed Max over to the kitchen table. “He was getting ready to move us all to some little, flyspeck town out in the middle of nowhere in Texas - five hours from the nearest city, cut off from everything. I know you’d probably think Mather Parish was weird and backwards and it is, but it’s home to me. It’s where my family lives and where I grew up. Revelation, Texas is more like the end of the world.”

“It sounds like it,” said Max.

“I imagine you’re thinking about going back to him,” said Emily.

Max frowned, but Anne gave her a sideways glance. “I think, if he promised to let us stay where we were, where my family is, I might have to. I don’t really want to upend Tucker and Becky’s lives any more than I have to.”

“It would be a mistake to go back,” said Emily. When Anne turned to look at her, she added. “You’ll lose more going back than you gained by running. Whatever concessions you’ve won, whatever compromises you’ve made with your man, he’ll start eating away at them the minute you’re back under his control. Maybe you won’t move to Texas, but he’ll watch you like a hawk. He’ll find every excuse to punish you. He’ll definitely make sure you never get a chance to run again.”

Anne looked her over. “Have you been married, Emily?”

Emily shook her head. “No. The man I ran away with - the first one who offered me a chance to get away from all the suffocating, stultify protecting my father was doing, he already had a wife. He didn’t marry me. He just owned me - partly for practical reasons, mostly because I let him. Even when he went home, I always kept a little copy of him in my head telling me what he would and wouldn’t like.”

Anne focused on combining the food for a few minutes. Finally, she said, “So, I should just assume my marriage is a failure?”

“You should assume Hank is as mad at you and as disappointed in you as he could possibly be. You took his kids and ran away from him to New York City. If he were the sort of man who could forgive that, would you have run?” Emily challenged her.

Anne stayed with her face to the wall, one hand on the wooden spoon, not answering. A second after Max realized she was crying, Emily made a gesture with her head towards Anne and pointed at her own injured ankle. Max didn’t even bother to object. He was already knee deep in this family drama anyway. What difference would waist-deep make? He rose and placed a hand on Anne’s shoulder. When she turned, he folded her into a hug and let her cry. She broke away when they heard footsteps on the stairs. Max didn’t need to be prompted. He said, “Tucker, let me show you how I set up the Internet for you.”

“Can I, mom?” There was a faint whine in Tucker’s voice.

“All right, but then come right back. You can surf later,” said Anne. “You don’t want your lunch to get cold.”

Tucker ran into the living room. Max followed and showed him how to turn the TV on and off, how to switch the TV from cable to the PC and back, and how to reboot the PC, then had Tucker walk through all the processes himself.

As Max was showing Tucker how to launch Chrome, Tucker volunteered, “Mom’s acting weird. She doesn’t usually let me have Internet time before lunch.”

Max handed Tucker the keyboard. “A lot of things are going to change now that you’re on Coney Island. Some of those changes will be pretty sweet.”

Tucker focused on typing in a URL. The website for Mather Parish Christian Schools came up. As he typed a login and password, he said, “My dad’s not here. That’s pretty weird.”

Max nodded. The kid certainly got to the point quickly. “Why do you think your dad’s not here?”

“Mom says we’re going on vacation without him.” Tucker typed his password.

Damn the kid really wasn’t wasting any time easing Max into the conversation. Max leaned in and said quietly. “Man to man, Tucker. Tell me the truth. Do you think you’re on vacation?”

Tucker looked up from the screen. Max let him work out whatever he was thinking. Finally, the boy said, “We went to see Aunt Sarah get married in Montana. I heard women cry a lot at weddings, but we left and Mom’s still crying. She even cried on Nick’s plane.”

This was the first Max had heard about Nick having a plane. But it made sense that if he did, he’d be using it to fly people he just met around the country so he could give them homes and jobs. He asked, “You got to ride in Nick’s plane? Was that fun?”

“It was just me and Mom and Becky and a pretty lady on the whole plane. Her name was Monica. She said she was from California, but she was really nice,” said Tucker.

Anne came out of the kitchen with a pair of plates. “Do you guys want to eat out here today?”

Tucker looked to Max, who said, “That sounds nice. Tucker and I were just talking about your flight from Montana.”

Anne put the plates on the coffee table in front of them. “It was incredibly generous of Nick to fly us here on his plane. I was ready to take the bus.”

“Mom, the school says they sent you a text because I’m logging in from a new computer.” Tucker pointed to the TV.

Anne read the same message off the TV. “We’ll take care of it after lunch and after I charge my phone. Let’s try to be a little bit civilized, please.”