A Balance of Harmonies: Party, part 3
Jun. 22nd, 2013 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frogs_of_warI’ve been working so much lately (and being busy on the days I don’t work) that I breathed a sigh of relief over my sparse hours next week. Then I had a mild freak out that getting worse. I can’t survive on 12 hours a week. I can’t even keep my health insurance. So I went and ask the Deli for hours. He’ll have some the week after next. I’ll take what I can get. But he’ll really only need me for holidays and people’s vacations. He is fully staffed.
And I’d look around for other departments, but my manager might be leaving next month, which would mean I’m working forty hour weeks until the store can hire a new floral manager, so even if she doesn’t leave until September I’ll still average 20 hours this quarter. But if she doesn’t leave at all, I’ll be sunk. And my take-home pay from a 12 hour week (after insurance and taxes) will only be about $50 dollars and we need to by a new kind of air conditioner (over $300) to replace the one that we aren’t allowed to use anymore. And it’s still 80°F (26.6°C) outside at 10pm.
Title: Party, part 3
Series: A Balance of Harmonies (Three)
Status: Chapter one hundred twenty-six of gobs
Genre: m/m romance, drama, city life, businessmen
Rating: R
Content: cards, special skill, babies, hiding the phone, comments, passing the babies, tears, clinging, dreams come true, sketching, warm hug, introduction, greeting
Length: about 2,300 words
Summary: Kurt has a trick. Emil meets his grandmother. And Peregrine keeps his pencil busy.
Master list
Kurt set his four queens on the table. “What should I ask for next?”
Hunter shrugged. Zan and Autumn carried three bags of ice though the dining room. Should he get up and help be a host? Olivia played with Piper on the floor under Diego’s watchful eye. Emil and Keith were in the kitchen, talking about someone Kurt didn’t recognize. And Willow and Liam giggled quietly in the conservatory. They, at least, didn’t need any attention.
“It’s still your turn.” Tyler pointed at Kurt’s hand.
Autumn tucked her hands under her arms. “Is it too late to deal me in?”
“Next time.” Dakota set his cards face down on the table. “Kurt?”
“Are you ready to join us?”
“As soon as I have something to warm my hands. Bags of ice are cold.”
Kurt surveyed the faces. “Do you want to see my special skill?”
“Yes.” Hunter grinned.
So he asked Tyler for his jack and Dakota for both of his and set the four jacks down. He got Tyler’s three twos to add to his own and one six from each of the kids. Then one seven from Dakota and one from Hunter. He had to ask Tyler for one even though he knew he didn’t have it. But the card he picked up from the center pile was a seven.
Dakota whistled. “How did you do that?”
Kurt shrugged. “I remembered what each person had asked for. I’ve been able to do it since I was a kid.”
“Then why didn’t you do it earlier.” Tyler counted out matched sets. “Dakota wins again. You could have won.”
“What’s the fun in that? And besides I can’t remember what no one has spoken.”
“Maybe we should play something based on chance?” Dakota shuffled the cards.
“What? So you can win again.” Tyler rolled his eyes.
“He’s winning no matter what we do.” Hunter leaned against Kurt’s shoulder.
“I won.” Olivia looked up from Piper. “With Autumn’s help.”
Tyler leaned back in his chair. “Autumn, you need to be on my team this time.”
Dakota grinned. “Wouldn’t you rather be on my team?”
“He’d rather be on your something.” Zan raised her eyebrows. “But the rain has stopped, so if you two wanted to go back out...”
Dakota bounced to his feet. “Great idea. We’ll be back sixish.”
He took Tyler’s hand and tugged his out of the room.
Piper toddled over to Zan with Olivia right behind her. Zan picked up the baby and twirled her around. “How’s my little princess?”
Piper giggled. Olivia sighed. “Someday I want a baby.”
Keith patted her head. “I hope you grow up first.”
Olivia crossed her arms. “I can’t have one anyway. Not that’s mine.”
Diego got down on his knees beside her. “People start families in a lot of ways. Our babies’ first mother couldn’t take care of them.”
“And some people fall in love with people who already have kids.” Zan stirred her cup. “That’s what happened with Goldie’s Papa.”
“Goldie!” Olivia bounced. “Is Goldie coming?”
Olivia gave Diego a hug. “Goldie’s just like me. Only she’s five.”
Kurt put the cards back into their box. “Who’s Goldie?”
“Diemen and Pavel’s daughter.” Diego tucked Piper back into his arms and stood up. “They’d got their kids the week after we brought home Piper.”
Olivia bounced to Zan. “But is Goldie coming?”
“For a little while.” Zan patted her back. “Then Goldie and Em are going to spend the night with their babushka. Diemen and Pavel have another party to attend.”
Olivia frowned. “But it’s not a kids’ party?”
This wasn’t a kids’ party either. They should have borrowed at least a few toys.
Kurt’s phone vibrated. He carried it into his closet and shoved it between the extra towels. He knew it was his mother without even looking at it. She always ruined his best times. Why should she stop now?
--
Peregrine looked up as Kurt walked back though the bedroom. “Come in and see this.”
Kurt wrapped his arms around Peregrine. “Very nice. You captured her well. She’s alive, here, and quiet like a stove: dark and hot. Sorry if that sounded weird.”
Lavender smiled. “That’s ok. I think I got what you meant.”
Now Peregrine needed a few minutes of Diego’s time. “Maybe I should stop ignoring our guests.”
Lavender smiled. “I didn’t mind.”
“Stay as long as you like. I can’t finish Piper’s face until I watched her more and my Diego’s only half done.”
Lavender stood up and looked at the picture. Her baby was asleep, or at least his eyes were closed. Peregrine offered his arms. “May I hold him?”
She grinned and passed him over then fixed her dress before looking at the painting. She trailed her fingers just above the surface. “When I was young, I used to dream like this. My face was clear as was the baby in my arms, but other children weren’t as well defined. And the man with me was always a blur. That changed after I met Diego. But I still never thought I would have children.”
The baby turned his head toward his mother. Peregrine stroked his little cheek. “I think, perhaps, they have you.”
Lavender laughed. Too bad sounds couldn’t be drawn.
--
Emil bustled around the kitchen. Only a few more things to do and then he was done for at least an hour. Lavender leaned on the counter, her gaze following her baby as he was passed around. “Peregrine told Diego that he found your family.”
“My mother’s mother and her grandson, my cousin. The funny thing is that he looks just like me only white. I talked to him for weeks without noticing.”
A smile grew on her face. “I wonder if he looks like me.”
“I have a photo album.” He took the last batch of cookies from the oven. They would need to cool for a while on the pan. “Let me get it.”
The album was on his bedside table, or rather one of the bedside tables as he slept in the middle. He laid it open to Tom’s picture of the two of them in Emil’s old kitchen. “See.”
She leaned closer and then back. “He does look like you, but coloring makes a lot of difference. I’m glad my babies will match me, at least a bit.”
She turned back to the living room. Kurt passed the baby to Liam. Liam grinned at Willow. “Are you sure you don’t want to hold him?”
“He’s so small.”
“Piper isn’t.” Keith nodded to Diego.
“She likes attention, too.” Diego kissed his daughter’s head.
“Ok.” Willow held out her arms and Piper leaned into them. Then she cuddled against Willow and grasped a handful of Willows fluffy shirt.
Lavender grinned. “That’s what Piper did to me the moment I met her and that’s when I fell in love.”
“This is the right size for a baby.” Willow pressed her lips together and sniffed.
Emil hurried over and rescued her. Piper’s lean-and-cuddle was especially adorable from this angle. “You are a cutie, aren’t you?”
Piper’s big dark eyes met his and then she burrowed her cheek against his shirt. He passed her back to her mother. That child was an emotion explosion.
Willow wiped tears from her eyes. “I don’t know why I’m crying. I don’t even want kids.”
“Not all kids are that cute.” Peregrine turned a page in his sketchbook. “Lavender is one lucky woman.”
She grinned. “I am. I have a husband and children and a purple house with a picket fence and all those things I dreamed of and thought I’d never have.”
Liam passed the baby to Kurt and held Willow close from behind. “Anything can happen.”
Willow rubbed her face. “But it won’t. It never does.”
Liam rubbed his face against her neck. “You met me.”
“See. I’ve already had my share of good luck.”
“It could still happen.” Lavender passed Piper to Diego and put her hand on Willow’s cheek. “I know I’m fortunate, but I don’t think I’m the only one born with an M on my birth certificate who lives as a wife and mother.”
Oh. No wonder Lavender hadn’t wanted to get to know Emil until after she learned he didn’t know his family. She hadn’t wanted to be outed.
Lavender sighed and leaned against her husband. “This is only the second time I’ve told anyone. I had my husband and my baby and my little house and then I met a little girl who was just like me and I couldn’t not say anything. I know your goals are probably different and your hopes and dreams, but just in the last year I got my F and a real wedding that even the government agrees happened and my babies, so I don’t see why your dreams can’t come true as well.”
Tears ran down Willow’s face and she threw her arms around Lavender. “Thank you.”
Olivia frowned. “What happened?”
Keith cleared his throat. “Lavender is just like you and Goldie.”
“She is?” Olivia’s eyes got wide. “So someday I can get a baby too?”
“Someday.”
“Good. What does the F and M mean?”
“I was just going to ask. Diego, how much work was it? Everyone is telling me to wait, to let her grow up first, but…” Keith shook his head. “I don’t even know what I’m asking.”
Diego smiled. “Lavender keeps a diary of when and what for all her medicines and moods and victories and failures. I’m sure she’ll be willing to share it with you. She did with Diemen”
“I want a pink one, Daddy.”
“Yes, darling.” Keith patted Olivia’s head. “I’d be real glad just to talk for a bit. I’m lost and floundering. I want to do my best by her, by all my children.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Willow hugged him. Then she stepped back. “I think I’m ready to hold the little one now. Wait. Let me sit down first. Now.”
Liam slid his arms around her as she held the baby. Peregrine’s pencil moved across the page. Emil pulled out a blank sketchbook and filled a mechanical pencil and set them both by Peregrine’s elbow for when he needed them. Peregrine smiled at Emil and then turned back to his page. But the smile was enough. Emil wanted his men happy.
He stepped up to Kurt and let Kurt’s warm arms wrap around him. Life was good.
--
Kurt took his turn answering the door to four people. One of the men put out a hand. “Pavel Ruek. We met at Autumn’s birthday party.”
Kurt remembered the Russian accent, but not the man. “Kurt Styles. Come in.”
Pavel gestured the man holding the toddler to precede him. “Deimen and Em. And this,” he held up the hand of a little girl obviously outfitted by Autumn, “is Goldie.”
Goldie bobbed a curtsy. “How do you do?”
“Just fine than you. We have several people waiting for your arrival.”
Diemen blushed. “Sorry we are late. Em took an extra long nap today.”
“No problem. But Olivia has been waiting with bated breath since she found out you were coming a few minutes ago.”
“Olivia’s here? I love Olivia. She’s just like me.”
“I can see that.”
“We have matching dresses and everything. Which one did she wear?”
“The one with presents for pockets.”
“Like this one?” Goldie opened her shawl.
“Maybe, why don’t you go see. Lavender’s here too.”
Goldie’s eyes went wide. “Did she bring her baby?”
“She brought both of them. Around the corner and turn right again.”
Goldie disappeared before he finished talking.
Diemen rubbed Em’s back. “She prefers Piper to Joaquin. Em here likes infants.”
Pavel laughed. “Em likes everyone smaller than ne is. We have to watch nem closely.”
That’s right. Em was the little genderqueer toddler Zan had told them about. “We have ten adults here to keep nem out of trouble.”
Diemen grinned. Pavel took Diemen’s hand.
The doorbell rang again. Kurt turned back to the door. “Follow the noise.”
“Can do.”
Kurt opened the door. The foreman and young Tom stood by an older woman. “I,” she cleared her throat, “I hope we aren’t too early.”
“No, no. Come in, come in. We mostly have parents with little ones right now, but we still have room for more.”
He led the way to the kitchen. The going was slow because Emil’s grandmother asked a lot of questions about the art and architecture. She stopped in the entry to the kitchen. “It’s beautiful.”
“Thanks.” Emil stepped forward. “Can I offer you anything? We have juices and sodas and plenty of snacks.”
Emil’s grandmother put her hand against his cheek. “Emilio. It’s been so long.”
He smiled and Kurt stepped into the busy living room. Olivia and Goldie chatter away with Piper staring wide-eyed from one to the other. All three of their skirts billowed around them. They must have spun before sitting down to get such perfect circles. Em’s eyes were intent of the baby while Diemen and Diego watched and talked about computers.
Zan, Willow, Liam and Hunter looked through one of Peregrine’s sketch books. The older three made comments about what Peregrine should paint, while he sketched Em’s intent face. Autumn walked Tom through making a mixed fruit drink and Keith stood out of the porch, his phone to his ear.
So far, the party was going rather well.
And I’d look around for other departments, but my manager might be leaving next month, which would mean I’m working forty hour weeks until the store can hire a new floral manager, so even if she doesn’t leave until September I’ll still average 20 hours this quarter. But if she doesn’t leave at all, I’ll be sunk. And my take-home pay from a 12 hour week (after insurance and taxes) will only be about $50 dollars and we need to by a new kind of air conditioner (over $300) to replace the one that we aren’t allowed to use anymore. And it’s still 80°F (26.6°C) outside at 10pm.
Title: Party, part 3
Series: A Balance of Harmonies (Three)
Status: Chapter one hundred twenty-six of gobs
Genre: m/m romance, drama, city life, businessmen
Rating: R
Content: cards, special skill, babies, hiding the phone, comments, passing the babies, tears, clinging, dreams come true, sketching, warm hug, introduction, greeting
Length: about 2,300 words
Summary: Kurt has a trick. Emil meets his grandmother. And Peregrine keeps his pencil busy.
Master list
Kurt set his four queens on the table. “What should I ask for next?”
Hunter shrugged. Zan and Autumn carried three bags of ice though the dining room. Should he get up and help be a host? Olivia played with Piper on the floor under Diego’s watchful eye. Emil and Keith were in the kitchen, talking about someone Kurt didn’t recognize. And Willow and Liam giggled quietly in the conservatory. They, at least, didn’t need any attention.
“It’s still your turn.” Tyler pointed at Kurt’s hand.
Autumn tucked her hands under her arms. “Is it too late to deal me in?”
“Next time.” Dakota set his cards face down on the table. “Kurt?”
“Are you ready to join us?”
“As soon as I have something to warm my hands. Bags of ice are cold.”
Kurt surveyed the faces. “Do you want to see my special skill?”
“Yes.” Hunter grinned.
So he asked Tyler for his jack and Dakota for both of his and set the four jacks down. He got Tyler’s three twos to add to his own and one six from each of the kids. Then one seven from Dakota and one from Hunter. He had to ask Tyler for one even though he knew he didn’t have it. But the card he picked up from the center pile was a seven.
Dakota whistled. “How did you do that?”
Kurt shrugged. “I remembered what each person had asked for. I’ve been able to do it since I was a kid.”
“Then why didn’t you do it earlier.” Tyler counted out matched sets. “Dakota wins again. You could have won.”
“What’s the fun in that? And besides I can’t remember what no one has spoken.”
“Maybe we should play something based on chance?” Dakota shuffled the cards.
“What? So you can win again.” Tyler rolled his eyes.
“He’s winning no matter what we do.” Hunter leaned against Kurt’s shoulder.
“I won.” Olivia looked up from Piper. “With Autumn’s help.”
Tyler leaned back in his chair. “Autumn, you need to be on my team this time.”
Dakota grinned. “Wouldn’t you rather be on my team?”
“He’d rather be on your something.” Zan raised her eyebrows. “But the rain has stopped, so if you two wanted to go back out...”
Dakota bounced to his feet. “Great idea. We’ll be back sixish.”
He took Tyler’s hand and tugged his out of the room.
Piper toddled over to Zan with Olivia right behind her. Zan picked up the baby and twirled her around. “How’s my little princess?”
Piper giggled. Olivia sighed. “Someday I want a baby.”
Keith patted her head. “I hope you grow up first.”
Olivia crossed her arms. “I can’t have one anyway. Not that’s mine.”
Diego got down on his knees beside her. “People start families in a lot of ways. Our babies’ first mother couldn’t take care of them.”
“And some people fall in love with people who already have kids.” Zan stirred her cup. “That’s what happened with Goldie’s Papa.”
“Goldie!” Olivia bounced. “Is Goldie coming?”
Olivia gave Diego a hug. “Goldie’s just like me. Only she’s five.”
Kurt put the cards back into their box. “Who’s Goldie?”
“Diemen and Pavel’s daughter.” Diego tucked Piper back into his arms and stood up. “They’d got their kids the week after we brought home Piper.”
Olivia bounced to Zan. “But is Goldie coming?”
“For a little while.” Zan patted her back. “Then Goldie and Em are going to spend the night with their babushka. Diemen and Pavel have another party to attend.”
Olivia frowned. “But it’s not a kids’ party?”
This wasn’t a kids’ party either. They should have borrowed at least a few toys.
Kurt’s phone vibrated. He carried it into his closet and shoved it between the extra towels. He knew it was his mother without even looking at it. She always ruined his best times. Why should she stop now?
--
Peregrine looked up as Kurt walked back though the bedroom. “Come in and see this.”
Kurt wrapped his arms around Peregrine. “Very nice. You captured her well. She’s alive, here, and quiet like a stove: dark and hot. Sorry if that sounded weird.”
Lavender smiled. “That’s ok. I think I got what you meant.”
Now Peregrine needed a few minutes of Diego’s time. “Maybe I should stop ignoring our guests.”
Lavender smiled. “I didn’t mind.”
“Stay as long as you like. I can’t finish Piper’s face until I watched her more and my Diego’s only half done.”
Lavender stood up and looked at the picture. Her baby was asleep, or at least his eyes were closed. Peregrine offered his arms. “May I hold him?”
She grinned and passed him over then fixed her dress before looking at the painting. She trailed her fingers just above the surface. “When I was young, I used to dream like this. My face was clear as was the baby in my arms, but other children weren’t as well defined. And the man with me was always a blur. That changed after I met Diego. But I still never thought I would have children.”
The baby turned his head toward his mother. Peregrine stroked his little cheek. “I think, perhaps, they have you.”
Lavender laughed. Too bad sounds couldn’t be drawn.
--
Emil bustled around the kitchen. Only a few more things to do and then he was done for at least an hour. Lavender leaned on the counter, her gaze following her baby as he was passed around. “Peregrine told Diego that he found your family.”
“My mother’s mother and her grandson, my cousin. The funny thing is that he looks just like me only white. I talked to him for weeks without noticing.”
A smile grew on her face. “I wonder if he looks like me.”
“I have a photo album.” He took the last batch of cookies from the oven. They would need to cool for a while on the pan. “Let me get it.”
The album was on his bedside table, or rather one of the bedside tables as he slept in the middle. He laid it open to Tom’s picture of the two of them in Emil’s old kitchen. “See.”
She leaned closer and then back. “He does look like you, but coloring makes a lot of difference. I’m glad my babies will match me, at least a bit.”
She turned back to the living room. Kurt passed the baby to Liam. Liam grinned at Willow. “Are you sure you don’t want to hold him?”
“He’s so small.”
“Piper isn’t.” Keith nodded to Diego.
“She likes attention, too.” Diego kissed his daughter’s head.
“Ok.” Willow held out her arms and Piper leaned into them. Then she cuddled against Willow and grasped a handful of Willows fluffy shirt.
Lavender grinned. “That’s what Piper did to me the moment I met her and that’s when I fell in love.”
“This is the right size for a baby.” Willow pressed her lips together and sniffed.
Emil hurried over and rescued her. Piper’s lean-and-cuddle was especially adorable from this angle. “You are a cutie, aren’t you?”
Piper’s big dark eyes met his and then she burrowed her cheek against his shirt. He passed her back to her mother. That child was an emotion explosion.
Willow wiped tears from her eyes. “I don’t know why I’m crying. I don’t even want kids.”
“Not all kids are that cute.” Peregrine turned a page in his sketchbook. “Lavender is one lucky woman.”
She grinned. “I am. I have a husband and children and a purple house with a picket fence and all those things I dreamed of and thought I’d never have.”
Liam passed the baby to Kurt and held Willow close from behind. “Anything can happen.”
Willow rubbed her face. “But it won’t. It never does.”
Liam rubbed his face against her neck. “You met me.”
“See. I’ve already had my share of good luck.”
“It could still happen.” Lavender passed Piper to Diego and put her hand on Willow’s cheek. “I know I’m fortunate, but I don’t think I’m the only one born with an M on my birth certificate who lives as a wife and mother.”
Oh. No wonder Lavender hadn’t wanted to get to know Emil until after she learned he didn’t know his family. She hadn’t wanted to be outed.
Lavender sighed and leaned against her husband. “This is only the second time I’ve told anyone. I had my husband and my baby and my little house and then I met a little girl who was just like me and I couldn’t not say anything. I know your goals are probably different and your hopes and dreams, but just in the last year I got my F and a real wedding that even the government agrees happened and my babies, so I don’t see why your dreams can’t come true as well.”
Tears ran down Willow’s face and she threw her arms around Lavender. “Thank you.”
Olivia frowned. “What happened?”
Keith cleared his throat. “Lavender is just like you and Goldie.”
“She is?” Olivia’s eyes got wide. “So someday I can get a baby too?”
“Someday.”
“Good. What does the F and M mean?”
“I was just going to ask. Diego, how much work was it? Everyone is telling me to wait, to let her grow up first, but…” Keith shook his head. “I don’t even know what I’m asking.”
Diego smiled. “Lavender keeps a diary of when and what for all her medicines and moods and victories and failures. I’m sure she’ll be willing to share it with you. She did with Diemen”
“I want a pink one, Daddy.”
“Yes, darling.” Keith patted Olivia’s head. “I’d be real glad just to talk for a bit. I’m lost and floundering. I want to do my best by her, by all my children.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Willow hugged him. Then she stepped back. “I think I’m ready to hold the little one now. Wait. Let me sit down first. Now.”
Liam slid his arms around her as she held the baby. Peregrine’s pencil moved across the page. Emil pulled out a blank sketchbook and filled a mechanical pencil and set them both by Peregrine’s elbow for when he needed them. Peregrine smiled at Emil and then turned back to his page. But the smile was enough. Emil wanted his men happy.
He stepped up to Kurt and let Kurt’s warm arms wrap around him. Life was good.
--
Kurt took his turn answering the door to four people. One of the men put out a hand. “Pavel Ruek. We met at Autumn’s birthday party.”
Kurt remembered the Russian accent, but not the man. “Kurt Styles. Come in.”
Pavel gestured the man holding the toddler to precede him. “Deimen and Em. And this,” he held up the hand of a little girl obviously outfitted by Autumn, “is Goldie.”
Goldie bobbed a curtsy. “How do you do?”
“Just fine than you. We have several people waiting for your arrival.”
Diemen blushed. “Sorry we are late. Em took an extra long nap today.”
“No problem. But Olivia has been waiting with bated breath since she found out you were coming a few minutes ago.”
“Olivia’s here? I love Olivia. She’s just like me.”
“I can see that.”
“We have matching dresses and everything. Which one did she wear?”
“The one with presents for pockets.”
“Like this one?” Goldie opened her shawl.
“Maybe, why don’t you go see. Lavender’s here too.”
Goldie’s eyes went wide. “Did she bring her baby?”
“She brought both of them. Around the corner and turn right again.”
Goldie disappeared before he finished talking.
Diemen rubbed Em’s back. “She prefers Piper to Joaquin. Em here likes infants.”
Pavel laughed. “Em likes everyone smaller than ne is. We have to watch nem closely.”
That’s right. Em was the little genderqueer toddler Zan had told them about. “We have ten adults here to keep nem out of trouble.”
Diemen grinned. Pavel took Diemen’s hand.
The doorbell rang again. Kurt turned back to the door. “Follow the noise.”
“Can do.”
Kurt opened the door. The foreman and young Tom stood by an older woman. “I,” she cleared her throat, “I hope we aren’t too early.”
“No, no. Come in, come in. We mostly have parents with little ones right now, but we still have room for more.”
He led the way to the kitchen. The going was slow because Emil’s grandmother asked a lot of questions about the art and architecture. She stopped in the entry to the kitchen. “It’s beautiful.”
“Thanks.” Emil stepped forward. “Can I offer you anything? We have juices and sodas and plenty of snacks.”
Emil’s grandmother put her hand against his cheek. “Emilio. It’s been so long.”
He smiled and Kurt stepped into the busy living room. Olivia and Goldie chatter away with Piper staring wide-eyed from one to the other. All three of their skirts billowed around them. They must have spun before sitting down to get such perfect circles. Em’s eyes were intent of the baby while Diemen and Diego watched and talked about computers.
Zan, Willow, Liam and Hunter looked through one of Peregrine’s sketch books. The older three made comments about what Peregrine should paint, while he sketched Em’s intent face. Autumn walked Tom through making a mixed fruit drink and Keith stood out of the porch, his phone to his ear.
So far, the party was going rather well.
