"You're welcome, and if you're crotchety and old, so am I --I don't have 'em either," Victor shrugged, pleased she appreciated the token. "There's a party in town but I think it might be more a grown-up thing."

He took a moment to answer her other question. "We decided to have a fake homecoming," he finally said, eyes still on Old Lace. "And it went ... I guess it went about the way things usually do for us. But it was still good to see everybody, y'know?"