Chapter 60

I held hands with Zoe as we walked to the mail boxes. For the last day of January, it was gorgeous. The fact that it was Monday but there was no school because of an in-service day just made it better. It was about fifty degrees, with just a light breeze blowing and not more than three small white clouds in the sky.

I unlocked the box with my key, pulled out a small stack of mail, and wasn't surprised that most of it was bills. There was one from the Porsche finance company that somehow looked more official than usual. Two from the bank. And several from credit card and insurance companies.

As I closed and locked the box, I wondered how bad our finances were. Dad wouldn't talk about it, and Mom said to ask Dad. But nether of them looked happy.

I looked at my watch before taking Zoe's hand again. A little after eleven. I didn't have gymnastics until three. Almost four hours.

"It occurs to me that you've never had a tour of the house," I said as we started back.

"I've been to your house lots of times. I spent the night there in November."

"Yeah, but you've never had the official tour."

Zoe gave me the you're-weird-look, but didn't put it into words.

We walked to the house. Inside, I took her jacket and hung it up. "This would be the living room. Please not how clean the floor is, that would be because one of the Sims family knows how to use the vacuum." I didn't even buff my fingernails when I said it.

We moved through the living room. "I know you're familiar with this room. Officially this is the dining room, but actually, it's where you and Traci cheat at Monopoly."

"I don't cheat," she protested.

"Un huh." We'd played a few times since the sleepover. Zoe won if Traci wasn't there. Traci won when Zoe wasn't there and the one time they both played, Tami won again.

"This is our kitchen. Please note the immaculate oven. That was a major part of my punishment after the slumber party." Zoe opened it and looked inside, grunting appreciatively.

"As we continue onward, we come to our small but functional utility room with matching washer and dryer." I noticed that the washer had stopped. I'd put in a load before going to get Zoe.

I ignored my closed door. "This of course is our main hallway. Actually our only hallway. On your right is my bathroom, which I sometimes let Traci use."

She looked in. "Very nice."

"At the end of the hall is Traci's room. This has been declared a hazardous area. You must be fully insured to enter." I opened the door, and it was immediately apparent that Traci hadn't picked up in a couple of days. "The EPA assures us that it isn't actually toxic."

"You're mean."

"Only to Traci," I said, closing her door. "To our left is the master suite, where parental units go to conspire against me." I opened their door.