The girls exploded with a chorus of complaints.
“Why not?”
“You always say that!”
“Unh, Dad! You said!”
“Aw, c’mon, please!”
Spike and Buck barked encouragement, and the girls yelled even louder.
“Hey!” I shouted over the racket. “Everyone, settle down!”
Buck’s rump landed on my foot like he was back in obedience school. Spike stopped barking too, although he thought it was a new game. Fortunately, he and I had settled the question of who was the real alpha in the family. He took one look at me and immediately lowered his eyes. Molly watched the whole thing with mild amusement.
The humans fell silent as well, although Emily bristled with indignation, all seventy-five pounds of her. I tried to warn her, but she came from a long line of headstrong women.
“Unh! You said!”
“I know what I said,” I replied coolly.
“Then why can’t we—?”
“Because it’s complicated.”
“Ugh! No fair!”
I inhaled slowly and exhaled with exaggerated patience, for Emily’s benefit more than my temper’s. She’d pushed me about as far as she could without consequences. She could push harder in private, but she knew better than to do it in front of others. She and I had settled that question the same way Spike and I had, and with the same results. I was the dad, end of discussion.
“I said I’d talk to her, and I will,” I said. “But I’m not going to do it in front of you.”
Allie was made of softer stuff. “It’s okay.”
Emily saw her opening and pounced. “Dad said we don’t have to wear—”
“That isn’t what I said!” I bit back the rest. I wasn’t going to argue with an eleven-year-old.
“Tell me what you want,” Allie said reasonably, “and we’ll talk about it.”
Madison spoke up, “We don’t wanna wear our suits. You said we could try.”
“Yeah,” Carly echoed, “you said.”
Emily simply didn’t know when to quit. “And Dad said—”
“I said we’d talk about it!”
“Okay, okay,” Allie soothed. “Everyone… just calm down.”
Emily and I traded glares, even though I knew better. (For the record, I loved all my daughters, but I wouldn’t have been upset if one of them joined a convent, preferably soon, and definitely before her twelfth birthday.)
If she actually makes it that far, I grumbled to myself.
Allie read me perfectly and did her best not to smile. That was enough to break the tension between Emily and me, and we both relaxed ever so slightly.
“Do you really wanna do this?” Allie asked her daughters.
“We don’t see what the big deal is,” Madison said.
“Yeah. What’s the big deal?” Carly agreed. “It’s just us.”
“Besides, it’s natural,” Emily interjected.
Susie nodded.
The dogs watched the whole thing like spectators at a soccer match. Their heads swung to each new speaker and waited for one of us to score.
“I think it’s probably okay,” Allie said, “but your dad’s right, we need to talk about it first.” She stopped Emily with a look. “You need to respect that. Okay?”
Emily would have argued if I’d said it, but she was too polite to face off with Allie. Well, almost.
“Ugh, fine.”
I cleared my throat with a warning.
“Sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She turned to Allie. “I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“That’s okay,” Allie said. “Sometimes I get upset too, especially when things don’t go my way. Isn’t that right, Maddy? Like the air conditioner yesterday?”
“I thought you were gonna break something after you talked to Dad.”
“I wanted to,” Allie admitted, “but it wouldn’t’ve done any good.” She looked at Emily. “Like now, with your dad. Arguing won’t help. As a matter of fact, it’ll probably make things worse.”
“I know,” Emily said. “I’m sorry. Only—” She caught herself and looked chagrined. I decided to meet her halfway.
“Tell you what…,” I said. “Why don’t you all go swimming. In your suits, just for now. Allie and I will talk. We’ll let you know what we decide. Before lunch.” I glanced at Allie for confirmation.
“Right,” she agreed. “But you have to respect our decision, okay?”
All four girls nodded, although it had really been directed at Emily.
“Run upstairs,” I told her. “Get your suit.”
“You can wear one of mine if you want,” Susie said. “Maybe the two-piece with the boy shorts?”
“The green one?”
Susie nodded, and Emily brightened immediately. She loved anything green.
“C’mon,” Susie said. “I’ll get it for you.”
* * *
“Thanks for backing me up,” I said after the girls had gone upstairs.
Allie nodded. “Crisis averted.”
“More like deferred.”
“Yeah, the girls’ve been bugging me about it for a while.”
“Sorry about that. Emily can be…”
“Just like her mom. It’s okay. I know how Christy works.”
“Yeah.”
“She’s been trying to get me to try it since Ken left.”
“He was the reason you didn’t before, right?”
“He was the reason I didn’t do lots of things.”
I shot her a sideways look. “Maybe one day I’ll figure out the attraction between you two. I mean… Catholic conservative meets Jewish liberal? How does that work?”
“We’re both lapsed.”
“I know. And I get it, opposites attract, but that’s a fairly wide gap. I’m sure you had other things in common, but… I mean… I never saw it, whatever it was.”
She shrugged. “It was complicated. And… it was better in the beginning.”
“People change.”
“Ken didn’t. That was part of the problem. Anyway, I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“No problem.”
We fell silent and listened to the sounds of the girls upstairs. Madison was the only one even close to a hundred pounds, but they made enough noise for a herd of elephants.
Or giants. I chuckled to myself.
“Yeah, I know,” Allie agreed. “I don’t remember being that loud when I was a girl.”
“I probably was, but I don’t remember either. I was pretty clueless.” I thought back and shrugged. “About lots of things.”
“At least you got a clue. Some guys never do.”
I glanced at her again but decided not to ask.
“Thanks.”
“Mmm.”
We waited in silence until the girls came downstairs. They were slightly quieter this time, although Spike and Buck circled eagerly when they stopped in the kitchen. Molly sank to her haunches and waited.
Emily wore the green two-piece, and Susie had changed into a purple and teal one-piece. Madison and Carly had left their shorts and shoes upstairs and wore their suits from the day before.
“Thank you, girls,” I told them.
Emily smiled with resignation more than enthusiasm, but at least she smiled.
“Are you coming with us?” Susie asked.
“We’ll be out in a bit,” I said automatically, and Allie nodded agreement.
“Okay.”
“Don’t forget sunscreen,” I added.
“You too,” Allie told her girls. “It’s in the bag with your towels.”
Emily headed toward the patio door with Molly at her side, and the other girls followed. Spike and Buck scrabbled to catch up. The girls left the door open, of course, and I was about to yell after them when Susie ran back.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t—!”
She slammed the door with the force of a hurricane. I had to give my eardrums a moment to recover.
“You know,” I said at last, “I always thought it’d be better with girls instead of boys. They wouldn’t be so loud, I thought. They wouldn’t break things. They wouldn’t make a mess. Ha! Silly me.”