Chapter 49

"So how does it feel to have lost another one?"

I glared at Traci, but she felt safe sitting between Peter and Kelly and grinned back.

"It feels..."

"I can think of ways to make you feel what we're feeling," Robbie said with just a touch on menace."

"Sorry," Traci mumbled dropping her eyes. "I was just teasing."

My sister was more afraid of Robbie's revenge than mine. I wasn't sure how to take that.

"Amy Long's German shepherd just had puppies. Can we trade her in on one?" I asked with a straight face. "I know Dad's allergic, but we can get him a surgical mask to wear around the house."

"Children, behave," Mom said with mock severity.

"That's what they say when we're together," Robbie and I sang together. Robbie giggled, catching my eye from the other side of Tami, so I continued, "And watch how you play..."

"You two are weird," Mikee said, shaking her head. "What was that all about?"

Mom set a huge plate of waffles on the table and sat down between Dad and Mikee.

"It's an old Tommy James song, I Think We're Alone Now," Robbie explained, reaching out and spearing the top waffle. She was sitting between Dad and Tami.

"It starts out 'Children behave', I guess the song popped into both our heads at the same time," I finished, scooping scrambled eggs off a platter and onto my plate.

"Do you two know every song ever written before I was born," Kelly asked picking a piece of bacon off her plate.

"Just the good ones," we said together.

After the championship game, Tami and I had stayed over and come back this morning. Now we were having a family brunch. I'm not sure when Mikee, Kelly and Peter joined the family, but it seemed perfectly natural.

"Just out of curiosity, how old is that song?" Traci asked between bites.

"Let's put it this way. They played that song at my senior prom," Dad said, then grinned. "Along with some other moldy oldies."

"Sixty-eight or sixty-nine," Robbie supplied.

There was relative quiet as we all concentrated on our food. Mom had gone all out: waffles, cinnamon rolls, and french toast along with eggs, bacon, sausage and country potatoes. I think she was trying to cheer me up, I didn't have the heart to tell her I wasn't depressed.

"So how was your trip?" Tami asked, pushing her plate away from her.

"Pretty good, all in all," Mom said, following Tami's example of pushing her plate away. "The conference was long and boring, and I could have learned just as much from a two-page memo."

"I liked it," dad said. "I sat around the pool and relaxed. Then I went shopping. I found the most darling..."

Dad really should have expected that elbow.

"What did you think of Mitch, Rosita, and Cinnamon?" Robbie asked, working on her third waffle.

"Well the conference ended Thursday afternoon and we drove to a little place in Idaho Falls. What was the name again?"

"Miner's Pick," Dad mumbled around a mouth of cinnamon roll.

"The Miner's Pick. It's a quaint little bed and breakfast. I needed to unwind."

Dad opened his mouth, thought better of it, and took another bite of cinnamon roll.

"Then Friday morning, we slept in till almost ten, then finished the drive to Mitch's. We met them for lunch at..."