“Whatever you say.”
A few minutes later, I saw Grandma’s house. I was so overjoyed to be home and have all my limbs intact, I could have jumped out of the car and kissed the earth. I made sure to thank Max for driving me and thought about going for a handshake, but felt so awkward about it, I sort of dangled my hand in the air for a moment and then pretended I was trying to swat a bug off of it.
As soon as I got out of Max’s truck, I saw Owen waiting in the yard. At first, I wasn’t sure if he had seen Max behind the wheel, but the grim expression on his face confirmed my fears. Not only had Owen seen me get out of Max’s vehicle, but he seemed pretty tiffed about it as well. The expression on his face was almost unexplainable. He looked disgusted, shocked, hurt, and very, very annoyed.
“Max?” he uttered softly. “You were with Max?”
I hadn’t even thought about their history and what seeing me hanging out with Max would do to him. Owen waiting here for me every day managed to slip my mind completely over the hoopla of the previous night, and I stupidly wasn’t anticipating this moment. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I had no idea what to tell him. Surely, the truth would seem unconvincing.
“He was just giving me a ride.” It was a weak explanation, but I had to say something.
“A ride from where?”
I wasn’t expecting that question. “I got lost.”
He didn’t believe me. It was practically radiating from his eyes. “I can’t believe you would be with him. After everything I told you, and you spent the night?”
“What?!” I almost choked on my own saliva. I couldn’t believe he’d think that. “Owen, it is not that at all.”
“Then what is it?”
My response time was too delayed. I was trying to think of something that didn’t sound ludicrous, but every moment that passed was one more moment for Owen to realize I was a terrible liar. “I told you, I got lost and he picked me up.”
“He was just wandering the woods in his truck?”
Oh, damn.
“I don’t believe this,” he growled and then kicked an empty bucket we were going to use to mix paint with. It startled me because he did it so harshly and the sound was so loud. “I thought you were different, but I guess I was wrong.”
“What are you talking about? Nothing happened.”
“I need to get out of here,” he said with his eyes low to the ground and his hands to his hips. Very intensely he began to walk away.
“Owen, what the heck? Would you just cool down for a minute and actually let me explain?”
“Why? So you can just lie again?”
I couldn’t believe he was reacting this way. I expected him to not be happy about it, but he acted like I had personally attacked him. Like hurting him was my intention.
“Why are you acting like this?”
“You knew he was the one person I couldn’t stand and then you ditch me for him. It’s so typical! So damn typical!”
“Owen,” I said calmly, hoping my quiet voice would cause his to come down a notch or two. “Come inside so we can talk.”
“No. I’m done.”
He tore out of the yard like madman. I couldn’t recall a time I had seen someone walk as determined and pissed off as Owen. It left me legitimately baffled, and frankly, quite hurt. It was the kind of ache in the chest that’s manageable, but puts you in a really sour mood for the rest of the day.
I think most of all, I was just really confused by the whole thing. The way Owen lashed out at me so unapologetically made me wonder if I really did know the guy at all. Were Priscilla and Max right? Or was he just having a bad day and this was all a horrible cocktail of emotions?
I tossed my feelings aside for the moment and headed inside to see Grandma. If there was anyone who could make me feel better, it was her, intentionally or not. When I came through the door, she didn’t throw her arms around me, happy that I had returned, but instead, couldn’t be bothered to look away from her TV dinner she was in the process of devouring.
“I’m back,” I announced.
“That you are, dear,” she responded with a mouth full of food.
I sniffed the air. “What are you eating?”
“Macaroni and cheese.”
“Smells good,” I commented and then sat down at the kitchen table. It wasn’t until I had my feet firmly planted to the ground and my butt secured in a seat that I realized I was still quite tired. I don’t think I slept more than an hour at a time, and Max’s lumpy couch didn’t help the cause.
Owen’s outburst kept playing in the back of my mind, and the more time that passed, the more it upset me.
Grandma shuffled her way into the kitchen with the tray of macaroni in her hands. “You look awfully tired, dear. Is there something I could get you?”
“Oh, no, that’s all right, Grandma.”
She sat down beside me and out of nowhere said, “Were you out fornicating, dear?”
I wasn’t even drinking, but I felt like doing a spit take. “What?! Grandma, no,” I replied with a shocked disgust. “Where would you get an idea like that?”
“You said you were over at Molly’s, correct?”
“I was.”
“Then why would her brother come over here looking for you?”
Damn, my grandma and her crafty investigation skills. “Well, he…” I knew I was on my way to my typical stammer, awkward pause, and then a horrible lie, so I just skipped passed all that. “How would you like a fudge ice cream bar?”
Grandma’s face lit up, and any fornicating was out of her mind. “That would be lovely.”
“Let me just run to the store,” I said with a finger point, and then whisked out of the house as quickly as I could. I’d need a moment to figure out if I was going to tell her the truth or conjure up some stupid story. I made sure to grab my car keys on the way out. No way in hell was I walking anymore. Max was right, that thing could still get me in the day.
Weirdest thing was how oddly happy I was to see Priscilla working at the store today. Her face was glued to the mirror in her compact, applying more of her virgin blood lipstick, while Henry was stocking meat into the freezers. I wanted to talk to someone about the Owen situation and with so few young women around, she seemed like the best choice. Well, scratch that, the only choice.
“Salutations, Henry,” I said with a wave. Henry’s head was in the freezer and I could tell my greeting astounded him, because he tore out from the cold container and peered at me with flushed cheeks and sweaty hair. “Now, Henry, we barely know each other. I’m not sure how I feel about you showing me your meat.”
As red as his face was, it managed to still go pale. I think he thought I was serious and oddly coming onto him, until he looked down at the steak in his hands and realized I was just making a pervy joke.
He laughed and said, “Oh, right.”
“Don’t worry about him,” Priscilla interjected while filing her nails. “I doubt it’s the first time a girl has cracked a joke with his meat on display.”
“Shows what you know. A girl has never seen my meat.”
Priscilla’s nail filing halted. “I stand corrected.”
I approached Priscilla at the register. “So, I have a quandary…”
“If it’s women’s hygiene, you have to go to aisle five for that.”
I scrunched my nose. “Eww, no. It’s about Owen.”
“So, this is a vagina issue.”
I cocked my eyebrow at her. It was obvious that confiding in her wasn’t going to be so easy. “I think we’ve had enough genitalia puns for the afternoon.” Henry snorted like I said something funny, but I wasn’t technically kidding. “I’m having a problem with Owen. He just kind of flipped out at me.”
“What’d you do, forget to put the cap on the toothpaste?”
“No, he saw me with Max.”
It was amazing how Priscilla went from a total indifference to looking like a puppy about to be fed its favorite treat. Her eyes got wide
, her posture straight, and I could tell she wanted all the juicy details.
“Shit, you slept with Max?”
“Whoa, who said anything about sleeping with him?”
“You were vague. My mind created a more interesting story.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter for a second, because our story isn’t quite harlequin novel level. Some animal was chasing me down the road and I ended up at his place hiding out.”
“What’s his place like? Does it smell like musk?” She waved her hands to dismiss what she had said. “Forget that. More important—does he sleep nude?”
“If he did, do you really think I would be privy to that information?”
“You bet your ass I would know if I were there. Speaking of which, how is the ass?”
It was my turn to no sell her comments. “Now I see how gossip spreads around here. I said I was with Max and apparently, it’s turned into a full-fledged affair. I just said some animal came after me. Aren’t you going to ask me about that?”
Her face fell like it was the last thing on Earth she wanted to discuss. “Sure.”
“It was the freakiest thing I had ever seen. I was on my way home from Molly’s and it just appeared out of nowhere, starting howling and growling, and before I knew it, I was running down the road trying not to die.”
“What was it?” Henry asked. I had forgotten he was there and didn’t realize he had been listening in.
“The closest I can think of is a wolf, but this was no wolf. It looked too weird.”
“Then what was it?” Priscilla asked.
I so badly wanted to give them an answer, but I came up empty. “I don’t know. I wish I did. The thing was bigger than I was. Now, I’m no expert on what animals live where, but this is nothing I have ever seen before. Not in these parts, at least.”
“Maybe it was a mutant,” Henry said, but his voice was gargled. Somehow, mid conversation he had reached for a bag of Milk Duds and was cramming them into his face. I had to wonder if he paid for them. “There are stories about animals and toxic crap getting mixed together and turning into weird monsters.”
“In the movies, doofus,” Priscilla countered.
“I’m talking about real stories!”
I folded my arms across my chest and let out a long sigh. “I don’t know. Thinking about it confuses me even more. Logically, I know it had to have been a wolf, but…”
“You know better.”
Priscilla rolled her eyes and then shook her head for good measure. “Listen to you two. You sound like a bunch of mentally impaired kids. There are no mutated monsters living out in our woods, other than the old guy on Williams with the cats.”
“Didn’t you, yourself say you were hearing weird noises?” I asked.
She was slightly tongue tied. “Way different scenario. I’m not claiming shit.”
“Come on, you know a little part of you is wondering.”
“I also wonder what raspberry flavored air would be like,” she snarkily responded.
“Come on. With the noises you heard and I heard and then Joe disappearing and now this… something weird is going on in your town. I think this thing killed Joe.”
Priscilla scoffed so hard she spit a little. “Joe is a crazy hippie. He probably wandered too deep into the woods and found some lonely bear and they now live in a hut together. Doubt he’s dead.”
“But no one has heard from him?”
“It hasn’t been that long, has it?”
“I don’t know… something feels off.”
“I agree with you, Cora,” Henry interjected.
I lit up and almost swung my arm around him. “Thank you, Henry.”
Displeased, Priscilla cocked her head to the side and said, “Aww, look at you two getting along. Should we register at Bed, Bath, and Beyond?”
The main entrance door roared open, followed by the tiny ding of the bell above it. Coming through was probably one of the last people I wanted to run into right now; Molly.
“Hello, girls,” she said with a smile big enough to see every white, sparkling tooth she had. Dang, they were just about glowing.
Priscilla groaned and Henry went back to work.
“Isn’t this a chipper group,” she commented as she glided toward me with her hands firmly clasped together at her waist. She was in an overly positive mood, which made me wonder if she knew about Owen and my fight.
“You’re in good spirits,” I said to her.
“It’s a lovely, lovely day.” She was smiling so widely, it was actually making my jaw hurt. This did not look natural. “Sorry I had to kick you out so quick last night. I just had a lot of things to do and it was getting late. You forgive me, right?”
“Nothing to forgive.”
“Oh, goody. You made it home all right?”
You mean beside the giant towering creature that nearly ripped my throat open? “Yep, sure did.” Peeking out from her compact she was currently using to apply a layer of makeup, Priscilla gave me an amused smirk.
“Here are the rest of the questionnaires,” Molly began and handed me a sheet of paper from her giant purple purse. “I figured you’d want to finish them up and you’d be better off doing it on your own. I missed Owen before he headed over to your place and thought I’d let him give them to you, but here you are. How come you and Owen aren’t working on the house?”
So, she didn’t know about our fight. Man, Owen must have been pretty peeved to not even go home.
“We decided to take a day off,” I lied.
“Again, huh? Oh, okay,” she responded and adjusted the abnormally large purse strap on her shoulder. I had never seen this purse, and right away, I knew Molly was the type to have one for every outfit. Funny, I had a hard time just finding my one under the rubble of my bedroom junk. I couldn’t imagine having to find an extra purse under that monstrosity.
Molly’s polite and happy facade dropped when she turned her attention to Priscilla, who had been pretty much ignoring Molly from the moment she walked in, applying lipstick and powder as she stared into her mirror like it was her friend.
Molly scratched the corner of her nose and said, “I do hope you plan on toning the makeup down for the auction.”
Priscilla’s mouth froze, hanging open, and then very slowly, she grazed her tongue across her lipstick covered lips. “Is there a problem with my makeup?” she asked in a manner that you knew meant she didn’t really want an answer.
This was going to be good. I just wish I had brought popcorn.
“Nothing wrong with it at all,” Molly began with all smiles. “That is, if you’re a blood sucking vampire.”
“Lucky for you, I’m not.”
“You know, you might want to work on your attitude for the auction. Not too many men are into aggressive and hostile these days.”
“I might take your advice into consideration if you were actually capable of keeping a man.”
I should interject here. I really should. “Maybe you guys should—”
“Not now, Cora,” Molly sternly informed me. She even threw her hand up and mocked a mouth closing itself. I’m pretty sure I didn’t need a physical demonstration, but whatever.
“I may be single,” Molly began as she drew in closer to the counter Priscilla was behind, “but it’s by choice. I don’t have time to date right now.”
“Sure. And I don’t have time to be rich right now.”
“This is what I’m talking about. Men don’t like cynical.”
“Bitch, please. I get it fine.”
They proceeded to stare each other down for I swear a full ten seconds. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen cat videos like this and it always ended with one pouncing on the other. I feared the poorly constructed counter wouldn’t survive the altercation.
Molly put on her best false smile and said, “Cora.” I stepped forward like a good little girl. “Try not to lose the papers I gave you, okay? It’s the only copy.”
“I’ll do my best. It may
return with peanut butter on it, but it will return.”
“Lovely.” She finally took her eyes off Priscilla and went to the door. “Maybe we’ll meet up for lunch sometime?”
“Yeah, that’d be nice.”
Molly glanced back at Priscilla and then opened the door.
“Hey, Molly, quick,” Priscilla called before she could leave. “How many fingers am I holding up?” Priscilla proceeded to flip her the bird with the biggest fake grin. Until that moment, I wasn’t sure Priscilla’s face was capable of contorting into a smile.
Molly’s lips practically disappeared into a thin, tight line. “Stay classy, Priscilla.”
“Stay single, Molly.”
Molly left.
“What a bitch,” Priscilla groaned.
“You don’t think you took it a little far?”
“She’s the worst kind of bitch. She’s the undercover type. That’s why I like to call her out on it if I can.”
“Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
“Doubt we’d ever have this issue. It’d be like kicking a puppy.”
“Wait, did you just compare arguing with me to kicking a puppy? I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
“If she doesn’t feel like yelling at you, it’s a good thing,” Henry said. For a big guy, he sure was good at sneaking up on me without me noticing.
I tilted my head to the side and shot Priscilla a silly smile. “Does that mean we’re best friends?”
Priscilla’s shoulders dropped and she sighed. “Don’t you have shopping to do?”
I grabbed Grandma’s fudge ice cream bars and headed back home. I was pretty tired when I got back that I took a two hour nap, woke up thoroughly confused at what day it was, and then was promptly instructed by Grandma to make her dinner.
I had some pretty horrible dreams in that two hour span. One about being chased by that wolf, another where Owen was still angry at me, and the last about spaghetti. The first two dreams were terrible and put me in a cold sweat, but on the upside, the last one told me what to make for dinner that night.
I figured I could surprise Grandma by making us separate sauces—one for her that had meat and one for me that was without. When everything was all cooked, I put the noodles on a plate, draped it with the meat sauce, and even sprinkled parmesan on it. It was so pretty, I wanted to take a picture. Grandma took a seat in front of it and began devouring it all without saying a word.
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