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spelled out the last in a whisper, as if it were a subversive idea.
    I chuckled and shook my head. “Oh, yeah, Mike,that’s why Mom thinks you’re the smart one,” I told him facetiously. “Maybe this has escaped the notice of a carefree bachelor like yourself, but I have two small children.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œAnd it would cost more to put them in day care than the pay scale at Burger Barn currently allows.”
    â€œThen you should mark Burger Barn off your list of job prospects,” he countered. “I hate to be the one to point this out, but you’ve been the one putting the roof over your family’s head since you got married.”
    I waved off this observation.
    â€œI just helped out Mrs. Neider,” I told him. “I could do that on a flexible schedule and without leaving the kids.”
    â€œThen I’d suggest that you find a position that offers flexible work schedules and allows you to bring the kids along.”
    â€œWhat kind of job would that be?”
    â€œYou’re asking me?” Mike replied. “Weren’t you the girl who was valedictorian of Lumkee High.”
    â€œSo were you,” I pointed out.
    â€œAnd look at me,” he said. “What a success I am, still working at the drugstore for Dad.”
    I laughed and shook my head.
    â€œSeriously, sis,” Mike continued. “Get a house, get a job. Get some things that you want out of life. Sam will be behind you one hundred percent. The guy is crazy about you, you know.”
    I nodded.
    â€œIf Cherry Dale, who can’t even string two coherent sentences together, can come up with a business plan that allows her to make money with her kids underfoot, I’m sure my brilliant sister can do even better.”
    â€œAnd speaking of Cherry Dale,” I said. “What’s the deal there? Are you two having secret rendezvous, planning summer nuptials or just trying to see if you can push the local gossips into busy-signal overdrive and shut down telephone service in the entire region.”
    Mike grinned. “Don’t try to distract me,” he said. “Cherry Dale and I are just two happily single people trapped in a community of Stepford wives who won’t be happy until everyone is till-death-do-us-part-ing. ”
    â€œMarriage is wonderful, Mike,” I told him. “I can highly recommend it.”
    â€œAnd I can highly recommend working for a living and buying your own house,” he countered.
    I shrugged, feeling wistful. “Even if I could,” I pointed out, “it would take me a year to save up the down payment. We have no choice but to rent again.”
    â€œDad would loan you the money,” he noted.
    â€œAnd Sam would cut my tongue out before he’d let me ask for help,” I said. “I’d cut my own tongue out before I’d mention it. If I even suggested it he’d sell one of the trucks or mortgage more of the equipment. He’d work himself to death to try to give me whatever I want, Mike, and I can’t let him do that.”
    My brother nodded solemnly and I thought that was the end of it. But I should have known Mike better. He had that same bulldoggedness as my mother. Unexpectedly he stopped by the apartment that night when the ten o’clock news was on.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” I asked immediately when I opened the door.
    â€œNothing,” he assured me.
    â€œWhy are you here so late?”
    He chuckled. “I’ve got to get here late if I want to talk to Sam.”
    â€œYou want to talk to Sam?”
    My question was skeptical.
    â€œHey, Mike, come on in,” my husband said from behind me. “What’s going on?”
    â€œI wanted to talk to you about something,” Mike said. “I want to talk to you both.”
    â€œSure, come on in.”
    My brother’s arrival awakened Lauren, who escaped from her bed and sleepily crawled up in Uncle