Chapter 29

I came back down dressed for the spa, Sarah was already in, so I checked and asked, “You do have a suit on, right Sarah?”

She stood up and had on a beautiful one-piece swimsuit, that had the American Flag on it, but there was a mesh portion over the bosom area that flashed a bit more ‘skin’ than I had been expecting. I got in and turned my back to her saying, “Be gentle, Mrs. Robinson,” which caused her to laugh a bit.

Just as she was starting to rub my shoulders, everybody came through the front door, with Claire shrieking, “I am a C cup – I am a C cup, Saaarrraaaaahhh, Charles, I am a C cup!”

Sarah yelled, “We’re out in the spa honey, come on out. Let’s see the girls?”

I turned my head to Sarah and questioned her, “What?”

She said quietly, “The girls, the boobs, the twins — when you have a pair worth looking at, they’re called ‘the girls.’ I guess that phrase wasn’t in any dictionary you read, was it, Charles?”

Annie and Kalista came out to see us, with Mom saying, “She’s going to put on a new swimsuit. Charles, don’t say anything you’ll regret to her – eye contact buster. Is that a new suit Sarah, I have never seen it before?”

“I got it for Charles a while back, first time I have worn it,” she said proudly.

“I am going to put on my suit too, be right back,” Kalista said leaving in a flash.

I was leaning back into Sarah’s built-in pillows a little. Mom looked at me and said, “You look ... comfortable Charles.”

“Mom, chill out, please – we got all the pants lengthened, and this is our treat.”

“I see that, but is it your treat, or hers?”

Sarah exploded, pushing me off of her, “I am getting tired of your innuendo, Annie. Charles — get up, I am getting out ... I’ll find something else to do that won’t offend your mother!”

She quickly got up and out of the spa, grabbing her stuff as she left.

“Wait – Sarah, don’t ... Great Mom, just great – because of your jealousy, I have to suffer Sarah being embarrassed like that. I am getting out too. I am going up to my room, if that’s all right with you?”

She slapped me ... hard, in the face.

With sarcasm aplenty, I said, “Great, did that help, at all? I hope you didn’t hurt your hand? We wouldn’t want the high and mighty Annie Newman to have a sore hand.”

I passed Claire on the stairs, telling her how beautiful she looked, and said, “I’m going to go listen to some music in my room.”

After spending about fifteen minutes listening to music for future routines, there was a rap on my door. I took out my ear buds.

“Yeah,” I yelled though the door.

“Can I come in please, Charles?”

“Yeah, you are welcome in here, Sarah – leave the door open, so she-who-should–not–be-named, can’t accuse us of anything.”

Giggling over my retort, she sat on the bed, a fair distance from me.

I looked at her, and I saw she had been crying ... I was too mad to cry. She put her hand on my face where Mom had slapped me, rubbing it gently, “I’m so sorry!”

I leaned forward, nibbling on her ear a little, and putting my hand on her flat tummy.

“Stop it,” she said giggling. “We have some things to discuss, Loverboy.”

“Anything more important than me telling you how stunning you are?” I said, kissing her on her neck some more.

“Don’t ... distract me dear,” she said pulling away. “We’re making the commercial for the Chevy Dealership that’s gifted us the Suburban tomorrow morning, and Mr. Bublé and his people are coming over tomorrow afternoon to make a commercial for the SST Tour.”

“Are Claire and I doing anything in these, other than just standing there?” I said moving my kisses to her face.

“They both may want a little bit of dance, but nothing you guys can’t handle,” Sarah responded also giving out a little moan.

I asked, “What else is there, before we start practicing for the Tour?” I was rubbing her neck right behind her ear.

“If you’ll ... stop that for a minute, I’ll tell you, Charles,” Sarah said playfully slapping at my hand. “That’s it. We left open the ten days before Labor Day, so you guys can practice, or not. Maybe learn something new, or whatever? We got the SST Schedule for the first twenty-eight cities, starting right here at the Columbus Performing Arts Center, two days after Labor Day.”

She added, “We’ll be practicing all day Labor Day, and the following day, then starting our Tour at the Battelle North Room at The Performing Arts Center, which can hold twenty-two hundred people, after you bring in Michael’s orchestra.”

“Besides your weekly, negotiated salary, Michael has sent an addendum to our contract, which says, we get two percent of the gross gate, three percent, if there’s a technical sell-out. Those percentages will be in place for every venue in every state we travel to.”

“Wow, Sarah – I honestly never thought of gate fees. I thought only rock stars commanded a percent of the gate.”

“Well, Charles – I suppose Michael considers you a draw, and a rock star.”

“I could be your Rock Star, Sarah – you rock my world,” I said touching her ... beautiful neck.

“Charles – Stop it?” She grinned, but I could tell she was enjoying the flirting. I know I was, too much. She pushed my face away.

“After that, we travel by our new Chevy Suburban, to 28 cities in 86 days — including, in order, Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio; Louisville then Lexington, Kentucky; Knoxville and Nashville, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; New Orleans, Louisiana; over to Mobile, Alabama, then five stops in Florida; Tallahassee, Tampa, Miami, along with Orlando and Jacksonville.”

“Will we have time to go to Walt Disney World, Lover?” I asked.

“Absotively, Posilutely,” she replied, smiling at me.

“And when we’re in Memphis, can we go see Graceland if we have time?”

“You bet, Charles – Do you want to hear the rest of the Tour?”

“Sorry, Gorgeous – uhm ... I guess I better stop calling you that?”

“Not even – you can call me anything, anytime, X?” she said a bit defiantly, but still quite seductively.

“Go ahead, and tell me the rest of the tour please, Mrs. Robinson?”

That made Sarah laugh, which made me laugh. We took a moment, looking into each other’s eyes.

Sarah pulled away saying, “OK, where was I, oh yeah; Jacksonville. Next is Savannah, Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina, then up to Charlotte and over to Raleigh, North Carolina.”

“Then off to Richmond, Virginia; Washington DC; Baltimore, Maryland; Harrisburg then Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Akron, Ohio and then coming back home for about four days.”

“Where will we be on October 15^th?” I asked playing with her hair a little while asking.

“We perform on the fourteenth, in Miami, I suppose we could spend a whole day in Walt Disney World, maybe even celebrate a ninth birthday?” Sarah said with a sparkle in her eye.

“Call and find out if WEDCO would like Charles & Claire, and the Sparkling Kalista, to perform on that day, somewhere in the park,” I asked Sarah. “If not, we’ll just go there, and have some fun.”

There was a knock on the door, “Go where and have fun, Charles?” Kalista asked walking in.

“Sarah was telling me about the first leg of the SST Tour, and we were discussing things to do, besides performing ... you know stuff to do for fun,” I white-lied.

“Kalista, please go find Claire, I want to practice dancing with my girls,” I said.

She left, squealing at the top of her lungs, “CLAAAIIIRRREEE!”

I got up, giving Sarah a quick kiss on the mouth and said, “Spare no expense at Walt Disney World, Sarah – I want everything that’s available for the five of us to do, OK?”

“All right, Loverboy – what do I get on my birthday?” She looked quite sexy the way she said that.

“I don’t know when your birthday is, Sarah?” I answered honestly, “What would you like for your birthday?”

What a loaded question!

Sarah was looking me up and down, actually licking her lips, and she said, “March 29th is my birthday Loverboy,” she said, “During Nationals, next year.”

“Keep this to yourself beautiful, but I am not completely sure we’ll be doing Nationals, after all,” I said putting a lock of her hair behind her ear. She leaned into my hand, growling.

I had no real plans to skip Nationals. I said that to her, to test her new promise of ‘no leaks’. We headed downstairs – I reached for her butt, but she grabbed my hand and said, “Be-have!”

Kalista had Claire and Annie out back on the dance floor; Sarah and I joined them.

“OK, everybody, here’s the plan. First, we go through all of our routines involving a Michael Bublé number. If the routine is between Claire and me, we’ll do it first, then I’ll go over it as well with Kalista. When we get to a Kalista routine, she and I’ll perform it first, then Claire and I’ll go over the same number.”

“When we get to a number that I did with Annie, Kalista and I’ll re-learn it together and when we get to a song I did with Sarah, Claire and I’ll go over it. We’ll do this until nightfall, or until we get too tired to continue. We’ll pick it up again at our first convenience in the morning.”

“We’ll be adding, some ‘show moves,’ like easy Developés, Side Lunges and Rondés to our routines. Do you have your show underwear on girls?”

“CHARLES!” Annie said with clear indignation in her voice.

“Mom, there’s no other way to say it, or ask it, so I did; get over it, please — OK?”

Both girls responded by saying ‘yes,’ blushing a bit, and giggling loudly.

“Also, before the two Moms go ballistic, I still love you both and plan to dance with you, while we’re on the road. But, for the next six days, it’s going to be just Charles, Claire, and Kallie dancing. I need you to understand, that you are loved — but right now, I am ready to focus on dancing with my girls. Ladies, have patience with me please? Since I’ll be alternating between Claire and Kalista, could Annie or Sarah please man the boom box, please?”

I saw Annie and Sarah look at each other, and then Mom broke for the player, saying, “Which song, Honey-Buns?” and flashed a big smile at me, mouthing ‘I am sorry’.

“Excuse me girls, for a second,” I left and walked over to Annie, and we embraced each other. I whispered in her ear, “You know you have got the better smile and butt, than Sarah does.”

She whispered back, “I know,” and she giggled.

I love her.

Walking back to the girls, I yelled, “‘Everything,’ please Annie. Kallie, come here,” We danced the routine, opening up the moves a little. I showed K what a lunge and a Rondé are, and we quickly got through it.

Claire came up to me, I nodded to Annie to start it over; it was a perfect replication of what Kalista and I’d done only a few minutes before...

You are a falling star,
you are the getaway car
You are the line in the sand
when I go too far
You are the swimming
pool on an August day
And you are the perfect
thing to see

And you play
you are coy,
but it’s kinda cute
Oh, when you smile at me
you know exactly
what you do
Baby, don’t pretend that
you don’t know it’s true
Cause you can see it
when I look at you

And in this crazy life,
and through
these crazy times
It’s you, it’s you;
you make me sing
You are every line,
you are every word,
you are everything

You are a carousel,
you are a wishing well
And you light me up
when you ring my bell
You are a mystery,
you are from outer space
You are my every minute
of my everyday

And I can’t believe,
uh, that I am your man
And I get to kiss you,
baby, just because I can
Whatever comes our way,
oh, we’ll see it through
And you know that’s
what our love can do

And in this crazy life,
and through
these crazy times
It’s you, it’s you;
you make me sing
You are every line,
you are every word,
you are everything

So, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
So, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

And in this crazy life,
and through
these crazy times
It’s you, it’s you;
you make me sing
You are every line,
you are every word,
you are everything
You are every song,
and I sing along
Cause you are my everything
Yeah, yeah

So, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
So, la, la, la, la, la, la-la-la, la-la-la

We very quickly got through it, plus the thirteen songs we’d previously choreographed, and moved on to the other Bublé music, we had yet to deal with. We started with ‘I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You,’ which I did first with K, creating a brand spanking new routine, to the beautiful waltz tempo of the song.

Next was one of the faster songs that Michael sings, it’s a Paso Doble, and it’s called ‘It Had Better Be Tonight’. I created a routine for Claire and me.

I then went back to ‘I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You,’ switching to Claire. Both girls were watching each other very carefully, making sure they did matching moves, for when I changed partners. I was quite proud of both of them. Not a single word between them, except ‘Excuse me’ as they swapped out, giving each other a high five each time they did. That usually prompted a giggle from one or both of them.

Both of these girls were showing me how much they wanted to please me, by not complaining a bit during our marathon dance lesson. Last new dance of the night would be to ‘I Got a Crush on You,’ a Slow Samba.

This would make a nice dance for either Annie or Sarah to dance with.

I looked over at the girls, and saw their eyes drooping, so I called it a night. Both girls said they could keep going, if I really wanted. I wore them out, and come to think of it, my feet were a little sore.

“Sarah, could you bring in the boom box and the music please, I need to talk to Annie alone for a moment?”

She nodded OK to me, as I grabbed my mom’s arm and we walked inside together. She leaned into me as we walked, and we went into the living room and sat down. I kicked off my shoes, groaning in relief. She took my leg and put it on her lap, rubbing my foot, ankle and leg.

I heard a whimper from her, and I asked, “What’s wrong, Mom?”

She picked up her head and said, “I am ... so ashamed for slapping you, Charles. Can you ever forgive me for that?” She had big tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Mom, I was asking for it, mouthing off like I did. I want us to be OK again, can we?”

“Hand me your other leg, sweetheart? Charles, you were right, I was ... I am ... jealous of Sarah. I can never be the one you flirt with. My husband left me; but her husband ... wasn’t even her husband! I don’t know what I would have done, given the same set of circumstances.”

“Mom, you are the best Mom I have ever had, and will ever have, so I’d like to flirt with you, if you can handle it. I can be appropriate when in front of the rest of the ladies, but flirting with my mom sounds really naughty, and maybe — a little bit of naughty is what you need in your life?”

Her hands felt so nice on my legs.

“Charles, I am truly amazed at how grown up you have become. You are taller than me, you handle all kinds of grown up situations and decisions so well. You have become the man in my life — I am very proud of my son.”

“And I am very proud of my hot mama, with the pretty face and the nice butt.”

“When have you ever checked out my butt, Charles?” She was fishing.

“Every time, you have on a swim suit, and some of your new dresses really make your tushie, look good enough to touch.”

“Charles!” She giggled and was shocked at the same time, blushing a little.

“What, Mom – can’t handle being told you are a hottie. Didn’t Dad ‘ever’ say anything to you, about how beautiful you are?”

“No, Charles – He didn’t have time for any of that. Sometimes, I wonder how he ever had time to make babies with me.”

“Well, I am sure glad you two made some babies, because you are the most wonderful woman I could ever hope to be my mom.”

I leaned into her and started a kiss on her lips. She seemed unsure of what exactly was happening, so I put my hand behind her head and put some real pressure to her lips. I felt her lips respond, and her mouth opened, as did mine. We were now in full make-out mode. I saw Sarah on the stairs ... giving me a thumbs up.

I closed my eyes and separated from my mother, giving her a peck on her nose and said “Good Night, Hot Lips. See you in the morning. Wear something tight tomorrow for the commercials, OK?”

“OK, Loverboy – that sure was naughty, but it sure was nice. Goodnight.” She went towards me and wanted another one, just like Sarah did. I love them both so much.

The next morning, we got up and got dressed in our dark blue outfits, with Kalista in black, and the Moms, both in tight red dresses. We took the Chevy to the Dealership, getting there a little early, and they had a guy take the Suburban away for a moment, while we worked out the details of the commercial.

It was decided, that Roscoe Martin, owner of Martin’s Chevrolet, would do all the talking, and we’d dance into the camera shot, waving at the camera. Claire and I practiced a few moves, when I had a minor epiphany.

I pulled Claire aside and we talked about a few things, when our Suburban pulled up, with a big vinyl sign that had been put on it... “The Something Special Tour, with Charles, Claire and Kallie” in one-foot-tall lettering, that wrapped around both sides of the SUV. Our website was also on both sides of the Chevy. Charles.claire.kalista@musiccom [not real]

On the back door, was a vinyl sign, with the Charles, Claire and Kallie pose from the posters. The girls both shrieked as they saw their faces on the back of the Suburban.

I walked up to Roscoe and gave him my idea, which he loved. He got the cameraman to back up and set up on top of a nearby vehicle. He had a cordless mike so distance wouldn’t be a practical problem.

I yelled up at the cameraman, “Film the rehearsals, please?”

He looked at Roscoe who said, “You heard him, Ronnie, film the rehearsals!”

Roscoe stepped forward, and started his scripted lines:
“Everybody at Martin’s Chevrolet wants to Congratulate Charles, Claire and Kalista as they start on their Something Special Tour. We, at Martins Chevrolet, want to help, so we’re donating the use of this brand new, fully loaded Chevrolet Suburban to Charles & Claire, on their Tour across the Country, so we hope Charles & Claire have people across the country dancing in circles to see their Tour.”

After they filmed that twice, Claire and I got the boom box out, and asked Mom for the ‘Six-Pack,’ I sent Kallie to just outside camera left, while Claire and I stood just outside camera right. I had Annie ready to start the music and Sarah with a timer, so we’d take fifteen seconds to get from right to left behind Roscoe, I would swap to Kallie, off camera, and take fifteen seconds to come back, in front of Roscoe.

The first time we tried, we took too long to get over, so we stopped, and started again. The second time we got to Kallie in fourteen seconds, swapped and came back doing the exact same steps. Not quite, but close enough.

“Ready Roscoe, say the same thing you just said and don’t change anything, or it won’t match up in editing. Everybody ready for this?” I asked. I heard a number of ‘hell yesses’. We had a contingent of salespersons and patrons all watching, who I had asked to please stay quiet.

Roscoe said, “Anytime, Bossman.” Everybody laughed at that, including his employees.

“Start the music on my nod, Annie ... and go...”

The music started, nine seconds in we started, along with Roscoe, Claire and I were dancing and moving towards Kallie, who was ready and didn’t miss a step on our pass back, to camera right. I looked at Sarah, who said, “thirty seconds exactly guys,” and there was a big whoop.

Roscoe came over and said, “That’s going to help me sell a butt-load of vehicles, Charles – Thanks a lot for taking a blah commercial idea and turning it into a production number like that.”

“Consider the Suburban your payment from all of us at Martin’s Chevrolet. Let me sign over the pinks to you guys. Who’s going to be the owner of the vehicle, Charles?”

“C-Cask LLC will be the proud owner of a beautiful Suburban from Martin’s Chevrolet. Where is your daughter Carolyn, who helped getting us all together?”

“Behind you, Charles.”

I reached for her and she let me pull her up into my arms. She gave me a great big kiss right on the lips.

“Carolyn, I told you ‘on the cheek,’ a peck ‘on the cheek,’” Roscoe said, a little embarrassed. Carolyn certainly wasn’t!

Kalista said, “Don’t worry, Mr. Martin, there are 50,000 other girls just like your daughter who’d like to do that? Only Carolyn did ... and they won’t.”

Everybody laughed, with Annie snorting as we got ourselves together to leave.

I shook hands with Roscoe, Ronnie the cameraman, and gave Carolyn a hug goodbye. We all left for home, which was only ten minutes away.

Kalista was leaning into me, and Claire and I held each other’s hands as we got home.

After helping my girls out of the Suburban, I went up to Sarah and thanked her and Mom for their help getting things done.

“Everybody keep what you have got on, on. Michael and his people will be here within the hour, take it easy and sit back. After they are gone, we’ll all ‘change into something more comfortable’ and do some more rehearsal with the newer Bublé music.”

There was a knock at the front door, about forty minutes later, with Michael, and a crew of people. He directed them to the back yard and said, “Great” as he saw the dance floor was up.

I walked up to him and he asked, “Are you enjoying yourselves, everybody? It’s getting close, isn’t it? Everybody looks great today. Anything special you want to do, Charles? Got something new to show off? I have been seeing your posters everywhere I go, could I get a set?”

“Sure, Mr. Bublé,” said Kalista. “I’ll get some for you, when Charles says to.”

“Michael,” I said, “We have a brand-new routine, but it’s not to one of your songs?”

“What song is it to, Charles?” Michael asked with a smirk on his face.

“The song ‘For Good’ from WICKED. We have had a single rehearsal to it, but we could do it. Or we have over thirty of your songs with a routine to it, that either Kalista or Claire can perform to. I plan to have a routine to every one of your songs before our first rehearsal together.”

“That’s not necessary, Charles,” Michael said. “Especially any with the word remix in the title.”

“Sir, we have a contract ... to dance for you, not to learn to dance for you, so I feel compelled to create a routine for every piece of music in your repertoire, Michael.”

“OK, Charles – fine, dump anything with remix, or that has another person singing with me; I have decided to take this tour alone ... with just you guys. That’s how much I think of you. Most of the first leg is selling fast, probably due to the three of you.”

“Anyway, what’re we doing here today, Michael? Are you singing and we’re dancing, and some faceless person comes along and says something like ‘Ladies and Gentlemen – Boys and Girls, Coming soon to a dance floor near you, Grammy Winning singer Michael Bublé, along with the dance styling’s of Charles, Claire and the Sparkling Kalista. You have seen them on YouTube, now see them in person – coming soon ... to where you live.”

“PERFECT,” said Michael, “Can you say that again for the commercial? And it’s Multiple Grammy Winning singer?” he said with a smile, and a chuckle.

“Michael, you have hired us to dance, nothing more,” I responded with a hint of exasperation.

He was staring at me so hard, I relented. “OK, all right – I’ll do it, can I do that first and get it out of the way, please?”

“Sure, Charles,” Michael said.

It was fresh in my head, so I waited for a sound check, then I did it twice, taking a little longer, so it’d be thirty seconds, and I was done.

“How about ‘The Way You Look Tonight, Michael?’ We learned a new routine just last night to it and, I could easily switch between the girls a couple of times in those thirty seconds?”

“Wonderful, Charles – that’s one of my favorites, being a Sinatra song,” Michael said.

“Actually Michael, Fred Astaire performed it first, in 1936, in the film SWING TIME when it won the Oscar for best Original Song, since then there have been at least thirty-three covers...”

“Charles,” Annie said.

“Sorry, guys – since I remember every song I have ever heard, it’s hard not to go into minutia sometimes.”

We gathered up everyone and moved to the dance floor, Michael had a mike in his hand, with the girls and me, off to the side. The minus track was started, with Claire and I immediately dancing, changing out to Kallie when Michael started to sing seventeen seconds in.

About ten seconds more and I switched back to Claire, who did some quick Cha-Cha Rondés in place, which really spiced it up, surprising Michael a bit, but he went on until we heard, ‘cut and print’.

Michael thanked us for our time, we confirmed our Labor Day rehearsal start and place, and they all left.

“I know I said we’d rehearse some more, but I need a bit of a rest people, if that’s OK?”

Sarah came up to me and asked, “How’s your back, Charles? I can give you a rubdown, if you need it?”

“Sarah – thanks for the offer, but my legs hurt a little, and my mom gives me my foot and leg rubs. She’s been doing it since I was five years old; you can have my back as needed, but my mommy gets my legs,” I said.

“And what parts do Kalista and I get, Loverboy?” Claire said with her hands high on her hips.

I blushed and said, “Make me an offer, Beautiful?”

After my foot and leg rub from Annie, I lay down for a little while. Something jolted me awake, and I got up and went downstairs, and two little kids ran up to me, grabbing my hands and said, “Daddy. You are awake, Daddy, we want you and Mommy to dance for us, please?”

Daddy? Mommy? I have kids? Wow, I don’t know what’s been causing all these dreams lately, but at least I haven’t woken up in prison, yet.

A beautiful blonde came out of the kitchen, and said, “Kids, stop pestering your father, he works hard all day and he needs his rest when he gets home from teaching dance.”

I don’t know this woman ... who’s this? I wonder; I walk over to her and give her a really nice kiss. I say, “You sure look very pretty today.” I try to give her another kiss, but she pulled away.

“Not in front of your children, Charles? I am just the nanny here; your wife is laying down in the living room. But, that was a nice kiss, what brought that on? I have always wanted you to kiss me, but Wow!”

“Is Charles up?” I heard from the next room over.

“Yes, Mrs. Newman, Charles is up ... and frisky,” she said, slapping me on the butt as I walked in to see my wife, Claire. Oh, my ... she still has eyes that brighten up a room, although her hair is kind of short now.

She puts out her hands so I can pull her up to her feet. I give her a truly inspiring kiss. However old she is at this point; her chest certainly has ... become magnificent. She catches my eyes looking at them and she smiles saying, “I knew growing these would finally get your attention away from my mother.”

“The girls sure do look nice, Claire – they look good enough to...”

“Charles, not in front of the kids, or Barbara. I knew, when we met her, during the Tour in Eastern Europe, that she’d be a wonderful nanny for our children. You seem to like her, don’t you?”

“Yes, dear, she seems nice, but she’s no Claire, or Kallie for that matter, or even Sarah,” I said.

“Well, thank you, and my little sister thanks you as well. She should be home from college any time now.”

I don’t recognize the house I am in, it’s not either the home I grew up in, or the McArthur house we moved to after that. I must be doing well, because it sure looks nice. We must have at least five bedrooms, what with two kids, Barbara and Kallie.

“Charles, I am taking the kids to Cotillion, and I am gonna stay to see how Brian and Susan are doing as the new teachers. It’s so sad that Jimmy died. But the Cotillion keeps on, now of course called the Newman Family Cotillion. Your mother sure knows how to run a business, doesn’t she?”

“Well, Sarah’s no slouch at it either, kiddo,” I said. “Remember how well she organized the SST?” I am trying to keep up ... it’s like the ultimate interactive video game, but with kissing.

“That’s right, she did. Can you believe she’d end up with Michael Bublé? They seem happy; he makes money — she spends money.”