Edna:
You feel like keeping me company today? I could use an alibi.
Oh shit.
“Will, I gotta go. Edna’s ’bout to do something to Earl.”
“I don’t have time to go to the police station today, Mackenna, so y’all better not get into trouble!”
“That wasonetime. And it was all her!”
“I’m just sayin’. I’ve got too much stuff piled up at work. Daddy’s been out of the office more than usual with appointments, so I’m playin’ catch up.Be good.And think about what I said.”
Before I could respond, she called out a quick, “Love you!” and hung up.
And yeah…I was going to pass on the whole thinking about what Will said thing. I wasn’t quite ready for that—not when I could still taste Hudson on my lips, feel him against my body.Nope, I definitely didn’t need to spend any more time today in my head. What I needed was a distraction, and my seventy-year-old cohort was the perfect person to provide it.
Mac:
What nefarious things do you have planned, and do I need to be worried?
Almost immediately, the bubbles popped up, indicating Edna was typing her response.
Edna:
Earl’s getting breakfast with Betty Jo, so I’m gonna turn off his AC and leave a dead squirrel under his bed. We’ll see how the ladies like that…
Oh Lord, that woman was on a mission to a) make her ex-husband’s life pure hell and/or b) get herself arrested. Looked like my day had just been booked. I’d keep Edna out of jail, and in turn, Edna would keep my mind off Hudson. Win-win.
Mac:
Pick me up in 5.
I ran upstairs, brushed my teeth, and threw my hair into a messy topknot. I yanked on jeans and a tank, then topped it with a flannel in deference to the chill that had finally settled over Havenbrook.
I flew out the door just as Edna’s mail truck came barreling down the gravel driveway.
She screeched to a stop, dust billowing up around her, and called out the window, “Hurry up, honey! We don’t have a lotta time before that old fool’s gonna be back home.”
I slid into the seat and buckled my seat belt as fast as humanly possible. I’d ridden with Edna enough times to know exactly what kind of driver she was—like she was a seventy-year-old woman who wasn’t getting any younger and had shit she wanted to do. In this case, fuck with her ex-husband turned frenemy with benefits.
“What’d Earl do now?”
“Stood me up last night for our standing weekly evenin’ plans.” Edna shot me a look over her sunglasses, her eyebrows waggling for emphasis in case I didn’t catch the suggestive note dripping from her tone.
“Did you check in on him? Maybe he wasn’t feeling well.”
“And this mornin’, he just happens to be out to breakfast with Betty Jo?” She snorted. “I was born at night, but not last night. Besides, you think I didn’t hear five times before eight this mornin’ exactly what he’d gotten up to?”
“He needs to find better friends who don’t narc on his every move.”
“It’ll never happen. I broughtmyfriends into our too-damn-long marriage, and I kept every last one of ’em when I left his annoyin’ ass.”
“Annoyin’, is he? Then how come you’re still seein’ him?”
She sniffed. “A woman has needs, Mac. And I know you don’t like hearin’ this, but Earl is pack?—”
“Tell me about this dead squirrel,” I cut in. “And let’s maybe talk about something else constructive we could do today instead of committin’ a felony such as breaking and entering.”
