“Yes!” I screeched, “When she’s picking on someone else! If she’s here, that means she’s about to go nuclear, which means I have to get home, come up with a strategy in the next five minutes, and hope that I survive the cataclysmic fallout!”
She rushed in front of me, grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me slightly. “Josie, you can do this! You’re a strong woman, and she’s no match for you.”
I whimpered as I tried to be strong, but the reality was, I would fold like a thin sheet of paper after an ant walked too close. I was so dead.
“Right, give me your shop keys.”
I handed them over without thought and let her drag me out the door, shoving me into my car.
“Get home. I’ll take care of the shop. You’ve got this,” she said, slamming the door and slapping her hand twice on the roof.
Right. I jammed my keys into the ignition and cranked the engine. Delilah would get me home, and then we could sort out this mess.
I somehow managed to make it home in record time, and when I pulled in, Grandma still wasn’t here, which meant Ihad the smallest, infinitesimalist amount of time to get my shit together before she started her reign of terror.
“Sawyer!” I shouted as I ran up the steps and flung the door open.
He was pacing in the living room, running his fingers through his hair as panic took over. When he saw me, we both knew we were screwed.
“She’s gonna eat us alive.”
“Not yet,” I said, tossing my bag to the side. I rushed around the room, organizing things left and right, picking up socks and questionable underwear along the way. Sawyer’s brain quickly caught up with mine, and he joined in my frantic attempt to make the house look reasonable.
“We have to stick together. You know she can’t take us down if we don’t give in.”
“Right,” he nodded, tossing a blanket at me to fold. “I’ll follow your lead.”
“Unless she starts in on you. Then you’ll have to hold strong. Whatever you do, don’t panic. That’s what she wants.”
He rushed into the kitchen and swept an arm across the counter, dumping a whole range of things in the garbage that could be sorted later.
“God, you and Cuddlebug are living like pigs,” I said in disgust.
“Josie!”
“Right, it’s not the time.”
I picked up the pace, frantically looking at the clock again. She would be here any minute. “Where’s Scarlet?”
His eyes widened in horror. “In the bedroom. I haven’t woken her up yet.”
“You haven’t woken her up? It’s the afternoon, Sawyer! How the hell are you going to explain her to Grandma?”
“I don’t know!” he yelled. “You’re not helping!”
I took a deep breath and ran through our options quickly. There was only one way about this. “You’ll have to say she’s sick.” Rushing over to the medicine cabinet, I grabbed the NyQuil and shoved it at Sawyer. “Dose her with this. Make sure she doesn’t come out of that room for any reason. We can’t afford to have Grandma see her when she’s just woken up.”
The sound of a door slamming had me rushing to the window. “She’s here! Dose her now!”
“On it!”
I primped my hair, then smelled my pits, grimacing slightly. I was already sweating and she hadn’t walked through the door yet. My heart was racing a million miles a minute with every step she took toward the door. She was alone, no sign of Grandpa anywhere in sight, and that was a very bad thing.
Very, very bad.
As long as she was miles and miles away, we were good. Talking to her on the phone was a breeze. There was no judgment, no hassle of any kind, but lord help us when she came to town.
There was no getting out of this now. It was do-or-die time, and in just a few seconds, we would find out if this would be the end of us.
