Chapter 7

When I walked down the stairs, dressed and refreshed, Mindy was waiting for me in the middle of the living room. She held her arms out wide, twirled around dramatically, and asked, “Well? What do you think?”

I looked over the living room furniture. All of the chairs, sofas, and tables were new, and my favorite easy chair had been replaced by the Dream Chair.

Walking through the room, I had to admit, “It’s not so bad. It looks fairly ... normal. Tasteful. This looks like a typical nice upper middle class living room. This is not what I was expecting.”

Knowing my wife as well as I did, I could tell she was trying very hard not to smirk at me ... and failing. “And just what was that?”

I waved my hands uncertainly. “I don’t know. Something extreme. Way over the top. Because everything else has been way over the top lately. Maybe a dancing stage, stripper pole, chains and weird bondage outfits on the walls ... Maybe even a moat...”

She laughed at that. “A moat?! Through the living room?! What the hell for?”

I laughed too, suddenly realizing just how absurd my moat idea was. “I don’t know. An easier way to get to the pool in the backyard?” I laughed some more. “Somehow I was free associating on the whole medieval castle idea. Iron maidens and all that. And remember the chains from last night? Right now, I wouldn’t put ANYTHING past you.”

She walked up to me and gave me a hug and a kiss. “Come on. I’m not THAT bad.”

“I suppose not. But I’ll bet that now we’re gonna walk into the dining room and kitchen and find all that weird stuff there.”

She laughed some more. “Not hardly. That’s not until we get to the basement ... Kidding! Let’s go and see.” She patted my tummy. “And let’s put some food in your belly too. Oh, and be careful to jump over the moat when we get to it.”

I turned to the opening from the living room into the dining room and saw Cindy, Ruby, Sue Ellen, and Michelle standing there in a line. They were all dressed in functional “normal” clothes, and they were closely watching to see my reaction to the furniture changes.

I said to them, “It looks like Smirktoberfest comes early this year. And Mindy might not even be the winner this time.” I said that because they were all smirking and smiling. Clearly they were feeling smug that I was okay with the changes.

Mindy joked, “Hush your mouth! I’ll have you know that I always win at smirking. In fact, everyone knows that I am the Smirking Queen!” She raised her arms up dramatically in a V-shaped pose. “All hail Smirkarella, queen of the smirky night!”

I walked towards my cock slaves, joking, “If we ignore her, maybe she’ll go away.”

I walked right up to Cindy and briefly kissed her on the mouth. “Mmmm. Nice. I’ve missed you. Where have you been?”

She squeezed me tightly, obviously delighted that I’d singled her out. “I’ve been down here, doing all the dirty work, so your new initiate could have more special time with you, and the King. SOMEbody’s gotta get things done before Nicky gets here.”

Mindy had been following behind me. She caught up, and put a hand on my arm. “Hey, we’ve all been doing our part. And keeping the King hot, throbbing, and dripping with saliva and pre-cum for nearly an hour is no easy task! Besides, lots of other things have been happening too. For instance, did you know Cindy has a new job?”

“Oh, really? What’s that?” While still holding Cindy, I started walking her into the dining room.

Michelle huffed, “Hey! What about the rest of us? Don’t we get a hello kiss and hug too?” She thrust her jutting torpedoes out enticingly while somehow managing to not topple forward. “And maybe a nice titty grope while you’re at it?”

I chuckled. She wasn’t as tempting as usual since she was fully dressed. “Shelle, I saw all of you - and I do literally mean ALL of you - up in my room a few minutes ago. Whereas I haven’t seen Cindy at all since last night. Don’t you think she deserves a kiss and a hug?”

“I suppose,” Michelle grumbled.

Michelle was looking so adorable in wanting her daddy that I broke down and gave her a hug and a rather intimate kiss. Then of course I had to do the same for Ruby and Sue Ellen. I even obliged them all with Michelle’s “titty grope” request (although no clothes came off along the way). It’s a tough life being the master of a harem, I must say!

As I was fondling and kissing Ruby, I heard Michelle tell Cindy, “Guess what? Dan was reading a book!” Seeing no reaction from Cindy, Michelle added, “WHILE Sue Ellen was sucking him off!”

“That’s nice,” Cindy replied with a smile.

Michelle was indignant. “‘That’s nice?’ ‘That’s nice?!’ Is that all you have to say?!”

Ruby broke from kissing me to point out to Michelle, “Remember, she’s new to this. She hasn’t been planning the Plan and dreaming the Dream for years and years, like we have.”

That seemed to mollify Michelle somewhat. She pointed to Cindy and grumbled, “We need to get you up to speed. And fast!” She waved her hands in the air in a frustrated attempt to express herself. “This is ... It’s everything we’ve hoped and prayed for! ... Seeing him read a book while getting sucked is just ... Uh!”

Noticing Michelle’s difficulty in putting her thoughts into words, Ruby helpfully told Cindy, “Mom, we’re not JUST about keeping Daddy’s cock stiff and throbbing with pleasure all the time. True, that’s job number one, but there’s so much more to it than that. There’s a whole attitude that goes along with it. We’d like to teach you.”

Cindy just smiled widely. “And I’d love to be taught. In fact, I can’t wait!”

That seemed to settle the matter, for now. I was left mystified about just what they were going on about though. I suspected it was some kind of pretend slave game for the Gruesome Twosome. They talked a good talk about being submissive, but in practice they were just as willful as ever.

Eventually, I was able to extricate myself from their sexy bodies. I took a look around to inspect the new furniture in the dining room and kitchen. The dining room table and the chairs around it had been replaced, and there were new stools at the kitchen counter. I said, “This looks nice too. But I really don’t see the need. It’s basically the same as before.”

Mindy swept in front of me and went to the table. “Ah, but that’s because appearances can be deceiving. And deliberately so. Take for instance ... this chair!”

She went to the chair at the head of the table, where I normally sat. “It looks like all the others, right? But it’s the only one where you can do this!” She tilted a lever on the side I hadn’t even noticed was there, and the seemingly ordinary looking chair tilted back just like an easy chair.

Then she proceeded to remove the armrests on it. “You see, Hubby? Now you can eat in style. You can tilt it back a little or a lot. I say we inaugurate it with a triple blowjob while you eat the brunch Cindy made you.”

I raised my hands up defensively. “Whoa! I appreciate the thought, really, but we’d better not. We don’t have that much time. I’d like to eat my brunch quickly so we can get on to the sexy spankings.”

Ruby and Michelle immediately perked up when I mentioned that.

“Besides, my penis could use a rest after being pleasured soooo very well by my newest cock slave.” I turned to Sue Ellen and smiled at her.

She smiled back and turned away bashfully.

I continued, “It truly is an incredible delight to be ... inside of her...” Looking around, I could see that they all knew what I meant by that! “But, business before pleasure. There are some important things I want to discuss right now and I don’t want any distractions, no matter how...” - I looked pointedly at Sue Ellen again - “incredibly pleasurable they might be.”

Everyone sighed in disappointment. Sue Ellen’s cheeks positively glowed though.

I asked Ruby and Michelle, “Why are you two sighing? Unless you’re ending your sex boycott, a triple blowjob would involve every woman here BUT you.”

“Oh yeah,” Ruby muttered with chagrin.

Looking around some more, I asked, “By the way, why the new dining table? It looks almost exactly like the old one.”

Mindy said proudly, “It’s taller! Not by much, but a few inches makes all the difference when it comes to OUR comfort when we’re under the table, feasting on the King! Oh, and there’s foam padding on the underside so your cock slaves don’t have to worry about bumping their heads if there’s more than a little ‘bippity-bobbity-boom’ going on beneath the table.”

I chuckled and shook my head in disbelief. “All of you are totally insane!”

A couple of minutes later I found myself sitting in that chair (only slightly tilted back and with the armrests back on), eating an assortment of delicious brunch dishes that Cindy had prepared. The others sat at the table eating as well, since it had been hours since any of them had eaten breakfast.

After I complimented Cindy on her cooking, I said, “Before I get to what I want to discuss, Mindy, you mentioned something about Cindy getting a job today, and we kind of got distracted from that. I thought she was going to work with you?”

Min brightened. “She is! That’s the job I was referring to. Between the furniture arriving and Nicky passing through I was going to take the whole day off, but Cindy and I went in my office to jump through all the hoops so we could both rest assured that her new job as my assistant was officially approved. Now we can hit the ground running on Monday.”

I stopped eating my scrambled eggs, and sighed theatrically. “I feel bad. I slept through the entire morning, and meanwhile the two of you were standing in the middle of your office jumping through hula hoops, and hitting the ground, and running, and whatnot. Where do you get the energy? At least you took the time to ‘rest assured.’”

Cindy laughed. “Not those kinds of hoops, you goofball.”

I stuck my hand out and gave her a surprise handshake. “In any case, congratulations. I’m sure you’ll do a great job. I’m not actually sure what my wife does in her office all day - maybe she practices and perfects her smirk? Now, you can be my spy and find out what REALLY goes on in there.”

Mindy joked, “Hey, I’ll have you know that smirking practice is very difficult, especially when you’re jumping through hula hoops at the same time. And don’t get me started with all the Smirktoberfest preparations we’ve got to do.”

I winked at Cindy. “Like I said, maybe if we ignore her she’ll go away. But seriously, congrats.” I squeezed her hand one last time and then let go. “I want to get caught up on all the details, but let’s do that later. Right now, there’s an urgent issue I want to address.”

The others perked up, knowing I had something important to say. “As you all know, Nicky is coming home in an hour or so. Maybe less. And we’ve been kind of scrambling on the fly to present a facade of normality. Obviously, we can’t let her even suspect about the...” - for some reason I found it very difficult to say flat out what they all were to me now - “that you’re ... all ... part of my harem. I don’t know how she’d react, but to be honest I don’t want to find out. It wouldn’t be good, we know that. However, I’ve been thinking. Maybe we’re taking the wrong approach.”

Mindy asked anxiously, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, trying to completely cover up everything. Do we have to go that far? Have you ever heard of a limited hangout? That’s where, in order to keep a big secret, you come forward with only some of the truth and keep the most vital part or parts hidden. It’s a lot easier doing that instead of trying to hide everything. In our case, I was thinking, what if we reveal that I’m having sex with Cindy?”

Cindy looked at me with alarm.

Putting my hand over Cindy’s to calm her, I explained, “Think about it. Why not tell her that I now have a wife AND a mistress? Sure, she’ll think it’s extremely weird, but if Mindy knows and approves - and she does, right?”

Mindy gave me a feral grin and made a sexy feline purring noise with her tongue behind her pearly white teeth.

I went on, “There you go. If that’s the case, then it’s really none of Nicky’s business, is it? Lots of married couples experiment with various types of open marriages. In France, the wife-and-mistress thing is particularly common. I even remember that a recent French president openly had a wife and mistress, and the two women were actually friends with each other.”

Mindy raised her glass of orange juice as if making a toast. “Vive la France! They know how to live.” Then she smiled at Cindy and winked. “What do you think? Can we remain best of friends even while you’re banging my hubby?”

Cindy replied, “That depends if you’re good about sharing his cock during our many double blowjobs and titfucks.” She smiled and winked right back.

“Good answer.” My wife smirked on top of her smirk, somehow.

I smiled at that, and then continued, “Nicky knows you, Cindy. She knows that you’ve been a very good friend of the family for a long time. We could explain that you were here one evening hanging out with Mindy and me, maybe we had some wine ... and one thing led to another, and, well ... we decided we all liked it. Now, we’re closer to each other than ever, and that’ll explain why you’re practically living here all the time. Nicky will get used to the idea soon enough. And if things seem weird, if there’s a strange mood in the air that we can’t quite hide, she’ll have a good explanation for it.”

Mindy said firmly, “I like it! It makes good sense. Especially because we all know there’s no way we can completely hide the new mood permeating the house. If nothing else, us lady folk are glowing and smiling far too much for it to be normal, and I don’t think there’s any way we can turn that off, even if we wanted to.”

“And that’s just it,” Michelle pointed out saucily, “we don’t want to.”

I asked Cindy, “What do you think?”

Seeing that all eyes were now upon her, she quietly commented, “Sounds good to me.” I’m sure she could see that this would help solidify her position within our family. Perhaps the mistress role could last beyond just being needed as a cover for Nicky.

Mindy eagerly suggested, “But why stop there? Why not say that Sue Ellen is your second mistress while you’re at it?”

I nodded as I considered that. “That occurred to me already, and it’s kind of tempting ... but come on. That’s seriously pushing it. Cindy makes sense. She’s our age, and she’s a close friend already. But Sue Ellen is a teenager and a complete stranger from Nicky’s point of view. Heck, she’s Nicky’s exact age, for crying out loud. And TWO mistresses? That’s getting really bizarre. No one is going to believe that.”

Sue Ellen said with exasperation, “But they have to believe it, because it’s true! That and so much more. And it would be really cool if Nicky knew. I reckon I could kiss you and hug you and be myself around her. Please, Master!”

“Not exactly,” I pointed out. “Cupcake, if you or anyone else says ‘Master’ or ‘cock slave’ or anything like that, we’re going to be in big trouble. I think claiming one mistress is going to be enough of a shocker for Nicky, at least for now. Think how hard that will be for her to grapple with. Nobody wants to imagine their parents having sex, much less one’s father having a mistress too!”

Michelle faked a cough to get attention. “‘Nobody, ‘ you say? I beg to differ!” Obviously, she was thinking about herself and her years of incestuous scheming.

“Okay, point taken, in your case.” I turned back to Sue Ellen. “Cupcake, I was thinking about simply keeping you away from the house and from Nicky for the short time she’s here. But, looking ahead, we’re going to have to explain why you’re around so much when Nicky gets back from her Hawaii trip. So it’s good to establish now that you met Michelle and Ruby near the start of the summer, and the three of you have become inseparable best friends. That way, you have a good reason to be here a lot later on.”

“Thank God for that, at least!” Sue Ellen said with obvious relief.

I was going to ask what everyone else thought of my idea, but before I could do that, Michelle volunteered, “Daddy, I, for one, think your limited hangout is a VERY good idea. Very, very good indeed!”

Ruby chimed in, “Yeah! Seriously, it’s brilliant!”

The way the two of them were looking at me was kind of scaring me. I can’t quite explain it, but it was as if they had some kind of devious scheme on their minds. I said suspiciously, “I don’t know if it’s THAT good of an idea. Why do you like it that much?”

Michelle replied, “Because it can get us out of a jam. We all know that the idea to send Nicky to Hawaii for two weeks is just delaying the inevitable. I know you didn’t like my idea to just up and tell her the full truth, but she’s gonna find out about the harem sooner or later. How could she not? She’s still going to be here for most of the summer. Even if we somehow miraculously lie our way through the rest of her summer vacation, what then? There will be the next visit, and the next one, and the next one, and so on.”

She added with dramatic flair, “So what can we do? Ease her into the idea, that’s what! Reveal that you have Cindy as your mistress, for now. Let her wrap her head around that. Then, when she’s ready, reveal that Sue Ellen is your mistress too. Keep on revealing, little by little. For instance, later on you can let her know that they’re not JUST mistresses, but more like sexual servants. Slaves, even, if you will.” Her smile grew and grew. “COCK slaves, in fact!” She lustily licked her lips.

I frowned at that, but said, “I suppose that might be our only option, in the long run. But if we try that, how do we get her to accept what I’m doing with you two? Especially YOU, Shelle! That’s going to be THE most scandalous thing for her, by far.”

“That’s a lot trickier,” Michelle admitted. “Still, one step at a time is all we can do. And this way, at least, if she does find out the full truth, it won’t be such a shocker if she already knows part of it or even most of it.”

I narrowed my eyes and stared at Michelle and Ruby suspiciously. “Hmmm...”

“What?” they asked simultaneously.

“It’s just that both of you are making so much sense. And yet suddenly you have this devilish look, as if you know you’re about to successfully rob a bank or something.”

“Only if it’s a sperm bank,” Ruby quipped glibly while practically burning a hole through the table as she stared in the direction of my crotch.

I smiled at that, but then continued seriously, “I’m worrying that I’m missing something, and that my limited hangout plan is going to open the door to further Hellion mischief.”

Ruby held her hands up, palm out. “No, really! Look, there’s nothing up our sleeves this time. We’re just both happy because it’s better all around if Nicky knows everything. Then we don’t have to live in constant fear of her. We’re all super BFF’s, so it would be a real heartbreaker if she could never know about the more important thing in our lives, that we live to serve you and your cock. And this gives us hope that we can break it to her slowly and somewhat gently. So we’re psyched about that. That’s all.”

“Really?” I stared at them in doubt.

“Really!” they chimed together.

My disbelief at their sincerity must have shown on my face, because Cindy said, “Dan, come on. Give the girls a break. True, they’re bad, but they’re not THAT bad. I know Ruby as well as I know myself, and she’s not some kind of tricky schemer.”

Mindy added, “Seriously. Not everything is some kind of secret plot.”

“Coming from you, with your involvement in certain cabals around here, that’s pretty rich,” I replied.

Mindy shrugged. “Believe whatever you want, but it happens to be the truth.”

I grumbled and gritted my teeth, but unable to guess what they might be up to, I retreated. However, I still had my suspicion that something fishy was afoot. Then it occurred to me, They couldn’t be scheming about this, because how could they have concocted a scheme without talking to each other about it, and while sitting at the same table as me? I’m probably getting too paranoid, but I should remain wary just the same.

With that thorny problem dealt with, at least for now, I was able to get back to eating my brunch.

Cindy really outdid herself with the cooking. Not only did she prepare a great brunch, but when we were done she presented us all with homemade cupcakes, straight from the oven. (It turned out Cindy hadn’t come upstairs to join the sexy fun mostly because she had to watch the oven timing.) She said she’d made them in honor of Sue Ellen’s initiation last night. As if that wasn’t awesome enough, she made vanilla cupcakes with peach frosting, because, as she put it, “Sue Ellen is such a sweet Georgia peach.”

Sue Ellen was so moved that she stood up and gave Cindy a big hug. She couldn’t stop hugging her for the longest time. Some tears actually rolled down her cheeks.

Somehow, I have the feeling that we’ll be eating cupcakes a lot from now on. Talk about a lucky choice of nicknames, because I love a good cupcake. And Cindy’s homemade ones are simply to die for!

While I enjoyed my sweet snack, Ruby eagerly asked Sue Ellen, “So ... How are you feeling, after last night?”

Sue Ellen was already looking elated, but now she turned downright euphoric. “Oh, so good! Bless my soul, it’s like I’m walking on air! Just knowing that I’m officially enslaved to Dan, my man, my master, for the rest of my life ... it’s like the gift that never stops giving!” She flashed me a loving and sultry smile that nearly knocked me out of my (very comfy) chair.

Michelle said with a frown, “I should be mad at you. I should be totally jealous, especially after the way you repeatedly impaled yourself on his cock last night, and then churned your hips on it for hours! But then I can’t forget that Cock Slave Rule Number Two is ‘no jealousy.’ And when I see how happy you are, and how happy you make him, I just can’t help but be happy for you too.” Her frown turned to a huge smile and she took Sue Ellen’s hand in hers.

I said, “I have to protest this ‘for the rest of my life’ kind of thing. Cupcake, remember that you’re always free to-”

Mindy cut in, “Oh, Dan, stuff a sock in it, already. Can’t you let her enjoy the moment?”

I looked at Sue Ellen practically glowing with delight, and I decided my wife had a point.

It seemed that Sue Ellen heard only what she wanted to hear. She stared into my eyes. “Yes, for the rest of my life! Master, you make me so very, very happy. When I think back to my life with my boyfriend Mike, or really, any part of my life before I met y’all, it seems useless and hollow. Master, I know you haven’t known me for long. But I promise that I’m going to try to be the BEST slave I can possibly be! As the years go by, so many wonderful years of endless sexual pleasure, it’s my dream that you’ll come to love me half as much as you love your daughters. That’s all I want, to love you and serve you, as one of your eternal slaves!”

If there was any doubt that Sue Ellen was head over heels in love with me, the look in her eyes dispelled that. The intensity of her expression literally took my breath away.

I was about to lean across the table and kiss her when I heard sniffling to the side of me. I saw that Michelle was having to fight back tears. Ruby was on the verge of crying too.

Michelle saw my surprised expression, and said, “What? I’m sorry, but that’s just so beautiful! How can I NOT cry at that? ‘That’s all I want, to love you and serve you, as one of your eternal slaves.’ So beautiful!” She sniffled some more. “It’s like she took the words right out of my mouth.”

Ruby was sniffling too. “I know. I especially love the use of the word ‘eternal.’ Sue Ellen, you’re more than okay by me!”

Mindy sat way back in her chair, practically melting into it. “Aaaaah! This is cucquean heaven. I can die happy now. Cindy, what do you have to say to all this?”

I looked at Cindy and saw tears running down her face too. I thought the Gruesome Twosome were just being their usual overdramatic selves, so seeing Cindy so affected as well was a very big surprise to me. “It IS so beautiful! From time to time, I still have this niggling worry that I’m making a big mistake in agreeing to become one of Dan’s sex slaves. But when I hear something so right like that, how could this possibly be wrong? It can’t!”

Ruby suddenly eagerly leaned in towards me. “Master, look at how emotionally overcome Sue Ellen is. Don’t you think she deserves a big, fat, thick, Kingly reward?”

Michelle immediately chimed in, “Yeah! Enjoy your cupcake while your Cupcake enjoys slurping on her favorite tasty treat!”

Even Cindy added, “I want to see the new table put to good use! Sue Ellen, lock your lips around him and take him deep! Deep throat him all the way!”

A general cheer rose up in response to that idea. Sue Ellen was still all smiles as she started to dip under the table.

I had to raise a hand. “Hold on, hold on! Now’s not the time. I’m not even erect, for crying out loud.”

That went over like a loud and gassy fart.

Michelle was indignant. “Not erect?! What the hell’s wrong with you?!”

While it was true that my penis was flaccid, I knew it could grow erect in a matter of seconds if I let it. But I wanted to save myself for what I had planned after brunch.

Mindy was sitting back and enjoying the entire scene like a cat that just ate the canary. Thankfully, she came to my rescue by asking, “So, Sue Ellen, tell us how you were feeling last night when you walked into the house, saw all the candles, and realized it was your initiation.”

That completely redirected the conversation, just as Mindy undoubtedly knew it would.

Sue Ellen looked like she was on the verge of some kind of religious ecstasy as she looked up to the ceiling, searching for the right words. “How did I feel? Oh! Goose bumps all over! I can’t even begin to explain!”

The others prodded her for more details, which took the attention away from me for a while. I was perfectly fine with that. It was also fun listening to Sue Ellen talk about how much she loved her initiation.

The look on her face was positive rapturous. “I just want to thank y’all so much for last night! It was the best time of my life, by far! I wish there was something I could do to repay all y’all, but there’s no way. Whenever I’m feeling sad or lonely, all I’ll have to do is think back to all those candles lighting up the darkness, and his sweet words accepting me into his harem while I deep throated him, and so much more!”

She clutched her head with both hands. “Oooh! I’m getting goose bumps and tingles just thinking about it! Master, you’re made me so very, very happy!” She looked at me with feral hunger. “Are you SURE you wouldn’t prefer eating your cupcake while I blow you a little? Just a little? I promise you’ll hardly even notice I’m there.”

I chuckled. “Sorry. Of course I’d prefer that, but now’s not the time.”

The discussion went on like this for a while. Mostly, Sue Ellen raved about what a great and memorable time she’d had, and how very thankful she was to all of us.

When I finished eating my cupcake, I joked, “I have some new nicknames to announce.” I pointed at Michelle, Ruby, and Cindy as I said in turn, “Ice Cream, Cake, and Pie.”

To my surprise, the three of them started bickering. It appeared they wanted to trade nicknames for some reason. “Pie” seemed to be a particularly popular choice, I suppose because of its potential sexual meaning.

I had to clap my hands to get their attention. “That was a joke, people. A joke! If I did that for real, and these cupcakes Cindy made are any indication, I’d weigh 300 pounds within a year. Now, are we gonna argue about that, or are we going to move on to” - I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively - “post-meal activities?”

Michelle’s and Ruby’s faces lit up. They threw up their hands and yelled in perfect unison, “Post-meal activities!” It was obvious what was on their spank-happy minds.

I stood up and said, “Okay, so where shall we do this? And does anyone want to watch?”

Mindy replied, “Are you kidding me? I think I speak for Cindy and Sue Ellen when I say that we wouldn’t miss this for the world!”

Cindy and Sue Ellen nodded emphatically.

Mindy continued, “As to the where, the living room, of course. The new table was chosen with spankings in mind.” She added in a knowing, husky voice, “Well, that and ... other ... sexual pleasures.”

I wondered what she meant by that exactly. But I only asked her, “What about Nicky coming home? I’m thinking in terms of which upstairs bedroom, where it’s safer.”

Mindy waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t sweat it. I called her on the phone not long before you came downstairs. Given where she said she was, she’ll take at least an hour, even if she zooms here like a low-flying plane.”

That was good news, but still, I grunted unhappily. “Ugh. Thanks. That’s good to know. But why didn’t somebody tell me that until now? I’ve been feeling kind of rushed and stressed.”