Page 36 of The New Place

The fabric is more wrinkled than the last time Abbot saw it, the hem ragged with all these weeks she’s worn it, and a stain on the knot that keeps it tied around her neck. I have to have it, she’d explained back in December, because of Emma and Olivia at school, and something about a cape club and all of its importance in their little first-grade worlds. Abbot had nodded along as he fished out the broken egg shell she had let slip into the bowl.

Peggy bounces on the balls of her feet. “What’d you bring me, please?”

“For you?” Abbot reaches into his bag. “Did I bring you something? Let’s see.”

“Start with saying hi, maybe,” Ned says.

“I want to see,” Peggy says, pressing close. “Hi. Please.”

“Ah, yes, here it is.” Abbot deposits a box of chocolate into her waiting hands.

“Just one for now, okay?” Ned asks, touching Peggy’s head as she darts away with her chocolate cradled close. “We’re about to have dinner.”

“I have this for you as well,” Abbot calls after her.

“And let’s try a thank you,” Ned adds.

Peggy skids back in and retrieves the bag of baking ingredients he brought her, already with a chocolate in her mouth.

“We can make vermicelli,” Abbot says.

“Now?” she asks.

“If you like, we can at least get it started before dinner.”

“Now,” she says. “What is it?”

Abbot pulls out his phone to show her a picture of the little chestnut desserts. “Or we can make something else, but this is it.”

“It’s like spaghetti.”

“It’s from Latin vermiculi, for worms, from how the paste looks when it’s squeezed out.”

Peggy giggles. “Worms. Grandma! We’ve got worms!”

“Worms? Oh, it’s Henry. Dan, Henry’s here!” Cheryl holds her arms out and Abbot steps forward to return her hug. ”You’re finally back! We’ve missed you so much.”

“We’re eating worms,” Peggy says.

“This, for you,” Abbot says, retrieving another box for Cheryl.

“Who got worms?” Dan crowds behind her. “Henry, you made it. What’s that there, hon?”

“No, Dan, these aren’t the ones you like,” Cheryl says, cupping her hand protectively over her own chocolates.

“I like all of them.” Dan gives Abbot a long hug. When he pulls back, Abbot presents him with a Toblerone. “Oh my word. You’re too good to us.”

“It’s the same as you can get here in the States,” Abbot says like he always does.

“It’s not the same at all. The ones you bring are so much better.”

“Are these the worms?” Peggy asks, searching through the bag of nuts and flours.

“The tube right there,” Abbot says. “We can have it over ice cream, or a custard if you’d like to make that together.”

“Over ice cream for dinner,” Peggy says, heading back towards the living room.

“Over ice cream after dinner,” Ned says as he follows after her.