"Oh, no," Roger cried. "I want Grace on my team if we're having teams."
"Forget it then." Phoebe snapped, and rose to her feet. "I'm going swimming."
"Wait." Wally called as she started toward the patio door that opened to the pool. "Let's just see what would have happened."
He turned over her card. It was a ten of diamonds. Then he looked at me.
"C'mon," he said. "It doesn't matter now."
I looked at Phoebe. Then I handed him the card, and he bellowed,
"What?" Roger demanded.
He turned my card around to show them. It was a three of hearts.
Phoebe's face took on a shade of red that resembled a fresh strawberry. She spun on her heels and marched out of the room. diving right into the pool.
"I wouldn't turn my back on her if I were you," Roger said, but with a look of admiration in his eyes. "Maybe you'll teach me how to play cards like that." he added with a wink, and went to join her.
Wally and Ashley followed.
"I'm putting my suit on again." Posy said. "I don't care what anyone says. This is proving to be an exciting day." She rushed out.
Randy sat with me. I looked at him and then went to the bar and poured out the remainder of my drink. I replaced it with straight orange juice.
"There's far too much vodka in this. It will make me sick." I explained.
He just smiled. I gazed at the others through the patio door. "You di... di... did good at se... secrets," he said.
"I didn't want to get into any arguments with her."
"Everybod... bad... body gets into ar... arguments with Phoebe. She doesn't care."
I shook my head. "I don't know why anyone would like that," I said, and went to the bookcase. There were shelves of expensive-looking leatherbound classics, including Shakespeare. Randy came up beside me.
"What does Roger's father do for a living?" I asked as I checked out all the titles and authors.
"He's a deve... deve..." He closed his eyes, struggling with the word. I could feel his frustration.
"Take your time." I said.
"Developer. He owns a mall in Boca Ra... Ra... Ratan."
I plucked out a copy of Romeo and Juliet and flipped through the pages,
"My favorite." I said. "Did you read it in class?"
He shook his head. "Not yet."
"I have a quote for Phoebe. So she won't struggle so hard trying to come up with something to call me," I told him, and pointed to some lines. "'What's in a name?'" I recited, "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.'"
"Show her," he told me. "May... maybe she'll shut... shut up." We both laughed.
"What's so funny?" Posy asked an her way through to the pool.
"None... none... none of your business," Randy told her. She grimaced and went out. "We can... can have our own se... secret without the cards." he said.
I smiled at him. "I won't tell if you won't," I said, and he beamed.