“Well, this should work.”Emmy Lou came in holding a water glass and the back of a cereal box.
“For one leg,” Quinn muttered darkly.“But if you women are determined to do this reckless thing, I’ll ride shotgun.If it starts to attack, I’ll be here.”
“They don’t attack,” Jo said.“Okay, Em.I’ll move the sofa just a bit, and you stand ready with that glass.”
“Right.”
“And I’ll stand ready to whack it when you two run screaming out of the room,” Quinn said, raising the shovel over his head.
Jo moved the sofa a few inches, and the spider ran right at Quinn.
The women didn’t scream, but he was afraid he might have as he started banging the shovel everywhere, stirring up clouds of soot as the spider raced around the room.
“Quick, over by the door, Em!”Jo cried.
Emmy Lou pounced with her glass.“Got him!”
“Or her,” Jo said.She crouched as Emmy Lou slid the cardboard under the glass and expertly flipped the whole thing over.“Nope, it’s a him.”
Quinn stared at the two women in horrified fascination.“How can you tell?And why would you want to?”
“Spiders are fascinating,” Jo said.“His sex organs are right by his mouth, an arrangement certain people might envy.Want to see?”
“That’s okay.”Quinn was sweating like crazy.Sure enough, the monster fit in the glass, but he wouldn’t have bet on it.“I’ll take your word for it.”
“This is a pretty big one,” Emmy Lou said.“That body looks almost two inches across, so with the legs and all, it’s?—”
“Gigantic, like Quinn said,” Jo finished, giving Quinn an understanding smile.“Bigger than his fist.”
“I’ll take him outside and let him go,” Emmy Lou said.
Quinn tried to sound casual.“Uh, where would that be, exactly?”
“Out in my veggie garden.He’ll like it there.He’ll probably stay.”
“Oh.”He rolled his shoulders and made a mental note to never, ever offer to pick vegetables for Emmy Lou.“I’ll, uh, pick up around here, then.”
“I’ll help,” Jo said.
“Thanks.”Quinn grabbed the small broom hanging with the fireplace tools and turned to find Jo looking at him with great tenderness.“What?”he asked.
“It’s just that you’re so adorable,” she said.
“Adorable?”He preferred words like virile and manly, himself.Adorable was for kids.He used the shovel like a dustpan as he swept up the soot.
“A big strong man like you who’s afraid of snakes and bugs.”She set the coffee table on its feet.“And trying so hard not to be.It’s very sweet.”
Quinn felt his face heat up.He kept sweeping to avoid looking at her.“I had an older cousin who used to tease me, shoving wiggly things in my face.”
“Shame on him,” Jo said.
“It was a girl,” Quinn said, his cheeks on fire.
“Then shame on her.”She walked over to touch his arm.“But you know, it’s possible to get over things like that.”
“I doubt it.Been that way ever since I was four.”
“You can desensitize yourself.It would be easy around this place, because you’ll always be coming in contact with creepy-crawlies.Soon you’d barely notice them.”
