"But you have to tell me about crazy stuff that happens here!" Sebastian said.
"You can't drive and use a cell phone," I muttered.
"Great plan!" Sebastian said. "It's safer that way. That’s how my stepmother died."
We were all silent.
"Sorry to make it weird," he said. "She was a gold digger, but still. She was texting and driving. Fortunately, she didn't kill anyone."
"We have a straw ban, too," Penny added as she handed him a plate with cheese and crackers.
"I do not want to hear any more complaints about the straw ban, honestly," Meg huffed.
"Hunter thought you might like a drink," I said loudly to Meg. From across the firepit, Hunter narrowed his gaze.
"Stop trying to foist gifts on me that are allegedly from Hunter!" she snapped at me. "I can see by the confused and spaced-out look on his face that he has no idea what's going on."
So much for them dancing together. Maybe it was the alcohol.
"No," Weston insisted. "Hunter always looks like that."
"Yeah," Blade added.
"My new favorite Svensson brothers," Meg cooed at them.
"Bourbon hot chocolate? Spiked apple cider? Hungarian grog?" I said determinedly. I would not give up on my plan. Who knew what insane idea Meg would come up with next to punish Hunter and the rest of us Svenssons.
Meg took a cup of the grog.
Sebastian looked across the fire between Hunter and Meg. "Dang, are all the nice women here taken?"
"I'm not," Meg said.
Hunter looked murderous.
"You don't want Meg," I told Sebastian. Meg and Sebastian were not the plan. "She'll make you drink out of a metal straw."
"Maybe we could make biodegradable straws?" Penny said.
"I could make some out of bone fragments," Lilith suggested.
"As much as I want to discuss the chemical properties of a plastic replacement," Sebastian said, standing up, "I’m out. I have to fly to Germany tomorrow."
* * *
I stayedlate to help Penny clean up, but really I was hoping to finish what I'd started in the bedroom.
"I don't know why we're bothering," Penny said as she slowly pushed a broom back and forth. "This house was already a disaster before the party."
"We can't have it too dirty," Morticia said. "We have a real estate agent coming by to look at it."
"You're selling it?" I asked.
"It's a lot of house," Lilith said.
Penny seemed a little sad. "I think I'm tired. Let's finish this up tomorrow."
"I’m assuming he's staying," Morticia said, pointing a sharp finger at me.
