"Good idea," Victor said, looking at how Yu had managed to make horticulture fun and memorable. "Thanks. I'll take good care of the book and give it back to you as soon as I'm finished with it."
When lunch was over, the kids went back to work, and Angus thought Victor seemed to look better about the whole weeding issue. That left Angus by himself for the entire afternoon, so he took advantage of it, went to Tuscany, and he and Evan did some nude sunbathing on Angus's balcony, drinking some of Edward's icy cold Italian beer with some wedges of fresh lime. Evan had never had beer served with lime, but he instantly became a fan of it once Angus had introduced him to it.
Evan asked Angus how he got so muscled and how he kept it, and Angus told him honestly that it was because he exercised every morning when he wasn't on the disabled list. Evan was still planning on going to Colorado for training, and Angus told him he felt sure that the trainer there would get Evan on an exercise routine that was appropriate for him.
That discussion rather led Angus to talk to Evan about his time underwater yesterday, and Evan talked about how grateful he was that he could see open sky today. He confessed that he had slept outside on his terrace last night so that he could stare up at the stars and appreciate not being confined in any way overnight. Angus reassured him that he understood that feeling and that it would surely pass in time.
Evan suggested that, during their family week, they should all spend one night sleeping out in the open, under the stars. Angus liked the idea, and he felt sure he would not be the only one that would like the idea. In fact, they spent part of the afternoon talking about a number of activities for all ages--like perhaps a frog jumping contest for the kids, maybe an owl flying contest for the adults, maybe some foot races for those who could run if things were evened out. It was no secret that the humans would need a head start on the werewolves just to even the playing field. And then there were always magic contests like dueling, transfiguration contests, and maybe a charms contest. Angus suggested a cooking contest, but Evan didn't feel it would be fair since Angus was the only certified chef, unless Angus was the judge.
When the afternoon started to wane away, Angus and Evan showered and changed. Angus invited Evan, Tara and the girls to come for supper. Evan hadn't had more than a meal or two that Angus had cooked, but he was glad to accept the invitation.
So, all five of them arrived back at the duplex at about four that afternoon, with Angus and Evan sporting evidence of an afternoon spent in the Tuscan sun. Angus decided to do supper on the grill. He put on a number of flat iron steaks, some barbequed chicken, some grilled mexican style street corn, and then he grilled an assorted mixture of vegetables and tossed them together with fresh herbs and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette. He used yellow squash, zucchini, bell peppers, sweet onions, carrots, portabello mushroom slices, and tomatoes. For dessert, he cleaned the surface of the grill, grilled some fresh pound cake, some plums and peaches, and decided he would them over the pound cake, with some vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of honey.
He was just setting the pound cake and fruit under some cloaches to keep dessert warm when the kids all dragged home from work and Edward and Simone arrived with Caprice. Simone had all sorts of packages from some of the better baby shops, and Edward had Caprice. She was dressed in a little summer romper, and she had just the very slightest pinkish tinge of some sun on her skin. She seemed happy. Simone had bought a small glass of lemonade, and she had diluted it quite a lot and had given it to her in a bottle, and it seemed to be something Caprice quite liked. She had been fed her supper, and as everyone settled in to eat, Simone put Caprice in the shade on the deck on a play mat with some toys.
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