Without a doubt, this was one of the best days of Candace Flynn's life.
The sun was shining bright, casting a cheery hue over the world as she went about her daily routine. As usual, she'd spent the first bit of the morning trying to bust Phineas and Ferb, but she'd already forgotten what for. In fact, at this point she hardly even remembered her little brothers existed, let alone that she was supposed to be busting them.
Jeremy had been paying attention to her all day – and only her. He'd even bought his way into the fanciest restaurant in town, and invited Candace as his guest of honour! She could hardly believe this was happening; but she wasn't about to question it.
Without a doubt, this was one of the best days of her life.
As it was, she was enjoying herself so much that she didn't notice when her phone went off in her pocket. She had set it to vibrate, not wanting Stacey to interrupt her alone time with Jeremy; but was so absorbed in their discussion that she paid it no mind.
The second time it went off had the same result, but by the third Jeremy had gotten up to fetch another soda for her, and she grabbed at it the moment it went off.
Thinking it was Stacey looking for details, Candace hissed some irritated message about buzzing off, just about to hang up when the voice on the other end caught her attention. She had been expecting Stacey – maybe another friend calling, but that wasn't what she heard at all.
She hadn't expected to hear her mother's raspy voice on the other end of the line, calling from some payphone halfway across the city. She hadn't expected to be on the phone when Jeremy returned with her drink. And she certainly hadn't expected to hear the words her mother spoke first, choking on each syllable as she managed to get it out:
"There's been an accident."