Home Base (Harbingers Book 14) by Gerke Jeff

Author:Gerke, Jeff [Gerke, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Amaris Media International
Published: 2016-06-16T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

A Sensible Change

“Your dinner tonight,” Ashley said as the waiter lifted the domes, revealing piles of fancy entrees on oversized dish-bowls, and began arraying the dining table, “is Atlantic halibut, braised artichoke, carrot, fava, and confit tomato, with a lemon and Thai basil sauce.” She swept her hand over the table. “Please, come sit.”

When the waiter took food, not automatic weapons, from under the domes, I figured we were okay at least for a while longer.

I went to Ashley and gave her a kiss on the lips—an act that surprised but thrilled her, I perceived. But it got no strong reaction from Andi, so it was mostly wasted effort. “Thanks, Ash. This is great. Will I…see you later tonight?”

She tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled without looking at me. “You know where to find me.”

“I sure do.”

“I’m off at midnight.”

“Oh, please,” Brenda said, pulling a chair out from the table, “get a room. Wait…I guess you did.”

“Good night, all of you,” Ashley said. “Enjoy your dinner.” She followed the waiter and his trolley out of the room and into the hallway.

The dining table and chairs sat on a square, blue and white throw rug, which looked nice and presumably kept the chair legs from scratching the parquet.

They tore into their food. I cut a piece of halibut and stuck it on my fork.

Tank made a big show of praying first, but then he dug in too. “So, Chad,” he said, “save us the trouble. Tell us what you’ve done. All this.” He twirled his fork in the air.

“Well, I could. I could tell you everything, then you’ll all tell me why it won’t work and how you’ve got other plans. Then I’ll ask Andi to tell us the pattern she’s already seen, and then I’ll ask Belinda to whip out her sketch book and show us the sketches she’s already made of her room here and…a creepy ghast dude I’ll explain about later. And finally you’ll all agree that I was right.” I ate my bite of halibut. “So can we please just skip to that part and enjoy our dinner? There’s crème brûlée in the fridge.”

They sat there deciding what to say. Then Daniel belched—“Sorry”—and the tension broke.

“You still haven’t told us what all you’ve done,” Andi said, sipping sweet tea. “I’d like to hear it.”

I took a big breath. “Okay, let’s see. First, it’s beyond stupid that you guys aren’t living together, but I’ve already covered that. And now you have a headquarters for your Mystery, Inc. clubhouse, and I’m working on a Mystery Machine for us too. What say, Scoob,” I said to Tank, “you be the dog and I’ll be Shaggy? She’s Daphne,” I said, looking at Andi, “she’s Velma,” to Brenda, “and you, kid, can be Fred.”

Daniel blinked at me. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Never mind. So, now you’re all together, as you should’ve been from the beginning.”

Brenda started to speak, but I shushed her.

“Andi,” I said, but what I thought was Sweet Cheeks, “please tell them the pattern you’ve seen.

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