With a little laugh, Mal shrugged a shoulder. “Plenty fair!” she defended with false earnestness. “Big brothers can be bullies! Maybe you weren’t one, but the disadvantage of having two is being ‘one of the guys.’ You know Angelica Pickles from that old cartoon Rugrats? Totally my oldest brother’s soul mate,” she half-smiled. She loved AJ, but he and Angelica Pickles shared far too many common traits. His graphing comment made her laugh, and she nodded. “Totally,” she said with wide-eyes. “Well, no, but I should now, shouldn’t I?”
“Or if underneath my bed becomes a cat-toy party?” A small smile crossed her face and she shrugged. “I promise that I’ll do once-a-week under the bed checks, that way she doesn’t get bored and start turning other household items into toys,” she nodded. She couldn’t count the times that family pets had knocked down glass things or full cups.
She fished through her purse for a blank piece of paper, coming up with a business card for a hairstylist that Cait had given her back in the day. Scribbling her boss’ number on the back, she handed the card to Bast and smiled. She was confident of the fact that it would be okay. The second question took her off-guard, but a smile spread across her face. “Um, whenever’s good for you is fine for me,” she said in surprise. “Maybe next weekend? I’m pretty sure I can get people to help me get my stuff this far.”