You Must Fall In Love

Chapter Forty-Six

The fact that Christine had somehow managed to coax them all into Walter's car was something of a miracle. Then again, he didn't exactly believe in miracles, regardless of what the good driver and his good daughter thought. The sisters had given him enough religious education to last a lifetime, by which he meant that there was absolutely no chance that he would ever fall for it.

"I'll rephrase," said Rob. "The fact that you managed to coax us all into this car is a happy little accident."

"Who are you talking to?" frowned Christine from his left elbow. "You didn't say anything."

"I think he's quoting Bob Ross," said Walter, beaming at them from the back mirror. "Rob knows his golden oldies."

"Who's Bob Ross?" asked Rob and Christine together.

"Come to think of it," said Walter, "I'm not too sure either. See, for a good portion of my life, I was convinced he was an emissary from the land of the lotus-eaters. No mortal man could possibly be that chill. I mean, like, dude."

"My understanding is that Bob Ross was a painter," said Yusuke, planted in the backseat like a very stiff plushie. "He did educational painting shows."

Yusuke was competing for space with about three separate cardboard boxes, a beach-ball, and a sack of indefinables. Rob had no idea what the sack was or what it did, but he supposed only Yusuke could maintain such composure under such compression. It would have been endearing, but Rob didn't know what that word actually meant.

Besides, Yusuke was the opposite of endearing.

"Wait," said Christine, "so did he teach people how to paint or something?"

"That is all I know of him," repeated Yusuke.

"Come on," said Jen, shutting her book and craning back over the headrest. "How do you guys not know Bob Ross? I mean, you should have seen him on YouTube, at least."

"Everyone's on YouTube," said Christine. "And I can't search for people I don't know, Jen."

"Okay, Rob," said Jen, throwing a sly look his way. "You're American. You don't have any excuse."

But that was where Jen was wrong, because Rob always had an excuse. Excuses were his specialty.

"Unfortunately," he said, "thanks to the complete and very comprehensive Catholic education I received at Silverfawn, my knowledge of pop-culture is basically the same as that snail you found on your windowsill last week."

"Hey," said Jen. "I liked that snail."

"Speaking as a layperson myself," said Walter, "I can neither confirm nor deny the truth of the allegations made against Catholic education. Still, pop-culture is popular for a reason."

Rob shrugged, because his malaise needed some form of release.

"I feel like I should care more than I do, but at the same time, I don't. Is that a bad thing, Walter?"

"It depends on what you want," said Walter. "Personally, I know that Pattie would love to have you over for dinner one day."

"Thanks," said Rob, "but I'll have to hold you up on that offer. I promised Christine that I'd be her chaperon for tonight."

"Hey!" glowered Christine. "That's not... what's a chaperon?"

"I believe the term applies to a responsible adult, Robert," said Yusuke. "But you are not that much older than Christine. As a matter of fact, you are our age."

"Yeah!" said Christine with vigor. "Exactly what he said!"

"Also," said Yusuke, "we are going out during the day."

"Yusuke," said Rob, "if I had a nickel for every time you misinterpreted something I said, I'd be flying my own private jet by now."

"Robert," said Yusuke very seriously, "if you were flying your own private jet, you would not be in this car."

Christine snickered. Jen giggled. To his shock, Rob felt his lips curling upwards — then he quashed his smile for the sake of his own dignity.

"Sure," he said. "Whatever."

"Ooh," said Christine. "I think someone's embarrassed. How cute."

"I'm not embarrassed."

"Right. Of course you aren't."

He wondered why she was so upbeat all of a sudden. This wasn't the Christine he remembered. Rob could conjure any number of reasons for her to be annoyed, but he still didn't know what made her happy.

Not that he would ever need to know that, of course.

"If you don't mind me asking," said Walter, "why are you guys going to the airport? Don't you work there, Rob?"

Rob looked at Christine, daring her to take the lead. Christine looked right back, clearly returning the dare.

But it was Yusuke who spoke, quite before either of them could, and with admirable aplomb, too.

"We are going to find Miss Lam's luggage," he said. "She lost them at the airport on her way here, and we hope that she will be able to find them."

"Oh," said Walter, sounding rather like Jen. "Yes, I can see why now. Well, don't mind me. Where's that other guy? You know, the fairy boy?"

"August is inconvenienced and cannot come," said Yusuke.

"Besides, he wouldn't fit," said Jen.

"Stuff August," said Christine. "Who needs him?"

Rob was impressed. He hadn't pegged Yusuke for the white-lie type, but it seemed that he was really rather good at it.

Then he remembered that Yusuke was literally here just to keep him from eating Christine, and his admiration cooled considerably.

From what Christine and Jen had told him, there was almost certainly something magical about this. But what kind of mess were they headed into?

Were they making a mistake?