“I’ve never had them unhappy before.”
“Are you done dating Penny?” I asked.
“No. Why?” he asked.
“If you do anything to Pam, I’ll make it my mission in life to steal Penny away from you.”
“Yeah, I know. I was just giving you shit,” Ridge said.
“I know. But I meant what I said.”
“And I realize that, and I’d feel the same if you went after Penny. Get my boy a date, and I’m in,” Ridge said.
After he hung up, I called Tracy and told her she had to find a date for Bill, and that Ridge was in.
◊◊◊ Thursday April 28
When Peggy and I came back from our run, we found Lacy’s car in the driveway. I ran up to my apartment, got ready for school, and then went to the house. Duke had the habit of abandoning me after our run and going into the house with Peggy. He had a job to do: checking on the little ones. Mom told me he’d do that and then come down and get in bed with my parents for his morning loving.
Mom was also taking him to the hospital with her. He’d been approved as a therapy dog and seemed to love the attention he got from the patients, staff, and families. I’ve yet to meet a Lab that wasn’t an attention-hound. Being around my niece and nephews had taught Duke to be gentle. He no longer jumped up on people. Mom said that when she put Duke in his service coat, he became a different dog. With me, he still got rowdy, and we roughhoused, but when he was at work, he was the perfect gentleman. Mom had posted a video of my hound with a group of sick children during story time. They’d crawled all over him, and the worst that he did was kiss them. Yuck, dog kisses!
Lacy and Megan were feeding babies. Lacy must have wanted some grandma time.
“Morning,” I said as I walked in.
“Can you grab me a cloth diaper?” Lacy asked.
I handed her one, and she put it over her shoulder so she could burp Coby. It was funny. When he barfed on me, I was fine. Anyone else, and I started to gag.
As soon as the coffee was done, I got Megan and Lacy each a cup. Megan had brought a pan of Granny’s cinnamon rolls last night. Granny and Mary Dole had been to the restaurant with Caryn and had sent them to me. I popped them in the oven to heat, and soon the kitchen was filled with the aroma of the rolls.
“I was wondering if I could borrow your house next weekend?” I asked Lacy.
“You’re not planning a big party for Prom, are you?”
“Maybe. But that wasn’t my original intent. I have some acting and modeling friends coming into town. I was hoping they could stay at your house for a few days.”
“Pam mentioned that you arranged to get her a date with Ridge Townsend. Do I need to know anything about him?” Lacy asked.
“Only that I trust him to be with Pam.”
Megan snorted.
“I would bet that means that Pam isn’t getting lucky at Prom,” Megan observed.
I didn’t answer that. Mom, Dad, and Peggy all came down just in time for the rolls to come out of the oven. Mom put the cream cheese icing on them and got us all one. My hot water was ready, so I made myself a cup of tea. Lacy asked my mom what she thought about my request.
“Who all will be here?” she asked.
“I was thinking Ben Doman, Zak Verwood, Ryan Barlow, and John Phillips could stay at Lacy’s house since she and Pam have moved into the condo. Trip James would stay at his house, and Ridge Townsend could stay at Bill Callaway’s home. The girls—Leah Johansen, Maria Dowe, and Sarah Spence—would all stay with Grandma Dawson on the farm. My date, Kara Tasman, could stay with me,” I said.
“Or she could stay at her house. I’m sure her parents want to see her, too,” Mom said.
“Or she could do that,” I conceded.
“What do you think?” Lacy asked.
“Ben and John are fine. Ryan, I don’t know, and Zak can’t keep it in his pants,” Mom announced.
Lacy looked at me.
“He likes women, and they like him,” I said as the best defense I could come up with for him.
“Who’s his date?” Mom asked.
“Brook.”
“That’s good. She can handle him.”
“Who’s Ryan?” Lacy asked.
“He’s a model I met in New York on my Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch photo shoot. He’ll fit in with the group.”
“What about the party?” Lacy asked.
My mom’s head whipped around, and she raised her eyebrows, never a good sign.
“There’s nothing planned. Mona is having an after-party that I planned to take everyone to. If anything, it would be an after-after get-together, and hopefully would just be a handful of people.”
“There isn’t any food in the house. I would also want it cleaned afterward. You know your mom is my listing agent, and she’s a taskmaster about how she wants it to look for showings,” she said with a smile.
“I’ll talk to Caryn about it. She’ll need to do the same for your grandmother,” Mom said.
Megan looked to be taking mental notes. It was nice to have people sometimes.
◊◊◊
I guess it was no surprise when Tracy was waiting for me when Fritz dropped me off.
“Gina Tasman has agreed to be Bill’s date.”
“That works. Did Adrienne call you about dresses?” I asked.
“Tyler did. We’re going to get measured after school. You should let the other girls know.”
