Owen smiled happily and sang to himself as he chewed his muffin.
"Great," Betsy said and Alexis could tell she was pleased.
"So three boys, your own salon, Joe's in the union. Anything else I should know to be all caught up?" Alexis asked.
"If I didn't have little pitchers with big ears, I'd give you the local gossip."
"Another time," Alexis said.
"Will there be another time?" asked Betsy, without her usual ire.
"I have it on good authority that there will be."
"When are you going back?"
"Sometime after the first," Alexis said vaguely and left it there. She had no desire to get into details.
Although Betsy generally erred on the side of brash and brutal, she took the hint. "Well, it was nice of you to come and see us. I'd like you to meet the rest of the family soon. And maybe you could come by the salon one day so I can show off my place."
"I may be in need of an eyebrow wax soon," Alexis said, tracing her finger over a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
"I can think of better ways to cause you pain," Betsy joked. "So did Dad nearly lose his liver when you showed up?"
Alexis laughed. "They were both pretty shocked."
"You're so lucky. Nothing I do shocks them."
"Not even the tattoos," Alexis remarked.
Betsy waved her off. "Oh please. It takes more than body art to annoy them."
"No, I guess the things you do don't annoy them." Her smile soured.
"I want to live in Antarctica," Owen said.
"Do you like the cold?" asked Alexis.
"No, but I like that no one else lives there." Alexis contemplated this. "A lonely, old soul, huh?"
"He also likes penguins," Betsy said.
"I love penguins," he declared, jumping up and waddling around the room.
"I've heard lesser reasons to move somewhere."
"I'll bet you have," Betsy said.
Alexis held her hand out to Owen. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Owen."
He gripped her hand and shook it. "Same here."
"I'll see you soon," Alexis promised. It was a promise she intended to keep.
That evening, Alexis joined her parents for dinner and shared the day's events. Alexis talked more than she ate, which didn't escape her mother's notice. In light of her daughter's previous declaration, she'd deliberately cooked chicken parmigiana instead of the beef lasagna she'd originally planned.
"You'll get to meet the other boys this weekend," her mother said. "They're very jealous that Owen met you first."
"What's Joey like?" she asked. She knew very little about autism and wasn't sure what to expect when she met him.