Could it ever be just about Tiffany? Did her relatives and relatives hangers-ons always have to drag the conversation back to their lives and their problems? Tiffany stared at Peter Van Husen with disgust. Peter's strange announcement had pretty much dragged the dinner conversation to a dead halt with the other guests exchanging is he out of his mind? looks that pretty much summed up what everyone at the table thought about Peter.
Tiffany began artfully rearranging the food that was still on her plate. Her father was never going to want to come over for dinner again after this meal. Maybe she should move in with him. Even living with a brand new daddy had to beat living with the lunatics who lived in Schuyler Manor.
"What do you mean?" Mindy Cooper asked, her eyes alive and curious. "What do you mean you're 'pretty sure' you were there when Mary Austin died?"
"Well, it was a long time ago," Peter began. "I was fifteen and I had a paper route and Ms. Austin was one of my customers."
"Fifteen is old enough to remember if you happened to be someplace where a murder happened," Tyler pointed out.
Tiffany silently groaned. This was going to take forever. Peter was so dumb to have even brought up that murder. Mindy Cooper was going to grill him until he was raw and Aunt Mavis was finally going to show him the door and slam it shut behind him. Tiffany considered that possibility. Maybe it was a good thing Peter decided to bring them all along on his jaunt down memory lane.
"So what do you remember?" Tiffany asked. "Because if this is going to take a long time, I'm going to excuse myself. There's something I want to watch on t.v. in about an hour."
"You'll have to excuse me to," Tom Hartman said. "Tiffany, why don't you walk me to the door?" After thanking Mavis for the meal, Tom led the way out of the dining room and into the foyer. Tiffany followed, grateful for the opportunity to leave.
"Thanks," she said to her father. "Just about the last thing I felt like doing was listen to some ancient history. Why can't my family be more normal?"
Her dad looked sympathetic. "It can't be easy living here," he remarked.
"It isn't," Tiffany agreed. To her surprise, her eyes filled with tears. "It's mainly because I always feel like a guest, you know? I'm related to these people but I feel like I should always have my suitcase packed."
"I know we don't know each other very well yet but do you think you might ever consider what Mindy suggested--the two of us living together? I don't know too much about being a dad but I'm would like to learn."
Tiffany considered Tom's offer. If she moved in with him, she'd be giving up living in the lap of luxury with everything she wanted at her fingertips into what she was sure would be a smaller, possibly even cramped space. On the other hand, if she moved in with her dad that would mean she'd be moving away from all of her loony tunes relatives. That alone would be worth giving up a walk-in closet. She could hear Peter Van Husen still talking in the dining room. Moving away would also mean moving away from Aunt Mavis and her annoying boyfriend. "I guess we could give it a try," she agreed.
Her father looked surprised and happy. "All right," he said. "Give me a week and we'll get you moved in."
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