Tick. Tap. Tock. Tap.
I mentally added the numbers back up in my head. The electric bill was going to be higher than usual. As was the food bill. The water bill, house, and car payment would be the same. There were no medical bills to pay off. Insurance wasn't an issue. Mark had enough medicine to last him until the next of the year. The only problem was the presents.
Tick. Tap. Tock. Tap.
I mentally added the numbers back up in my head again. Reducing the electric bill was going to take a lot of work. There was no getting around the weather. The water bill seemed impossible. House, car, and insurance payments were impossible to reduce. That left the food budget. Cheaper brands and more bulk foods could make the difference. Sarah would understand if I didn't bring the best of the best to the Christmas Party.
Tick. Scratch. Tock. Scratch.
The numbers came together again, this time with the food budget reduced. It wasn't enough. I'd need to starve everyone to get enough money from that. Some more money needed to get pulled from elsewhere. House, car, and insurance were still impossible to reduce. Water bill or electric bill? The water bill isn't an option. A lot of public appearances meant they couldn't skimp on hygiene. The electric bill would have to be it. Lower the thermostat and use more blankets.
Tick. Scratch. Tock. Scratch.
Once more the numbers came back together, and it was enough. Just barely, and we didn't have anything to cover for anything unforeseen. It was enough though. I finally put the pencil down, and a sigh of exhaustion escaped me. With the budget done, it was one less thing that needed to be worried about. It was a godsend when there was so much else to do, even beyond the usual busy of the holidays. Flipping the budget closed, I slid it to the side and pulled the schedule over.
The run-up to Christmas was packed. It was always packed. The Forsberg Christmas Gala was the most important public event. Yet there were a few others that at least one member of New Wave needed to go to. I'd planned out who would go to what months in advance to keep things organized. Rechecking the listings, I couldn't help but reconsider the order.
Something had happened between Victoria and Amy. I had no idea what exactly had happened. Both were moody as far as I could tell. They were trying to avoid each other. Part of her was certain it was something Amy did, but I couldn't be sure. Victoria looked guilty, and the entire thing was odd. They'd fought before, the sort of fights siblings got into. This didn't resemble any of their previous fights.
Tick. Scratch. Tock. Scratch.
The last thing New Wave needed was a public incident at some event. They were all lucky Amy's blowup at the McHarlin's party was mostly private. It kept it relegated to a side story in a few tabloids. It was worrying.
Tick. Scratch. Tock. Scratch.
Amy was having some issues, that much had been obvious. A teenage girl doesn't have an outburst at a party for no reason. Even if it was mostly understandable, going by what Victoria had explained of the situation to her. When combined with her sleeping issues and now this, it wasn't painting a pretty picture.
Tick. Scratch. Tock. Scratch.
This could be a good thing. Amy needed to distance herself from Victoria somewhat. The two were close and I wouldn't try and split the two apart. The issue was more Amy using Victoria as a shield. Panacea had very little in the way of a public presence compared to the rest of New Wave. Amy had very little in the way of a social life compared to her sister.
Tick. Scratch. Tock. Scratch.
Her recent outings with Wendy McHarlin were a move in the right direction. Assuming it was just a friendship. I wasn't prepared to have to handle some sort of romantic scandal. The thought of Amy potentially being homosexual hadn't entered my head, but it would have made a lot of sense in the grand scheme of things. It was too early to make guesses though.
Tick. Scratch. Tock. Scratch.
I stopped to read over the changes to the schedule. Both halves of the family were expected to cover half of the public appearances each. It was rare that an event required them, such as the Christmas Gala. Amy usually did her part with Hospital Visits and accompanying Victoria to events. I had to swap things around to ensure there was no risk of them fighting in public. There was only one major event before the Gala.
The Boardwalk Christmas Extravaganza was just another trick the Boardwalk used to try and lure in more tourists. The plan had been for Victoria and Amy to handle that. It would be easy for Victoria to work the crowd and it didn't take much from Amy. Swapping Amy functionally didn't change much for the overall plan, and it might be better for Mark in the long run.
I was without anything to do, and so was Amy, which defeated the point of her getting further apart from Vicky. It also left me nothing to do, which wasn't a good look. I tapped my eraser against the table as I tried to figure out something for us to do. After a moment I noticed an envelope I had put aside earlier. Picking it up again I gave it another read and double-checked the date. Nothing was happening on that day.
After a few moments, I nodded and penciled in the date. Grabbing a piece of stationary and a pen, I started writing a response to the envelope. This covered several things at once. It got Amy out of the house. It made us look more approachable. It would let me see how Amy was acting with Wendy. And it would let me speak with the McHarlin family to clear up any issues from Amy's outburst.
Overall, it would do the job.