Shortly before dusk, Dad and Jill found Mo and Donna in the kitchen. They asked about Hunter again.
“He’s at work,” Mo abruptly explained.
“Oh?” Dad sounded curious. “I thought Hunter was independently wealthy.”
“He is wealthy…because he works,” Mo improvised. “You know - no free lunch, all work and no play, blah blah blah and all of that.”
“Yes, all of that,” Dad repeated. “So where does Hunter work?”
“At the hospital,” Mo offered. “He's a brain surgeon.”
“I see,” Dad replied, but it was obvious he didn't. So Dad and Jill exchanged glances, then phone numbers. They left together, chatting all the way to their cars and occasionally turning back to glance at their offspring.
“That's interesting,” Mo folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at them.
“What’s interesting?” Donna bit her finger nails.
“Your dad and my mom.” Mo tilted her head. “They seem to be getting along pretty damned well. I caught them smiling at each other while you were opening your presents.”
“Oh, stop it,” Donna pushed Mo. “Can't adults hang out without you finding something sinister about it?”
Jill giggled at something Dad said. He held open her car door while she got in. Mo raised an eyebrow.
“Sinister isn't the word I'd choose to describe it,” she said.
chapter twenty five