Page 108 of The New Place

“I’d eat that,” Peggy says.

“It’s very good,” he says in that deep, serious voice that is just so at odds with talking to a kid.

“Sounds delicious,” Ned says when Abbot doesn’t respond.

“But not chocolate cake, right?” Liesl asks. “When will you decide?”

“About the cake?” Again, Ned glances at Abbot, who’s no help, smoothing his napkin on his lap and doing an excellent job of not looking at his father. “I’m not sure.”

“But soon,” Liesl says.

“We have a lot going on right now,” Ned hedges. “And we aren’t really planning a big wedding anytime soon.”

Ned sips his water and looks for the waiter, hoping they’re on their way over to interrupt this delightful conversation.

But they’re not, and Charles asks, “Have you found a house yet?”

Oh hell.

“Just started looking,” Ned says as lightly as he can.

“With Sandy,” Charles says, and it’s not a question. “She’ll find you a nice property.”

Like Ned’s bedroom at his parents’ house? Because that’s what he’s in the market for.

“Yeah, it’s a process,” Ned says. Could take so, so very long. Ages. Wouldn’t that be nice?

“When will you list your house?” Charles asks Abbot, who just takes a drink of his own water too.

“You know, all of this has been happening pretty fast,” Ned starts, cutting through this latest silence. “So we don’t have a lot of answers just yet.”

“I get my own room,” Liesl says.

“No, I do,” Peggy says.

Ned lays his hand on her head. “Pegs.”

“Like I do now,” Liesl says. “Right, Henry?”

What’s she talking about? Did he promise her a room in this fictional house they aren’t getting? But it looks like it’s a surprise to Abbot too, who finally lifts his head to look at her.

“Liesl…” he starts.

“I will,” she insists with a note of frustration Ned’s never heard before.

Great, well, the last thing tonight needs is any more discord. Ned leans across the table to her with a smile. “Liesl, tell me about soccer.”

“Football.”

“Soccer,” Ned repeats, trying to pull a laugh from her. Please, he thinks. “I hear you’re playing this spring.”

“I’m playing football this spring,” she says.

Ned tries not to grin at how much her correction sounds like Abbot standing in front of a lecture hall. “I played soccer, and Baxter knows his way around a ball, if you want some warm-up while you’re here.”

“We call it football,” Charles says.

Ned wants to lay his head down on the table and close his eyes until this meal is over.