“You’re late,” said Alex. She closed her math book and stood up.
She hadn’t meant it in a mean way, more of a concerned way.
She was worried about Ava; her sister seemed even more flustered and distracted than usual lately.
“I know, I’m sorry. I had to go check out an after-school study thing, which felt an awful lot like detention to me.”
Alex had already started down the school steps, but at Ava’s words, she turned around. “You had detention?”
“No,” said Ava quickly. “I said it felt like detention.”
“Are you in trouble academically?” asked Alex, alarmed.
“No!” Ava said more emphatically. “It’s just a study group, that’s all. Come on. Let’s hustle before they have to start setting up for dinner and stuff.”
Alex’s mind snapped back to their to-do list. “The good thing is we can walk to Le Pain from here,” she said. “Although it is a zillion degrees out and I was having the world’s best hair day.”
Le Pain was midway down an otherwise unassuming stretch of stores, two blocks from the high school. They stopped in front of the restaurant.
A few small tables were set up on the sidewalk, although it was too hot to even think about sitting outside. Alex loved the looks of the plum-colored wooden door and the quaint small-paned windows. “It’s right out of Paris!” she said excitedly.
Ava pulled open the heavy door. A little bell tinkled, and a cool rush of air greeted them. Inside, it was hushed, the dim light a relief after the heat and glare from outside.
“May I ’elp you?” asked an elegantly dressed older woman. She wore a beautifully cut yet simple navy sheath and a necklace of blue and silver-gray baubles that looked so perfect Alex resisted a strong impulse to take out her phone and snap a picture so she could copy the look.
“We’d like to make a reservation,” both girls said at the same time.
The woman smiled. “You are twins, non?”
“Yes,” the two girls answered together. All three laughed.
Alex explained to the woman about their parents’ upcoming anniversary. “We’d like to reserve a special table for them,” she said. “With candles and flowers and everything. For next Thursday at six thirty.” The girls had already spoken with Coach about ending practice promptly at six.
“We will take very good care of your parents,” the woman assured them. “I am Madame Nicole, the co-owner, and my ’usband is the chef. We will prepare a special amuse-bouche for them, and perhaps a cake for dessert?”
The girls agreed that those would be wonderful, and Alex made a mental note to look up what an “amooz-boosh” was. As they turned to leave, Ava stopped, her hand on the heavy door. “Oh, and by the way?” she said to Madame Nicole. “We’d appreciate if no one knew about the reservation.”
Madame Nicole’s perfectly arched eyebrows rose in question.
“Because, see, our dad is the coach of the football team,” Alex said hastily. “And, well, a lot of people in the town like to talk to him when he’s out in public, and we really want our parents to have a quiet evening, just the two of them.”
Madame Nicole smiled. “I quite understand,” she said. “We will look forward to seeing them!”
Back outside, Ava turned to Alex. “What about music?” she asked.
Alex blinked at her. “Music?”
“Yeah, you know how in old movies there’s always a dude who comes to the table and serenades the couple with a violin? Maybe we could find a dude to play violin.”
“First of all,” said Alex, “we don’t know any ‘dudes’ who play violin. And second of all, we don’t have the money to pay for something like that. And third of all, we’re trying to keep this dinner quiet. If word got out that Daddy is going to be there the night before the first game of the season, chances are the newspapers would be there to pester him!”
“Tommy might know someone,” persisted Ava. “He’s part of . . . I mean, I think he knows other people who play instruments. I’m going to ask him.”
“Okay, fine,” said Alex. Suddenly she stopped short.
“What’s up, Al?”
“A present,” said Alex. “You know Daddy won’t remember to get Mom a present, right?”
“Oh, you’re right,” said Ava.
“And she’s probably got something really special for him. Remember that year she made him that amazing ceramic football that he loved? So we have to think of something.”
The girls walked in silence for a few more paces before Alex stopped again and clutched her sister’s arm. “I just thought of the perfect present,” she said to Ava, her eyes shining. She told Ava her idea.
“It is perfect,” agreed Ava. “I can’t wait until he gets home so we can tell him the plan.”
But Coach was late getting home for dinner that night.
“He stayed behind with the other coaches to watch film,” Tommy reported as he slid into his chair, freshly scrubbed from his postpractice shower, and heaped two pork chops onto his plate.
“I’ll put aside some dinner for him,” said Mrs. Sackett wearily. She had dark circles under her eyes and barely touched her dinner. The girls exchanged worried looks.
After the dishes were done, Alex and Ava disappeared into their own rooms to do their homework. It wasn’t until much later, after she’d turned out her light, that Alex heard her father’s tires crunching in the driveway. She knew her mom had long since gone to bed. She heard some bangs and clanks in the kitchen—he was probably heating up his dinner, she figured.
The last thing Alex was aware of before she drifted off to sleep was the smell of cookies baking.