Page 102 of Nathan
From River’s phone, Maximum called out, “I’ll take one with prosciutto and extra parmesan.”
“You can get pizza in Bangladesh, right?” I asked him.
“I can, but it’s not the same.”
“When are you coming home? The lads are upset that you’re missing practice,” I said.
“They know I’m skipping this season. There’s too much work for me to do here.”
“But you love rugby.”
Maximum closed his eyes, and his head fell forward. “I do, but… how can I leave when the kids need help so badly?”
Lumi walked over with her phone in her hand and bent down to speak to Maximum. “You promised to come home for our wedding.”
“Did you set a date?”
“Yes. October 31st. It’s going to be a Halloween themed wedding.”
The room fell completely quiet.
“You’re kidding,” River said with revulsion on her face.
“Didn’t you know thatThe Addams Familywas Damian’s favorite show as a child? He already did the whole fairy tale wedding in a castle with Siobhan. This time we thought we’d shake things up a little.”
Charles frowned with confusion. “Are we supposed to wear costumes for your wedding?”
“Yes. It’ll be fun. You could be some gory monster if you want.”
Charles wrinkled his nose a bit, but it was nothing like the reaction from River, who spoke with profound indignation.
“A bride is supposed to be beautiful on her big day. I’m not letting you dress up like a stupid corpse or something bloody. We were going to go dress shopping and it was supposed to be a wonderful time for us to bond as sisters.”
“We can still shop for a costume together.”
River looked like she was about to cry. “A costume isn’t the same as a white dress.”
“No?”
“No!” River crossed her arms in a standoff with Lumi.
“Well, in that case, I guess I’ll have to talk Damian out of the Halloween theme.”
“You’d better!”
Lumi lifted the phone to her ear. “Did you hear that, D? The Halloween theme is off.”
We could all hear him laugh, and even Lumi couldn’t keep her face straight anymore.
“She was joking,” Charles said as if it weren’t apparent to the rest of us.
“Arhg…” River scoffed and batted Lumi’s shoulder. “That’s not something to joke about.”
“I’m sorry, we haven’t set a date yet, but seriously, what do you people want on your pizza?”
“I’ll have a Hawaiian,” I heard myself say.
Lumi spun to me with her eyes wide open. “But you hate pineapple on pizza.”
