“Well—” It took more inner strength to shut her mouth and not say the things she wanted to say than Aggie realized she had left. It felt as if Luke were mocking her—showing his superior opinion by being sarcastic. She didn’t like it.
“If you think it’ll be ok… With her being new in the family, I wouldn’t want her to feel slighted or overwhelmed.”
“I think overwhelmed is more likely than slighted.”
It took almost no time at all to purchase the stand. The moment they stepped in the door, Aggie saw exactly what she wanted and felt settled immediately. “There. That. Isn’t it gorgeous? Will it match?”
“It’ll compliment the dulcimer perfectly.” Luke grinned at the man coming to greet them. “This might be your easiest sale of the day.” He pointed to the stand. “We’ll take it. Do you have a box?”
Two gifts down left them with one for Iris and one for Chad. Luke’s mind flew in a dozen directions, but nothing for either person fit. “What about…”
“What?”
Aggie picked at her skirt. “Well, what if we did kind of a family gift for Iris’ family. Something they’d really enjoy for a long time like a membership to the zoo or the aquarium, or Storyland or something.”
“That’s a great idea!” Luke grinned. “What’s it gonna be?”
“Hey, I came up with the idea!”
“Well, I wouldn’t want Storyland myself, but that’s because it’d be a nightmare with our age ranges. It’d work perfect for them unless Iris hated it or something.”
“There’s that train to Chicago… I wonder how expensive tickets are for that.”
“Definitely more than Mom’s mixer…”
Somewhere deep in the most rational part of her heart, Aggie knew it was just a joke, but it felt like a dig. She wanted to confront him, but it seemed silly and petty. This was Luke. He wouldn’t rub salt into a wound. Then again, he didn’t know there was one. Somehow, knowing that she was the one with the issue and that he was oblivious just made everything seem that much worse.
“Well then, what’ll it be? I came up with the idea.”
“Yes, and it’s a perfect one,” he reassured her.
It felt patronizing. With every passing second, the panic of expense, the stress of last minute preparations, the uncertainty of etiquette, and the teasing seemed to culminate into a whirlwind of emotions she didn’t want to address. “Storyland.” Oh, how she hoped he wouldn’t ask why she chose it. Aggie suspected that it had something to do with knowing he wouldn’t want it for them.
“Let’s get it and on the way we can try to figure out Chad. Before that call, I’d have said something to give his apartment a more homey feel, but now…”
“Sparse?”
“You aren’t kidding.”
“What are you going to do with all your stuff?”
“Anything not personal, I’m leaving at the duplex. I’ll rent it out fully furnished. They can pack anything they don’t want or need in my storage shed.”
“Good idea.”
He reached for her hand. “Just a week from tomorrow and I’ll walk out of it for good.”
“I have a feeling it’s going to be a very long week.” And a long day, she added to herself.
Traffic was crazy busy. “It must be getting close to lunch. Have an idea what you want to eat?” Luke asked.
“You’re going to laugh at me.”
“I doubt it. What?”
“I want one of those gourmet hot dogs from that place near Storyland.”
“Gourmet dogs it is. I haven’t had one of those in ages.”
“I wonder if Willow has ever been to a place like Storyland or the Aquarium. Maybe…”
“I know the Aquarium freaked her out. I don’t think she’d understand the point of Storyland, but she might enjoy the symphony or maybe the Zoo…”
“Maybe something for outside—to make her work easier.”
“Wait, this is supposed to be for Chad. We got Willow’s.”
Frustration bubbled over before Aggie could stop herself. “Well, if they’re getting married, what’s the difference?”
“Are you ok? Did I—”
“No. Ok, I don’t really know Chad. What does he like? Does he have a good camera?”
“I think so. Willow used it at the house that day…”
“Of course she did. Then what about—”
“Aggie, you seem upset. They’re just gifts. We’ll figure out something. I can call Aunt Marianne.”
“Well,” she snapped, “everything I come up with isn’t right; they may just be gifts, but obviously they have to work too.”
Without a word, Luke pulled into a supermarket parking lot, parked far away from the rest of the cars, and shut off the engine. “Something is wrong.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
“And now you’re sarcastic.” His voice seemed cooler.
“I’m sarcastic? Who is Mr. Superior in the gift department?”
“What are you talking about?”
In a near perfect imitation, something she didn’t know she could do, Aggie recited, “‘Would Mom maybe feel slighted because she got one gift and Willow got several?’”
“I don’t understand.”
“That’s just the point. You don’t understand. I’ve got this crazy thing going here. We’re talking two-hundred fifty dollars for one gift, seventy-nine for another. Who knows what Storyland will be for a family season pass, and then we still have Chad.”
“Who I just figured out. We’ll get him a fishing license.”
“Seriously? What’s that, fifteen bucks?”
“Sure—or thirty. Something like that.”
She closed her eyes, willing herself not to storm out of the truck. It would look even more ridiculous than she felt already. “Ok. Let’s just get it. I’m hungry.”
“You’re angry.”
“That doesn’t seem to matter; let’s just go.”
When he didn’t answer, angry tears attacked her, making a very bad situation worse. She glanced at him as he pushed a packet of tissues across the seat and saw that he was praying. A new wave of fury washed over her and with it, sobs. It was ridiculous. What on earth was wrong with her?
“Oh, Mibs.” Luke unsnapped his seatbelt, jerked the armrest out of the way and slid across the seat, pulling her to him. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. I keep getting angry over all kinds of things that don’t make sense. I know it, and it just makes me angrier.”
“What did I say?”
“You think I’m stupid for being concerned about the price differences, but it’s really stressing me out.”
“I don’t think you’re stupid at all. I was trying to reassure you that I don’t think anyone would care even if they did notice. Why spend a thousand dollars on gifts just because one was two-hundred fifty?”
“And your mom’s, no less. No favoritism there, right?”
“Would it take the stress off,” he asked, blatantly ignoring the dig she’d tried to inflict, “if I paid for everything and gave them from me?”
“So that I look like an ungrateful jerk? That makes so much more sense. Gee, thanks.”
His patience seemed worn thin. He re-buckled his seatbelt and started the truck. Aggie watched amazed as he pulled into traffic and drove without a word to Storyland. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Left alone in the truck, Aggie seethed. What did he think he was doing? “Lord, I’m about to throttle him!”
When he returned, he passed the envelope to her. “An annual pass was only fifty dollars more than a season pass, so I went for it. It brought it closer to your target price.”
“Luke…”
“Hot dogs.”
Her mind spun. What did hot dogs have to do with anything? It made no—lunch. It did too make sense. It wasn’t the silent treatment, but it felt like it. He was mad now. Great. Just what they needed.
“What kind of hot dog do you want?�
�
“Huh?”
“What kind—”
“I heard you,” Aggie said. “I meant why do you ask?”
“Because we’re almost there and I want to know what to order.”
“They don’t have a drive-thru…”
“No, but I want to be prepared.”
“Ok…” She took a deep breath and said, “I want the Polish dog with sauerkraut and pickles.”
As he pulled into the only empty parking space, Luke said, “I’ll be right back.”
Left alone in the truck again, Aggie’s anger level rose exponentially. She stepped outside and glanced at the ignition. Keys were still in it. Once retrieved, she locked it and hurried inside. Luke was already ordering so she waited in line to order a drink.
It was almost worth the morning’s irritation to see the stunned look on his face. “You shouldn’t have left the truck. Someone might steal—”
“I locked it.” Oh, this was going to be good.
“Aggie, the keys are in there!”
“Well, they were. I took them out. Apparently this immature little pipsqueak can do something right.” She jingled the keys and stuffed them in her pocket before stepping up to the register. “I’d like a large Coke—extra ice.”
“It might not hurt to help you cool off,” he muttered.
“I thought it’d work for that, but I planned to cool you off.”
The girl behind the counter snickered and filled a cup. “That’ll be one seventy-nine, please.”
She dug out the bills and passed them across the counter. “I’ll take mine over at that table, Luke.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?”
She rolled her eyes at the girl behind the counter. “Apparently I’m an idiot now too.”
“Mibs…”
With every effort to appear cool and collected, Aggie walked to the table she’d indicated and seated herself. Who am I kidding? I just stormed over here like Cari when she doesn’t get her way, she thought. Then again, he is being such a jerk about it all…
“Is that one mine?” Aggie reached for the one with a big S on it.
“Yes.”
She wanted to gloat over his sulking, but there was a problem. He wasn’t. He might be angry; she couldn’t tell. Without any other idea of what to do about their situation, she focused on what she could control—her enjoyment of the hot dog. Unfortunately, it was almost tasteless. It almost seemed as if her taste buds were powered down when her anger levels rose.
“I’m mad at you.”
“So I gather.”
“And we’re just going to ignore this because my silliness is not worth addressing, right?”
“No, I’m not going to argue with you in public.”
Aggie glowered at him. “How utterly mature of you.”
He didn’t answer, but his eyes met hers and the pain in them managed to prick the tiniest hole in the armor she’d donned. It might have caused a crack that would eventually break if he had not added, “And what is the safe response to that?”
“Take me home.”
He stared at her, shocked. “What?”
She rose, dumped her food and cup into the nearby garbage can, and waited by her chair for him to acknowledge her “request.” “I said, take me home.”
“I’m not finished.”
Her cell phone rang. Glaring at Tina’s name flashing on the screen, she answered it with a curt, “Hello.”
“Still in line there?”
“No. Coming home.”
“What’s wrong?”
Aggie forced herself not to sniffle. “I am finished for the day.”
“There’s more to it. Let me talk to Luke.”
“No.”
“Aggie, I’m serious. Either hand the phone to him or I’m hanging up and calling him.”
Infused with a new level of fury, Aggie shoved the phone at Luke. “Tina wants to talk to you. I’ll be in the truck.”
He stood and followed her, dumping his trash as they left the restaurant. “She is angry with me, yes.”
Listening to one side of the conversation was annoying. What was Tina saying? Why did Luke look so calm? He should be furious that she made him miss half his meal.
“I’m not sure. I think I don’t understand something. She wants to pick a fight, but I’m not going to play that game.”
“Really, Luke? Really?” Aggie was on a roll. “This is just what makes me furious! You think you’ve got the corner on the market of whatever it is you’ve got—the only word I can think of is supercilious, which just sounds ridiculous.”
“Maybe because it is.”
Something Tina said caught his attention. He listened, eyes on her, but his mind fully engaged in whatever he heard. “Ok, I’ll try.” He passed the phone back to her and said, “She wants you again.”
“How generous of her.” Aggie was tempted to turn it off and deal with the consequences later, but she knew Tina would just call Luke’s phone and he’d be on her side. “What?”
“Stop it. You are behaving like Cari. What’s the matter with you?”
“Of course,” she began as she unlocked her door and let herself into the truck. For just a moment, Aggie was tempted to lock the doors and not let Luke inside, but of course, that’d just prove Tina’s assertions that she was being childish, “this is all my fault. I am stupid and unreasonable.”
He muttered something—she could have sworn it was something about “half-truths”—and held his hand out for the keys. “I told Tina I’d bring you home.”
“Fine. You’ll do what she asks, but not what I do. Gee. That makes me feel good.” Aggie dumped the keys in his hand, her stomach churning with the misery of the morning. What should have been a great time out together was nothing but a miserable experience.
“I’m not going to argue it,” he said as he started the truck.
“You said not in public, but you meant not at all.”
“No, I meant not in public, but now I am adding that I’m not going to argue. I don’t know what’s wrong, but arguing about it while driving is a great way to get us killed. Not going to do that.”
“Fine with me.”
Several minutes later, she stared at the phone in her hand, wondering if she’d ever said goodbye. A sinking feeling hit the pit of her stomach as she realized not only had she not said goodbye, but Tina had likely heard their exchange. “Great.”
“Hmm?”
“Nothing.”
Aggie says: Mom?
Milliken says: Yes?
Aggie says: I’m really upset.
Milliken says: About what?
Aggie says: Luke and I had an argument.
Milliken says: It doesn’t sound resolved.
Aggie says: It’s not.
Milliken says: Then why are you talking to me instead of to Luke?
Aggie says: I don’t want to talk to Luke.
Milliken says: Why?
Aggie says: He’s being all superior about this. He won’t dignify my frustration with an argument.
Milliken says: I thought you said you had one.
Aggie says: Well, we would have if he wouldn’t have ignored me!
Milliken says: Did you read that?
Aggie says: Read what?
Milliken says: What you just wrote. You want an argument? That’s what you just said.
Aggie says: I want him to talk about a few things that are bothering me.
Aggie says: He just totally ignored the fact that I am bothered by this whole gift idea.
Milliken says: Don’t talk to me about it until you and he are ok. I’m not getting in the middle of your arguments and before you say anything else, I bet you anything Libby would say the same thing—to both of you.
Aggie says: Ok. Talk to you later.
Milliken says: Aggie, don’t shut me out because you don’t like what I said.
Aggie says: You just told me not to talk to you about it, Mom. What am I supposed to do?
Milliken says: Is that all you want to talk about? You don’t have any fun stories to share about the children or want to tell me that you got a license or that a crazy gift arrived from someone that makes no sense…
Aggie says: I have the license, although today makes me wonder what I’m getting into. The kids are fine and Ian says Lunkle Luke now. Thankfully, we have no obnoxious gifts from people, but I’ve got three that I hope work for others.
Aggie says: I’ve gotta go, Mom. I love you. Sorry.
Chapter Twenty-One
Murphy Strikes Again
Saturday, February 28th
“…lead me on, let me stand,” a sniffle broke the flow of the words. “I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.”
The song had been little comfort, but Aggie had sung it all day in snatches. The children, clearly unsettled at her uncharacteristic silence, avoided her whenever possible. Never had she felt so alone; it seemed almost unbearable.
A suitcase—the very one she’d lived out of at Allie’s for all those weeks—lay open on the bed as she chose what clothes to bring the next week. Tears splashed on her cheeks as she put in the leggings, thermals, petticoats, and heavy skirts that Libby had purchased and chosen from Aggie’s closet. The sight of one skirt sent her digging through the shelves for a sweater she rarely wore.
Clothes were spread throughout the enormous closet, but it was still really half-empty. Not for long. A new pang struck her heart. There was something wonderful and terrifying about knowing that she was at odds with the man she was going to marry, but there was no doubt that they would marry.
Slowly, she moved all her shirts and skirts to one side of the closet. She stacked her clothes on the shelves to the right, leaving the entire left for Luke. It looked both forlorn and expectant. Her hand slid across the empty rod where his jeans would hang. Maybe she should forget it—let it go. They usually got along well enough that this might just be the time to overlook an offense.
“Mibs?”
She turned, dreading to see the look on his face. Would he be hurt? Angry? That same cold arrogance that had infuriated her the previous day? “Hmm?”
“Can we talk?”
Outside, children called dibs on favorite seats and van doors shut. “What is going on?”
Here We Come (Aggie's Inheritance) Page 31
