Bernice laughed. “Good. You need to work for it. Grovel.”
I ignored her and the way that her words made me feel and said, “What’s girl dinner?”
“To be specific?” she asked.
I shrugged.
“I had eighteen Cool Ranch Doritos. I had a scoop of ranch dip to dip my Doritos in. I had half a pack of blueberries. One stick of cheese. You’re out, by the way.” She smiled at me, knowing that I liked to have cheese in the lunches I’d packed. And obviously not giving a shit that she’d eaten the last one. “Then I rounded out the night with a bowl of Lucky Charms.”
I snorted. “That’s not dinner. That’s just a bunch of snacks. Unhealthy ones at that. You’ll be starving in another hour because all you did was eat a bunch of bullshit carbs that won’t get you anywhere.”
“Be that as it may.” She batted her eyelashes at me. Something she used to do when she knew she’d irritated me. “I still ate. Feel free to find yourself something.”
“I guess I’ll have to,” I muttered.
“What did you end up doing with that coffee this morning if you couldn’t find her?” Bernice asked.
“Tossed it.” I went to the fridge and took a look inside to browse my options. I could have ketchup and some odd-colored noodle-like thing that I was fairly sure used to be chow mein. I could have a sandwich with no cheese. Or I could have lettuce. “I need to go to the store.”
“How about when you do that, you bring back some chocolate chip cookies,” she suggested.
With not very many other options, I left again, heading straight to the grocery store that was right off the main drag.
I would pay twice as much since I was going local, but paying the twenty extra bucks sounded preferable to driving thirty minutes to Walmart. As it was, I’d been driving around all damn day. Driving to Walmart was not going to happen, despite it being the financially sound choice.
I got a bunch of food, making sure to refill my cheese sticks—Tillamook Sharp Cheddar was seriously the best thing ever invented—and headed to the checkout within ten minutes of arriving.
I smiled tightly at the woman who tried to get me to speak to her about the lottery and her chances of winning, and left before she could add anything more to the conversation.
When I got home, Bernice was already in bed, so I ate alone standing up at my kitchen counter.
I stared out over the length of my backyard for a while, wishing that winter in Montana wasn’t quite so debilitating. I’d never given much thought to anyone outside of Alabama before, choosing to focus on the hell that was my life rather than dwell on anyone or anything else.
But now that I lived here, I wondered how native Montanans ever found joy in the winter.
This place was a massive winter wonderland, sure. But that would get old.
Hell, it was already old.
“What are you doing staring out the window like a creeper?”
I looked over my shoulder at my sister. “Wondering how I never thought about anyone or any place other than Alabama and the people that dwelled there. I didn’t care about snow or whomever had to deal with it. I was just sitting here thinking about how sucky this is. Right now in Alabama we could be outside playing football on the beach. The water would be a bit chilly, but there wouldn’t be a thick blanket of snow on the ground with tons of snow on the way.”
“Stop being a little bitch, Creed.” She deliberately put emphasis on my new moniker. “And how about you start, I don’t know, building a snowman?”
I flipped her off. “But my nose always feels like it’s going to fall off. Even when it was September.”
“You’ll get used to it,” she teased. “And so will I.”
I scowled at her.
“I already let my apartment manager know that I was leaving. I’m flying home tomorrow morning. Your friend Odin said he’d give me a ride to the airport because my flight is leaving at six. He said he has to be somewhere by five, and can give me a ride. I’m on his way.”
I sighed. “You’re sure?”
She winked. “I’m more than sure.”
With that, she pecked me on the cheek and went back to her room just as quietly as she’d arrived.
