THE GOOD NEWS was I got to have a nice dinner with the family. I even got to spend some time hanging out with the kids afterward, just before all hell would probably break loose, probably like nothing I’d ever experienced before. It all depended on who was at that private club tonight.
Jannie had been teaching Ali to play Sorry, one of the most boring games in the universe, but I liked playing just about anything with the two of them. I goofed around between my turns, stealing pieces off the board and telling old jokes to Ali. Things like “Why is six afraid of seven?”
“Because seven ate nine!” Jannie cackled. She loved to be the spoiler, and Ali was a perfect audience. The boy just loves to laugh. He’s the least serious of my three kids by far.
Nana sat off to the side, watching us over the top of A Thousand Splendid Suns, one of the books she’d been tearing through these days. She and Bree had settled into a tentative partnership, with Bree slowly asserting herself around the house and Nana learning she could afford to let go of a few things she’d always controlled—like how to load the dishwasher.
It was all good—until the phone rang.
Usually, I expect the kids to put up an immediate stink when that happens. “Don’t answer it, Daddy” had become a common refrain around our house. So when both of them just looked away, waiting for the inevitable, I felt even worse.
I checked the ID. It was Mahoney. As promised.
“I’m sorry; I really do have to take this,” I said to Ali and Jannie.
Their silence was loud and clear as I went out to the hall to answer.
“Ned?”
“We’re a go, Alex. There’s a Holiday Inn off Exit 72 in Arlington. I can meet you in the parking lot if you come now. Right now.”