“A party?” Laura chuckled, “oh my god Lucy, you’re serious?” She added.
“Of course I am!” Lucy smirked as she slid her shoulder down under the water, “and it’s not a party, it’s a mixer. A ‘mixed-up mixer’!” She added. Laura laughed again
“And you think that would help?” She asked.
“Of course it would. Just think, everyone who’s been affected by this must be struggling to some degree, so if we can get everyone together, then they can find others in similar positions to help them through it. It’s perfect!” Lucy replied, looking pleased with herself.
“And just where would we hold this mixer?” Sarah asked, knowing what the answer would likely be.
“Why our place of course!” Lucy grinned at her with a wink, “I’ll tell Robert to start getting everything ready when we get home. If he does a good enough job I might even let him join us” she added.
“And you think people will want to come to this?” Laura asked taking a swig from her beer.
“Of course, if we hold it tomorrow afternoon that’ll be enough time to get the word out. If we explain the plan I think you’d be surprised at who would be open to it.” Lucy said matter-of-factly, “I’m sure if we got hold of the team dealing with our case they could help us out. Maybe you should call this Dr Grant of yours, she sounds a lot more helpful” she added. Laura sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“I’ve known you long enough to know you’re not going to drop this” she said with a smile, “what the hell, we’ll help where we can won’t we hon?” She said to Jon, who just shrugged his shoulders.
“Perfect!” Lucy beamed as she sat up again, “now, should we make it themed?” She asked.
“Themed?” Sarah asked in surprised, “I think it’ll be enough to just get people to come! Let’s leave it at that!” She said sternly, sensing she needed to put a lid on this now. Lucy rolled her eyes.
“Fine,” she half grumbled, “but we can make it a pool party at least!” She said as an afterthought.
“That’s fine, but nothing else!” Sarah said staring her down over the rim of her wine glass.
“I’m actually looking forward to it!” Laura chuckled, and Jon nodded, surprised to find that he was a little excited about the idea.
“We can let the kids…others, know when they get back” he said, “and I’ll get hold of Ruby after and see if she can help in any way” he added.
“Perfect” Lucy said finishing her bottle and standing up, “well then, looks like we’ve got some planning to do!” She added, indicating to Sarah that she should follow. She nodded and placed her empty glass to the side.
“Guess we better make a move then” she said as the two of them climbed out the tub, shortly followed by Jon and Laura. Before long they were dried off and changed.
“Thank you so much for having us over” Sarah said to Jon as they made their way to the front door, “I’ll message you later to see how you got on with Ruby?” She added.
“Of course” Jon replied giving her a hug goodbye, “you’re welcome over any time!” He added as they broke off. He watched as they headed to their car in the driveway, and just as they were pulling away, Simon was pulling into the driveway. He stopped the car and got out, and both Jon and Laura were surprised at what he was wearing. He was sporting a pair of boots, a white vest top that was showing the start of his own boobs, a black jacket, and a cream coloured checked skirt. He also had a black bag slung over his chest.
“Wow, you look pretty good sweetie” Laura smiled.
“Thanks” he replied, “Zoe and Athena helped me” he said as they exited the car, followed by another goth looking girl that took Jon a second to realise was actually Mikey.
“Seems like it was an eventful trip then?” Jon asked.
“It was nice” Zoe replied as she walked past and headed up to her room with Athena. Mikey followed in silence and hurried straight up to his own room.
“How was Karyn?” Simon asked. Both Jon and Laura looked at each other, realising they’d completely forgotten she was even there.
“Fine, she’s been downstairs all afternoon” Laura replied after a second.
“Oh good, I might go see her. There’s a few things I wanted to ask her” Simon replied before heading inside, leaving a bewildered Jon and Laura stood in the doorway.
