Chapter Text
Lucy hummed as she did the dishes. It was kind of nice to have the kids away at camp, she reflected. Sure, she missed Jerry and Sherman. But no one was telling her to tone it down or asking for money to buy candy, either.
Lucy hummed louder, adding a little twist to her hips as she hummed the crescendo. She had just finished drying the dishes when Viv burst through the back door. She wore a smart green dress, and her sparkling eyes danced underneath neatly curled blonde hair.
“Lucy! You’ll never guess who I ran into at the post office!” her friend exclaimed.
Lucy jumped a mile high. The dish clattered into the sink.
“Viv! Come on, don’t sneak up on me like that,” she chastised, turning to face her friend, hands on her hips.
“Well if you don’t wanna be sneaked up on, try humming more quietly,” Viv retorted, grabbing the errant dish and deftly washing it again as she fixed the mess Lucy had accidentally made.
“Now do you want to hear my news or not? Here, grab these and follow me.” Not waiting for Lucy to answer, she shoved a stack of plates and placemats into Lucy’s hands, grabbed the coffee carafe, and hurried into the living room.
Lucy pouted and followed. Was no one ever going to say, ‘Oh Lucy, what a sweet voice you have’? No? Just tell her to tone it down? Her own friend! She rolled her eyes and pushed through the kitchen door.
In the other room, Vivian was busy plumping the pillows and hiding the few toys the boys had left around in the drawers.
Lucy set the table quickly, Viv looked pretty energized, so maybe the gossip would be worth it.
“Okay girl, shoot. Who’d you see? Why are we setting the table?” she called, glancing up as Vivian came across the room and placed her hands on her shoulders.
“Lucy, I met a talent scout!”
Lucy felt her body going into orbit. “A talent scout! You’re joking!”
“I am not joking, Ma’am. His name is Mr. Morris. And girl, you are going to flip when I tell you what I said to him.”
“Whaddidya say?” Lucy felt her eyes getting wide.
“I said…come over for lunch today!” Viv slapped her hands and did a little dance to emphasize her point. Lucy gasped and sank down slightly on her knees. My goodness, a real live talent scout! Coming here! This was too good to be true!
Viv looked extremely pleased at Lucy’s reaction. “Now Lucy, keep it together. I said to come over at 2 o’clock and it’s already 1:45, it takes me so long to get up that hill from town,” she lamented, pausing to fuss at her hair and discreetly sniff at her armpit. Heading back into the kitchen, she called behind her “Now what can we out out with this coffee?”
“Oh, Viv! I’m going to meet a real live talent scout! In my house!” Lucy yelped, running after her as her brain processed the information again. “Boy, I could kiss you!” Lucy ran up behind her friend and gave her a swift peck on the cheek.
Viv jumped, and then laughed and shoved at Lucy. “Stop that! Hurry up and figure out what you’ve got in the cabinet, do you have any of those butter cookies? Biscuits? I know we have some tuna salad and tomatoes in the fridge…” she gathered them and swung through the doors again.
Lucy grabbed the step-stool and climbed up, peeking into the top shelf. “We got ‘em, Viv! With the boys away at camp, the butter cookies are still here!” She reached them down and passed them off to Viv as the blonde re-entered the kitchen. But she passed the cookies down so quickly that she wobbled on the stool. Dropping the cookies, Viv held her arms out and caught Lucy as she fell off the stool.
“Oh, no!” Lucy lamented, collapsed in Viv’s arms. “The cookies!”
“Better a broken cookie than a broken smartie-pants,” Vivian snapped at Lucy, hauling her friend upright and whacking her slightly. “You scared me!”
“Oh, Viv.” Lucy back-peddled, picking up the cookies and scooping out the broken ones. There were quite a few that were still fine.”I’m sorry. You’re right, thank you for catching me. I sure wouldn't want to meet a talent scout with a sprained ankle! Cookie?” She offered, hoping the placate her friend.
Vivian gave her a wry glance and took the cookie. “Alright,” she said. All was forgiven.
“Okay. Now, let’s see if we can run upstairs real quick and change,” Lucy said as they placed the final touches and the table and checked that the living room was in good order.
“Change?” Vivian said, looking down at herself in dismay. “Oh, you look fine Viv, I really meant me,” Lucy clarified. But she noticed that Vivian was hurrying up the stairs behind her.
“Viv you look fine!” Lucy yelled as the two disappeared into their rooms. Although Lucy intended to look better. Now, what to wear, she mused…