Jen grinned and Lorraine’s eyes rounded. “You can do that?” she asked.
I nodded and reached for the whisk. “As long as you don’t do something that seriously calls attention to yourself, for all practical purposes, you’ll be invisible.”
“What do you mean by ‘seriously calls attention to ourselves’?” Lorraine asked, tapping her fingers on the counter.
“And what happens if we do?” Jen added.
“The glamour essentially convinces people not to pay any attention to you. They might look straight at you but won’t be able to remember seeing you, or if they do, they won’t be able to remember anything about what you look like. That said, you can break the glamour by essentially forcing them to see you.”
“Like what would do it?” Jen asked.
I shrugged. “Stripping naked could do it, but screaming and throwing dishes definitely would. Everybody’s got a different threshold, though, so it’s best to be as unassuming as possible.”
“Oh, goody. We’re such experts at fading into the background,” Jen said. “We may be doomed.”
“You’ll just have to work hard,” I told her. The four of us had a habit of stealing the spotlight. Not that we meant to, but for some reason, when you didn’t give a lot of fucks about what people think of you, they tend to give you more attention.
“Would walking out with the cats constitute calling attention to themselves?” Mikey inserted suddenly.
I lifted a brow at him and resumed beating the eggs. “Could. Depends on how unexpected or out of place they seem, but that’s where I come in. I’ll create a distraction.”
“What kind of distraction?” He scowled, no doubt imagining me burning down the house or maybe calling down a meteor strike. If only.
I shrugged. “A swarm of bees? Cockroaches? A small tornado? I have no idea. It all depends on the situation. Hell, I could let Mitzi loose. I bet she’d love to go full-on poltergeist again.”
Just at the moment, she was in my pocket, no doubt listening to every word.
I set the eggs aside and turned on two burners, generously adding butter to two pans. I divided the vegetables between them and gave them a quick sauté.
“Okay, she and I are going to spend the day shopping and maybe see a movie and have dinner,” Stacey announced as she returned. She sat on the other side of Jen and looked across at Mikey. “What are you still doing here?”
“I’m hungry.”
“There are other places to eat.”
“I like it here.”
“I didn’t realize you were into sadomasochism. I thought you were strictly vanilla,” she taunted.
“You don’t have a clue what I am,” he shot back.
“Right back at ya, Slick,” she snapped and stood up. “And that is my cue to step off. I’ll take a raincheck on the eggs. Let me know how the party goes. Luke, can I borrow your car?”
“Stacey,” Mikey began, but she’d stalked out of the room.
Luke followed. Mikey stood as if he intended to do the same, but Lorraine stopped him.
“If you don’t want her to rip your dick off, you should probably stay here.”
“I’m not going to just let her walk out. We’re going to settle this now.” He was seething, the cold having turned volcanic.
“How exactly do you see that going?” Jen asked, tipping her head to the side.
“I don’t know, but it’s time we had it out.”
“Definitely,” Lorraine said. “Go do that. It was somewhat nice knowing you. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”
He went a couple more steps and stopped, turning to look at her. “What do you suggest I do?”
