"Garrett!" Davy shrieked next to my ear. I winced.
Hunter blinked. "I just received a very odd phone call."
77
Penny
"How did this happen?" I sobbed as Morticia drove me down the hill from Svensson PharmaTech.
Lilith petted my hair.
"It's Bronwyn," Morticia declared.
"She’s always had it out for me," I said, wiping my nose. "She had everything—a nice house, loving parents, and she even dated the high school hockey team captain. But she always tries to make my life miserable."
"Just think of this as a natural disaster," Morticia said. "The tarot cards did warn us."
"We thought the Romani queen would be enough to combat it, but she wasn’t," Lilith added.
"I can’t believe Garrett thought I would want to hurt his family. I would never," I said, dabbing my eyes with a tissue.
When we were back at the house, I tried calling him. He didn't answer, so I left a painfully pathetic message. "Please, Garrett,"sob"I just,"sob, snort"I care about you so much and,"hiccup, "your family—"
Lilith grabbed the phone before it could get any worse.
"You need alcohol for your nerves. You're hysterical," Morticia said, patting my hand. "We’ll prep the fainting couch."
The twins led me into the formal sitting room, and I stretched out on the balding green velvet couch. Lilith pressed a mug of hot alcohol into my hand.
"This isn’t a cocktail."
"It is a cocktail," Lilith said. "What you call cocktails are actually mixed fruit juice for little girls. This is a real cocktail. Alcohol, alcohol, more alcohol, and a pressed citrus peel."
I took a sip, and my throat burned.
"This will help you get over him," Morticia said.
"I can never get over him!" I wailed.
Morticia looked disgusted. "Love. Remind me to never fall into it."
The doorbell rang. An obnoxiously chipper voice sang out, "We just wanted to come by again and have a look around."
"Who is that?" I croaked.
"Oh, hi, Dottie," I said when Lilith led her into the room. "What are you doing here?"
The senior citizen beamed at me. "I have my real estate license. This is the first house I’m selling. We have a lot of interested buyers!"
"You're actually selling?" I asked the twins, trying not to puke up the alcohol. I’d only had one sip, but even that was too much.
"We told you we have to sell," Morticia said impatiently. "You could buy it, but you quit your magazine job, and you just got fired, so…"
"You are cold-blooded."
"Go buy a lottery ticket," Lilith said with a snort. "You’re not the only one with debts."
Dottie tapped her fingers together and patted her practically blue permed hair. "The buyers already put down an offer—all cash. Here is the contingency paperwork."
