I laughed because that seemed safer than asking whether I had accidentally wandered into a human trafficking operation disguised as sisterhood. “Why?”
“Because I said so.”
“That’s not how adult decisions work.”
Savannah stood, tall and beautiful and sharp enough to cut glass. Silver bracelets slid down both wrists as she held out her hand. “Come on. I’ll walk you to your truck.”
“For what?”
Her grin turned wicked. “I want to meet the cat.”
Before I could react, my keys vanished from the table.
I looked down.
Savannah twirled them around one finger.
“What the hell?”
“Insurance,” she said.
“In case I bolt?”
“In case you make a dumb decision while dehydrated.”
I stared at her. “What is this?”
Amber laughed. “A rescue mission.”
I narrowed my eyes. “This feels culty.”
Evie nearly choked on her drink.
Regan wiped tears from laughing. “Oh, honey.”
Savannah hooked her arm through mine and started walking me toward the parking lot like this had all been settled by committee. They were laughing. At what, I had no idea. Maybe my expression. Maybe my resistance. Maybe the fact that I had no concept of the machine I had apparently stumbled into.
I muttered, “What the fuck?”
Then another thought hit with enough force to stop my feet. They stopped too, all five of them turning back.
I looked from Regan to Amber to Skye to Evie to Savannah. “You guys aren’t secretly trying to recruit me into some lesbian commune, are you?”
Silence.
Then the loudest laughter yet.
Amber bent over the table. Evie slapped her thigh. Savannah grabbed my arm to stay upright. Regan shook her head, still laughing.
“No,” Regan managed. “Very much no.”
We crossed the lot under a sky turning deeper blue by the minute. Savannah nodded toward the vehicles. “Lemme guess. That one?”
I followed her finger to my truck sitting under the only sad tree in the lot. Rust. Dents. Tarps. One headlight dimmer than the other. A vehicle that had clearly survived more than it had been maintained.
“Yep,” I said. “The sad bitch under the tree.”
Savannah laughed. “Clocked you the second you rolled in.”
