Once we’d gotten that taken care of, we went into the little room. Kids were crawling around on the floor. One was on her back with her legs in the air, and her father picked her up, gave her butt a gentle swat, and hung her over his shoulder, where she giggled madly.
The director went to Steve, and my uncle looked up. “What is it?”
“Your r****d, sir.”
“This is on me, Steve. It’s not your responsibility,” I told him.
“Mark, that’s a good deal of money.”
“I can afford it.”
“But you already paid for dinner.”
“And I’m paying for this as well.”
“But Mark—”
“Trying to salve your conscience?”
His mouth tightened and he let it go.
I moved one of the Queen Anne chairs so I would have an unobstructed view of the room and sat down. There was no reason why I shouldn’t be comfortable while
