“How considerate,” Erin says, although her tone and the look in her eyes say otherwise.
Maggie pretends not to notice either. “Shall we go get something to eat?”
“I’ll just take the pies out of the oven,” Mark says, “let them cool down.”
“Erin?” Maggie says, motioning toward the hall. “Are you coming?”
“I’ll wait for Mark.”
“I’m sure he can manage on his own. Can’t you, Mark?”
“Sure thing,” Mark answers. “You go. I’ll see you outside.”
“Honestly,” Erin snaps as she stomps past her mother. “You aresucha pill.”
“Does he know you’re only sixteen?” Maggie asks in return.
“Wait. What?” Maggie hears Mark exclaim from the kitchen as she’s closing the front door.
—
“So, what’ll it be, ladies?” Sean asks as Maggie and Erin approach.
“Hamburger for me,” Maggie says. “Erin?”
“I’m not really hungry.”
“You gotta eat something,” Sean urges. “Come on. It’s a celebration.”
“Fine,” Erin says grudgingly. “I’ll have a hot dog.”
“Speaking of celebrations,” Maggie says as Sean lifts a hamburger off the grill, places it inside a bun, and deposits it on her plate, “I understand congratulations are in order.”
Sean looks confused.
“Your new job,” Maggie says.
Sean glances sideways at his wife. “Of course. I didn’t realize Olivia had told anyone.”
“Well, it’s not exactly a secret, is it?” Olivia leans over to ask. “I’m just so proud of you. I want to shout it to the world.”
“Yeah. Let’s hold off on that awhile, shall we?” Sean reaches over to grab another beer from the cooler. “Give it a few months, let the dust settle, see how everything goes. Assuming all is going well, then we can let the whole world know. Hey, there, you guys,” he calls to Aiden and his mother. “Come and get it.”
“You know you have a clone,” Erin tells Sean as he’s lifting her hot dog off the grill with his tongs.
“A clone?”
“A double,” Erin explains. “I could have sworn I saw you at the beach on Monday afternoon.”
“What? No! No way!” Sean’s grip on the tongs loosens and Erin’s hot dog drops to the pavement, bouncing toward Olivia’s feet. “Whoever you saw, it definitely wasn’t me. Shit! Where’d that damn thing go?”
Erin laughs as Olivia stops the errant hot dog with the toe of her sandal.
She isn’t laughing.