Family Affair (28 page)

"I might have to beg off," Gitana said.

"Are you tired?" Chase asked, alarmed that they had taxed her.

"A little. I told Mama I'd stop by. She's got some unusual relic she wants to give us for the baby. She's been on eBay a lot since we gave her your old laptop."

"She got Internet access?" Chase said.

"Mr. Griego, her next-door neighbor, set her up. He took her to Best Buy and they got a router so she can use his ISP. She makes him fresh tortillas in exchange."

"So now she's bidding on Jesus' pinky bone?" Chase asked.

"Something like that." Gitana bent down and gave Addison a hug. "Watch her," she said, indicating Chase.

"I know. She'd get lost trying to get out of a paper bag," Addison said.

Chase kissed Gitana's cheek. "Be careful. The canyon construction makes me nervous. Take the Hummer."

They watched her go and then Chase asked, "Why do you want to go to the Atomic Museum?"

"I want to see how they blow things up."

"You're not looking up bomb-making on the Internet?"

"Not yet," Addison said as she led them out to the parking lot.

It was early evening when Chase drove Addison home. There was a car in the drive. Usually Peggy never got home until nine or ten. She knew Addison was spending her in service day off from school with Chase. They looked at each other puzzled.

Addison said, "My mom's home. How odd is that?"

"Maybe she made a great sale and wanted to be home with you to celebrate," Chase said as she parked behind Peggy's four-door black Lexus.

"Gag me. It's more like a slow day and everyone else is busy. Walk me up?"

"Of course." It was now standard procedure that Chase would come in to say hi to the Russian housekeeper, Olga, and hug Addison goodbye.

"There you are," Peggy said as they entered the front hall.

"Sorry. We didn't think you'd be home," Chase said.

"Slow day."

Addison smirked.

"We went to Jacinda's for dinner. Once she found out we had Addison with us there was no putting her off," Chase said.

Addison smiled sweetly. They both knew that Addison wanted to see Jesus' pinky bone. Jacinda had given her and Addison a tour of the relic hutch. Not only that but a burnished cherry rosary. It was amusing to see Addison smiling and joking with a group of people who were quickly becoming her new family. Chase wondered if Peggy saw this.

"That's great," Peggy said. She looked tired and distracted.

"I'm off to bed," Addison said. She looked at Chase as if daring her not to perform their ritual. Chase knelt down and gave her a hug.

"Good night and don't let the bedbugs bite." She pinched Addison who went squealing down the hall.

Addison stopped and turned, "What exactly are bedbugs?"

"I don't really know. So what do we do?"

"Wikipedia!" they both screamed.

"I'll text you tomorrow with the answer," Addison said.

Peggy and Chase watched her walk down the long marble hall, her runners making squishy sounds with her enormous backpack hiked up on her shoulder like a soldier off to war.

"What does she have in that thing do you suppose?" Peggy asked.

"Her life from what I can tell. I've never been privy to its complete contents."

"You're so good with her," Peggy said.

Chase could almost feel Peggy's longing like a tug at her coattails. "Ah, it's just the newness factor," Chase replied. "I'll be on the old hat list before you know it."

"I don't think so. I really need to spend more time with her. The problem with real estate is that it's so spur of the moment. One minute we're going to the museum and next I've got to go sell a house. It's been very frustrating for Addison." Peggy pursed her lips like she might honestly be considering the point.

No wonder Addison wanted to go to the museum. She's never been, Chase thought.

"But there's the money thing—her schooling, this house, the tennis lessons—it all takes money," Peggy said.

"I suppose it does." Chase awkwardly shifted from one foot to the other.

"Then there's clothes, shoes, entertainment."

"The debit card allowance," Chase added.

"Exactly."

Chase refrained from asking how much a child of nine needed in her account. When she got home she'd grill Gitana about their expenses. She had absolutely no idea what it cost to run their lives. She hadn't thought about schools either. She should send for brochures. Good God, she was horribly behind and she hadn't even known it. "Well, I better get going."

"Thanks again, Chase." Peggy touched her arm and smiled placidly.

She wanted to tell Peggy to go sit with Addison and listen to her tell about her day, but Chase knew it was already too late. Both of them were past that. Chase wondered when the disconnect had occurred between herself and Stella.

Later as she lay in bed stroking Gitana's belly all her worries resurfaced—money, schools, quality time and Bud's future.

"I hope Bud grows up to be just like Addison," Gitana said, staring at the ceiling.

"Except that Addison despises her mother," Chase said. She put her ear on Gitana's belly to listen to Bud's heart beat.

"Bud won't hate us until she's thirteen. Then, we'll send her to boarding school," Gitana said.

"Or him."

"Or him. You want a girl."

"Not necessarily," Chase said, not meeting her gaze.

Gitana gave her the look.

"All right. I'm just worried about the peeing thing."

"What?"

Chase crawled up next to her. "You know, how you hold it."

"Chase, it's not that hard. Besides I've got lots of cousins and uncles. I think they could help."

"I guess you're right. Do we have a lot of money?"

"What do you mean?"

"Peggy says she has to work a lot to pay for all Addison's expenses," Chase said.

"I think we can fit Bud into the household budget. Besides, by the time Stella and Owen get done with the suit Bud will be a millionaire."

"Still, I think we should set a budget and see if we can trim anything. I stopped by Office Max and got the Quicken program. I want you to save every receipt. I got a basket for that purpose— so even if it's an ice cream cone, get a receipt."

Gitana groaned.

"I don't think you're approaching this in a positive manner."

Gitana sat up and whacked her with a pillow.

Chapter Nineteen

"What's with the black marks?" Nora asked, referring to the Magic Marker rings around Chase's fingers.

"It's part of my ten-step program," Chase replied as she was reviewing the order to the supplier for orchids that Gitana had given her. She was doing a lot of reviewing lately.

"For?"

"Cuticle biting." Chase chewed on her pinky, one of her last remaining fingers that wasn't blacklisted or bandaged. "Do we really need all of these?" She pointed to the order.

"Yes. We sell orchids—hence we must have orchids in stock. You don't seem to be doing well with your cuticle program," Nora said, taking the order form away from Chase.

"This one is still available. Give me a break. I've given up the other four."

"Oh, I get it. A black ring around the digit means it's been freed from the savagery of your teeth."

"Willy couldn't have said it better."

Chase left off the orchid order and moved on to logging the household receipts into her Quicken program. She'd taken to lugging her laptop around. Her rewrite was getting behind and her editor kept asking for progress reports. She took advantage of down times at the nursery to do a little catch-up. She pined for one of the new smaller and lighter laptops, but it wasn't in the budget and this one was only two years old and it appeared light compared to the one she'd given Jacinda. She was currently stockpiling diapers instead. She had enough to make an igloo so far. It wouldn't be fair to Bud to sit in poopy diapers because she desired a new laptop when she had a perfectly good one.

"Willy?" Nora inquired.

"Shakespeare."

"I hated Shakespeare," Nora said. She got them both more coffee. Chase poured hers into a Java Juice cup she kept for that purpose.

Nora smirked. Chase conceded, "I know, but it's a small deception. I can't do without it."

Gitana waddled in. She added two more orchid types to the order list that Nora was inputting. Without looking up she said, "Yes, we need them." She reached over and grabbed Chase's Java Juice cup.

"You don't want that," Chase said.

"I do. I'm parched. I think this heat is making Bud thirsty. Between the two of us I need to haul a couple of gallons of liquid around with me."

"You could wear the Hydro Pack we use for hiking," Chase suggested.

"I'm not wandering around with that on my back." She took a sip while continuing to peruse the order.

Nora and Chase looked at each other.

"This isn't Java Juice."

"It isn't?" Chase said, doing her best to feign surprise.

"You little sneak." Gitana took another sip.

"Hey, hey, that's enough," Chase said, grabbing the cup.

"You've been cheating behind my back," Gitana said, putting her hands on her hips.

"A little coffee on the side—that's not so bad."

"Maybe not, but there's this other thing," Gitana said, going to the office door and opening it. She whistled and the dogs came rushing in.