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He could never recall Verlaine’s name correctly Dad wasn’t very absentminded; in fact, he was pretty sharp Nadia wondered if his inability to ree spell that surrounded Verlaine

She said only, "Apparently Verlaine’s fine The hospital says there’s no perh"

"Well, thank goodness she woke up Scary stuff" He appeared in the doorway of Cole’s roo his stuff froht her dad looked co Cole on your own could do that to you She laughed "Did you get a moment to yourself the whole tihtly "Remember how the Paulsons moved to New York just before we moved here? I, ah, called Ethan’s ether and play Thought it would be fun for hi as the ot pizza"

Nadia wasn’t quite seeing the reason for her father’s aardness until, with a start, she remeo "Wait You went on a date?"

Dad gave her a look that clearly meant Not in front of Cole! but her baby brother was oblivious In a low voice he said, "No, it wasn’t a date, but--once we got there, I realized Gretchen ht it was, andI think she felt rejected, and it kind of put a da" He frowned "That’s too much information, isn’t it?"

"No," Nadia replied in a sh she profoundly wished she’d never heard a word of it Okay, Dad hadn’t been MILF-hunting in New York, but how long would it be before he started dating?

Even though Moh she’d made her desire for the divorce e her father with someone else

Obviously Dad had picked up on her ed the subject "Hoas the Halloween carnival? You ht? Not snowed under by hoht make the news, but that had been stupid of her Like anywhere else in the whole world would pay attention to Captive’s Sound "The haunted house burned down"

"What?"

"To the ground Nobody knohat happened" Which was putting it lightly "There’s so about it soon"

Simon Caldani shook his head in disbelief "Well, thank God we didn’t go Wow You were right about that being unsafe"