Sarah held up both hands. “Okay, okay.”
“Christina, honey, how you doin’?” Peacemaker Mama with a change of subject. She started taking food out of the sacks.
“Fine.” Christina didn’t move from the couch.
“Kids treat you okay?”
“Yes.” She took a deep breath. “But I—”
“Hi, Mama.” Alex sidled into the kitchen, wearing Lacey’s pink nightgown.
Maddy tilted her head. “Why’re you wearin’ that?”
Alex pushed her lips together. “My clothes got dirty.”
“How?”
“We were, um … eatin’.”
“Eatin’ what?”
Alex kept her head down and pointed toward the family room at Christina.
Ben’s fiancée scrambled off the couch. “I … they were … I was trying to keep them quiet so they wouldn’t wake you.” Her words tripped over each other. “I’m so sorry, Mrs.—Mama Ruth. We broke a plate. I cleaned it up, and then I had to wash Alex’s clothes.”
Mama had stopped her work and was concentrating on Christina, who looked like she faced a firing squad. “Well, honey, that’s no matter. Don’t you worry about a plate.”
“She gave us pie and ice cream.” Alex pushed her lips together. “And it got all over my clothes.”
What a little tattletale. Jess shot her niece a scathing look.
“Pie and ice cream?” Sarah and Maddy repeated in stereo.
Christina’s face blanched. “I didn’t know what to do. They were fighting, and I didn’t want Maddy—”
“Honey, don’t worry about it.” Mama walked over and put her hands on the girl’s shoulders. “We shouldn’t have left you alone with the kids to begin with. Really, this is no big deal.”
“Had to wash Alex’s clothes.” Suddenly Christina’s words registered. A lightning bolt hit Jess in the chest. “You washed her clothes?” She threw the question at Christina.
Christina’s head pulled back. She nodded.
“Where? In the kitchen sink?” Jess’s voice bent upward. “Tell me you washed ’em out here in the sink.”
Christina blinked, her face turning whiter. “No.”
Oh, no. No, no, no. “Where’d you wash ’em, then?”
“In the washing machine. I just—”
“Aaaaahhhh!” Jess flung both hands in the air. She whirled and ran toward the west wing, yelling. “No, tell me please, no!”
“Jess, what is it?” Sarah called after her.
Jess kept running. She reached the end of the hallway and thudded into the garage. Veered right and sprinted toward the laundry room. Vaguely she registered multiple pairs of feet behind her. Jess passed the dryer, the washer—and skidded to a halt in front of the large tub sink.
It was spewing bubbles.
“Nno!” Jess leapt forward and slapped some of the bubbles aside. Soapy water filled the sink almost to the rim. “Where are they?” She shoved away more bubbles, trying to see the bottom of the sink. One big wet circle floated up her nose. She sneezed, then fought bubbles some more until she could see the bottom.
Mama, Maddy, Sarah, and Christina pulled up beside Jess, breathing hard. Alex wasn’t far behind.
There! Jess’s nine once perfect lobsters lurched about in the depths of the soapy water like they were drunk.
“Oh, no.” Jess plunged her arm into the sink and yanked out the stopper. The water started to drain with loud sucking sounds.
“What happened, what happened?” Alex stood on her toes to look into the sink.
“My lobsters!” Jess nearly wailed the words. She pulled one out of the suds and held it up. Its rubber banded claws waved weakly, bubbles coming out of every hole and cranny in its body. Thing looked like it had crawled through a car wash.
Alex shrieked and jumped away.
Jess plunged her arm in again and pulled out a second soap-saturated lobster. “No, no. This can’t be happeniiiing!”
Christina stood back, eyes wide and body rigid. Sarah had one hand pressed against her mouth.
“How could you not see them?” Jess whirled on Christina. “I put ’em in the sink with some water.”
Christina shook her head.
“Couldn’t you see the washing machine drains into this sink?” Jess wanted to strangle Christina’s little neck.
“Now, Jess, she didn’t know,” Mama said.
Jess raised the two lobsters higher in the air. They were still blowing bubbles. One fell quiet. “No!” She shook both of them hard. “Don’t die! You cannot die!” She jerked them around until their heads flopped back and forth. More bubbles oozed out.
Alex screamed and ran from the room.
Maddy exploded in her machine-gun laughter. “Oh, ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Jess’s cheeks scorched. “Don’t you dare laugh, do you know how much these things cost?”
“Darlin’, it’s all right.” Mama picked up a third lobster. The sink was now drained, nothing left but half a foot of suds.
Jess dropped one critter and smacked on the faucet. “I gotta rinse ’em off.” Fresh water poured into the sink, stirring the bubbles. The lobsters clacked their claws in panic.
Sarah started giggling. Jess threw her a look to kill. Maddy laughed even louder until she and Sarah cackled like hyenas, leaning into each other for support. Like a wild woman, Jess batted down the bubbles. Punched and hit and smacked, all the while yelling to the lobsters they’d be all right¬¬, just hang on. Finally every last bubble was gone. She snatched up the weakest-looking lobster and thrust it under a deluge of running water, rinsing it front and back, up and down. Scrubbing it with her fingers. “Come on, come on …”
Bubbles oozed out.
Christina stood frozen.
Maddy and Sarah howled. Even Mama started chuckling.
Fury sent tears to Jess’s eyes. “You won’t be laughin’ come supper time.” She dropped lobster number one and started in on number two.
Pogey scurried in, his bare feet slapping the concrete, and their smell coming with him. “What happened?” He pushed around his mother and skidded to a stop. At the sight of bubbles and lobsters and what he surely thought was a crazed Aunt Jess, his eyes went round. Pogey drew in his mouth, stretching his chubby cheeks. “Oooooh!”
Jess’s jaw went tight. “Pogey, don’t you say a word, I swear.”
Pogey chortled. Jess kicked at him. He jumped back but wouldn’t shut up. Soon he was holding his stomach, bent over laughing.
Jess’s eyes narrowed to slits. She would massacre him later. Along with her sisters. And she would enjoy it.
Lacey ran into the room. “What, what, what!”
Jess flicked a look at the ceiling. “Great, let’s just get the whole family in here.”
Lacey took one look in the sink and shrieked.
“Come on, Jess.” Mama did her best to swallow her laughter. “It’s just some lobsters.” She picked one up and turned it upside down.
What did she think that would do, drain it?
“A bunch of soapy, poisoned ones!” Jess snatched up number three. This wasn’t working. Even the two she’d rinsed off were barely alive. And soap kept coming out of ’em. “What’m I gonna fix for supper now? What?”
Christina’s mouth creaked open. “I’m … sorry. I didn’t …”
“Don’t you worry, honey.” Mama patted Christina on the back. “It’ll be fine.”
“It’s not fine!” Jess rinsed and bathed and scrubbed. Maybe, just maybe the lobsters wouldn’t taste like laundry water …
“Ah!” No use. She threw number four down into the sink. The thing landed on top of its fellow critters and slowly rolled over. Jess stuck her lobster-smelling hands in her hair. “I can’t believe this!”
Christina turned and fled the room.
“Oh, dear.” Mama hurried after her.
“Wait, Christina!” Lacey ran out.
“Jess, what’s the p-problem?” Sarah could barely talk for all her cackling.
“Haven’t you ever heard of eating soap and lobster?”
“Ha-ha-ha-ha!” Maddy stumbled sideways.
“Get out of here, y’all!” Jess pushed her sisters toward the door. “You too, Pogey! Out, out, out.” She herded them all into the garage and slammed the laundry room door. She leaned against it, palms pressed against the wood. Dully she gazed across the room at the sink, hearing the faint scribble-scrabble of washed-out sea creatures.
First Tamel and now this. Today had to be the worst day of her entire life.
Jess tried to force herself back to the sink. But what for? Those lobsters could never be cooked now. Put those things in boiling water, and she’d likely fill the entire house with bubbles.
Just wait till Tamel heard about this. She’d never hear the end of it.
Not that she cared what he did or thought anyway.
“Ooohhh.” Jess bent over, her eyes filling with tears. Next thing she knew, she’d slid to the floor, elbows on her bent knees and hands over her face. For the first time since she heard Tamel had walked away from his law career—which meant he’d walked away from her—Jess let herself bawl.
CHAPTER 16
Christina fled down the west wing hallway, through the kitchen and family area toward her room. Tears nearly blinded her. She could hear Mrs. Dearing calling for her to stop, that everything was okay, and she shouldn’t feel bad. Jess was just in one of her moods. They’d figure something else out for supper. Lacey called her name too. As Christina reached the top of the east wing hall, guilt got the best of her. She turned and faced them, one hand gripping the door frame.
“P-please … I just … need to be by my…self right now.”
Before they could say a word, she pivoted and scurried down the hall. Jumped into the safety of her room and locked the door.
Christina sprawled across the bed and buried her face in the covers. She cried and sobbed, then cried some more until her head pounded and the tears dried up. She’d known this wasn’t going to work. But did she have to end up being so humiliated? What had she done right since she’d gotten here? Now she’d cost the whole family a special, expensive supper. Everyone would know about it. Everyone would blame her.
It wasn’t fair. Ben shouldn’t have left her for so many hours. Didn’t he know she was uncomfortable here by herself? If he loved her, if he was going to treat her right like he promised, why had he gone to play golf? Last night he’d forced her to tell him things she’d never wanted to say. Yet today that conversation made no difference in his behavior at all.
Plain and simple, Ben might think he loved her, but his actions didn’t show it. None of the Dearings needed her. What place could she have in this family? She was still an Ugly Bug, unwanted, unlovable. Always had been, always would be. The sooner she accepted that, the easier her life would turn out—
Someone knocked on the door. Christina stiffened, then raised her head.
The knock came again. “Christina? It’s Jess.” Her voice sounded thick.
Great. The sister Ben was closest to. The one who liked her least of all.
“I’m sorry, Christina, really. It hadn’t been a good day for me, and … Please don’t feel bad. We’re already pullin’ out meat for supper.”
As if one apology could undo Jess’s accusations. Christina’s hurt went too deep for that.
“Are you in there, Christina?”
She glared at the door. “Yes.”
“Will you come out?”
“No.” The answer shot out of her mouth before she could stop it. She started to apologize but choked on the words. So what if she’d said what she felt? Wasn’t that what Ben wanted her to do? Besides, she was tired of trying to please everybody. Clearly it wasn’t working.
Why couldn’t they just leave her alone?
“Please?”
“I don’t want to come out, Jess. I don’t want to see anybody right now.”
A long silence pulsed.
“Fine then, be that way.”
What a snotty answer. Anger shot through Christina. As if Jessica Dearing had anything to be ticked about. She, who had a loving family and perfect life. Who’d gone joyriding this morning with a man who obviously loved her while Christina stayed home alone and watched three kids she hardly knew. And one of whom was a spoiled brat.
Christina jumped off the bed and strode to the door. Flung it open. Jess was already walking down the hall. “I’m sorry about your lobsters, Jess.” The words came out hard. “In case you couldn’t tell, I didn’t mean to do it.”
Jess turned around, surprise, then irritation flattening her face. “You sure don’t sound sorry.”
“Well, I am.”
“Well, good for you.”
They narrowed their eyes at each other.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jess planted her hands on her hips.
“You mean why didn’t I see your stupid lobsters in the sink?”
Jess’s cheeks reddened. “I mean what’s wrong with you? Everyone’s tried to welcome you into this family, and you just run around like some kicked mouse.”
“Am I acting like a mouse now?”
“No, and this is a whole lot scarier.”
“Maybe you’re just not used to having someone stand up to you.”
“Maybe you have no idea what you’re talking about!”
At the top of the hall behind Jess, Maddy poked her head out of the family room. Her eyes were wide. She must have heard everything. She locked eyes with Christina, then jerked back and disappeared.
Reality hit Christina in the chest. What was she doing? She’d spent her entire wretched childhood holding in her rage. Had promised herself never, ever to show it to anyone, especially the man she so desperately loved. Or his family. Now she’d let out the bad Christina—on Ben’s sister, no less. In his parents’ house.
Christina’s shoulders drooped. She flushed hot, then cold. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t know what made me…”
Jess gave her a long look. “Yeah, well, you’d better figure it out. ’Cause you got a mess of fury floatin’ around inside you, girl.”
Her tone kicked anger back up Christina’s spine. She tried to force it down, but it wouldn’t budge. “And what exactly would you call what’s ‘floatin’ around’ inside of you? I’ve seen the way you treat Tamel.”
Jess inhaled a sharp breath. “Don’t you dare mention Tamel to me.”
“It’s obvious he’s crazy in love with you.”
“That’s none of your business!”
“And how I act is none of yours!”
“It is when you’re about to marry my brother!” Jess stalked two steps toward Christina. “I will not stand by and watch him get his heart broken again. No one in this family will.”
Christina drew her head back, stricken. The last thing she wanted was to hurt Ben. “Why don’t you watch yourself, Miss Know-It-All.”
Jess’s body went rigid. She pointed at Christina, her voice low and shaking. “I knew somethin’ was off-kilter the minute I saw you. You aren’t what you pretend to be. Now you’ve gone way too far.” Her voice hitched. “I will not let you destroy my brother.”
She pivoted and stomped down the hall. Veered left. Christina heard her pounding up the stairs.
Was that a sob?
Weakly, Christina leaned against the wall. Self-loathing and despair poured over her. She’d done it now. Really done it. Maddy was probably still listening from the family room. She’d go tell Mrs. Dearing and Sarah.
No way could Christina face them now.
She escaped back into the guestroom and relocked the door. Fresh tears spilled out of her eyes, no holding them back. She did not want to cry. She snatched up her suitcase in the corner and tossed it on the bed. Started throwing in her clothes and toiletries.
The minute Ben came home they were leaving. And if he was too mad to drive her, all the better. She couldn’t bear to sit in a car with him for six hours anyway. Couldn’t stand to see the
pain on his face. She’d failed him completely. Failed herself too. She’d been a fool to believe she could have her fairy tale life.
Tamel would take her to Jackson, wouldn’t he? She’d pay for the first plane back to Dallas. Find another job. And she would never, ever see the Dearing family again.
CHAPTER 17
Ruth hovered in the kitchen with Sarah, watching Maddy peek around the corner into the hall. In the sink sat five pounds of hamburger—a last-minute substitute for tonight’s supper. The dying lobsters still writhed in the laundry tub. Jess hadn’t been able to bring herself to throw them out.
Alex’s clothes were now in the dryer. All three kids were in the play room, the door closed. Penny was with them. Ruth didn’t want the kids to know … whatever was happening. She could hear the hiss of Christina’s and Jess’s voices but couldn’t make out what they said. Whatever it was—it wasn’t friendly.
Ruth’s throat had gone so tight it felt raw. How had the day fallen apart like this? The very things she’d worried about Christina were coming true. She couldn’t bear to think what that might mean for Ben.
Maddy yanked her head back and hurried toward the kitchen. “Oh, my gosh, they’re tearin’ each other up out there.”
Oh, no. Ruth started for the hall. “I have to stop them.”
Sarah grabbed her arm. “No, Mama, don’t get in the middle of it.”
“But—”
“You’ll only make it worse.”
Stomping feet came up the hall, then headed upstairs. At the end of the east wing a door closed.
Sarah cocked her head. “Sounds like it’s over.”
Maddy nodded. “Maybe one of them threw in the flag.”
“Towel, Maddy,” Sarah said. “Throw in the towel; raise the white flag.”
“Whatever.”
Ruth put her palms against her cheeks. They felt so hot. “I need to go to Christina.”
Sarah shook her head. “You already tried goin’ after her once. She didn’t want to talk to you. Besides Jess told us she was goin’ to apologize to her. Apparently even that didn’t work.”
“But it’s not just Jess. First Penny gets mad at her, then the kids give her a hard time, and a plate breaks—which she’s blaming herself for. Then the lobsters, and Jess so mad, and you two laughin’—”
That Dog Won't Hunt (Dearing Family Series) Page 11