"For Pete's sake," Rita said. "I give up with you two. Run outside and play, kids."
"We wanna play with Dexter," Astor pouted.
"I'll be along in a few minutes," I said.

"You better," she said darkly. They vanished down the hall toward the back door, and as they left I took a deep breath, happy that the vicious and unwarranted attacks against me were over for now. Of course, I should have known better.

"Come in here," Rita said, and she led me by the hand to the sofa. "Vince called a little while ago," she said as we settled onto the cushions. "Did he?" I said, and a sudden thrill of danger ripped through me at the idea of what he might have said to Rita. "What did he say?" She shook her head. "He was very mysterious. He said to let him know as soon as we had talked it over. And when I asked him talked what over he wouldn't say. He just said you would tell me."

I barely managed to stop myself from the unthinkable conversational blunder of saying, "Did he?" again. In my defense, I have to admit that my brain was whirling, not only with the panicked notion that I had to flee to some place of safety but also with the thought that before I fled I needed to find time to visit Vince with my little bag of toys. But before I could mentally choose the correct blade, Rita went on.

"Honestly, Dexter, you're very lucky to have a friend like Vince. He really does take his duties as best man seriously, and he has wonderful taste."

"Wonderfully expensive, too," I said-and perhaps I was still recovering from my near-gaffe with almost repeating "Did he?" but I knew the moment it was out of my mouth that it was absolutely the wrong thing to say. And sure enough, Rita lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Really?" she said. "Well, I suppose he would, after all. I mean, it most often goes together, doesn't it? You really do get what you pay for, usually."

"Yes, but it's a question of how much you have to pay," I said.
"How much for what?" Rita said, and there it was. I was stuck.

"Well," I said, "Vince has this crazy idea that we should hire this South Beach caterer, a very pricey guy who does a lot of celebrity events and things." Rita clapped her hands under her chin and looked radiantly happy. "Not Manny Borque!" she cried. "Vince knows Manny Borque?" Of course it was all over right there, but Dauntless Dexter does not go down without a fight, no matter how feeble. "Did I mention that he's very expensive?" I said hopefully.

"Oh, Dexter, you can't worry about money at a time like this," she said. "I can too. I am."