With a great breath of air, Sarah blew the dust off her old box of books.
"Go ahead, buddy. Just tell me when you're done so that I can put it all away." Toby nods and starts to pull the slim volumes out of the box.
Robert, from across the room, gestures that his daughter should come and sit by him.
"Thanks for this, Sarah. We get him books but he always wants to read your copies."
Sarah shrugs.
"I wrote notes in the margins, when I liked something or when I thought something was odd. Maybe that's what he likes about them."
"Maybe," he agrees. "Your mother would like to know if you want to go to see something on Broadway."
He clasps his hands and presses his thumbs together so hard that the skin around them turns white. Sarah knows that he's nervous; he only does that when he's stressed or anxious.
"I thought Karen was in Oregon visiting her mother in the hospital?"
Robert holds his breath and lets his out in a rush when he speaks.
"Not Karen, Sarah. Linda."
Sarah bites the inside corner of her lip and shrugs. She tries not to fidget too much or to wring her hands, like she does when she is nervous. In the end, she decides that an unsettled sigh will convey her thoughts on the subject appropriately enough.
"I don't know, dad. I'll think about it."
At that moment Toby runs back into the room, waving a book around, excited.
"Dad, look at this one! It's got a knight and a prince that might turn evil, and there are two princesses and a duck and a crow."
"That's a really good one." Sarah nods. "I'm going to put the box back, if that's all you want for now."
Toby nods and begins to page through the book again.
"About her offer," she calls to Robert, busying herself with the large box, "I'll think about it, like I said. When does she need to know by, or is it an open timeframe?"
Sarah tries very hard to make her voice sound casual.
A/N
The "book" that Toby picked is actually a show called Princess Tutu, which is actually a lot more awesome and heartbreaking than it sounds. I only turned it into a book because I rather suddenly woke up today and wanted to watch it.