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Isabel entered the restaurant, and Kate and their father, Edgar Smith Wilson, waved her over. He dutifully kissed and hugged both girls, his girls.
“Can you believe, we’ve never been to this place?” Isabel said, placing her cloth napkin on her lap. Sister Kate looked at Dad.
“I, uh, that is, we came here, but only once before,” he said, looking into his lap.
“Really? When was that?” Isabel said.
“The night … we took you to Pleasant Gardens,” Kate said.
“We needed a good meal and this place was close,” Edgar said.
“Yeah, Pleasant Gardens. Kind of makes me hungry for a big salad. Can you believe that? What am I, a veg-head? Hell no, I need a steak,” Isabel said, closing her Ten Commandments tablet-sized menu and letting it fall into the fourth, unoccupied seat at the four-top.
“What’d you find out?” Edgar said.
“The malls in Rome weren’t built to be shopped in one day,” Kate said.
“Crab cakes! That’s me,” Isabel said.
“Two,” Dad said.
“Copycats,” Kate said.
The meal concluded, time for talk. Edgar reviewed the plan of the Exercise. Short and sweet.
