Sundays at Tiffany's - James Patterson [66]
The waiter placed a bowl of melon balls and lemon sherbet in front of him.
“Thanks so much,” said Michael, as if the waiter had done him a great favor, which Michael believed he had, since he did his job so well.
The waiter had already given Aggie her sundae —strawberries with whipped cream, over strawberry ice cream, with a dab of strawberry jam.
“You’re such a girl,” Michael kidded her.
“I am a girl, silly,” said Aggie, who had the most amazing smile to go with her beautiful green eyes.
Michael was tempted to teach her something that he would call the Aggie-and-Michael game, but he resisted this urge. He needed something even better for Aggie — and here it came now.
“Aggie, look!”
Jane had taken their one-year-old son, Jack, to the restroom, and the two of them had just reentered the Astor Court and were now hurrying across the restaurant. Jack was pointing at the ceiling, and exclaiming, “Yite, yite,” which was his word for “light,” or anything else that he liked a lot.
“Here come Mommy and Jack!” Michael exclaimed, and he felt his heart spike with excitement, as it always did. He felt so lucky, so fortunate, so blessed, to have Jane, and to have this family.
“Now we can play monkey in the middle,” said Aggie, laughing. “And you’re the monkey, Daddy. Okay?”
“Okay,” said Michael, “except that we need a ball for that game. But of course I’m the monkey. I’m the hairy, homely one, aren’t I?” Then he turned to Jane, smiled, and whispered — just for her — “I missed you. I always miss you.”
“I missed you too. But now I’m here,” said Jane. “We’re all here, the four of us. And there’s nothing in the world that’s better than that. Nothing I could imagine in my wildest dreams.”
Jane sat down at her place and dipped a spoon into her sundae — hot fudge over coffee ice cream — and gave Jack the first taste of this delicious confection.
“Yite!” the little boy exclaimed.
With affection,
James Patterson
Gabrielle Charbonnet
About the Authors
JAMES PATTERSON published his first thriller in 1976 and since then has become one of the best-known and bestselling writers of all time, with more than 140 million copies of his books sold worldwide. He is the author of the two most popular detective series of the past decade, featuring Alex Cross and the Women’s Murder Club, and he has written numerous other #1 bestsellers. He has won an Edgar Award — the mystery world’s highest honor — and his novels Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider were made into feature films starring Morgan Freeman. His charity, the James Patterson PageTurner Awards, has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to individuals and groups that promote the excitement of books and reading. He lives in Florida.
GABRIELLE CHARBONNET also writes children’s books. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, two daughters, two stepsons, a poodle, and an unfortunate number of cats.
THE NOVELS OF JAMES PATTERSON
FEATURING ALEX CROSS
Double Cross
Cross
Mary, Mary
London Bridges
The Big Bad Wolf
Four Blind Mice
Violets Are Blue
Roses Are Red
Pop Goes the Weasel
Cat & Mouse
Jack & Jill
Kiss the Girls
Along Came a Spider
THE WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB
7th Heaven (coauthor Maxine Paetro) The 6th Target (Maxine Paetro) The 5th Horseman (Maxine Paetro) 4th of July (Maxine Paetro) 3rd Degree (Andrew Gross) 2nd Chance (Andrew Gross) 1st to Die
THE JAMES PATTERSON FAMILY PAGETURNERS
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X
The Final Warning: A Maximum Ride Novel
Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
Maximum Ride: School’s Out — Forever
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment
OTHER BOOKS
Sundays at Tiffany’s (coauthor Gabrielle Charbonnet) You’ve Been Warned (Howard Roughan) The Quickie (Michael Ledwidge) Step on a Crack (Michael Ledwidge) Judge & Jury (Andrew Gross) Beach Road (Peter de Jonge) Lifeguard (Andrew Gross) Honeymoon (Howard