Mitch licked frosting from his finger, where he'd dug it into the cake he was carrying on his lap."I can't believe I'm married," said Lulu, an almost ...remor in her voice."I have my hooks in you now, missy!" said Kris triumphantly. He made a claw of his hand and tried to put a leer on his face."I LIKE weddings!" said Ambrose, jumping up and down. Jessica reached out and snagged him, hugging him and kissing his cheeks."Me too!" she said, just as excitedly."Are you going to get married too?" asked. Now here's our stop."We had come to a secluded corner of the large store, a tinyglass-fronted door lead into what appeared to be a ritzy beautysalon. Brenda pulled me by the hand up to the reception desk. "I have a one o'clock with Mary Ann," she told the clerk.Soon we were joined by a smiling, middle-aged woman. "Brenda,"she twittered. "It's so nice to see you. How is your mother?"They exchanged banalities for a while. "And this must beRoberta," continued Mary Ann. She squeezed my hand. "Well,. It wasn’t that something was wrong it was more like the fact that something was very, very right. What Jared realized was - was that he was not seeing any mess. No half eaten cake. No empty pizza platter. No cake crumbs scattered across the floor. No beer cans sitting in puddles of their own spilt contents. No piles of clothes and towels on the sofa. No empty wine bottle under the table. No wine bottle cork under the TV. No plastic plates and pizza crusts under the TV either. Just nothing. No. “In the pantry, get three bags of rice. Put them in that baking dish and fill it with enough water to cover the bags. Put all of that into the microwave. I’ll start it later.”I started to cook the vegetables and chicken in my wok using fresh spices and some sauces that I like. I looked at them and said, “How hot do you like your food?”Becky and John said, “Hot!Pam and Jack said, “Fairly hot. Moderately hot.”“Okay. We’ll compromise.”I continued to cook and then pressed the timer button and set.