Glee: Race to the Finish (the fifth book in the Glee series)

Chapter 61: Lunch

"Do you think Marley likes elbow salad?" asked Veronica as she placed a trey of the salad Tony had just finished preparing into the fridge for cooling. 

"She'd better," said Tony. "Because that's what I made. And if she doesn't, she can just eat your fruit salad instead."

Julie smiled at them from the dining area and said, "A lot of salads... Ok, dad, can you help me move aside these tables? I want to make sure there's room for the high chairs."

"Oh, we can't have the babies at the table," Veronica said from the kitchen. "The twins can have their time under the gyms and we have that small corral for Ryder's son."

"I don't know if he can sit up yet," Julie admitted. In fact, she knew very little about Ben's habits and development.

Veronica stopped what she was doing. "How old did you say he was?"

"Uh..." Julie hesitated, doing some quick math. "Well, he was born on Halloween... No, the day after... And today is the..?"

"19th," her father offered. 

Julie nodded and said, "Then he's about four and a half months old already."

"He might be sitting up," Veronica shrugged.

"I don't know, though," Julie shook her head. "Maybe Marley won't feel comfortable just fencing Ben in. And the girls really shouldn't spend too much time on the ground."

"It won't be that long," Veronica assured her. "It's fine. They'll be fine. I'm sure nothing will go wrong so stop worrying so much."

There was a hurried knock on the door and Julie looked outside the window but she couldn't get a good look. "I wonder who that could be..."

"You don't think they're early, do you?" asked Tony.

Julie didn't answer and instead silently made her way to the door. She opened the door and before she could even say a word, John had walked inside. "I need to talk to you," he said hastily. 

"Hey," she told him, confused. "I thought you were in California..?"

"Sebastian showed up and made me come home with him," John rolled his eyes, dismissing the topic. "That's not important right now, though. I did something really awful and I—" He casually turned his head and stopped talking when he saw Tony and Veronica standing there, watching curiously. The frown on his face was immediately replaced with a smile. "Oh hey! Mom and Dad are here!"

He walked over to greet them and Julie crossed her arms, knowing that whatever John had done, he felt very guilty about it. "How's it going John?" Tony asked.

"Great," John said with a soft sigh that went unnoticed. "Just great."

"Aren't you supposed to be in California?" asked Veronica.

"Oh, I'm taking a little break from the tour," John explained. "Just a week or two."

Veronica looked worried for a second but then she said, "Well, everyone needs some rest. It's good—you shouldn't overdo it."

"That's exactly what I said when I begged for the week off," John nodded. He looked around at all the silverware and plate setup and then looked past Veronica at the food being prepared. "What's all this?"

"We're having Ryder and Marley over for lunch," Julie said from behind him.

He turned to her and said, "Oh cool, so you told them that Ryder proposed then?" Julie's eyes widened at him, indicating that he had said too much. He looked at Veronica and Tony, who appeared to be shocked. "Or maybe you didn't..." he added slowly.