Hot chocolate sauce

Hank and Veevee, weary from their trip, left their bags in the front hall.

Veevee sniffed again, trying to decide what she could detect besides pizza. "Chocolate!" she said to Hank.

They went to the kitchen to see if the light meant that someone was up.

Lillian was by the kitchen counter spooning chocolate syrup on a scoop of ice cream. She wore Gary's college T-shirt, big on her but barely coming down past her waist, leaving her bare from butt down to fuzzy slippers. Her loose blonde hair hung down over her face.

"Lil?" Veevee said.

"Oh!" Lillian exclaimed in surprise. "Mom? Dad? You're supposed to be on the cruise until next week!" She turned, not bothering to cover herself since night-time dress was anything or nothing at the Menard house.

Hank pointed to the blinking light on the answering machine. "Guess you didn't check your messages," he told his bottomless daughter. "Having fun tonight?" he asked. "It looked like Gary and Bernie were having their own little party out in the van."

Bernie looked up from where she had been slouching in the breakfast nook. "Huh?" she said. "Oh, hi, Mr. and Mrs. Menard!" she said. She brushed back her dark, wavy hair and smiled at them. A drop of chocolate syrup was smeared on her cheek, and there was a dab of whipped cream on her chin. Bernie was similarly undressed, wearing a gray athletic top and bare legs. Though the top was rather snug round her chest, it was long enough on her to cover her butt.

"Bernie?" Hank said.

"Hi Bernie...Wait!" Veevee said. "If you're in here, Bernie, who did we see out in the van? Where's Gary?" she said.