High Noon

and freshly squeezed orange juice.
    Ava managed the morning stove, and by his gauge that was the general routine. But due to manly company, Essie set out what he figured were the good dishes, with coordinating linen napkins.
    Essie fussed, filling a fancy sugar bowl and creamer, pouring freshly squeezed juice into a sparkling pitcher, rounding up a little squat bottle of zinnias. He could only assume, as the tasks had her all but bouncing around the kitchen, she was having as good a time as he was.
    “Now don’t pester Duncan, Carly. He hasn’t even finished his first cup of coffee yet.”
    “Great coffee,” Duncan said.
    “How come I’m not having cereal?” Carly wanted to know.
    “Because Ava’s making omelets. But you can have cereal if that’s what you want.”
    “I don’t care.”
    Duncan gave Carly a poke in the ribs. Despite the pout, she looked pretty as a picture in a ruffly yellow shirt and blue pants. “Hard day at the office coming up?”
    She rolled her eyes in his direction. “I go to school. And we have to take an arithmetic test today. I don’t see why we have to multiply and divide all the time. It’s just numbers. They don’t do anything.”
    “You don’t like numbers? I love numbers. Numbers are a thing of beauty.”
    Carly sniffed. “I don’t need numbers. I’m going to be an actress. Or a personal shopper.”
    “Well, if you’re an actress how are you going to count your lines?”
    Duncan considered earning a second eye roll a badge of honor.
    “Anybody can count.”
    “Only with the beauty of numbers. Then you have to figure out how much you’re going to make—so you can buy that house in Malibu—after you pay your agent her percentage, and pay your bodyguards so the paparazzi don’t hound you. You got to have yourself an entourage, kid, and do the math so you can call up that personal shopper when it’s time for the Oscars.”
    Carly considered. “Maybe I’ll just be the personal shopper. Then I only have to know about clothes. I know about clothes already.”
    “What’s your commission?”
    This time he got a frown instead of an eye roll. “I don’t know what that is.”
    “It’s how much you make when you sell Jennifer Aniston that vintage Chanel gown. You get a cut of what it costs. So say it costs five thousand, and you get ten percent. Plus, she needs shoes, and a purse thing. So what’s your commission? Gotta do the math.”
    Her eyes narrowed now. “I get something every time they buy something? I get money, every time?”
    “Pretty sure that’s how it works.”
    Interest lit her face and banished the pout. “I don’t know how to do percent.”
    “I do. Got paper?”
    When Phoebe walked in, her family was circled around the table. Creamy omelets, fancy strips of Ava’s masterful French toast, crisp bacon invited healthy appetites to tuck right in.
    Duncan ate with his left hand while Carly, her chair scooted up beside his, leaned over his rapidly scribbling right.
    “She needs earrings! She has to have earrings, too.”
    “Okay. How much for the ear dangles?”
    “A million dollars!”
    “You’re the Satan of personal shoppers.” He flicked a glance up, smiled. “Morning.”
    “Mama! We’re doing percent, so I can figure out how much I’ll make when I’m a personal shopper. I already made six thousand dollars on commission.”
    “Jennifer Aniston’s up for an Oscar,” Ava explained. “She needs to be outfitted, of course.”
    “Of course.”
    “And needs ensembles for various appearances.”
    Phoebe walked around to read the list Duncan had going. “Jen’s on quite the spree.”
    “Numbers are fun.”
    Phoebe gaped at her daughter. “I think I’ve walked into a parallel universe, one where numbers are fun and there’s omelets on Tuesday mornings.”
    “Sit right down,” Essie told her. “We’ve kept yours warm in the oven.”
    Phoebe checked her watch. “I guess I’ve got time to force down a few bites. Numbers are fun,” she repeated as she sat on the other side of her daughter. “How come they weren’t fun when I made little bunnies and kittens out of them to show you how they multiplied?”
    “Numbers are more fun when they’re money.”
    Phoebe picked up her coffee, shook her head. “Mind yourself with this one, Duncan. She’s a gold digger.”
    “She picks up a couple more clients like Jen here, she’s going to be supporting me. Look how pretty you are in the morning. Even prettier than Ava’s