I picked up Am and Timothy from Jasper's parent's house and went to the Air household. Jasper pulled in two minutes before I did. When I parked Jasper came and helped Amelia out of her car seat. Timothy hopped out and looked nervously at the house. I put my hand on his shoulder. "It will be fine," I said.
"But they don't know me," Timothy said.
"They know me and will like you," Am said confidently.
Tim smiled at her. "Are you sure, Am?"
She nodded. "Positive."
"Okay."
We went in and Am ran off with Faith pulling Timothy with her. I watched them go then went into the kitchen. "Hello, Edna Air," I said. Jasper stood beside me. I turned to the male already sitting at the table. "Hello, Mr. Rong," I added. I knew the rest of us would be going by our first names. If he wanted us to call him Henry, he'd have to tell us.
Edna beamed. "I'm glad you came, Edward, Jasper."
Jasper smiled. "We are too. Am and Tim went off with Faith. Do you need help with dinner?"
"Nope, it's almost done. Maybe we can talk until it is." She stirred the food for a few minutes then added a few ingredients. She turned to the table and sat.
Jasper and I sat too. What shall we talk about?" I asked.
"Hmm. Where did you find Tim?" She asked.
Of course, that would be her first question. "It's more like he found me," I replied. "And that was outside of Mr. Rong's house."
Mr. Rong frowned. "Outside my house?"
Jasper nodded. "He was in my husband's car. Ed forgets to lock it when he's in a hurry."
Mr. Rong turned to me. "You're gay?"
My muscles tensed. "Yes, and happily married to Jasper."
"Oh, dear. Did I forget to tell you that?" Edna said.
He nodded. "You did."
"I hope it doesn't bother you," she said worriedly.
He shook his head quickly. "Of course, it doesn't, Edna."
I blinked. So they're on first-name basis. I looked at Jasper and saw that he was just as surprised as I was. If they're like that then this relationship must be getting somewhat serious. That's a good thing for her but I still wasn't sure what I thought of Henry Rong. The kids came in. "Mommy, is dinner done?" Faith asked.
Edna stood up and checked. "Yes. Wash your hands while I put this on the table." She set it in the middle of the table and the kids sat.
We served the kids first then ourselves. "So, Tim, are you excited to start school?" Edna asked.
He frowned. "Dad and Papa are going to homeschool me. I'm glad I get to stay at home."
"I want to be homeschooled too," Am said as she shoved more stew into her mouth.
"Small bites," I said. "When you're five, you'll be homeschooled like Tim."
"Two more years," Am said unhappily.
Jasper smiled. "Yes, you'll be wishing school wouldn't start at all when you get to the higher grades."
Am shook her head. "No, I'll always love school."
Mr. Rong sighed. "That's what I thought too when I was your age, But by the time I was in sixth grade I wished summer would never end."
My mouth twitched. "It took until tenth grade for me."
Jasper smirked. "I loved school so I always wanted summer to end faster."
Edna nodded. "I loved school too."
I smirked at her (which made her roll her eyes at me.) then looked at Jasper. "Uh, Lisa told me once she thought you were an alien because you loved school." It had made me laugh when she said that and I had agreed with her. She had asked me to start spreading the rumor and I did though it took a while for her to convince me to do it.
Enda laughed. "She started that rumor?"
I nodded. "I might have helped her spread it around."
Jasper scowled. "And here I thought twins were supposed to be close."
Mr. Rong chuckled. "So did I until my twin brother joined the bullies."
I looked at him. "You have a twin?"
"Yes. We're close now but when we were in school, we weren't/
I almost asked another question but caught myself. "Edna, Lisa had started the rumor of you being part bigfoot too."
Edna groaned. "You had to bring that up? That was a lot worse than Jasper's rumor." She paused. "You didn't help her spread that one, did you?"
I grinned. "No, she did that herself. I might have suggested putting it in the school newsletter though. She surprised me when she actually did it." Mostly because I had been joking about it. Not that she knew about that. She said it was so much fun spreading these rumors.
Edna chucked her spoon at me and I caught it. She did that when we were in school too so I had a lot of practice catching any silverware she threw. "So you did help her," Edna said smiling."
"I suppose."
"Did you help everyone who wanted to spread a rumor?" Mr. Rong asked.
"Possibly," I said.
"Can we be excused?" Faith asked.
Edna looked at their plates which were empty. "Yes." The kids ran off. Edna turned to me. "Please tell me that's not how you had more money than us."
I smirked. "It was a good business."
"Says the man who's a cop," she shot back.
"Detective," I corrected. "Actually, there's something I want to ask you about."
She frowned. "What?"
"You and Lisa were friends when we were in school. Did she ever say she didn't want to be a detective?"
She winced. "Yeah. Her mother wanted her to be one and she couldn't bring herself to say no."
Jasper paled. "So she was acting when she got all excited about it?"
Edna nodded. "How did you find out?"
I sighed. "She quit today."
"Oh, dear. Maybe she'll finally be what she's always wanted to be."
"She told you what you wanted to be?" Jasper asked. I glanced at him and saw there was a small glimmer of hope in his eyes. He caught my gaze and I nodded. I'll help with anything I can. I'll start researching Mrs. Light when we get home and see what I can come up with.
She rolled her eyes. "Hello? I was her friend. We told each other almost everything."
I hesitated. "Will you tell us?"
"Will you support her?"
I nodded and so did Jasper. "What did she want to be?" Jasper asked.
"An actress."