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“Still,” said Marge, idly pushing a piece of meatloaf around her plate with a fork. “A lot of people will be very sad. I will be very sad. Though I will always have the videos, of course. They’re putting them all on YouTube now, which is great.”

He stared at his wife, then remembered that Vesta had once launched her own YouTube channel. Though nothing much had come of it, as with most projects she started and promptly deserted.“Yeah, you’ll always have the videos,” he agreed, with as much tact as he could muster.

“What are you talking about?” suddenly asked Vesta.

“Oh, nothing special,” said Tex, not feeling ready to launch into a discussion about Vesta’s lack of work ethic right now.

“I don’t know what this world is coming to,” said Marge, shaking her head sadly. “When people can simply plant a knife in another person’s back like that. Especially a person as well liked and popular as—”

“What knife? What back? Will you talk straight for once?” said Vesta.

“I don’t think we need to go into all this right now,” said Tex. “Let’s enjoy a nice dinner, and we can get into all of that stuff later.” He smiled. “Bad for the digestion to talk business during dinner.”

“You’re absolutely right, honey,” said Marge. “It’s just that I find it hard to forget about what happened. It’s all so incredibly sad.”

Tex gulped a little. When you’re about to fire your mother-in-law from her position and your wife starts talking about knives planted in backs and how sad the whole thing is, it’s tough for a sensitive man to enjoy his meatloaf. Moreover, Vesta was eyeing him with suspicion now.

“You’re not thinking about getting rid of me again, are you, Tex? You tried it once and it didn’t work, so I hope you learned your lesson.”

Marge laughed.“Oh, Ma. Of course Tex doesn’t want to get rid of you. He values your input too much. Besides, how is he going to run his office without you? It’s impossible.”

“That’s what I thought,” said Vesta, slightly mollified. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t come in today, Tex. I had something going on.”

“That’s all right,” said Tex solemnly. “I managed.”

“You always do, don’t you,” said Marge, casting him a loving glance. “He’s such a wonder man, my Dr. Poole. So when do you want to do this, honey? Right after dinner?”

“Yeah… Yeah, that sounds like a plan,” he said, starting to feel a little hot under his collar now.

“What’s going on?” asked Vesta. “What are these after-dinner plans you’re talking about?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” said Marge.

“No, you didn’t,” said Vesta, a little acerbically. “And for your information, I’ve got plans, too, so whatever it is you’ve got planned, you can count me out.”

“Plans? What plans?”

“I’m going out tonight. On a hot date.”

“A date!” Marge shot a quick glance to her husband, who merely shrugged. Your mom is a grown woman, that shrug said. She can do whatever she wants with whomever she wants.

“So who is it?” asked Marge.

“Wilbur Vickery. Scarlett said he’s sweet on me, can you imagine?”

Tex could not, in any universe, imagine any man being sweet on Vesta. It was one of those things that boggled the mind. Then again, Wilbur Vickery wasn’t exactly the world’s most eligible bachelor. On the contrary—women probably ran a mile when he went down on one knee, and the producers of either The Bachelor or The Bachelorette would never ask him to feature on their show.

“He’s taking me to the movies. He suggested dinner at No Spring Chicks but I told him maybe for our second date. I need to get the lay of the land first. Feel him out.”

“Fancy,” said Marge, looking distinctly unhappy about the prospect of her mom entering the dating world again at her age.

“Yeah, he owns his own business so he’s probably loaded. So he can afford to splurge on the love of his life.”

“The love of his life!” said Marge, laughing nervously. “You’re not serious.”

“And what if I am?” said Vesta censoriously. “Someone has to be the love of that man’s life, and it might just as well be me. Look, I know he’s a good deal younger, and I know plenty of people will take offense, but some men prefer riper women, and Wilbur is one of those men.” She smiled before her, a dreamy look in her eye. “The things I can teach that boy…”

“Ma!” said Marge, horrified at the implication that her mother planned to go beyond first base on her first date.

“Oh, get your mind out of the gutter, Marge. I was talking about the neighborhood watch. After the movie we’re going patrolling together. It’ll be so much fun.”

Only Vesta would take a man patrolling on their first date, Tex thought. Then again, hope was starting to surge at this unexpected development. If things worked out between the two young lovers, they might want to move in together, which meant he’d finally, after all these long years, have his home to himself again.

He cleared his throat.“So… you like Wilbur, huh?”