"Do you mean it?" Erica quickly replied, pouting vigilantly at his back as he worked. She didn't plan to leave him alone until she at least cajoled him into a phone call, hopefully more. For some reason that Erica couldn't totally grasp, Barbie did to genuinely care about her son. Or at least Erica figured she had to, with how much she always rambled about him. It seemed like every other week she wanted her to go-tell-Ben-this or go-to-Ben-that.

Last year had been worse, at least this year she had stopped coming, unless it was important.