Page 53 of Rooster

“Don’t be. They can get over it.” She gave me a wink, then turned and said, “Come on in. We’re starving.”

“That’s good because there’s plenty of food to go around.”

I carried the food over to the table, and in a blink, Nathan and Samantha were diving in to find their order. Nathan had his eye on the prize when he glanced up at me and said, “Hey, Ro. How’s it going?”

“Can’t complain.”

“Hey.” Samantha was at the bottom of the first bag when she asked, “Did you get my sweet and sour chicken?”

“Should be in there.”

“Let me take a look.” Maggie stepped over and started going through the various boxes. “Here it is.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Samantha took the box of food and plopped down in the seat next to Nathan. They both started diving in while Maggie and I gathered our food and sat down beside them. I’d just taken a bite of my sesame seed chicken when Samantha announced, “Casey’s having a sleepover next weekend, and she asked me to come.”

“Okay, that’s fine, but it’s your dad’s weekend. You’ll have to work that out with him.”

“I already told him, and he said it was okay.” She took another bite of her food, then added, “She didn’t invite Jessie.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, she said it was only fair because she didn’t invite me to hers.”

“I don’t think that’s the best way to handle that.”

“Well, she’s the one who started it.”

“But that doesn’t make it right,” Maggie argued.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about it.”

“You could talk to Jessie and try to sort things out.”

“But she’s been a total jerk to me.”

Maggie shrugged. “Maybe, but there was a time when she was a really good friend, and there’s a chance you could be again.”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong. Why do I have to be the one to try and fix things?

“I don’t know much about this kind of thing,” I interjected. “But I’ve always believed that if you want good friends, you have to be a good friend.”

“So, you think I should talk to her?”

“Don’t think it’d hurt.”

“Okay.” Samantha sighed. “I’ll talk to her.”

“That’s my girl.” Maggie leaned over and kissed Samantha on the forehead. “Now finish your dinner, and we’ll go into the living room and watch the game.”

“No football for us tonight,” Nathan announced.

“Oh? Why not?”

“Matt and Brayden are hopping on Fort in a few minutes, and me and Sam want to get on with them.”

“Okay, well, that sounds fun.”

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