"Now everyone knows what to do, right?" Jessie asked, standing in the kitchen of the diner.

"Yes, Mom," Alton teased. "We'll be good boys and girls until you get back."

"And then we'll be bad," Rona laughed.

"I know, I know." She brushed a stand of hair away from her face. "You all were doing this just fine before I got here. I'm sorry. It's just my obsessive nature."

"It's okay," Alton said. "We're getting used to it."

He shocked the hell out of ...